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This study examines the link of effective change implementation (CIE) with select human resource (HR) practices and employees' resistance to change (RTC) amidst ongoing mergers in Indian public sector banks (PSBs). It also intends to highlight the role of RTC as a mediator in this mechanism.

The authors used a structured questionnaire administered through a survey of employees of select PSBs that have undergone mergers. The hypothesized relationships were tested on 220 responses with structural equation modelling.

Training and communication of change as HR practices were found to have significant effects in implementing change. RTC fully mediated the relationship of training and CIE, and partially mediated the association of communication and CIE. Communication had a stronger influence on RTC than training. This finding upholds the importance of communication but also implies that training can reinforce effective communication of change and may not affect the implementation if not directed towards handling resistance.

The significance of communication as a finding supports the theory of planned behaviour. The authors’ results also align with the social exchange theory and can be extended to the job demands-resources model. PSBs may plan for phase-wise training initiatives starting from the announcement till the end of a merger. PSBs also need to effectively communicate all relevant HR issues to employees, thus being transparent and fair. Both online and offline modes of communication can be explored. Overall, the senior management has to imbibe the handholding of employees in the short term and a sense of empathy in the longer term.

Research on HR in Indian banking mergers seems to take a back seat vis-à-vis strategic issues and financial performance. There also is a limited empirical examination of the role of HR practices in effective change implementation. This paper addresses both these issues by proposing a conceptual model and empirically validating it amidst the merger of PSBs. The authors also highlight how training and communication are effective in handling resistance to change.

Prior research in the area of organizational change highlights the critical role played by HR practices during organizational change as it may require altering employee behavior to support the change direction. human resource (HR) function is considered to be well positioned to influence employee behavior by institutionalizing HR practices that support change. Further there is a significant body of literature that suggests that employee behavior is significantly influenced by the perceptions of HR practices during change. HR practices which create positive employee perceptions increase employee commitment to change. The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework that identifies critical HR practices that support organizational change and examines their impact on employee perception and commitment to change.

First, an extensive literature review on organizational change at macro level has been done to identify critical practices desired from key organizational members during organizational change. Second, a case for importance of HR function as a key organizational member during change is presented. Further literature on effectiveness of HR practices adopted by HR professionals during organizational change is examined to find out the gap areas. Third, literature on employee perception and commitment to change is examined to find out possible linkages to HR practices during organizational change. Finally, eight propositions are presented to build an integrated conceptual framework identifying critical HR practices during organizational change and their impact on employee perception and commitment to change.

The study suggests that HR practices undertaken in the area of culture, leadership, cross functional integration, training, communication and technology if introduced and implemented will positively influence employee perception reducing resistance and increasing commitment to change. Therefore assessing employee perception about critical HR practices at different stages of change initiation, implementation and consolidation can enable understanding about employee commitment to change. This would also help HR professionals understand how effective the HR practices implemented during change have been.

This framework can be used by the researchers and practitioners to study, guide, frame and model empirical research into the area of studying critical HR practices during organizational change. So far literature provides a generic view of desired organizational practices during change. Moreover there are few studies available on employee perception about HR practices implemented during organizational change and its impact on employee commitment to change. The framework presented in this paper would help explore the effectiveness of specific HR practices implemented during change by evaluating its impact on employee perception and commitment to change.

The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of contractors' human resource (HR) practices on job satisfaction of their professional staff. The specific objectives are to: determine the effectiveness of contractors' HR practices; find out the level of job satisfaction that professional staff who work for contractors have; and study the relationship between HR practices and job satisfaction.

The research method was based on survey and a structured questionnaire, which was specially designed for the study, was the data collection instrument. Data were collected via e‐mail surveys and face to face interviews. The sampling frame comprised randomly chosen professionals who work for building contractors in Singapore.

Results showed that contractors' professionals are significantly satisfied with many of their firms' HR practices. The study found that these professionals have significant job satisfaction in terms of career opportunities, nature of their jobs and overall working environment. The results also show that many of the HR practices are significantly correlated with job satisfaction.

The main limitation of the research is the relatively small sample size and low response rate. In addition, respondents' indication of their satisfaction level is contextualized to professional staff working in Singapore in a specific market condition, thereby limiting generalization of the results. The implication is that the findings would be more relevant to construction firms in Singapore at the time when the industry is just emerging from a recession.

It is recommended that contractors make an effort to understand what their professional staff want in HRM so as to efficiently channel their resources to create job satisfaction through appropriate HR practices. The study uncovered HR practices that employees are unsatisfied with. These include dissatisfaction with quantum of rewards, and firms' methods of dealing with employees' feedback and resolving conflicts. The practical implication of the findings is that contractors should improve on these practices so that their employees would not be more dissatisfied.

The originality of the study is that some HR practices that lead to job satisfaction of construction companies' professionals have been uncovered. The results could inform construction firms on what HR practices they may adopt to engender higher job satisfaction among their professional employees.

The paper aims to examine structural positions of individuals, especially HR actors (line managers and HR specialists) within relational networks for creating and sharing knowledge and to explore implications for designing and implementing HR practices in knowledge‐intensive firms (KIF).

This article used exploratory research design conducting a single case study of a KIF. Social network analysis (SNA) – network centrality measures and visualization tools – was used to examine the structural position of individuals.

Line managers who are HR actors are centrally positioned within examined knowledge networks, while the HR specialist is not, which implies that the decentralized approach to HRM in KIF can be effective. Results also show that the more operational (instrumental) the information or knowledge flow is, the denser the knowledge networks.

This study provides support for devolution of HRM to the line in KIF. It suggests that HRM could affect the process of knowledge creation and sharing by implementing HR practices through centrally positioned line managers. A limitation of the research is a single case study and observed intensity rather than quality of relations.

SNA appears to be an effective tool for mapping relationships in an organization. Centrally positioned HR actors (especially line managers involved in HRM) in knowledge networks are advantageous for HRM effectiveness only if obstacles to their effectiveness are properly managed. HR specialists should relate strongly to these actors to enable successful design and implementation of HR practices.

The paper applies SNA to the HRM field, thus expanding the traditional view of HRM into examining the position of HR actors in relational networks and exploring their role in effectively executing HR practices.

The purpose of this paper is to probe and explore the mediation role of knowledge management (KM), in the relationship between human resource (HR) practices and organizational innovation capability.

The investigation is carried out by using a stratified-multi-stage sampling technique of 120-sample size. The data is amassed by both male and female employees working in the service sectors. A structural equation modelling is applied, and three methods are implemented for mediation analysis.

The findings suggest that the mediation role of KM is statistically significant, among the association of HR practices and organizational innovation capability. The fact that the mediation role of KM is established both for male and female employees is also noteworthy.

It can be possible to enhance the organizational innovation capability, if the HR practices are instigated by the HR managers effectively. Through HR practices the knowledge can be administrated and shared effectively that will aid in attaining organizational innovation, as well as competitive advantages.

The developing countries have opted for solutions such as empowering employees in decision-making to maximize innovation. Promoting KM and intellectual capabilities are now among the core parts of the HR policies for developing countries. Therefore, this paper will help in bringing awareness amid developing countries, Pakistan, in particular, to include KM and intellectual capabilities for increasing organizational capabilities.

Human resource (HR) philosophy and an organization’s commitment to employees (OCE) are important components of a human resource management (HRM) system, yet the influences of these variables on the effectiveness of HRM implementation has been less evident. Similarly, few studies have examined the effect of intended and implemented HR practices on line managers’ perceptions of HR department effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to examine how these factors could result in a positive evaluation of HR department effectiveness in Vietnam.

Study 1 consisted of 405 line managers and the authors used this sample to test the proposed research model. Study 2, comprising 192 line managers, was used to validate the findings from Study 1.

The authors found empirical evidence of how HR managers should leverage their relationships with line managers to enhance HR department effectiveness in a developing economy such as Vietnam.

As data were from line managers in one point in time, this study could be affected by common method bias. However, the authors conducted three common method variance checks and the analyses showed that this issue was not a major concern. Future studies could extend the sample of respondents by collecting information from CEOs, employees, and HR managers.

This study contributes to the extant literature empirical evidence of determinants of HR department effectiveness. First, the study shows the simultaneous impacts of HR philosophy and OCE on the actual implementation of HR practices. Second, the authors provide an understanding of line managers’ evaluation of HR department effectiveness through their experience with implemented HR practices.

This research proposes a framework, which identifies the underlying factors that shape learning behavior in the workplace. It takes organizational members' perspectives into consideration to gain better understanding on managing people and their behavior in the organizational learning process.

Primary data were obtained through a questionnaire survey of 162 respondents from three organizations that had recently experienced an array of changes.

It is found that psychological discomfort is a condition that blocks people from acquiring and learning new knowledge during the transformation period. However, effective HR practices are likely to moderate individuals' inconsistent attitudes and unpleasant psychological states as well as enable their learning work behavior.

The results support the notion that building and managing organizational learning requires basic shifts in how people think, behave, and interact in the process. Effective HR practices can help avoid dissonance and induce learning behavior in the workplace.

The contribution to the literature and business management is its empirical investigation and survey instrument developed to measure the impact of employees' cognitive dissonance as well as that of the HR practices on organizational learning during the change process. These perspectives were taken into consideration since people are regarded as key players in the learning process. The results also confirm the “normative perspective” of organizational learning that the effective learning process can be driven by some underlying factors including cognitive dissonance and HR practices.

Building on the resource-based view of the firm and complex systems theory, we argue that the effective utilization of knowledge-intensive teamwork (KITwork) can be a source of sustained competitive advantage for firms that pursue a variety of strategies and compete in a variety of industries. KITwork is a multi-dimensional, multi-level social process that promotes knowledge flows within and between organizations. Through KITwork, the knowledge resources of individual employees are transformed into a capability that contributes to the effectiveness of knowledge-based organizations. After introducing and explaining the concept of KITwork, we explore the challenges that organizations must address in order to design HRM systems that support and facilitate KITwork.

This paper aims to propose that a new approach to human resource (HR) audit is needed. It also aims to explain the new approach and introduce a range of tools to support it.

The paper reviews traditional and existing common approaches, identifies the shortcomings of these, and proposes a new framework based on business contribution.

Existing approaches to HR audit do not reflect the current aspirations and rhetoric on HR practices as promoted by Holbeche, and Ulrich et al.This emphasises the need for a new approach.

The work proposes a new framework to assess HR activity against alignment and contribution to organisation strategy and goals, as well as the prevailing culture, thus forcing HR audit to move beyond legal compliance of HR practices. A range of processes, tools and techniques are identified.

The paper contains a completely new approach (the authors assert) to HR audit which is more rigorous and wide ranging in scope. It moves HR audit away from legal compliance to increasing the HR contribution to the organisation, thereby creating improved business performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of human resource (HR) actors in the design and implementation of HR practices. More specifically, the paper explores how interactions between various HR actors influence the design and implementation of HR practices in tourist resorts in the Maldives.

A qualitative, multiple case study approach was used. Data for this study were collected in seven tourist resorts in the Maldives through 49 semi-structured interviews conducted with managers with different functional roles, at various levels in the organisational hierarchy and with non-managerial employees. Field observations and a range of secondary sources supplemented the interview data.

The findings show that all HR actors influence the design and implementation of human resource management (HRM) practices in these resorts to some degree, although the extent of their involvement varies from actor to actor. Execution of HR practices necessitates interaction among HR actors as they contest and reconcile their interests and roles. High levels of social capital enhance the roles of HR actors as they overcome constraints to the implementation of HRM practices.

This study is a qualitative and exploratory study. Data are clustered at the sub-unit level and limited to a single industry. This presents limitations in generalising the findings. A more extensive study covering other industries is necessary to explore different configurations of the negotiated relationships among HR actors.

This study identifies various management strategies that could be used to enhance HR actors’ social capital. These strategies could be useful for managers in other organisational settings

There is a dearth of literature on the interactions between managers at different levels in organisational hierarchies and with different functional roles, and how these interactions affect the design and implementation of HRM practices in organisations. Using social capital theory, this research explores the interaction between HR actors in the design and implementation of HRM in the context of self-contained resorts in the Maldives, thereby shedding light on a context that has attracted little research to date.