Strategic Human Resource Management

Section Five

Some of the other implications of this study may be
summarized as follows:

These findings linking tenure with inferior

performance contradict conventional wisdom and

conventional practice. Traditionally, both

conventional wisdom and practice have been that

internal development and promotion, up to and

including the CEO position, were the hallmark of

the successful, effective, organization... The

rapidity of environmental flux in recent years may

dictate a heightened need for a constant

reexamination of the status quo, and continuous

innovation and change. A corollary of this

proposition is that the relative value of firm-

specific tenure may be diminishing. Knowledge of

past practices, procedures, and strategies—

perhaps more valuable in earlier, more stable

competitive environments—may now sometimes

impede progress and change.^81

While these results favor the selection of outsiders,
insiders also can acquire some of the abilities associated with
outsiders. The NCR Corporation has found that the
intraorganizational experience of executives can be enriched to
develop adaptive abilities more characteristic of outsiders. In