Human Resource Management
2
GOVERNANCE IN A HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATION. BEST PRACTICE, BEST FIT, OR RELIANCE ON IDEALISM? 6
Abstract Humanitarian organizations are pressured to professionalize and streamline their Human Resource Management (HRM) governance structure as a means to improve humanitarian aid provision. In the HRM literature, two perspectives advocate different ways to achieve this: the universalist (best practices) and the contingency (best fit) approach. Since the humanitarian sector is historically known for its suspicion of such “business-like” approaches a third perspective, the “idealist” approach, is introduced. These three templates provide contrasting clues regarding how to design humanitarian governance structures and HRM practices. This paper investigates how humanitarian organizations navigate between these contradicting templates. The three approaches provide the basis for a descriptive and theoretical framework to analyze HRM governance systems. This framework is used to systematically reconstruct the development and contents of the HRM governance of one large humanitarian organization – the Dutch section of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – by means of a detailed analysis of organizational documents and expert interviews. The analysis provides unique insights into the HRM philosophy, policies and practices of MSF Holland and shows how the organization combines the best practices with the best fit approach and at the same time adheres to the fundamental principles of the idealist approach.
6
This chapter is co-authored with Rafael Wittek, Liesbet Heyse and Melinda Mills and is currently being prepared for journal submission. Data was collected in collaboration with Liesbet Heyse and Susanne Emde at MSF Holland. Sincere thanks to the organization and particularly, to those members who kindly agreed to be interviewed, for enabling and supporting the research.
38 | Chapter 2
2. 1
Introduction: Governance in Humanitarian Organizations
GOVERNANCE IN A HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATION. BEST PRACTICE, BEST FIT, OR RELIANCE ON IDEALISM? 6
Abstract Humanitarian organizations are pressured to professionalize and streamline their Human Resource Management (HRM) governance structure as a means to improve humanitarian aid provision. In the HRM literature, two perspectives advocate different ways to achieve this: the universalist (best practices) and the contingency (best fit) approach. Since the humanitarian sector is historically known for its suspicion of such “business-like” approaches a third perspective, the “idealist” approach, is introduced. These three templates provide contrasting clues regarding how to design humanitarian governance structures and HRM practices. This paper investigates how humanitarian organizations navigate between these contradicting templates. The three approaches provide the basis for a descriptive and theoretical framework to analyze HRM governance systems. This framework is used to systematically reconstruct the development and contents of the HRM governance of one large humanitarian organization – the Dutch section of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – by means of a detailed analysis of organizational documents and expert interviews. The analysis provides unique insights into the HRM philosophy, policies and practices of MSF Holland and shows how the organization combines the best practices with the best fit approach and at the same time adheres to the fundamental principles of the idealist approach.
6
This chapter is co-authored with Rafael Wittek, Liesbet Heyse and Melinda Mills and is currently being prepared for journal submission. Data was collected in collaboration with Liesbet Heyse and Susanne Emde at MSF Holland. Sincere thanks to the organization and particularly, to those members who kindly agreed to be interviewed, for enabling and supporting the research.
38 | Chapter 2
2. 1
Introduction: Governance in Humanitarian Organizations