Formal Human Resource Management Functions and Firm Effectiveness.

This symposium proposal aims to reinvigorate the investigation of the role of formal HRM functions in strategic HRM (SHRM) research. The majority of recent SHRM research has investigated the influence of various sets of HRM practices on firm performance independent of the formal HRM function (e.g., HR departments and HRM personnel). In fact, some observers, have explicitly advocated setting aside the question of formal HRM's influence on firm performance, objecting to the assumption that formal HR functions are the best custodians of strategic HRM within firms (e.g., Chadwick and Dabu, 2009; Hammonds, 2005). Yet the substantial evidence of a relationship between HRM practices and firm performance raises the question of whether firms' formal HRM functions, which aim to purposely shape firms' sets of HR practices and their pools of human capital, meaningfully contribute to firm performance. This issue received some attention in early strategic HRM research, which produced an inconsistent but compelling set of mixed results, but the question has largely been set aside by SHRM researchers since then. The empirical findings in this symposium's papers demonstrate that "better management of human resources" is directly affected by firms' formal HRM, and, in turn, can significantly influence firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]