Empirical Study on Relationship among Human Resource Management, Production Strategy and Organizational Performance
This study examines two alternative views-universal and contingency of the human resources(HR)-performance relationship in manufacturing settings. Results from a survey of 97 plants primarily support a contingency approach to human resource management(HRM). An HR system focused on human capital enhancement was directly related to multiple dimensions of operational performance(i.e., employee productivity, machine efficiency, and customer alignment), but subsequent analysis revealed that this main effect was predominately the result of linking human-capital-enhancing HR systems with a quality manufacturing strategy. Other manufacturing strategies also moderated the HR-performance relationship.
The economic reforms in the Chinese countryside since 1978...provide a major natural experiment in the social and economic consequences of the transition from planned to market systems. This paper provides a beginning assessment of some of those changes with new 1993 data on rural China. Our emphasis is on changing [educational] opportunities for men and women and the ways in which this education produces human capital that leads to significant new work and income rewards. (EXCERPT)