Section Twomanagement does not yet have a strategic role in many
organizations and, as a result, adequate lead time is not
provided in many companies. A survey of the human resource
managers of Midwestern manufacturing companies, facing
financial problems or threats from intense competition,
revealed that 94 percent of them had fewer than 60 days to
plan down-sizing. As a result, other alternatives were seldom
considered in these companies.^69
STRATEGY-DRIVEN ROLE BEHAVIORS AND
PRACTICES
Competitive strategies require different human resource
practices and different role behaviors. The role behaviors
needed of employees throughout an organization provide a
rationale for the linkage between competitive strategies and
human resource practices. For example, the competitive
strategies of (1) innovation, (2) quality enhancement, and (3)
cost reduction can be used to explain how different employee
behaviors are needed for successful implementation of different
strategies. These behaviors are roles that go beyond skills,
knowledge, and abilities.^70