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HRM competences: old or new? Results of the qualitative exploration into business requirements

Marsman, E.M. (2011) HRM competences: old or new? Results of the qualitative exploration into business requirements.

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Abstract:The goal of this study was to explore companies their requirements of the competences that future HR professionals need to perform. To reach this goal, the importance of the two topics of HRM competences and individual HRM job performance for the HR professional were investigated and a theoretical framework was build. The empirical study tried to explore what companies require from the future HR professional. To reach this goal, it was decided to conduct a qualitative study as this gave us the opportunity to go beyond our initial preconceptions and to gain full understanding about the topics. It was decided to conduct interviews with HR leaders from large companies in the Netherlands with a high position in HR, as we perceived these respondents to be good reliable sources, as they are professionals in the field of HRM and determine how HRM is done and who is qualified enough to do the job. In total, 10 respondents participated by giving a one-hour interview. In this interview, first, questions were asked about the function and work history of the respondent. Next, questions were asked about which competences and performance are required for the future HR professional and whether these requirements may differ with respect to company size, sector or scope. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. After the transcripts were made, they were send to the respondents for adjustment and verification. Coding was used as the method to analyze the transcripts, in which text bulks were given codes that referred to the topics of competences and performance. To ensure the reliability of these codes, a former colleague student was asked to co-code 3 of the 10 transcripts. Based on this check-code process, a reliable set of codes was defined and applied to the other transcripts. However, when re-coding the additional transcripts, new codes still emerged. The coding process led to 34 codes referring to the topic of HRM competences and 5 codes referring to the topic of individual HRM job performance. The 34 codes that referred to the topic of HRM competences could be grouped into six competence domains. The comparison between the data analyzed and the theoretical framework showed the following contributions of this research:  A more extensive set of competences for the HR professional was recognized  Performance was perceived to be the possession of HRM competences and little correspondence with the elements of individual HRM job performance was found  Contingency factors of company size, type, scope and position determine the competences that are required from the HR professionals Based on these contributions, we recommended future research to conduct a quantitative study to gain understanding on the relevance of the individual HRM job performance and to find possible correlations between the HRM competences and individual HRM job performance. Furthermore, it was also recommended to further research the contingencies that affect what is being required of the HR professional by the business.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Business Information Technology MSc (60025)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/61141
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