Knowledge that Transforms

This article, based on a case study of Digital Equipment Corporation, examines issues raised by efforts to stabilize employment. The specific case is a large program which restructured and reduced employment without resorting to layoffs. The article describes the DEC process, the key choices which underly the procedures, and provides data on the consequences for individuals and the firm. It then explores the implications of the DEC experience for the broad human resource principles and actions which must underlie any effort to stabilize employment.

This paper proposes a four‐cell typology of career systems, which describes the way different corporate strategies reflect the nature of executive labor markets. The two critical dimensions of the model, “supply flow” and “assignment flow,” reflect the external and internal movement of executives. We use recent examples from industry to demonstrate the way in which business and career system strategies align. We then examine individual background and personality variables, drawn from a ten‐year study tracking 125 MBA graduates, to show how executives sort themselves into the career system best suited to their needs. The broader purpose of this research is to begin to tie together a general theory of career systems that focuses on the level of the firm in its changing strategic and industry context.

Traditional “Japanese personnel management” that has long been considered as the key for Japan's competitive success now needs fundamental restructuring in order to meet the challenges of a stagnant economy, matured domestic market, and the rise of NICs (Newly Industrialized Countries) in international markets. The self‐renewal of Japanese firms can be achieved by a paradigm shift at the corporate strategy level: from a production orientation to a product orientation. In accordance with this paradigm shift, leading Japanese firms have started reforming their Human Resource Management (HRM) function from a productivity‐centered to a creativity‐centered one— creative HRM. Creative HRM has three pillars: (1) the creation of the strategic vision through commitment of the employees, (2) an entrepreneurial middle management as a key strategic node, and (3) multi‐dimensional personnel management. Creation and realization of the strategic vision through the active commitment of an entrepreneurial middle management is necessary for the self‐renewal of the firm. “Japanese Personnel Management” that might have been overadapted to the traditional strategic paradigm is now transforming itself from a “group‐centered” personnel administration to an “individual‐centered” one. While Western companies have been adopting Japanese “groupism” to reconstruct their production systems, Japanese companies have started introducing Western “individualism” to encourage creative self‐transformation. But no system or technique is truly effective without human commitment, and this requires a fundamental paradigm shift for Japanese firms.

Questionnaire and interview data were gathered on 150 People's Republic of China female managers who were contrasted with their counterparts in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Chinese female managers have little job mobility, pursue careers appraised by the Party and influenced by central government planning, work the most hours per week, and recommend the political/ideology path as the fastest route to the top. They are comparatively less educated, progress under a patrilineal tradition, recommend business courses as a means of preparation for managerial responsibilities, and slowly are gaming opportunities in fob selection.

This paper explores the experience of burnout and success in the professional and private lives of people in technical careers. Participants in the study were 51 male and 51 female engineers, who were matched as pairs on a variety of personal and job‐related variables. An analysis of the data shows that the sampling design worked: the two groups are very similar in their organizational positions, share a similar outlook on their jobs, and have similar orientations towards their careers and lives. However, gender differences were revealed in the interrelationship between work and private life and its effect on measures of well‐being such as feelings of burnout, satisfaction, enjoyment, and perceived success. Results indicate that male engineers are better able to integrate work success with private life than their female counterparts. For men, work and non‐work success are compatible, while for women they seem to conflict. The results are discussed in the light of a theoretical proposition to view burnout in a person/environment‐fit framework. Implications are drawn for career consultants and human resource managers in organizations that rely on technical expertise.

This article will first describe and analyze two very different patterns of entrepreneurship found in large American companies studied by the author. “Surface entrepreneurship” denotes the pattern of entrepreneurial activity found in companies where entrepreneurship was seen as an important business objective that management was trying to promote and accomplish. In contrast, “deep entrepreneurship” denotes the pattern found in companies where entrepreneurship was an important shared value. European firms currently being studied combine elements from these two patterns. These studies suggest the fundamental questions that must be addressed to promote entrepreneurship. Some answers in the form of recommendations to management are presented.

Downsizing is a competitive strategy which many organizations use, yet little is known about organizational policies related to downsizings. A survey of mid‐western personnel directors in manufacturing firms was conducted to capture organizational policies and assess perceptions and attitudes regarding downsizing. Seniority was cited as the overwhelming criterion used to determine layoffs. Nonunion firms considered performance significantly more than did unionized organizations in determining layoffs. Few alternatives to layoffs were actually considered, which is not surprising because 94% of the HR managers had less than two months to plan and implement the downsizing. Implications for white collar employees, prescriptions for HR practice, and future research are discussed.

Differences between Chinese and U.S. human resource management systems are described with respect to fundamental organization and work‐related assumptions about people and performance, rewards, training and development, and educational background of HR practitioners. We identify key differences that present impediments to the modernization of HRM practices in Sino‐U.S. cooperative ventures, and then, present a normative framework for the introduction of modem HRM practices into these ventures. We conclude with implications for both research and practice that focus primarily on integrating individuals and the enterprise, as well as integrating the enterprise with social and economic goals.