Configuring and Contextualising HR Systems: An Empirical Study of Manufacturing SMEs

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 41.220.23.130 on Tue, 01 Mar 2016 12:30:36 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Human resource management (HRM) has become for SMEs a critical factor of adap-tation to an increasingly complex and uncertain business environment. Founded on open systems and contingency theory, the present study seeks to identify configura-tions of HR systems in manufacturing SMEs, and to determine the extent to which these configurations are associated to the environmental and organisational context. Survey data analysis of 176 manufacturing SMEs revealed three configurations of HR systems, namely a "strategic-high-commitment system", a "functional-high-commit-ment system", and a "traditional-low-commitment system". Differences in these sys-tems are associated to variables that reflect the SMEs' environmental, organisational and technological context.