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The intra-organisational relationships of through-life support services providers are complex, especially given the multifaceted nature of the provision required. For example, capabilities within the UK highways maintenance arena must support engineering design, routine maintenance and the on-going management of the network. While collaboration in construction projects has formed a major research focus in recent years, there is a paucity of work examining collaboration in-flight.

Through a micro-practices approach, two contracts delivering highway infrastructure maintenance and renewal services are examined to explore the intra-organisational relationships that determine the quality of service delivered.

Despite the rhetoric of collaboration and integrated working that pervades the contemporary project discourse, there was a clear focus on addressing immediate technical and commercial concerns, rather than on creating the conditions for integrated working to flourish. On the occasions where the collaborative environment was prioritised, a more integrated service was delivered.

In contrast to other accounts of the ways collaborative working shapes performance, this research reveals an acute need for a sustained collaborative effort; as soon as “collaborative working” was normalised, the level of integration and seamlessness of service was diminished. This questions normative notions of what defines collaborative working in projects and suggests a need for re-framing it as an on-going accomplishment of actors involved. Such a perspective resonates with notions of “organizational becoming”, particularly in that attempts to foster collaboration are themselves constitutive of the unfolding and shifting nature of intra-organisational relationships that emerge in complex contractual arrangements.

This paper contributes to the theory of the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and innovation at small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by conducting a conceptual analysis of the question why Germany boasts by far the highest number of “Hidden Champion” SMEs. This is done by case studies from the army and public financial management of aid disbursal in developing countries. Implications for HRM at SMEs are discussed.

Conceptual analysis using case studies.

Contributing towards filling the gap concerning theoretical underpinnings of the link between HRM and innovation, we suggest that interdisciplinary work from relevant organisational case studies indicates that the concept of institutional design to provide motivational incentives may be relevant, especially concerning high performance systems with bundles of HRM practices. Specifically, the fundamental principle of subsidiarity is found to be important.

The research is broadly applicable to organisations of all kinds, as the diverse case studies indicate. We point towards tentative implications for the firms that account for the majority of the work force, namely SMEs, and among them the most successful ones, the so-called “Hidden Champions”.

HR managers can improve motivation, performance and innovation by decentralising decision-making as far as possible, while ensuring the overall organisational goals are well understood and shared, and resources are dedicated to train and educate staff. Additionally, the conception of rank-order competitions complements the institutional design.

Greater productivity and material performance as well as greater job satisfaction via larger autonomy and decision-making power on the local level can be achieved by the application of subsidiarity as key HRM configuration. This can be employed at SMEs, as discussed, but also other organisations. Further, the principle of subsidiarity and the greater emphasis on staff training and education may help reduce inequality.

Our paper contributes towards filling the gap in the literature on the link between HRM and innovation, by identifying the role of subsidiarity. We introduce an interdisciplinary perspective, with contributions from economics and psychology, among others. We also contribute to the history of HRM.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate KM practices that may be in place in the higher education institutions (HEIs) and whether the KM practices are made known to the employees for improving the teaching and learning environment provided at the Malaysian higher education institutions.

Data were collected using a personal administrated method made available to private higher education institutions academic members in five states with 30 or more employees. A total of 1,100 survey questionnaires were handed out, out of which 273 were collected and were usable (24.8 per cent response rate). The sample was checked for response and non-response bias. Results were tested using SPSS application and questionnaire tools.

It was essential to establish the knowledge management (KM) capacity in key areas such as the ability to recognise experts within the institution, leadership’s innovation, knowledge sharing and knowledge acquiring work culture, and technology usage. KM tools and techniques would help the institutions to meet their competitive goals; therefore, it is vital for HEIs to create KM awareness among the employees.

Similar to most studies, it is anticipated that the participants’ awareness of KM practices at their HEIs is very high. The samples were collected to evaluate the general view of KM awareness and how participants perceived KM practices. The total samples received for this study were expected; however, they were sufficient to study the impact.

This paper provides support for the importance of KM practices and employees awareness at HEIs to enhance innovation and performance teaching and learning environment.

This paper is one of the first papers to find empirical support for the role of KM practices at HEIs. Further, the positioning of KM practices as a competitive tool can be considered as an influential factor to competitive advantage.