Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

DOI

10.5465/amp.2020.0099

Publication Title

Academy of Management Perspectives

Volume

35

Issue

2

Pages

237-247

Abstract

In spite of the designation, research in strategic human resource management (SHRM) has largely focused on tactical rather than strategic issues. These studies have attempted to explain whether firm performance is associated with “best-practice” or “best-fit” human resource management (HRM) practices. The focus on internally consistent (horizontal fit) HRM practices is better characterized as tactical implementation than as strategic formulation. In the latter, HRM leads rather than follows the firm’s long-term responses to shifts in the firm’s competitive and market environment. In this paper, I propose an attention-based view of the firm to reframe SHRM research and policy to support a strategy formulation based on environment conditions (vertical fit). From an organizational policy perspective, this approach elevates the role of the HR executive from that of a functional specialist to that of a strategic generalist.

Comments

© 2021 The Academy of Management, all rights reserved.

Included after a 12 month embargo period in accordance with Academy of Management's Green Open Access Policy.

Publisher's version available at: https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2020.0099

Original Publication Citation

Lee, S.-H. (2021). An attention-based view of strategic human resource management. Academy of Management Perspectives, 35(2), 237-247. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2020.0099

Download

Share

COinS