Personal Blogs

Road to 100k

Thanks for the 80,000 blog views. Guess what? Only 20k more to a whopping 100,000. Wow!

Anyway, so, this morning, I was prompted to reflect on personal pursuits by Dr Kaul in our meeting. One thing about pursuits, both academic and professional, is that these endeavors have become relatively narrow and streamlined in recent years. The only paid work I have ever applied for or been in for have been executive staffing roles, mainly because as anyone who knows can testify, staffing is a sector I am quite interested in, alongside Learning and Development (B814), and Employee Relations (B813). 

However, as the fit notes era is well and truly behind me, I have become quite "choosy" in my adult years concerning opportunity (I guess some of us have to be) and in terms of my outlook and career potential. 

In utopia, I tabled the pursuit (it is much rather an aspiration) of becoming a Research Assistant (Post-Doc) to a prominent Professor of HRM at London Business School or King's College's Department of Human Resources, which is a bricks-and-mortar University, which I greatly admire. 

However, even I had to acknowledge to Dr. Kaul, that there is a very small caveat that this career path inherently has. Though strikingly rich in vernacular and academic esteem, I may choose its course (spotting gaps, conducting original research, co-authoring, etc) and live to realize it was perhaps a feat only a lucky few could accomplish in their careers in academia.

That got me thinking. Whatever happened to good old shareholder capitalism? 

A major element of Tianxi Wang's module is controversial. We all know what shareholder capitalism is though, right? Well if you didn't, I'll briefly explain. This term generally describes theories that deal with the concern of investors as owners of corporations (Jensen and Meckling, 1976) which are equally important to the rise of startups and smaller enterprises. It aims to answer the question: How can shareholders, who have the long-term value and ownership of the firm at heart, best delegate the control of decisions made by managerial actors who are entrusted to maintain this value, to varying degrees of stewardship? This is often called the 'separation of ownership and control' in the United Kingdom and other countries.

In Jensen and Meckling's (1976) abstract, we find the familiar problem of principal agency. It reads: "We define the concept of agency costs, show its relationship to the ‘separation and control’ issue, investigate the nature of the agency costs generated by the existence of debt and outside equity, demonstrate who bears costs and why, and investigate the Pareto optimality of their existence." What exactly do Jensen and Meckling mean here by the use of the word "costs"? 

Well, Prof. Edmans, and others such as Varela (2017), have argued, that they mean agency costs, which "arise when the firm is run by a manager who owns less than 100 percent of the company—so there’s a separation between shareholders (the ‘principal’) and the manager (‘agent’) who acts on their behalf. Agency costs arise when there is a ‘divergence between the agent’s decisions and those decisions that would maximize the welfare of the principal’. Human Resources as a function, are therefore quietly implicated in a very real sense in ideas that go above and beyond the importance of something as simple and simultaneously as complex as strategic planning. We are talking more along the lines of what value, governance, and stewardship on behalf of the principal owners of a firm, are, and in what Prof. Edmans refers to - as the overall "welfare" of the firm. To sum up, shareholder capitalism is of great importance to our perceptions of pluralism in Human Resource Management as a discipline and should be given more credence and granted more clemency. 

References

1. Jensen, M.C. and Meckling, W.H. (1976) 'Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs, and ownership structure', Journal of Financial Economics, 3(4), pp. 305-360 - Available at https://www.sfu.ca/~wainwrig/Econ400/jensen-meckling.pdf

2. Edmans, A. (2021) 'What Stakeholder Capitalism Can Learn from Jensen and Meckling'. Oxford Law Blogs - Available at https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2021/05/what-stakeholder-capitalism-can-learn-jensen-and-meckling

3. Varela, O. (2017) "Agency costs” when agents perform better than owners, Finance Research Letters, 23, pp. 103-113 - Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2017.07.019

This note presents a question on the legitimacy of the so-called ‘dualist’ approach to the implementation of international law into domestic law (Ministry of Justice, 2021: ss.48)

My arguments are supported by three concise references:

• McGoldrick’s (2001: 914) position paper on the incompatibility of UK law with the European Convention on Human Rights, which cites an area known as ‘new’ interpretive obligation
• Transformative constitutionalism is a type of generalized political philosophy (used in a discursive context) according to Prof. Karl Klare (Hunt, 2002: 88)
• Prof. Edwin Egede and Cheluchi Onyemelukwe’s view, according to Ebenezer Durojaye, is that the Nigerian Constitution is superior and not equivalent to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (in Nigeria) but that the African Charter should nevertheless be afforded the privilege of full effect in Nigerian Constitution (Killander, 2010:159)

How is ‘dualism’ perceived among employment law, labour law, and human rights practitioners?

References

Hunt, M. (1999). The Human Rights Act and legal culture: the judiciary and the legal profession. Journal of Law and Society, 26(1), 86-102. (Accessed on 23 October 2024)

Killander, M. (2010) International law and domestic human rights litigation in Africa. Pretoria University Law Press PULP. (Accessed on 23 October 2024)

McGoldrick, D. (2001). The United Kingdom's Human Rights Act 1998 in Theory and Practice. International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 50(4), 901-953.

Ministry of Justice (2021) ‘Human Rights Act Reform: A Modern Bill of Rights: A consultation to reform the Human Rights Act 1998’, Crown copyright, Available at https://consult.justice.gov.uk/human-rights/human-rights-act-reform/supporting_documents/humanrightsreformconsultation.pdf (Accessed on 23 October 2024)

Shale, Itumeleng. (2019). Historical perspective on the place of international human rights treaties in the legal system of Lesotho: moving beyond the monist-dualist dichotomy. African Human Rights Law Journal, 19(1), 193-218. (Accessed on 23 October 2024)

My question here is: How else do election manifestos affect immigration policy and wage growth?

One well-researched answer has been given by my academic advisor while at Essex Economics Department, who is now teaching at Warwick Economics Department, Prof. Francesco Squintani. He agrees with the above, and in an outstanding theoretical economics paper that focuses on the micro-theory of pandering in elections, he and 2 co-authors argue that politicians overindulge in scrupulous policy announcements, to the detrimental welfare of the electorate.

This got me thinking about the task of comparing election promises (manifestos and wider announcements) in US. UK and to a lesser extent, French incumbent electoral campaigns. In his paper, Prof. Squintani argues that a politician’s motive is essentially viewed as a singular outcome - to be elected by voters - which poses an obstacle to precise information gathering and complete information because both politicians along a Hotelling location model (which is explained in the paper) pander around policies and create informational asymmetries.

I wrote in the original draft of “Pareto-Nash Reversion Strategies” (Mayaki, 2024) that burden of ascertaining skilled immigration demand must rest in the hands of institutional employers and not left at the doorstep of central government. The figures from this report by Pierce and Selee (2017) highlight the enormity of the task at hand when identifying precise immigration policy. 

Pierce and Selee (2017) argue that in the U.S. seven executive orders signed by newly elected President Donald Trump which restricted immigration policy and led to a 3.9% reduction in tourism to the United States in the first six months of 2017, a 9% reduction in newly arriving international students, and a decline in H-1B visa applications by employers’ with only 199,000 applications received that year – the lowest number since the Great Recession. These are not mercantilist numbers. If anything, they represent exactly that which won Trump’s election against H. Clinton. Promises of this sort are usually not credible, but what makes them credible is swift action immediately after an election victory as opposed to delayed implementation.

In that sense, I am completely fascinated by the discussion surrounding this WSJ / US Bureau of Labor Statistics chart, posted by Jason Furman on X (formerly known as Twitter). As Furman's argument goes, based on this chart, foreign-born workers have been and are more likely to be in post-pandemic employment (albeit at a much lower wage) than US-born workers. Furman (Former Chief Economic Adviser to President Barack Obama) says it reflects the work ethic of immigrant labor and by extension, the positive sentiment toward favorable migration policy in the United States.

My only response as a left-leaning economist is to highlight that because of an absence of a notable contribution in the form of structural unemployment shortages in the US-born population, the consensus around the debate fails to acknowledge that the wage at which workers enter the US labor market is not only directly affected by the level of legal migration, as my latest arXiv paper outlines but this threshold is often set arbitrarily and may be interrelated to the overall price level, particularly in the most populous states in America.

References

Charles, K. K., and Stephens Jr, M. (2013). Employment, wages, and voter turnout. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5(4), 111-143, Available at https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w17270/w17270.pdf (Accessed on 03 July 2024)

Kartik, N., Squintani, F. and Tann, K. (2024) “Pandering and Elections: Information Revelation and Pandering in Elections”, University of Warwick Working Paper Series, Available at https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/fsquintani/research/pandering.pdf (Accessed on 03 July 2024)

Mayaki, A (2024) “Pareto-Nash Reversion Strategies: Three Period Dynamic Co-operative Signaling with Sticky Efficiency Wages”, SSRN: Optimisation & Control e-Journal, pp. 1-12, Available at https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4858795 (Accessed on 27 June 2024)

Pierce, S. and Selee, A. (2017) “Immigration under Trump: A Review of Policy Shifts in the Year Since the Election”, Migration Policy Brief, December 2017, Available at https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/TrumpatOne_FINAL.pdf (Accessed on 03 July 2024)

Event Description

This symposium provides a forum for high-quality work in labour economics and brings together economists in the field from across Europe as well as key researchers from outside the region.

The event also provides an opportunity for researchers from different universities and countries to discuss their work in a relaxed atmosphere and to develop long-term collaborative relationships; and for young researchers to meet and discuss their work with senior economists.

Download programme.

Registration

• This event is free and open to all, to register please email Jemila Benchikh.

Organisers

• Alan Manning, CEPR and CEP, LSE
• Guy Michaels, CEPR and CEP, LSE
• Barbara Petrongolo, University of Oxford, CEPR and CEP, LSE

Venue

• SAL 1.04, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH
  

Much of the peer-reviewed literature I’ve read up on since my final year happens to be focused on the topics of Christian thought according to André du Toit and Irving Hexham. This blog was originally written in 2009 as a research proposal for one of my lecturers, H. M. Hopfl (Essex), and a potential supervisor, Dr. Ruth Watson (Cambridge). In the following blog, I engage briefly with the theme of polity from the perspective of Hexham and Du Toit in preparation for B813, which commences on 04 May 2024.

Did the Socio-Politics of Reformed Thinking Influence Social Outcomes in South Africa?

Many an author on Afrikaner Calvinism has gone to great lengths to structure books on aspects of Calvinism in the sixteenth century. Irving Hexham is an interesting contributor to Calvin’s biographical oeuvre and an inspiration when writing about the history of the Dutch Reformed Church (henceforth "DRC") and when attempting to interpret the complex ambiguities that exist in The Cape. I plan to use the debate between Hexham and Andre de Toit as the groundwork for a central discussion (which is arguably unresolved). From there it should prove possible to lay hold of some more concrete lines of discussion such as the question of worker ethic, racial discrimination, and religious separatism in the seventeenth-century age of enlightenment^[1].

The groundwork of Hexham (1975) cites many authors in its critique of the Afrikaners, among them Susan Ritner (1967) who explains categorically that a decision by the 1857 Synod of the DRC to condone separate worship in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa shows “evidence of racial discrimination”. Hexham makes such claims as “to this day Calvinists are a small group in the DRC and their real power Is probably far less than many commentators would like to believe (1975:202). The impression given by Hexham here is one of unsavory disillusionment in the epistemology of the DRC and its relationship with Calvin’s original sixteenth-century philosophy and that of his followers in Europe.

Hexham leads us to a very interesting place in the literature, stating:

“du Toit (1847-1911) did not pretend to be an author or a television celebrity. All he claimed to do was to uphold the ideas of Dutch Calvinism in South Africa, or rather, as he would have put it, to propagate “true” Calvinism in South Africa. He admitted freely that Calvinism which he advocated originated in the Netherlands and he made no pretence about the fact that his political philosophy was based upon the views of Abraham Kuyper in the Netherlands”

Hexham writes, “It may be possible to trace back to Calvin’s theology some of the terms used by Afrikaner Nationalists as part of their political vocabulary, but most important ‘Calvinist’ theories and attitudes are ones connected with Christian-Nationialism. Yet these cannot be traced back to Calvin.”

André De Toit has published literature in direct response to the issues raised by Hexham (de Toit, 1983^[2]), where he refers to “the cluster of construct that has been used to justify racial inequality and repression in latter-day Afrikaner societies” as a “historical myth” referred to as the “Calvinist paradigm of Afrikaner history”. In a latter text, de Toit (1985^[3]) supports this view concerning what apartheid meant through the lens of Calvinist history by stating that “very little of this purported historical explanation will stand up to scrutiny”. Here, de Toit is referring to the central thesis of the “Calvinist paradigm of Afrikaner history; the ideology of a Chosen People functioned to legitimate racial inequality and oppression”.

To interpret fully the role of Dutch Calvinism, one must spend time researching the origins of its reform (that of the Netherlands), unlike towns in France and Scotland, Calvinism did not settle in the same manner during the fifteenth century. Also, the major work of Cornelius Van Til as well as other leading Dutch neo-Calvinists (such as Meow, Waltershtorf, and Plantinga) require one to appreciate the history of ‘presuppositional’ apologetics and its conflict with ‘classical’ apologetics within the Afrikaner tradition.

There exists a self-evidential concern relating to the principle of ‘common grace’ and the ‘covenant common grace’ which maintains controversy due to its revered conflict with both ‘prevenient’ and ‘special’ grace for its self-justification of divine potestas within Presbyterian establishments which in itself would cause a series of social phenomenon to perpetuate themselves, such as discipline and order. Furthermore, the more intellectually stimulating area of research will undoubtedly also constitute an interesting theoretical aspect; i.e. an inquisition that shall involve analyzing the doctrines that underpin Lapsariaism and Antelapsarianism concerning the Supralapsarianism advocated by Kuyper. We know the historical context of this debate goes as far back as the 1618 Synod of Dordrecht, where the confessional unity of the Reformed churches in the Netherlands^[4] and South Africa can be traced to and where the departure from traditional Calvinism was arguably initially conceived. It is therefore important to distinguish the “elements of disparity” and help continue and contribute to this outstanding literature.

1.     Meara, D. O. (1978) “Analysing Afrikaner Nationalism: The ‘Christian-National’ Assault on White Trade Unionism in South Africa”, 1934–1948. African Affairs (London). [Online] 77(306), pp. 45–72 – Available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/721347 (Accessed on 02 May 2024)

Bayes’ application to HRM is limited to event probability but is a topic that is mentioned in passing in a paper on shirking and presenteeism by S. Brown (2004) recommended by Dr. Andrew Bryce (Sheffield), which was written over 20 years ago this year.

Brown (2004) reads as follows:

“Such ‘shirking’ is potentially costly to firms and may incite them to undertake monitoring. BST** envisage a monitoring technology in which there is some probability, α < 1, of each absentee’s true state of health being revealed to the firm.”

After deciding to initiate a brief scoping review for the B812 literature topic of choice (‘Wellbeing’). I thought I would check in with the blog and provide some justification and background for this choice of theme.

This spurious love affair with Bayes’ theorem has loomed over my educational learnings but only in its form as sub-game perfect in non-cooperative game theory. Big thanks to Melvyn Coles, Pierre Regibeau, and Franco Squintani for their lectures and classes from our days in Colchester on Economics. 

I started the HRM course in Nov 2023 and while I am still somewhat aware of some concepts surrounding Bayes, things have changed. Nowadays, Bayes’ theorem (10+ years on) is being used in combination with what we call supervised learning and algorithmic techniques such as neural networks.

So, how do we proceed? Perhaps, it is wise to proceed with caution. A brief scoping review will get me up to speed and updated with new research as much as is feasibly possible.

References

Brown, S. and Sessions, John (2004) “Absenteeism, Presenteeism and Shirking”, Economic Issues, 9(1), pp. 15-22 – Available at: https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eisarticl/104brown.htm (Accessed on 13 March 2024)

**Barmby, T. A., Sessions, J. G. and Treble, J. G. (1994) “Absenteeism, Efficiency Wages and Shirking”, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 94(4), pp. 561-566 – Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3440797 (Accessed on 13 March 2024)

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This post was written by Alfred Anate Mayaki, a student on the MSc in HRM, and was inspired by the author's previous learnings and experiences.

Fox, Park and Lang (2007) famously wrote about secondary task reaction times (STRTs) in the context of psychology and communications - a sector I'm very familiar with. In the intervening period, further studies have been conducted on the workplace learning environment as a contextualised example of STRT research (Sewell, Santhosh, and O’Sullivan, 2020). Now, according to Kinman and Grant (2021), there is an estimated cost of approximately £4,000 per UK employee lost due to time spent at work whilst being clinically unwell (Patel, et. al., 2023). This is also known as what we refer to as presenteeism. This blog post hypothesizes that a highly significant correlated relationship exists between low STRTs and a type of presenteeism known as therapeutic presence. In my blog, I build on this theme of research by suggesting that it may be possible to alleviate the 'sunk' cost of low productivity in work which is lost due to the inefficiencies of working while being unproductive. I assume we have access to quality data, which isn't always the case. The blog considers the use of Bayesian inference to predict therapeutic presence (or what many refer to as ‘dysfunctional presenteeism’). 

What is ‘Dysfunctional’ Presenteeism?

Dysfunctional presenteeism can be defined as a type of presenteeism which can occur when an employee remains actively at work despite being clinically unwell (Bryan, Bryce, and Roberts, 2022; Henderson, and Smith, 2022). What we know about presenteeism is very little, particularly in instances of remote work (Schmitz, Bauer, and Niehaus, 2023). Dysfunctional presenteeism can vary in motive and context, but a recent survey estimated that UK employees spend roughly 2 weeks per annum actively working whilst being clinically unwell, which is quite a significant amount of time. Notably, what I have learned today is that presenteeism is frequently framed through the lens of ‘surface acting’ (Correia Leal, et. al., 2023; Patel, et. al., 2023:842).

STRTs and Cognitive Load Theory

How does STRT fit in to this? Well, my thinking is that low secondary responses are a clear indicator of the risk of presenteeism at work. Now, although the predominant focus of much of the literature on cognitive load emerges as research that is based on secondary task responses (Lang, et. al., 2006, Sewell, Santhosh, and O’Sullivan, 2020:1133), the significance of STRTs to cognitive load is insurmountable. As with Lang et. al., 2006:370), we know that when participants perform primary and secondary tasks within what we refer to as the STRT ‘paradigm’, the primary and secondary tasks are clearly defined[1].

Applying Bayes’ Theorem on Inference

Woolridge (2013) and as demonstrated recently in a paper by Saramago and Claxton (2020). Currently working on this in an essay.

Predictive Analytics in the Workplace

Now, Analytics is not necessarily ethical, especially when applied based on Ford’s principles. It is seemingly often pitted against the self-governance of employees by their peers[2], Analytics through surveillance is thus touted as the means of managerial control least appropriate for the digital age. In one instance, the UK's Low Carbon Contracts Company and the Electricity Settlement Company, a publicly owned renewable energy intermediary owned by the Secretary of State for Business, demonstrate through its management organizational chart, a distinctively unique feature (See Appendix Figure 1). Data Analytics is housed separately from People and Strategy. What does this tell us?

Conclusion

With quality data on both the threshold of secondary tasks and length of productive work for individual workers, this blog suggests that statistical inference techniques such as those based on Bayesian estimation, can predict the reduced work productivity of an individual employee (who may or may not be working remotely) instances of increased levels of stress, cognitive overload and eventual presenteeism?

1.     Byran, M. L., Bryce, A. M. and Roberts, J. (2022) “Dysfunctional presenteeism: Effects of physical and mental health on work performance”, The Manchester School, 90(4), pp. 409-438 – Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12402 (Accessed on 23 November 2023)

2.     Correia Leal, C., Ferreria, A. I. and Carvalho, H. (2023) “Hide your sickness and put on a happy face: The effects of supervision distrust, surface acting, and sickness surface acting on hotel employees’ emotional exhaustion”, Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 44(1), pp. 871-887 – Available at https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2676 (Accessed on 27 February 2023)

3.     Fox, J. R., Park, B., and Lang, A. (2007) “When Available Resources Become Negative Resources: The Effects of Cognitive Overload on Memory Sensitivity and Criterion Bias”, Communication Research, 34(3), pp. 277-296. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650207300429 (Accessed on 23 February 2024)

4.     Henderson, A.A. and Smith, C.E. (2022) “When does presenteeism harm productivity the most? Employee motives as a key moderator of the presenteeism–productivity relationship,” Journal of Managerial Psychology, 37(6), pp. 513–526. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-08-2020-0446 (Accessed on 26 February 2024)

5.     Kinman, G. and Clements, A. J. (2023) “Presenteeism: the case or action”, Occupational Medicine, 73(4), pp. 181-182 – Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqad033 (Accessed on 26 February 2024)

6.     Kinman, G. and Grant, C. (2021) “Presenteeism during the COVID-19 pandemic: Risk factors and solutions for employers”, Society of Occupational Medicine, Available at: https://www.som.org.uk/Presenteeism_during_the_COVID-19_pandemic_May_2021.pdf (Accessed on 26 February 2024)

7.     Lang, A., Bradley, S. D., Park, B., Shin, M. and Chung, Y. (2006) “Parsing the Resource Pie: Using STRTs to Measure Attention to Mediated Messages”, Media Psychology, 8, pp. 369-394 – Available at: https://doi-org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1207/s1532785xmep0804_3 (Accessed on 26 February 2024)

8.     Patel, C., Biron, M., Sir Cooper, C. and Budhwar, P. S. (2023) “Sick and Working: Current challenges and emerging directions for future presenteeism research”, Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 44(1), pp. 839-852 – Available at https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2727 (Accessed on 27 February)

9.     Saramago, P., Claxton, K., Welton, N. J. and Soares, M. (2020) “Bayesian econometric modelling of observational data for cost‐effectiveness analysis: establishing the value of negative pressure wound therapy in the healing of open surgical wounds,” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A, Statistics in society, 183(4), pp. 1575–1593. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/rssa.12596 (Accessed on 27 February)

10.   Schmitz, H., Bauer, J. F. and Niehaus, M. (2023). Working Anytime and Anywhere - Even When Feeling Ill? A Cross-sectional Study on Presenteeism in Remote Work. Safety and Health at Work, 14(4), 375–383 – Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2023.11.001 (Accessed on 26 February 2024)

11.   Sewell, J.L., Santhosh, L. and O’Sullivan, P.S. (2020) “How do attending physicians describe cognitive overload among their workplace learners?” Medical education, 54(12), pp. 1129-. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.14289 (Accessed on 26 February 2024)

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This post was written by Alfred Anate Mayaki, a student on the MSc in HRM, and was inspired by the author's previous learnings and experiences.

Annotating a moderately cited but relevant paper on the above topic by Greenwood and Freeman (2011), the authors point to HRM research as being seen increasingly through the lens of positivism. Positivism encompasses scientific methods of research that are underpinned predominantly by what is quantifiable and what is more measurable. These research approaches are what Greenwood and Freeman refer to as the prevailing epistemological, and theoretical context through which HRM is characterised (2011:271) and a lens which it is consistently framed through, primarily as “explicitly normative”. Furthermore, Dieronitou (2014) argues that the consequences here are that HRM’s positivist approach is “top-down” (in terms of knowledge creation) and “deductive in nature” (2014:6). By top-down, the author implies an emphasis on “ontology” which is prioritised in the author's figurative research “hierarchy” at the expense of what Dieronitou (2014) refers to as research "methodology”. 

HRM is seen by many as both normative and positivist. Positivist frameworks have however been linked to ethics, both in financial ethics (Aragon, 2010) and more so contemporarily through contributions to stakeholder theory and HRM (Greenwood, 2002).

Stakeholder theory when compared by Greenwood and Freeman (2011) to the pluralist industrial relations school (2011:275), is said to have grown in eminence in recent years, which is true. As Ferrary, (2009) argues, HR’s stakeholders are “parties” who possess “resources” that are required by the organisation to exist. Ferrary writes, “the framework of stakeholder analysis enables escape from a purely instrumental approach to HRM and avoids reducing our understanding of conflicts within companies to mere antagonism between employees and employers” (2009:31). It should be noted that Ferrary later cites Durkheim’s century-old text on value creation in the context of organisational studies.

Lastly, I will end on this revelation. In the paragraph entitled “Sustainable HRM: Is it a potential solution?” the CIPD (2019) according to a factsheet defines sustainable HRM as an ethical form of practice and delivery focused overarchingly on internal relationships, employee development, and cooperation. The author argues that sustainable HRM “recognises performance outcomes, that are broader than financial outcomes”. The CIPD’s eleven bullet point definition in this factsheet is surely a small make-peace to what may be a widespread belief that the normative and positivist approaches to HRM research in the literature are pervasive.

Enjoy your weekends.

References

1.     Aragon, G. A. (2010) ‘Normative and Positive Approaches to Financial Ethics’, in Financial Ethics. [Online]. United States: Oxford University Press

2.     Dieronitou, I. (2014) “The Ontological and Epistemological Foundations of Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches to Research”, International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 2(10), pp. 1-17

3.     Ferrary, M. (2009) “A Stakeholder’s perspective on Human Resource Management”, Journal of Business Ethics, 87(1), pp. 31-43 [Online] Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40294903

4.     Greenwood, M. R. (2002) “Ethics and HRM: A Review and Conceptual Analysis”, Journal of Business Ethics. [Online] 36(3), pp. 261–278

5.     Greenwood, M. and Freeman, R. E. (2011) “Ethics and HRM: The Contribution of Stakeholder Theory”, Business & Professional Ethics Journal, 30(3/4), pp. 269-292

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This post was written by Alfred Anate Mayaki, a student on the MSc in HRM, and was inspired by the work of the CIPD's Ed Houghton (2019) in a factsheet entitled "Sustainable HR: A 'green' fad, or a realistic model for change?"

Have a look at Ulrich’s model of HR (see Fig 1.3). Now, even with a background in what we tend to bracket as the subject of ‘business strategy’ in the business school world, I used to be somewhat bewildered by the account of Ted Bauer on X (formerly known as Twitter). Bauer stipulated this satirical yet seemingly quasi-amusing observation that ‘strategy’ itself as a word is such a powerfully convoluted term, that it has no place in HR let alone in a recruitment operations context. I always used to reject the opinion (Ted and I were mutual followers) put forward in his often lengthy journalistic articles until one day I decided to part ways and unfollow the account. Now, a few years later, as part of the B810 class of 2023/24, the team behind the module has been speaking with us for some time now about the very real possibility of HR evolving into a business function that conducts high-level strategy in the wake of the emergence of AI in functions such as recruitment. Now, we’re not just talking about a bunch of flashy, dashboard-waving, posh-sounding recruitment advisers who re-train as strategy consultants and flood you with insights about organisational data, I mean to speak of real trustworthy strategy.

Ulrich’s quadrant is amazing for several reasons, but the main reason for me is that it provides context. The organisational settings in which these roles play out are just as important as the roles themselves. I’ve become particularly fond of Ulrich’s three-legged stool, which is essentially the canvas to his entire work of art.

Figure 1.3: Ulrich's Human Resource Champions: The Next Agenda

At the moment, I am currently reading the work of Alison E. Barber. Barber (1998) draws attention to two important actors, and their activities, that are integral to the performance of recruitment’s function, namely, the role of internal and external organisational agents in this respect, both in terms of attracting and matching high-quality skillsets to the organisation (1998:8). Selection is seen as different to recruitment by Barber, but particularly, suppositions are made on the point of recruitment strategy. Barber states in reference to the concept of extensive search in recruitment that, “…actions taken during this stage of recruitment [extensive search] can also be related to post-hire outcomes such as performance and turnover” (1998:18). Barber argues in favour of this in the context of Ulrich’s wider proposals on the strategic involvement of HR, which she mentions in passing in the introduction.

Fascinating insights.

References

1.     Barber, A.E. (1998) ‘Recruiting Employees: Individual and Organizational Perspectives’, SAGE Publications, Incorporated, Thousand Oaks. Available from: ProQuest e-book Central. [28 November 2023].

2.     Ulrich, D. (1997) ‘Human resource champions: The next agenda for adding value and delivering results’. Boston: Harvard Business Publishing [28 November 2023].

The experiences I have had when applying for entry-level roles as an Economist in the past have not been the best, which is why I try to work ten times harder to ensure my work in recruitment is all the more exceptional for the candidates that I engage with professionally. All the more reason why I felt the need to attend the Royal Economic Society’s online Zoom event today, entitled: “Rethinking Inclusive Recruitment” which took place this morning. The Zoom event took an insightful look at the landscape for pathways into academia for female and Black Economists. We also discussed how to improve the application processes, recruitment practices, and the inclusive culture of practitioners in industry when advertising jobs associated with higher education and private-sector policy research in the field of Economics.

I did feel a sense of pride in listening to RES academics describing their respective experiences either with respect to recruitment successes in their own careers or in their respective companies. I took a lot of notes, as you do at such events. Conclusively, among the points that were delivered, the slides on female and ethnic minority recruitment in the field of Economics (by Lisa-Dionne Morris), HR’s involvement in creating a culture of inclusivity (by Faith), and strategies for increasing diversity in Economics (by Kieran) were notable.

I am thankful that RES speakers and delegates took the time to exchange ideas on the importance of social mobility, the value of the university careers centre (and its resources) in communicating career options to future Economists, and the role of student-focused charitable organisations in promoting the ethnic-minority employment gap. I very much valued the mention of the view that more needs to be done to minimise unconscious bias in recruitment - which is true. But the highlight of the event was undoubtedly when Elaine spoke on the value of workforce projections, and the landscape for health economics in research and policy.

A quick thank you to Sam from the RES and Ann for allowing us all to learn more about pathways for student recruitment - Check out SEO and Discover Economics. The next installment of the Rethinking Inclusive Recruitment events will be in person on 24 April 2024 (between 12:00 and 16:00) at the University of Westminster’s Marylebone Campus. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

This International Mens' Day inspired me to do some much-needed searching for one of Hilary Scarlett's Neuroscience textbooks - directly from the Open University Library. I also have to commend the Medium Editorial team for sharing a post about the Neuroscience of Flow via e-mail this weekend.

As it turns out, according to our Library team here, when a book is not in stock or available via an e-resource, Open students can gain complimentary access to the resources of other Libraries. I jumped at the opportunity to join SCONUL access to Universities such as the London School of Economics and Birbeck. But while I skimmed the list of Libraries I could access, I noticed that Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge) seemed to be outside of the SCONUL scheme's remit - which is completely understandable. 

I had to contact Oxford's Bodleian Libraries on Friday, separately in order to enquire into the possibility of engaging with specific reading materials from their collections as part of their service to Non-Oxford taught postgraduates during the summer and vacation periods. The response thus far has been positive, across the board.

Now, for the other reason for this post, bear with me.

Someone anonymously shared something in the Open University's Discord channel that made me think about HR's role in contract termination (again). The share was related to the dismissal of OpenAI's former top cat, Sam Altman. Now, I have reported on hundreds if not thousands of executive appointments, and as an HR postgraduate, there are several aspects I would like to comment on here.

1) Within a well-functioning company, the Chief Executive's performance should always be subject to review. In my opinion, if a termination is to take place, it should not be as abrupt, messy, and public as the case of Mr. Altman. However, this all depends on what has been agreed in the contract of employment.

2) Was Mr. Altman unfairly dismissed? Mr. Altman is an American. But even if he were British, this would still not be an aspect I personally would be able to comment on, without a considerable set of reasons available for making him walk. Mr. Altman does appear to have an argument though. It does seem like a rather knee-jerk decision, even with his performance review taken into account.

3) What now for OpenAI and its leadership? Well, with the rise of generative artificial intelligence, OpenAI is fast becoming a popular and systemically important organisation. The company, within a matter of a few days, has moved to announce Emmett Shear as a successor to Mr. Altman. In terms of succession planning, this is an unusual set of affairs and probably not the best way to proceed if a competent board wishes to enact an orderly transition of leadership - for various reasons.

I have two important meetings this week. The first is an AGM with the Peckham Branch of the Constituency Labour Party, where I hope to learn more about the elected role of Trade Union Liaison Officer, and the second is a meeting with scholar and author, Hilary Scarlett, whose recently published Kogan Page textbook: "Neuroscience for Organisational Change: An Evidence-based Practical Guide to Managing Change" (2019) is all the rage. I remember our first encounter almost like it was yesterday. We were first introduced to ourselves in mid-2016 when I managed to find the time to go to an in-person annual HRM conference event at Westminster Business School, where Hilary spoke very impressively to a packed audience in one of Westminster's many lecture theatres on the topic of the intersection between organisational change, neuroscience, and the subject of post-merger integration alongside Ted Smith of the Wellcome Trust. Hilary's work on change has been very well summarised by Julie Lister from Westminster in the literature available in the Library. I am hopefully going to get the opportunity to ask Hilary a lot of questions about the influence of neuroscience on change. She's probably the world's foremost authority on the subject.