Which executive human resource management practices for the top management team are associated with higher firm performance?

Abstract

There is growing awareness of the importance and role of the top management team (TMT). Little is known about how this group of executives should be treated from a human resource management (HRM) perspective since most research and writing on human resource management practices have focused on lower level personnel. A unique study of top management teams in specific firms affiliated with Fortune 500 companies is described which examined the relationship of 18 Executive Human Resource Management (EHRM) practices to a measure of organizational performance. A number of those were found to be associated with higher firm performance. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Why Elephants Gallop: Assessing and Predicting Organizational Performance in Federal Agencies

“…People are an organization's most important asset, especially with service-providing organizations." Several empirical studies have confirmed that certain human resource management (HRM) practices are related to high performance in organizations (Delaney and Huselid 1996;Martell and Carroll 1995;Kalleberg and Moody 1994;Terpstra and Rozell 1993;Haltiwanger, Lane, and Spletzer 1999). For example, Delaney and Huselid (1996) studied 590 for-profit and nonprofit firms from the National Organizations Study (NOS) and found positive associations between HRM practices such as training and staffing selectivity and perceptual measures of organizational performance.…”

“…For example, some organizations have a tradition of strong leadership, and this tradition is a facet of their organizational culture. Indeed, studies show that leadership interacts with culture to affect organizational performance (Hennessey 1998;Oskarsson 1984;Martell and Carroll 1995). Therefore, separating leadership from culture is difficult.…”

“…Simon (1998) found that federal bureaus that had received a President's Quality Award had better human resource management and development. Finally, Martell and Carroll (1995) studied eighteen executive-level HRM practices and found several of them associated with higher firm performance.…”

“…For instance, skilled leaders may help create and sustain organizational cultures that promote high performance (Popovich, ed. 1998;Hennessey 1998;Martell and Carroll 1995;Schein 1985;Oskarsson 1984). …”

Impact of M&As on organizational performance: The moderating role of HRM centrality

“…A performance score was obtained by summing across the four criteria. In studies based on international surveys within a number of different countries, objective measures of organizational performance may be impossible to compare, given potential bias by differences in cultural orientations and fiscal regimes (Lahteenmaki & Vanhala, 1998;Martell & Carroll, 1995). In addition, significant correlations between subjective and objective organizational performance measures were demonstrated by Pearce, Robbins, and Robinson (1987), which supports the validity of subjective performance measures as substitutes for objective measures.…”