Section Twothat human resource practices should include (1) employment
security guarantees, (2) extensive training programs, and
(3) participative decision making. With cost reduction, it has
been hypothesized that desired role behaviors are more likely
with (1) performance appraisal systems emphasizing results in
the short term, (2) virtually no training programs, (3) very
specialized jobs, (4) narrow and specialized career paths, and
(5) procedures for continual tracking of wage rates in the
labor market.^72
STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE
ACTIVITY TYPOLOGY
The role of individual human resource activities may be better
understood through the application of a conceptual typology
developed by Alan Speaker, senior vice president at Synhrgy
HR Technologies. The typology categorizes human resource
activities in a 2 × 2 matrix according to two dimensions: (1) the
extent to which such activities are relational or transactional
and (2) whether they have high or low strategic value. At one
end of the transactional and relationship continuum are
transactional activities that are mostly administrative and
impersonal. The performance of these activities does not
require a high level of interpersonal skill, and many of these
activities can be computerized. At the other end of the