Human resource management, innovation and performance.

Abstract

The genesis for this book was an ESRC-funded seminar series organised by the members of three academic institutions, namely, Aston Business School, Lancaster School of Management and the Warwick Institute for Employment Research, during 2011–2013. Titled ‘Organisational Innovation, People Management and Sustained Performance: Towards a Multi-level Framework for Medium-Sized Businesses’, a key remit of the series was to generate new insights into this important and dynamic area. The series was driven by our strong belief that the question of how to achieve sustained organisational performance is of national and international economic significance. Organisations that embrace innovation rather than remaining entrenched in long-standing ways of working have a higher likelihood of achieving high performance over time, sustaining jobs and creating the conditions for economic growth. It struck us that, although a lot of research focuses on the technical aspects of innovation, less attention has been devoted to understanding the people management implications that this way of working presents (OECD, 2010; Sparrow, 2010). Reflecting the significance of this challenge, our seminar series proposed a multi-level framework for exploring the role of people management in shaping organisational innovation. Our focus was medium-sized businesses, although we envisaged from the outset that our work would have wide applicability across the business sectors. Our proposal was original in adopting a multi-level perspective, suggesting that factoring in change at one level without taking into account any wider impact might lead to outcomes that would be unexpected or even harmful (OECD, 2010). We were fortunate to bring into the series leading scholars as well as vibrant and motivated early- and mid-career researchers whose work is suggestive of a multi-level perspective. We were equally fortunate to have representatives of the Confederation of British Industries and policymakers and practitioners from a variety of industries and government bodies involved in the seminars.