Introduction
The authors of the article conducted an empirical examination to study what impact human resources management has on organisational performance and the attitude of the employees. The paper stated that the purpose of the study was to examine whether the human resources management system influences the performance of an organisation. And it was assumed that the collective reaction of the employees mediates this relationship. The article was aimed at investigating the content and process aspects of human resources, and it studied their influence on the functioning of an organisation.
To gather empirical data for the analysis, the researchers conducted a survey of 1250 employees working in Greece in both public-sector and private companies, in a total of 133 organisations. The scholars applied statistical methods to study the relationships between the studied measurements. The authors use their findings to prove the two hypotheses regarding the nature of these relationships.
Identifying Relevant Literature
The authors turn to an extended list of literature to explain the theoretical basis of the study and to support their work with data from previous research. The reference list includes books, articles from various academic journals, and online publications. The authors cite seminal works in the field to explain the background of the study and provide a comprehensive review of the material. The existing literature is used to provide the readers with a coherent understanding of the current situation in the field and to justify the necessity for the study. The article also outlines and discusses varies limitations and shortcomings found in previous research and the lack of large-scale studies published in previous years.
Structuring the Review
The researchers use the first part of the paper to provide a discussion of the theoretical foundations of their work. Whereas the second part of the article is dedicated to the description of the study itself. This part of the paper covers information about hypotheses, methodology, and analysis. The authors include different schemes, graphs, and tables to illustrate the material and make it easier to interpret and understand.
The article has an extended introduction and dedicates a substantial part of the paper to the discussion regarding the theories behind the study and prior research. Providing the material that is essential for understanding the background and basis of their work allows the authors making the paper more comprehensive. Clarity of explanation and high readability make the article approachable even to lay audience.
At the same time, writing detailed descriptions of methodology and analytical tools, the scholars open their work for examination and criticism of collogues and reviewers. Thus, the structure and style of the article make it readable for all kinds of audience and ensure clarity and coherence.
Tone
The authors of the article use a professional, scientific tone to discuss previous literature and research. The researchers chose to use the method of empirical examination because it provides a way to contribute to the academic understanding of the topic by providing a primary source of information. Another advantage of this method is that it gives quantitative results that can be studied with the help of mathematical tools such as statistical models (Brannen, 2017).
Such results are verifiable and may be used by other researchers to check the validity of the methodology and the findings. The scientists conducted a survey using a set of specially designed questioners, which allowed them to acquire the necessary information directly from the participants. This approach is appropriate for gathering information regarding the opinions and attitudes of individuals, but it might provide inaccurate information when applied to other subjects (Nardi, 2018). The subjective nature of answers, inherent to this method, might become a source of bias when it comes to measurements of economic or administrative processes that are involved in the study.
Tense
The article discusses both literature from the past and contemporary research to provide a bigger picture of the current understanding of the subject and its evolution. Past tense is used throughout the paper to speculate about findings from previous literature and prior research. The survey and the following analysis are described in the present tense, which suggests that the researchers’ focused on the present as opposed to the past.
Using the present simple tense also allows the authors to reduce the complexity of the text and improves its readability (Patriotta, 2017). In addition to that, the authors widely use passive voice, which is conventional for this type of writing. The tendency to use passive voice also gives the paper a more formal appearance (Hyland & Jiang, 2017). Thus, the authors indicate their focus on the present by turning to use of the present tense and employ other literary devices to create the desired appearance of the text.
Summary
The idea that the work of human resources management impacts financial performance provides theoretical foundations for the study in question. Prior research in the field contributed to the development of this idea. Building their theory upon previous findings, the scholars formulate two hypotheses hat address the character of the relationships among the variables. The authors studied the relationships between the work of the human resources department, the reaction of the employees, and organisational performance using a survey as their primary tool for gathering data. Then, the researchers aggregated the data at three different levels of the organisational hierarchies and studied it using a set of methods of statistical analysis. The research showed a strong correlation between the key variables, indicating close relationships.
Having interpreted the results of the analysis, the scientists concluded that perceived human resources practice influences the performance of companies through employee reactions (Katou, Budhwar, & Patel, 2014). In addition to that, studying the content and process aspects of human resources, the authors suggested that both of these principles are essential and can be used simultaneously. Thus, the authors delineated that human resources show better results when they integrate both content and process.
Limitations
The reliance on the survey as a tool to study the organisational performance is a major limitation of the article. This method does not guaranty a high level of accuracy and may lead to biased results (Queirós, Faria, & Almeida, 2017). The respondents’ perception of productivity, growth, and creativity in the organisation only shows their personal opinion and is not necessarily reflective of the real situation.
For instance, it is possible that having a generally positive opinion about their position and environment in the firm, the participants of the survey might exaggerate the positive tendencies. Whereas, it is reasonable to assume that unsatisfied employees are likely to be more critical towards both the performance of the company and the work of the human resources department. The fact that the personal opinion of the respondents influences their answers in all sections of the questioners creates another source of correlation between the variables (Wallace, Wegener, & Petty, 2019). This aspect is not appropriately taken into account by the authors, which compromises the validity of the entire research and the reliability of the findings.
The scientists describe the measures they take to avoid the common method bias and to address other potential sources of inaccuracies, but it does not illuminate the limitations. Correlation between the variable does not imply the causal effect and can be a result of the influence of other factors (Giri, 2019). General satisfaction of employees might have this effect, influencing their response in all three studied measurements. The shortcomings of the survey method that are inherent to the procedure compromise the validity of the research methodology (Crowder, 2017). Thus, the results of the study should be used with caution, and additional research might be needed to reinvestigate the phenomena in question.
Conclusion
The authors of the paper studied the character of the relationships between human resources management and financial performance of firms, assuming a mediating role of the employees’ reactions in that process. The article provided new empirical data and made a contribution to the theoretical discussion regarding the subject. The results of the research show a strong correlation among the studied variables suggesting close relationships. Although the methodology does not guarantee complete accuracy and may be biased, the gathered statistical data have significance and can be used in future research. The scale of the study and approach that the scholars used to conduct the survey provides a set of valuable statistics that may be further studied.
References
Brannen, J. (2017). Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research. New York, NY: Routledge.
Crowder, M. J. (2017). Statistical analysis of reliability data. New York, NY: Routledge.
Giri, N. C. (2019). Introduction to probability and statistics. New York, NY: Routledge.
Hyland, K., & Jiang, F. K. (2017). Is academic writing becoming more informal? English for Specific Purposes, 45, 40-51.
Katou, A. A., Budhwar, P. S., & Patel, C. (2014). Content vs. process in the HRM‐performance relationship: An empirical examination. Human Resource Management, 53(4), 527-544.
Nardi, P. M. (2018). Doing survey research: A guide to quantitative methods. New York, NY: Routledge.
Patriotta, G. (2017). Crafting papers for publication: Novelty and convention in academic writing. Journal of Management Studies, 54(5), 747-759.
Queirós, A., Faria, D., & Almeida, F. (2017). Strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative research methods. European Journal of Education Studies, 3(9), 469-386.
Wallace, L. E., Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (2019). When Sources Honestly Provide Their Biased Opinion: Bias as a Distinct Source Perception With Independent Effects on Credibility and Persuasion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 0146167219858654.