The three-dimensional people strategy: Putting human resources policies into action

Academy of Management Executive

Volumn 17, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 74-86

  Gratton, Lynda ^a   Truss, Catherine ^b  

^a LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL   (United Kingdom)

^b KINGSTON UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 4644339022     PISSN: 10795545     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5465/AME.2003.10954760     Document Type: Review

References (19)

1. In each of the seven cases, we used a questionnaire, surveying the same business unit on three occasions: 1994 (1764 respondents); 1997 (1592 respondents); 2000 (1248 respondents). We also interviewed 20-35 employees in each firm and ran focus groups with the HR function.
2. Becker, B., & Gerhart B. 1996. The impact of human resource management on organizational performance: Progress and prospects. Academy of Management Journal, 39(4): 779-801.
3. Baron, J. N., & Kreps, D. M. 1999. Strategic human resources. New York: Wiley.
4. See, for example, Ulrich, D. 1998. A new mandate for human resources. Harvard Business Review, 76(1): 124-134. Where we are extending this argument, however, is in the notion that people strategies have three separate, but interrelated, dimensions.
5. This perspective has been referred to as the "fit" approach, which has been contrasted with the "best practices" approach described above. These various theoretical frameworks on strategic HRM have been reviewed in Delery, J. E., & Doty, D. H. 1996. Modes of theorizing in strategic human resource management: Tests of universalistic, contingency and configurational perspectives. Academy of Management Journal, 39(4): 802-835.
6. See Wright, P., & Snell, S. 1998. Toward a unifying framework for exploring fit and flexibility in strategic human resource management. Academy of Management Review, 23(4): 756-772.
7. Baird & Meshoulam have provided a classic exposition of these two dimensions of alignment in strategic HRM. See Baird, L., & Meshoulam, I. 1988. Managing two fits of strategic human resources management. Academy of Management Review, 13(1): 116-128.
8. The findings from the 1994 and 1997 studies are described in Gratton, L., et al. 1999. Strategic human resource management: Corporate rhetoric and human reality. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
9. For example, in Huselid's influential work exploring linkages between HRM and organizational performance, the focus is very much on stated HR policy. Data were collected from one single informant in each organization, most often an HR representative, and few items in his questionnaire tapped into the reality experienced by employees. See Huselid, M. A. 1995. The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 38(3): 635-72.
10. This point is debated further in Gratton, et al., A decade of transformation at the Leading Edge (to be published in 2003) and in Truss, C. 2001. Complexities and controversies in linking HRM with organizational outcomes. Journal of Management Studies, 38(8): 1121-1150.
11. This point is debated further in Gratton, et al., A decade of transformation at the Leading Edge (to be published in 2003) and in Truss, C. 2001. Complexities and controversies in linking HRM with organizational outcomes. Journal of Management Studies, 38(8): 1121-1150.
12. The literature of process fairness has explored this in great detail. For a useful overview, see Greenberg, J., & Cropanzano, R. (Eds.). 2001. Advances in organizational justice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
13. The case of Kraft Foods is discussed in more depth in Gratton, L., et al., A decade of transformation, op. cit.
14. We have described these timelines of enactment in more detail in Gratton, L., et al. 1999. Linking individual performance to business strategy: The People Process Model. Human Resource Management, 38(1): 17-31.
15. Tsui, A. 1984. A multiple constituency framework of managerial reputational effectiveness. In Hunt, J., et al. Leadership. New York: Pergamon.
16. Amabile, T. M. 1998. How to kill creativity. Harvard Business Review, 76(5): 76-87, highlights the importance of allowing people to have a large "network of wanderings," or intellectual space in which to explore possibilities and solve problems.
17. The role of conversation as a tool of mutual adaptation is described in Gratton, L., & Ghoshal, S. 2002. Improving the quality of conversations. Organizational Dynamics, 31(3): 209-223.
18. Abrahamson, E. 2000. Change without pain, Harvard Business Review, July-August: 75-79, describes similar examples of companies unwilling to share information across internal boundaries, with negative consequences for performance.
19. The visualization of horizontal alignment has been described by Lynda Gratton in Gratton, L. 2000. Living strategy; Putting people at the heart of corporate purpose. London: FT Prentice Hall.