Leland Entrekin

Human Resource Management and Change: A practising managers guide offers a timely overview of recent environmental and economic changes as depicted by the DELTA forces of change. These include demographic, environmental, legal, technical and attitudinal changes that are in part the product of globalization, and the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The fundamental strategies for managing change and implementing human resource practices are clearly explained. End of chapter study guides further explain the topics of the chapters by providing case studies and review and discussion questions as well as further reading. The text reflects the everyday challenge managers face in a turbulent environment and focuses on providing practical guidelines to managers who may not have higher academic qualifications to help them manage people and change.

Networking has been established as an important source of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) business expansion in many developed economies. Often, it provides the necessary intelligence leading to internationalization. The question this study addresses is "What are the roles and sources of networking of SMEs internationalization in emerging economies?" This study responds to this query through a dyadic study involving expert-opinion survey of SME development professionals and case studies of SMEs internationalization. The convergent views identified three interconnected sources of networking for SMEs internationalization, which are government institutions, business associates, and personal relations. The results affirmed that accomplishment of internationalization requires cohesion among the myriads of networking sources and operating agencies. A systems approach towards supporting the creation and management of networking linkages for internationalization combines systems thinking perspective with institutional view. It emphasizes integration of coordination, facilitation, and monitoring functions. Thus, suggesting institutional support and systems thinking are important constructs in the theory of international entrepreneurship. Policy makers and entrepreneurs of SMEs gain actionable points to ensure effectiveness of institutional support mechanism and to enhance their business internationalization, respectively.

Factors influencing small-to-medium enterprises (SME) internationalization have been discussed in developed countries, yet developing counties are still struggling for empirical evidence. This article seeks to investigate the influential factors and identify the most influential aspects that drive Malaysian SMEs to internationalize. This exploratory study applied a Delphi technique through telephone interviews and e-mails. A panel of 32 experts including academicians, policymakers, government agencies, the Chamber of Commerce and research institute participated in this study. The Expert Panel was identified from the internet and through personal contacts. The experts were selected based on their positions, qualifications, affiliations, age and length of working experience. The findings found that the influential factors are firm characteristics, industry factor, external influence, and motivational aspects. Interestingly, this study revealed that the most influential factor is networking. Therefore, a Malaysian model of the factors influencing SME internationalization is derived. In particular, this study provides some insights into SMEs internationalization process and identifies suggestions for future research.

Western countries have discovered factors influencing small-to-medium enterprises (SME) internationalisation, yet Eastern nations are still struggling for empirical evidence. This article seeks to investigate the influential factors, identify the most influential characteristics driving SMEs to internationalise and develop a model of SME internationalisation within an Eastern-developing nation, Malaysia. A panel of 16 experts, including academicians, policymakers, supporting government agencies, the Chamber of Commerce and research institutes took part in long distance telephone conversations. To ensure the authenticity of the experts’ stances, they were selected based on their positions, qualifications, affiliations, age and length of working experience. The Expert Panel was identified from the internet and through personal contacts. Majority of the experts involve directly with the SME development in Malaysia. The underlying assumption of this Expert Panel is to give relevant opinions and a legitimate understanding of the internationalisation process of Malaysian SME. The findings from a modified Delphi Technique indicate that networking is the most influential factor, followed by firm characteristics, industry factor, external influence and motivational aspects. Therefore, a Malaysian model of the factors influencing SME internationalization is derived. To deal with complexity of networking as a crucial means to internationalization, a networking linkages model is proposed for practicality. In particular, this study provides some insights into SMEs internationalisation process and identifies suggestions for future research.

This working paper reports a study that focuses on the internationalization processes of manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia. It attempts to discover why these firms internationalize and how the process of internationalizing takes place. A qualitative methodology using a modified Delphi approach of tele-conversation survey was taken for collecting data from a panel of expert. These experts drew attention to domestic and global conditions, government’s incentives and support, firm specific factors, key managers’ background and attitudes, and networking as the main issues contributing to the internationalization process of SMEs in Malaysia.

As organisations battle to get the most from their existing people in an environment characterised by skill shortages, the role of human resource practices in fostering employee engagement and commitment is paramount. This paper reports the findings of an Australian study, which examined the current relationship between human resource management practices and the retention of core (critical) employees working in nine organisations. This research specifically, reports on the conditional nature of the relationship between organisational and human resource practices, and commitment. The findings of the study have important implications for human resource academics and practioners.

Despite considerable interest in assessing work dimensions and managerial practices that may enhance organizational vitality, seldom have these features been examined in Build Operate Transfer (BOT) arrange ments which have been frequently used in large-scale infrastructure and development in emerging economies. This study examined job design dimensions and management practice in regional divisions of TELKOM Indonesia, four operating under foreign-partnered BOT arrangements and two operating under the Indo nesian public sector. Surveys were administered to employees at management, functional and lower levels in the telecommunications divisions. Analysis of variance was used to compare private BOT and public sector divisions for staff training, perceived job dimensions and productivity. The results show that BOT divisions with a centralized, pyramidal structure and autocratic management style achieved the greatest infrastructure development and revenue. This was particularly evident in the French BOT division that was associated with the greatest job scope, reasonable investment in training and the highest rates of productivity. The host nation, Indonesia used training and autonomy in work design and reported the greatest spending on human resources and the fewest service complaints. Implications are discussed in terms of executive development and management practices in developing countries.

Employee retention is one of the challenges facing many business organisations today. Many industries are afflicted with high demand for specialised employees and are also suffering high levels of turnover. We have moved into a knowledge-based society where human capital is considered a key resource and a competitive business advantage. The high attrition rate of critical (core) employees is costly to corporations. Loss of these high talent employees results in the stripping of valuable human capital, critical skills and institutional memory. Consequently, companies are giving increased attention to ways of retaining their high performing employees rather than relying on costly replacement and retraining. New paradigm companies recognise that an important element in business management practices is the need to successfully motivate and retain employees who survive organisational restructuring, downsizing, consolidation, reorganising or re-engineering initiatives. This paper examines the current human resource practices on the retention of core employees in twelve Australian organisations. It explores the relationship between human resource (HR) practices and retention and further identifies the elements of HR practices, which strongly influence the decision for core employees to stay. It is part of a three phased study and the methodologies discussed in this paper consist of a) a Delphi survey of expert opinions and b) an in-depth interview of HR Managers of organisations. Results from this study will assist in the development of an effective HRM retention program for organisations. Businesses can successfully keep critical employees with a total retention strategy and HR programs to support it.

The effectiveness of using team learning to improve team performance has been well documented in the literature, and this notion makes intuitive sense. However, little empirical research has been dedicated to the relationship between team learning and team performance, probably owing to the lack of a widely acceptable instrument for assessing team learning. In this study, a psychometric (validity and reliability) examination of Edmondson's Team Learning Survey (TLS) is undertaken. This instrument was then used to examine the effects of internal and external team learning on team performance. Implications and limitations of the study findings are discussed.