regions or countries. In some countries, occupational specialists may be in such
short supply or high demand that they have considerable leverage or bargaining
power in determining which type of employment option they are willing to work
within (Purcell et al. 2004 ).
Finally, how does a global HR architecture impact the composition of the HR
systems used to manage these subsystems? While outsourcing or oVshoring
arrangements may be managed suYciently with a compliance-oriented HR system,
long-term alliance partners must be coordinated. Given cultural diVerences, and in
many cases considerable distance, what should be the composition of the HR
systems for these global partners? How should companies design HR systems for
these diVerent countries that simultaneously meet a company’s strategic needs
while addressing the local country’s requirements? Researchers have struggled
with the distinction between global eYciency and local responsiveness at the
strategy level. The unique challenge here is that these are often not completely
independent entities that may be managed diVerently. From an architectural
perspective, these employment subsystems must be integrated and coordinated
to prove eVective.
11.4 Strategy and the HR Architecture
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
Although our discussion so far has focused on the relationships among human
capital, employment, and HR systems, it is important to explore how a company’s
strategic direction may impact how they structure their HR architecture. Much of
the strategic HRM research has focused on the direct linkage between aWrm’s
strategy and its dominant orientation toward HR (e.g. Arthur 1992 ; Miles and
Snow 1984 ). The underlying logic for this focus is that diVerent organizational
strategies have certain behavioral requirements for their successful implementation
(Jackson et al. 1989 ; Miles and Snow 1984 ). To elicit these behaviors, organizations
design and deploy HR practices that motivate certain employee attitudes and
behaviors while discouraging others.
Building on this behavioral perspective, one might anticipate thatWrms pursu-
ing diVerent strategic orientations would be likely to utilize diVerent HR con-
Wgurations for their employee groups. For example, in the case ofWrms pursuing
innovation, it may be that the entire workforce needs to be more oriented toward
knowledge creation and transfer (Leonard-Barton 1995 ; Schuler and Jackson 1987 ).
As noted by Jackson and colleagues ( 1989 ),Wrms that compete in the market place
by being more innovative than their competitors must have employees that are
willing to take risks and experiment with new ideas. Achieving this requires that
employment subsystems and hr architecture 219