IT HRM practices: best practices vs. configurations

ABSTRACT

The management of information technology (IT) professionals is an important managerial concern. The way that IT organizations manage their IT professionals is essentially manifested in their implementation of human resource management (HRM) practices, such as those related to career development, pay, and job security. Ferratt et al. (2005) describe two contrasting modes of theorizing about how HRM practices should be combined to yield desired outcomes: universalistic (or "best-practices") and configurational. They call for an examination of the assumptions underlying these modes of theorizing. Our examination yields the following proposition: The complex configurational mode of theorizing has value in explaining a success criterion (such as turnover) beyond that of the simple universalistic mode. We collected data from members of a national professional organization of IT employees on a number of IT HRM practices and a success criterion. Analysis of variance allows us to test the proposition. The independent variables are the IT HRM practices plus a profile variable representing various configurations of practices. A significant profile variable indicates that the variance in the success criterion explained by configurations is significantly greater than the variance explained by the individual IT HRM practices acting independently, thereby supporting an inference of synergism in combining the practices. The results of these tests, when completed, will be used to suggest directions for managing IT professionals and future IT HRM theory development and testing.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management
          Subjects: Staffing

General Terms:
Management

Keywords:
configurational theory, universalistic mode of theorizing