Critical Literature Review: People Management and Organisation - HRM

This literature review critically examines key debates and findings within organizational behavior and human resource management, focusing on employee perceptions and attitudes. The review analyzes the impact of supervisor support on HR policy implementation, highlighting its influence on employee engagement and turnover intentions. It compares job security perceptions between East and West German employees, linking it to flexibility and performance demands. The role of pay secrecy policies and employee preferences in shaping job attitudes is investigated, emphasizing the impact on satisfaction and justice perceptions. The review also explores changing perceptions of gender discrimination among university students, revealing a potential underestimation of workplace biases. Finally, it examines the effects of referral-based recruitment on job attitudes and turnover in temporary agency workers. The analysis draws on articles published in highly-ranked academic journals, addressing themes relevant to organizational behavior and HRM.

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION
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Running head: PEOPLE MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION
Introduction
Perceptions and attitudes are very important concepts in terms of organizational
behaviour. Perceptions and attitude helps in influencing the behaviour of individuals
working in the organization both inside and outside of the organization. Perceptions and
attitudes helps in determining the efficiency of the employees of an organization, the
productivity of the organization and the relation of the employees of the organization
with the higher management of the organization. Therefore it is very important from the
point of business organizations to identify and analyse the factors which helps in
influencing the perceptions and attitudes of the human resource of the organization so
that they can adopt policies and strategies accordingly in order to change and control
the perceptions and attitudes of the employees and accordingly control and manage the
productivity of the organization. The current focuses on conducting literature review
regarding the perceptions and attitudes of human beings in different organizational
context and settings.
Discussion
1. Effective HR implementation: the impact of supervisor support for policy use on
employees perceptions and attitude
It is very essential from the point of view of supervisors of various organizations to give
attention towards the development of human resource policies as often it is observed
that human resource policies such as work-life balance policies which are aimed
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towards improving the engagement of employees, improving organizational commitment
and improving health and well-being of employees do not always reach to their intended
effect. As stated by Kim, Lin and Leung (2015) therefore there is a requirement to
understand the conditions in a better manner under which execution of above
mentioned policies will be efficacious in nature. The assumption which has been made
in the current research is that intervention experts presume while proceeding regarding
modifications in working conditions, the staffs of an organization get empowered and
get additional resources, in the form of self-efficacy beliefs which enable them to
administer their work in a better manner and governs their well-being. The current
article helps in examining the perceptions of employees that the formal involvements of
their supervisors were related to intervention outcomes.
As stated by Straub et al. (2018) the findings of the article reflect that successful
execution of HR policies of an organization appears to be dependent on active
engagement of line managers of organizations regarding implementation of HR policies.
The findings of the current article also demonstrates that Supervisor Support regarding
the Policy helps in influencing the perceptions of the employees regarding work-home
culture which affect their work engagement levels and also impacts their turnover
intention over time. The results of the study also indicates that the perceptions of
employees regarding the Supervisors support policy were negatively co-related
regarding the perceptions of hindrance of work-home culture and therefore it can be
believed that Supervisors Support for Policy can influence whether the employees of an
organization truly comprehend an improvement regarding support for blending work and
family in the organization.
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As a result of the increasing involvement of the line manager of the organization
regarding the implementation of human resource policies in an organization, the article
helps in exploring between the interconnection amid the application of a work-life
balance policy and the limit to which the staffs of an organization comprehend support
from their supervisors and accordingly its influence on the results of the employees.
2. Flexibility, performance and perceptions of job security: a comparison of East
and West German employees in standard employment relationships
In Germany, subjective job security has steadily decreased in recent past and it
continuously ranks under average in cross-country comparisons. The share of non-
standard types of employment have increased in Germany from 19% in 1996 to 28%
in 2009, with part time being the most common non-standard form of employment.
As opined by Agarwal and Dewan (2016) as part time job is not related with higher
insecurity than full time jobs, therefore the decline of perceived job security can only
partly be linked to contractual flexibility. The current article helps in analysing the
determinants of perceived job security in German Standard Employment
Relationships which still dominate the labour market of Germany, although
undergoing various modifications. The theoretical discussions which has been
expressed in current article is human capital theory which states that the particular
skills of an organization can be contemplated as an additional indicator of job
stability and security.
The results of the articles demonstrate that the employees in West Germany’s
Standard Employment Relationship generally experienced more security regarding
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their job than those employees belonging to East Germany’s Standard Employment
Relationship which affects the attitude and perception of the employees in a positive
manner. According to Bernhardt and Krause (2014) the findings of article also
reflects that not-withstanding the location of the employment organizations, the West
German employees experienced more security regarding their job, than the East
Germany employees and the reason of this difference can be attributed to
distinctiveness in workplace and worker attributes and also as a result of the existing
cultural differences between the two regions which automatically becomes
responsibility regarding the perception and attitude of the findings of the research..
The findings of the study also demonstrate that seniority helps in providing job
security to the employees of both East and West Germany which tend to influence
the attitude and perception of the employees of the company.
The employment model of Germany has gone through various elementary
alterations from early 1990s and along with those alterations, and therefore the
sense of job security have decreased largely. While all past studies focused on
individual and institutional distinctiveness in order to comprehend improvement and
reasons of job security, but the current article focuses on meso-level of
organizations and has helped in analysing the importance of flexibility measures and
performance demands.
3. The role of pay secrecy policies and employee secrecy preferences in shaping
job attitudes
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Every business organization which pays their employees must accordingly decide
whether to communicate the pay information to their employees as well as must
decide ways to communicate these information as it related to the attitudes and .
perceptions demonstrated by the employees of an organization. With various
business organization located in the US, there are major variations in amount of pay
information which is corresponded to staffs of the organization. It is largely observed
that most private organizations located in the US, tend to adopt pay secrecy, which
is described as limitation on amount of information, which staffs are offered with and
information regarding what other employees are paid. The main purpose of current
article is to analyse how preferences of employees help to change impact which
organizational pay secrecy policies have on behaviour of employees. However, as
stated by Agarwal and Dewan (2016) debate which is raised is whether pay secrecy
policies can influence employee attitudes and behaviours, especially employee
satisfaction and justice perceptions as both satisfaction and justice perceptions are
vital as they help in capturing distinct attitudes which are connected to pay-related
phenomenon.
As stated by Smit and Tamara Montag‐Smit (2018) findings of the current article
helps in establishing the fact that differences amid staffs choices and organizational
pay secrecy policies tends to lower job fulfilment among the employees and
perceptions and attitude of the employees regarding informational, inter-personal
and procedural justice of the employees under some situations. The findings also
help in highlighting the importance of attitudes of employees regarding various pay
secrecy policies. The current article helps in expanding the pay secrecy literature
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which in turn helps in clarifying why and when the employees of an organization
have different reactions to various form of pay secrecy policy such as
communication restriction and pay non-disclosure which helps in contributing to the
research regarding different attitude and perception differences among the
employees. The current article helps in introducing the concept regarding pay-
secrecy preferences and very limited evidence that to justify the fact that pay
secrecy varies from one employee to the other resulting in variations in attitudes and
preferences of employees.
The current article helps in resolving various gaps in literature regarding pay secrecy
by underpinning that the performances of the employees and various unique kinds of
pay secrecy are very vital theoretical assumptions which helps in concluding how
and when the pay secrecy policies helps in shaping the outcome of the employees.
4. Taking off the blinders: A comparative study of University Students’ Changing
Perceptions of Gender Discrimination in the work place from 2006 to 2013
It is highly evident from the changes in legislations, development of new legislations and
different kinds of media attention that eliminating gender inequality in workplace is of
very vital significance in context of the current world. But in reality it is observed that this
interest in justice stands in bold contrasts as a result of continued gender wage gap
which is observed in various organizations, the steadiness of the gender discrimination
suited filed in courts and increase in high profile cases of gender discrimination against
various organizations which are reported in global media. As stated by Zhang, Ren and
Li (2019) however it is mainly observed that the university students of current
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generation tend to disregard likelihood of experiencing gender discrimination and
biasness at work. The main purpose of the current study is to analyse whether
perception of current university students have changed or still they continue to consider
themselves as immune in context of gender discrimination and biasness at work. The
key issue which has been raised is that though the level of discrimination has remained
constant in modern day organizations, but still the representatives of current generation
are reluctant to believe that they will be affected by certain kind of discrimination in
workplace.
As stated by Sipe et al. (2016) findings of the current article reflects that though gender
discriminations still tends to exist in workplaces in the form of pay disparity,
advancement, advanced career opportunities, mentoring and networking but students of
current generation are quite aware regarding these issues and their awareness has
gradually extended to include enhanced concerns regarding gender discrimination
against men also. Findings also reveal that the university students of current generation
still consider themselves to be immune regarding being a subject of gender
discrimination and biasness at their future workplaces as a result of continuous public
outcry, increased legal protections against such acts of discrimination and also as a
result of increased media coverage of such which results in the organization subjected
to high volumes of fines and penalty.
As stated by Purvis (2016) the students of the current generations still continue to
underestimate the presence of gender discrimination in the workplace and its potential
impact as the students of the current generation are more aware regarding the potential
of such discriminations than their counterparts several years ago. Based on the findings
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of the above research it can be stated that the attitude of men towards women, and
women towards women must change before the occurrence of reductions in the level of
discriminations in workplaces.
5. Analysis of the impact of referral based recruitment on job attitudes and turnover
in temporary agency workers
There has been observed a growth in the emerging kinds of non-traditional or
contingent employment which also includes temporary agency workers in last decade.
In this context, it can be stated that temporary work agencies had employed more than
67.2 million of temporary workers throughout the world in 2015 alone. However as
opined by Kloutsiniotis and Mihail (2018) it is very important to analyse temporary
agency workers as a result of its importance in the global labour market and also to
study about various explanatory behaviour in firms which have been raised from context
of permanent workers. The main aim of the current article is to evaluate recruitment
process which is based on referrals in temporary work agencies and to analyse impact
of referral based recruitment process on the attitudes and perceptions demonstrated by
the staffs and also regarding turnover of staffs. The assumption which has been made
in current article is that evaluation of “bring a friend” recruitment system in Temporary
Worker Agencies account for mechanisms of recruiting resources by making decision to
refer a friend or relative as well as accounts for processes which may conclude highest
organizational performance of recruited staffs.
According to González and Rivarés (2018) findings of the current article indicated that
workers who are recruited by temporary work agencies based on the referrals of
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existing employees possesses greater commitment regarding groups than other
employees as well as demonstrates more commitment regarding their task than other
employees reflecting a particular attitude and perceptions of the workers . They even
demonstrate greater task satisfaction than other directly recruited employees,
demonstrate greater job fulfilment and greater turnover than others who are not hired
based on referrals reflecting the same perception and attitudes. The distinctiveness
which is observed between employees recruited through referrals and in other
employees has been explained based on the feelings of obligations and expectations
which are generated during the recruitment process.
It is generally observed that whenever a temporary work agency launches a recruitment
process based on referrals of existing employees, it helps in activating two interrelated
and simultaneous processes. Firstly, it aims to recruit employees on social search
network and secondly it helps in prompting screening mechanism on part of hiring
workers and therefore it ensures that the employees who are recruited through referrals
have a high commitment and efficiency level.
6. Perceptions of employees voice and representation in the post-acquisition period
: Comparative and Longitudinal evidence from an international acquisitions
One of the most popular techniques which are followed by majority of the global
companies in relation to expansion is International Merger and Acquisitions. The
success of International Merger and Acquisitions partly depend on the management of
the employees after the completion of the acquisition. There are lack of literature
reviews regarding how the employees are affected due to restructuring and the
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influence of employees on the restructuring process which accordingly results in
perception and attitude differences. As stated by Maheshwari and Vohra (2015)
whereas, the main purpose of current article is to analyse perceptions of employees of
voice and representation after completion of the acquisition by asking two related
questions, firstly how does national context help in shaping staff perception after
completion of post-acquisition restructuring and secondly if the role played by national
contexts in shaping perceptions of employees change with the passage of time which
also affects the attitude of the employees. The argument which has been put up in the
current article is that perceptions of employees vary from one country to other
depending on the traditions of voice in country.
As opined by Edwards and Edwards (2015) the findings of the article highlight the fact
that the perceptions of the employees of their voice and representation will be the
lowest in the countries which have strongest traditions of voice. The findings of the
current article also highlights that the change in perception among the employees of
voice and representation between a time period will be less positive in countries which
have strongest traditions of voice compared to the countries which have weakly
institutionalized forms of voice.
Based on the findings of the article, it is observed that national effects on the attitudes of
the employees in question can modify over a time period and this modification can be
considered as significant in context of employee voice, but the impact of country on the
above mentioned levels has remained important allover.
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7. Collective fit perceptions: A multilevel investigation of person- group fit with
individual- level and team- level outcomes
One of the most globally recognized concepts in organizational psychology is the
person-environment fit or compatibility which occurs when individual and work
environment attributes are well synced in nature. Person-Group or person-team fit helps
in describing interpersonal sync among individuals and members of current work group
which impacts perception and attitudes of individuals. However, as stated by Bernhardt
and Krause (2014) theory of person-group fit helps in highlighting the collective value-
based and abilities-based fit perceptions which demonstrates unique and positive
association with cohesion, effectiveness and performances of team after resulting for
individual perceptions of P-G fit.
According to Kristof-Brown et al. (2014) by analysing fit at the individual and group
levels, the current article helps in conceptually and empirically supporting presence of
collective fit as a construct belonging to the team level with meaningful influence on the
results at both the level of the evaluations. The results of the article also states that
something extra takes place when a team shares cognition of their collective fit in the
team and with their tasks. The results of the article also help in demonstrating that
collective fit emerges as a shared perception in teams which is unique from aggregated
perceptions of individual-level fit and affecting perceptions and attitudes of the
employees.
The findings of the article helps in providing a compelling picture of the multi-level
nature of the person-group fit. The findings of the current article helps in demonstrating
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