Getting the Hr Message Across: The Linkage Between Line - Hr Consensus and 'Commitment Strength' Among Hospital Employees**

Zusammenfassung

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Related to the theoretical work of Bowen and Ostroff (2004; also Ostroff/Bowen 2000), this article focuses on the features of an HRM system that help or constrain organizations to get their HR message across. At a department-level of analysis, we focus on the consensus between line managers and decentralized HR professionals on the human resource practices in place and on the either strategic or operational role of the HR function in the process of the management of employees. Stating that an organization's HR policies are transmitted by decentralized line and HR managers, it is proposed that the more line and HR executives agree on the status of their relationship and the HR practices in place, the less employees vary in their affective attitudes of commitment to the organization. Central to this article is the "strength" of affective organizational commitment among unit-members in a sample of 671 employees from 66 hospital departments drawn from four Dutch hospitals. Multi-level analyses indicate that consensus between HR professionals and line managers on HR practices (career opportunities, appraisal criteria) and on HR's role is positively related to the commitment strength within a department. It is concluded that the collectivity of employee commitment to the organization is partly a function of department-level HR process indicators. Research limitations and implications for HR practitioners are discussed.

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Auszug

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Getting the Hr Message Across: The Linkage Between Line - Hr Consensus and 'Commitment Strength' Among Hospital Employees**

Introduction

Puzzling questions regarding the dynamics between HRM and organizational performance outcomes have generated various conceptual models on the HR- organizational performance link (Guest 1997; Becker et al. 1997; Wright/Snell 1998; Ostroff/Bowen 2000; Wright/Nishii 2004). The overall assumption these conceptual models contain is that a combination of HR practices, influences employee skills, attitudes and behaviour and in turn affects the overall business performance (Delery 1998). The last decade, particular research interest in high commitment models of HRM depicted that a bundle of HR practices focusing on employee commitment to the organization ultimately would contribute to organizational effectiveness, through the added value of dedicated employees working harder, smarter and sharing the objectives of the organization (Arthur 1992; Guest 2002; Edwards/Wright 2001).

Hence, this basic assumption underlying high commitment models of HRM has received much research attention and the scholars that empirically tested the direct relationship between commitment-oriented HR practices and affective organizational commitment (for example Benkhoff 1997; Agarwala 2003; Godard 2001; Guest 1999; Whitener 2001; Ramsey et al. 2000) reveal an overall positive relation between 'best' HR practices (e.g., career opportunities, selective hiring, performance appraisals, participation in decision-making) and affective organizational commitment. In all of the studies, affective organizational commitment defined as the degree of an employee's emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization (Allen/Meyer 1990) is treated as a necessary individual employee attribute that is expected to be crucial to the organization's success.

However, as much of the strategic HR research views the individual employee's commitment to the organization as a key resource to develop, recent theoretical developments focus more explicitly on the value of creating "strong" organizational climates (B...

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