On the Interface between Operations and Human Resources Management
Commissioned Paper
On the Interface Between Operations and
Human Resources Management
John Boudreau • Wallace Hopp • John O. McClain • L. Joseph Thomas
ILR Human Resource Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
IEMS Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208
Johnson School of Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
Johnson School of Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 jwb6@cornell.edu • hopp@northwestern.edu • jom1@cornell.edu • ljt3@cornell.edu
O
perations management (OM) and human resources management (HRM) historically have been very separate fields. In practice, operations managers and human resource managers interact primarily on administrative issues regarding payroll and other matters.
In academia, the two subjects are studied by separate communities of scholars publishing in disjoint sets of journals, drawing on mostly separate disciplinary foundations. Yet, operations and human resources are intimately related at a fundamental level. Operations are the context that often explains or moderates the effects of human resource activities such as pay, training, communications, and staffing. Human responses to OM systems often explain variations or anomalies that would otherwise be treated as randomness or error variance in traditional operations research models. In this paper, we probe the interface between operations and human resources by examining how human considerations affect classical OM results and how operational considerations affect classical HRM results. We then propose a unifying framework for identifying new research opportunities at the intersection of the two fields. ( Multidisciplinary; Cross-Training; Work Design; Scheduling; Low Inventory; Behavioral Science;
Motivation; Turnover; Worker Performance; Worker Attitude )
1.
Introduction
The fields of operations management (OM) and human resources management (HRM) have a long history of separateness.
On the Interface Between Operations and
Human Resources Management
John Boudreau • Wallace Hopp • John O. McClain • L. Joseph Thomas
ILR Human Resource Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
IEMS Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208
Johnson School of Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
Johnson School of Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 jwb6@cornell.edu • hopp@northwestern.edu • jom1@cornell.edu • ljt3@cornell.edu
O
perations management (OM) and human resources management (HRM) historically have been very separate fields. In practice, operations managers and human resource managers interact primarily on administrative issues regarding payroll and other matters.
In academia, the two subjects are studied by separate communities of scholars publishing in disjoint sets of journals, drawing on mostly separate disciplinary foundations. Yet, operations and human resources are intimately related at a fundamental level. Operations are the context that often explains or moderates the effects of human resource activities such as pay, training, communications, and staffing. Human responses to OM systems often explain variations or anomalies that would otherwise be treated as randomness or error variance in traditional operations research models. In this paper, we probe the interface between operations and human resources by examining how human considerations affect classical OM results and how operational considerations affect classical HRM results. We then propose a unifying framework for identifying new research opportunities at the intersection of the two fields. ( Multidisciplinary; Cross-Training; Work Design; Scheduling; Low Inventory; Behavioral Science;
Motivation; Turnover; Worker Performance; Worker Attitude )
1.
Introduction
The fields of operations management (OM) and human resources management (HRM) have a long history of separateness.
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