HR Have the Final ‘No’: Advising, Persuading and Overruling to Navigate the Institutional Logics in HR Practice

Abstract

Institutional logics of the market, profession, and state act upon and define success in HR practitioners' work. We examine how HR professionals respond to these co-existing logics in their day-to-day interactions with line managers. Findings based on interviews with 41 HR professionals reveal their navigation of logics as they choose whether to advise, persuade, or overrule line managers. This decision-making is guided by their combined knowledge of regulation and their organisational context, as well as their perceptions of the line manager with whom they are interacting. Theoretically, we propose a spectrum of HR practitioners' involvement in line managers' enactment of HRM. We argue that HR practitioners' combined organisational and occupational knowledge enables them to balance the multiple institutional contexts acting upon people management, offering an inimitable contribution to organisations. However, we also highlight the challenges this balancing act creates for building credibility and legitimacy with organisational stakeholders.