THE POWER POSITION OF HR PROFESSIONALS AND THEIR INFLUENCE IN THE INTERACTION WITH LINE MANAGEMENT.
Master thesis, MscBA, specialization Change Management University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
October 2008
Menne Menninga Studentnumber: 1257862
Aquamarijnstraat 403 9743 PK Groningen tel.: +31 (0)6 15127020 e-mail: m.menninga@student.rug.nl
Supervisor Dr. B.J.M. Emans
Co-assessor Prof. Dr. J.I. Stoker
THE POWER POSITION OF HR PROFESSIONALS AND THEIR INFLUENCE IN THE INTERACTION WITH LINE MANAGEMENT.
ABSTRACT:
Interacting with line managers forms an important part of the roles that HR professionals are expected to perform. They need to influence line management to get support for their ideas and proposals and to implement HR practices. This research explores what power bases contribute to the power position of HR professionals and whether they are effective in influencing the attitudes of line managers as well as the way they perform their work. A survey research is performed with line managers of organizations in the Netherlands. The survey measured the power bases that are attributed to HR professionals and their effectiveness in influencing the line managers. The results show that the proposed power bases are characteristic for the power position of the HR professionals. All power bases have a positive relation with the effectiveness of HR professionals to influence the attitude of line managers. Six out the thirteen power bases were moreover positively related to the effectiveness of HR professionals to influence the work content of the line managers. This suggests that the power position of HR professionals is weaker for influencing the way line managers do their work than for influencing their attitudes towards the ideas of HR. The most important limitation of the research is the availability of a limited sample size, which means the conclusions are provisional.
INTRODUCTION
Responsibility for the management of human resources in organizations lies nowadays with the line-management of organizations, rather than the personnel or HRM department.
(Caldwell, 2003; Cunningham & Hyman, 1999; Lowe, 1992; Schuler, 1990). This changes the work of HR-people in organizations. They have to advise and assist line managers in managing their human resources. This has to result in a cooperation between HR and line- management, together they can manage human resources effectively (Ulrich, 1997).
Ulrich (1997) has made a typology of the roles HR-people should perform. These roles are: strategic partner, administrative expert, employee champion and change agent.
Except for the employee champion in all these roles the interaction with line management is important. In the strategic partner role the HR manager has to make sure HR practices match with business strategy. To accomplish this HR has to interact with line-management to implement new instruments, policies and procedures. Gennard and Kelly (1997) make a similar point in arguing that it is important for HR-managers to be able to show line- management that they are able to take a strategic view and that they can be a partner to line- management in achieving business results. In the administrative expert role the HR professional is responsible for an efficient HR infrastructure. This entails the design and delivery of efficient HR processes that line management can use. The change agent role encompasses the responsibility for the processes of change implementation. To execute business strategy and implement HR infrastructure HR-managers must identify and design processes for changing. Again cooperation with line-management forms an important aspect of this (Ulrich, 1997). Williams, Paauwe and Keegan (2000) also see an important role for HR in facilitating change, since they are ‘inside’ the organization. And for Schuler (1990) being a
‘shaper of change’ is a new key role for HR-professionals. What we see is that in all these new HR roles there is, besides the interaction between HR and line management, much attention for change as an aspect of the work HR has to perform. Ulrich even notes that the ability to manage change is the most important competency for an HR professional to be successful.
Caldwell (2001) has examined the change aspect of HR work further and has made a typology of different change roles for HR professionals. Caldwell makes a distinction between change agent roles in transformative and incremental change. In transformative change he defines a ‘champion’ and a ‘synergist’ role, in both roles the HR professional is a
‘consultant’ are at the middle level of the organization, it is in these roles that interaction with line-management takes place. In the adapter role, the HR professional converts business strategy into HR policy and practices by managing the implementation process. The consultant role is one in which a HR professional with expertise on a subject is responsible for implementing a HR change project or part of it (Caldwell, 2001).
What becomes clear from the aforementioned is that HR professionals are now responsible for the translation of business strategy into HR practices. For the middle-level HR manager this leads to the implementation of new HR instruments, policies and practices at the level of line- management in the organization. Also, the HR-manager needs to be capable of employing change processes for implementation. It is unclear however how HR should perform these new roles, how to implement their instruments and how to cooperate with line-management successfully.
Much of the work that is required from HR corresponds with the work often done by external consultants. Giving advice to management or implementing changes in organizations forms part of consultancy (Kubr, 2002), and these are activities that are now also expected from HR (Beer, 1997). When we want to examine how HR can be effective, it is possible that we can learn from research on the work of external consultants. A similarity in the work of HR professionals and consultants is the need to influence people in the organization. In the interaction with line management HR intends to get support for their ideas and requests.
Therefore being able to influence the line management is very important for HR to fulfill their responsibility for the management of human resources in the organization (Guest & King, 2004). Mintzberg (1983) explains that support staff in organizations needs to rely on the system of politics to influence events in the organization since their position as a support function gives them too little authority. External consultants face the same lack of authority, their position as an outsider to the organization deprives them of any formal power. To do their work and have influence in the organization consultants therefore need to engage in the political system of the organization (Pettigrew, 1975; Mastenbroek, 1986). To operate in the political system of the organization one needs to have the influence or power to do so, which is defined by Golembiewski (2006:304) as ‘the ability to make things happen in organizations’.
This ‘ability’ to have influence is dependent on the power position of the person in question. Boogers, Emans, Stoker and Sorge (2006) explored the power position of external consultants. Based on interviews with consultants in the Netherlands they propose twelve
power bases that are relevant for the consultant role in influencing others. Subsequent research by Emans, Boogers and Stoker (2008) shows that the most of these power bases contribute to the effectiveness of the consultant. The current research intends to explore the power position of HR professionals. To that end the power bases that are discerned in the Boogers et al. and Emans et al. studies will be applied to the work of HR in organizations.
The power bases that are hypothesized to contribute to the effectiveness of HR consultancy roles are summarized in table 1.
Power bases
Boogers et al. (2006) categorize the power bases on the distinction made by Emans (1995) between the different power bases. They distinguish attributes, dependencies and abilities. When applying the framework for consultants to the work of HR one should realize that there are differences between the context in which HR performs their advisory and consultancy roles and the context in which consultants do their work. Attributes relate to what the power holder ‘is’ (Emans, 1995). Therefore differences can especially be expected in the attributes category, being an external consultant is notably different than being a HR professional. The power bases in the attributes category and how they are expected to apply to the HR setting are discussed below. The power bases in the dependencies and the abilities categories are expected to function in the same way for both groups, although it is to be seen whether they can be as effective for HR as they are for consultants. Furthermore one power base is added to the dependencies category that was not in the Boogers et al. taxonomy for consultants, it will be discussed separately.
Expert power. The power that comes from the knowledge or the experience that the HR professional demonstrates or is perceived to posses. In the power base taxonomy for consultants the expertise can relate to the industry of the organization or the content of the change process (Boogers et al., 2006). For HR the content of the change process does not necessarily have to be an HRM issue since HR is taking on strategic responsibilities nowadays as well (cf. Ulrich, 1997; Beer, 1997). Their specific expertise on HRM also still seems relevant as a contributor to their expert power base as it can give them credibility as an expert.
Personal power. The power that comes from the quality of the personal relations that the HR professional has with the people in the organization (Boogers et al., 2006). For a HR
works temporarily with the organization, the HR professional is able build up a long lasting relationship with the people he or she is working with. The relationship that was built up on a project can be extended to future projects, of course this can be favorable or unfavorable depending on the quality of the relationship.
Status power. In the Boogers et al. (2006) study the status symbols of the consultant is described as a power base. Based on his clothes, car or the magnitude of the project the consultant creates a status for himself towards organizational members. Emans et al. (2008) found that this power base is only peripheral and did not show to be effective. For HR the situation may be different. The HR professional is in the organization for a longer period of time and might be better able to build up a status position. Also the HR department as a whole can have a certain status in the organization which the individual HR professional can derive status from. This is also suggested by Pettigrew (1975), who says about internal consultants that they can derive power from the status of their department or consultant group. For consultants this status could come from the consultancy firm they are working for, although Emans et al. (2008) found that the power base ‘consultancy firm reputation’, like the status symbols, was not effective for consultants. For HR the situation may be different since for organizational members the reputation of a consultancy firm, an organization outside their own, may be less relevant than the reputation of an HR department which is inside the organization.
Indirect formal power. For consultants this is the power derived from their relation with people in the organization that have formal power. For HR professionals formal power is not completely absent, nevertheless the power position of HR is often seen as problematic (Legge, 1978). Because of this HR professionals can be expected to rely on indirect formal power to influence people in the organization. This indirect formal power will largely be derived from top management support.
Control over information. The most noticeable difference between HR professionals and external consultants is that HR professionals operate inside the organization. They do not only interact with organizational members, they are also one of them. The position of HR in organizations as a staff function gives them access to the communication channels in the organization. Pettigrew (1975) has argued that in this position one can operate as a gatekeeper. This means HR is capable of influencing the allocation of communication flows and can filter or reformulate information. The HR professional does not necessarily have to posses or use this control in practice since the impression that they can may be sufficient
(Pettigrew 1975). A similar point is made by Boogers et al. (2006) when they argue that the perception of organizational members that the consultant has a certain expertise may be sufficient to exercise influence.
Table 1: Categorization of HRM power bases.
Category Power base Definition
Attributes Expert power Power from demonstrated or perceived knowledge on industry of the organization or content of the change project.
Personal power Power derived from the personal relationship between organizational members and the HR professional.
Status power Power derived from the status of the HR professional in the organization.
Indirect formal power Power derived from the HR professional’s close relationship with those high in formal power in the organization.
Dependencies External network power Contacts of the HR professional outside the organization that are valued by other organizational members.
Resources power Process-related and content-related knowledge that the HR professional can make usefully available to organizational members.
Rewarding feedback power Power derived from positive feedback that can be provided by the HR professional.
Coercive feedback power Power derived from negative feedback that can be provided by the HR
professional.
Control over information Power from demonstrated or perceived control over information channels.
Abilities Attributed persuasive skills Power derived from persuasiveness attributed to the HR professional.
Attributed analytical skills Power derived from analytical skills that are attributed to the HR professional.
Attributed social skills Power derived from social skills that are attributed to the HR professional.
Attributed communicative skills
Power derived from communicative skills that are attributed to the HR professional.
Source: adapted from Boogers et al (2006) and Emans et al. (2008).
Effectiveness
The power position of HR professionals will have to enable them to influence the line management in the organization. Research on the effectiveness of HR to accomplish this gives a mixed overview. Cunningham & Hyman (1999) found that the HR professionals in their study saw their influence in the organization diminish, especially in the relation with line management. And Caldwell (2004) points out that while there is ample attention for the new strategic roles HRM should perform, in practice HR has great difficulty in implementing their policies. On the other hand Gennard and Kelly (1997) state that the position of HR professionals is enhanced and that they have gained influence on line management. They reason that when HR responsibilities shift to the line management, those line managers will request more assistance from HR in managing their human resources.
To shed light on the effectiveness of HR the current study will look at two different forms of effectiveness. When HR gives advice to line managers they will try to get support for their ideas. Also when implementing new HR instruments the first step is to get line management interested and willing to cooperate. So the HR professional will try to influence the attitude of line managers towards their ideas and requests. This does however not mean that the line manager will do exactly what is requested or change their way of working to match exactly the ideas of HR. Khilji and Wang (2006) found that in many organizations there is a gap between intended and implemented HR ideas. What HR professionals need than is a more direct influence on the way line managers do their work. Therefore a more direct influence will also be studied, to see whether HR can be effective in influencing the work content of line managers. This last type of influence has a more profound impact on the daily work of the line managers and can therefore be expected to be harder to achieve.
Research questions
The current research sets out to examine the power position of HR professionals and their effectiveness in influencing line management. More specifically the research will answer the following questions:
1. To what degree are the HRM power bases characteristic for the power position of HR professionals?
2. a. Do the HRM power bases contribute to the effectiveness of HR professionals in influencing the attitude of the line management in organizations?
b. Do the HRM power bases contribute to the effectiveness of HR professionals in influencing the work content of the line management in organizations?
To answer these questions survey findings will be presented. The survey is completed by line managers of several organizations in the Netherlands. The survey measures the extent to which line managers attribute the different power bases to the HR professional they work with. Furthermore the survey measures the effectiveness of influence attempts made by the HR professional. To that end questions are asked about the amount of support that the HR professional creates for his or her ideas and about the amount of influence that the HR professional has on the way the line managers do their work.
METHODS
Respondents
The organizations and line managers that cooperated with the research were recruited through the personal network of the researcher. The respondents for the survey were approached by either contacting the HRM department of the organization or by contacting the line-manager directly. When the HRM departments were contacted they sent the survey to line managers in their organization or they supplied contact information so the line managers in that organization could be contacted directly by the researcher. Before the respondent would complete the survey it was made sure that he or she was a line-manager and that interacting and collaborating with people from the HR department formed part of their work.
The survey was completed by 26 respondents who were working in 14 different organizations. Because part of the respondents was contacted by the HRM departments of the cooperating organizations it cannot be said how many respondents were approached but did not fill in the questionnaire.
The respondents were approached by e-mail. In the e-mail the content of the survey was briefly explained and they were asked to fill in the questionnaire. The e-mail contained a link to a webpage were the survey could be filled in. The survey started with a more elaborate description of the research and the questionnaire. Also the anonymity of the respondents was guaranteed, the approximated time needed to fill in the questionnaire was given and contact information of the researcher was provided. At the end of the questionnaire the respondents could give general remarks about the questionnaire and leave their e-mail address to receive a copy of the research report.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire consisted of 69 questions measuring both the effectiveness of the HR professional and the level of the power bases attributed to him or her. Each question consisted of a statement that was to be scored on a likert scale ranging from 1 to 5. The numbers corresponded to the following descriptions (translated from Dutch): 1 – completely disagree, 2 – fairly disagree, 3 – do not disagree/do not agree, 4 – fairly agree, 5 – completely agree. All questionnaire items can be found in appendix A.
Power bases. The questions about the power position of the HR professional measure the extent to which the line manager attributes a certain power base to the HR professional with whom they interact. The questionnaire used in the Emans et al. (2008) study about the
power position of consultants formed the basis for the questions in the current study. All questions were adapted to the context of the HR-line relation. When appropriate, new questions were added to the scales for the different power bases. The questions pertaining to the power base ‘control over information’ were entirely new. The cronbach’s alpha’s for the scales of the power bases are above .80, except for the power base ‘control over information’
which is .57. The scale for ‘external network power’ only has one item and therefore no cronbach’s alpha can be calculated for this scale. The cronbach’s alpha’s for each individual power base scale can be found in table 2.
Effectiveness. For the items for the scales on the effectiveness of the HR professional part of the questions come from the Emans et al. (2008) study. These questions were used to assess the change proneness of the client. According to Emans et al. (2008:p) change proneness is: “the inclination of the respondent to follow the consultant’s change-related suggestions”. For the current study two aspects of the effectiveness of the HR professional were measured. The questionnaire contained 7 questions which measured the influence of the HR professional on the attitude of the line managers toward the ideas and requests of the HR professional. There were 4 questions that measured the influence of the HR professional on the work content of the line-manager, this measures a more direct influence on the way the line-manager does his or her job. Both scales were reliable, the scale pertaining to the influence on attitude had a cronbach’s alpha of .92 and the influence on work content scale had a cronbach’s alpha of .82.
Data analyses
The availability of a limited data set did not permit a straightforward regression analysis with a regression model containing all the thirteen power bases. Therefore regression analyses on the data were done in two steps. First analyses were done for each of the power base categories independently. This gave results on which power bases in each category (attributes, dependencies, abilities) had a relationship with the effectiveness measure independent of the other power bases in that same category. Consequently those power bases that made a unique contribution to the prediction of the effectiveness measure were used as predictors in a second regression analysis. This gave an indication of which power bases make a unique contribution, compared to all thirteen power bases, to the explanation of variance on the effectiveness measure. This procedure was performed for both effectiveness measures.
RESULTS
Descriptive statistics
Table 2 shows descriptive statistics for the different power bases and the effectiveness measures. The means of the power bases vary from 2.9 to 4.3 which means that almost all scores are above the mean of the likert scale that was used in the questionnaire. An exception is status power which scores slightly below the average (M = 2.9). This means that the power bases that were identified as characteristic for consultants (Emans et al., 2008) are, according to the respondents’ experience, characteristic for HR professionals as well. The power base control over information that was hypothesized as being a unique power base for HR professionals due to their internal position has a mean exactly in the middle of the scale (M = 3.0). Because the scale has a poor reliability (cronbach’s alpha = .57) this result is questionable. Correlation coefficients between the HRM power bases can be found in table 3.
Table 2 Descriptives for the HRM power bases and effectiveness measures
Category Power base # M SD α
Attributes Expert power 8 4.0 .66 .92
Personal power 4 4.3 .55 .80
Status power 4 2.9 .85 .84
Indirect formal power 4 3.7 .89 .86
Dependencies External network power 1 3.5 .95 --
Resources power 5 3.3 .65 .80
Rewarding feedback power 4 4.1 .59 .85 Coercive feedback power 4 3.5 .90 .91 Control over information 4 3.0 .59 .57 Abilities Attributed persuasive skills 4 3.8 .79 .92 Attributed analytical skills 4 3.7 .72 .90 Attributed social skills 4 4.2 .54 .82 Attributed communicative skills 4 3.9 .75 .86
Effectiveness Attitude 7 3.1 .84 .92
Work content 4 2.7 .83 .82
Legend: # = number of scale items; M = mean; SD = standard deviation; α = cronbach’s alpha
The influence on attitude measure shows a higher mean (3.1) than influence on work content (2.7), the difference between the two effectiveness measures is significant (t = 2.75;
df = 25; p < 0.05). This could suggest that HR professionals are more effective in influencing the attitude of line managers than in influencing the way they do their work. The correlation coefficient between the two effectiveness measures is .55 (p < 0.01). Since influencing attitude is hypothesized to be less profound than influencing work content. It can be assumed
that when the HR professional is effective in influencing the work content of the line managers, he or she will probably also be effective in influencing their attitude. Hence the correlation between the two scales.
We now turn to the question of whether the power bases that are attributed to the HR professional relate to his or her effectiveness. Table 4 gives correlations between the different power bases and the two effectiveness measures. The effectiveness on attitude measure determines the influence on the attitude of the line managers towards the ideas and requests of the HR professional. All power bases show a significant positive correlation with this measure. This would suggest that all power bases contribute to the ability of the HR professional to influence line management to support their ideas.
For the effectiveness on work content measure the results are less clear. Effectiveness on work content relates to the influence of the HR professional on the way the line manager does his or her work. Six of the thirteen power bases have a significant positive correlation with the effectiveness on work content measure. These six power bases (status power, external network power, resources power, rewarding feedback power, attributed persuasive skills and attributed analytical skills) have also a high correlation with the effectiveness on attitude measure. In the attributes category expert power and personal power have a relatively high correlation with effectiveness on attitude but no significant correlation with effectiveness on work content. The same holds in the abilities category for attributed social skills and attributed communicative skills.
Table 4 Correlation coefficients for the HRM power bases and effectiveness
Category Power base r (EFatt) r (EFwct)
Attributes Expert power .64*** .09
Personal power .60*** .17
Status power .66*** .39**
Indirect formal power .37** .24
Dependencies External network power .59*** .31*
Resources power .74*** .52***
Rewarding feedback power .66*** .32*
Coercive feedback power .45*** .18
Control over information .43** .23
Abilities Attributed persuasive skills .74*** .31*
Attributed analytical skills .65*** .44**
Attributed social skills .53*** .14 Attributed communicative skills .66*** .22 Legend: r = Pearson correlation; * p<.10, ** p<.05, *** p<.01 one tailed; EFatt =
Table 3 Pearson correlation coefficients for the HRM power bases
Legend: * p<.05, ** p<.01 one tailed.
Power base 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 Expert power
2 Personal power .61**
3 Status power .43* .44*
4 Indirect formal power .50** .46** .50**
5 External network power .63** .57** .59** .50**
6 Resources power .51** .59** .63** .23 .62**
7 Rewarding feedback power .79** .59** .52** .70** .75** .57**
8 Coercive feedback power .54** .68** .12 .31 .52** .47** .57**
9 Control over information .31 .50** .40* .57** .35* .37* .33* .34*
10 Attributed persuasive skills .77** .65** .49** .37* .83** .71** .76** .69** .34*
11 Attributed analytical skills .54** .62** .44* .49** .64** .70** .73** .83** .40* .77**
12 Attributed social skills .70** .71** .41* .49** .67** .50** .76** .64** .29 .68** .52**
13 Attributed communicative skills .70** .60** .45* .54** .83** .64** .82** .63** .34* .86** .76** .67**
Regression analyses
Separate regression analyses using the stepwise method were performed with the power bases in each power base category as predictors, results will be presented for both effectiveness measures.
Effectiveness on attitude. A regression analysis with the attributes category gave a significant model F (2,23) = 16.92, p < 0.001. The model explains 56% of the variance (adjusted R2 = .560). Expert power and status power were included in the model as significant predictors. Using the power bases in the dependencies category as predictors also gave a significant model F (2,23) = 20.13, p < 0.001. The model explains 61% of the variance (adjusted R2 = .605). Resources power and rewarding feedback power were retained in the model as significant predictors. The regression analysis with the power bases in the abilities category gave a significant model F (2,23) = 28.72, p < 0.001. The model explains 53% of the variance (adjusted R2 = .526). Attributed persuasive skills power was the only significant predictor. The analyses suggest that when the attributes are used to predict the effectiveness of the HR professional on attitude, expert power en status power make a unique contribution to the explanation of variance on effectiveness. When the dependencies of the HR professional are used as predictors, resources power and rewarding feedback power make a unique contribution to the explanation of the variance. For the abilities of the HR professional only attributed persuasive skills power is able to explain the variance on effectiveness on attitude separate from the other power bases in the abilities category. The strength of the predictors can be found in table 5.
As a next step the power bases that made a unique contribution to the explanation of variance were used as input to predict the effectiveness on attitude based on all three categories. A stepwise regression analyses with the significant predictors for each category gave a significant model F (2,23) = 20.72, p < 0.001. This model explains 61% of the variance (adjusted R2 = .612). Expertise power and Resources power were the power bases that were retained in the model as significant predictors. The regression coefficients can be found in table 5.
Effectiveness on work content. A regression analysis with the attributes category gave a significant model F (2,23) = 4.42, p < 0.05. The model explains 12% of the variance (adjusted R2 = .120). Status power was the only predictor that was retained in the model.
Using the power bases in the dependencies category as predictors also gave a significant model F (2,23) = 8.74, p < 0.01. The model explains 24% of the variance (adjusted R2 = .236).
Resources power was retained in the model as significant predictor. The regression analysis with the power bases in the abilities category gave a significant model F (2,23) = 5.73, p <
0.05. The model explains 16% of the variance (adjusted R2 = .159). Attributed analytical skills power was the only significant predictor. The models that result from the regression analyses of the power base categories with effectiveness on work content have quite low power. There is far less variance explained compared with the models that predicted effectiveness on attitude. The strength of the predictors are presented in table 5.
Akin to the analysis for effectiveness on attitude a second regression analysis with the power bases that proved to be significant in their categories was done for effectiveness on work content. Status power, resources power and attributed analytical skills were used as predictors in a stepwise regression analysis. Only resources power emerged as a significant predictor, thus the analysis resulted in the same model as for the analysis with the dependencies category. This means that for effectiveness on work content only the resources power base is able to make a unique, although small, contribution to the explanation of variance when all categories are considered together.
Table 5 Regression coefficients for the power bases included in the regression models
B SE B β
Regression analyses with effectiveness on attitude Attributes
Status power .47 .14 .48**
Expert power .56 .19 .44**
Dependencies
Resources power .69 .20 .54**
Rewarding feedback power .51 .22 .36*
Abilities
Attributed persuasive skills power .79 .15 .74***
All categories
Resources power .72 .19 .56**
Expert power .45 .18 .35*
Regression analyses with effectiveness on work content Attributes
Status power .38 .18 .39*
Dependencies
Resources power .65 .22 .52**
Abilities
Attributed analytical skills power .51 .21 .44*
All categories
Resources power .65 .22 .52**
Legend: * p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001.
DISCUSSION
The aim of this research was to study the position of HR professionals in organizations. With HR responsibilities being transferred to the line management and the pressure for HR departments to make their contribution to organizational performance visible, there is a need for HR to change the roles they perform in organizations. This research looked at the power position of HR professionals in the organization and what they achieve in their position, i.e. their effectiveness. Two research questions were formulated and the findings will be discussed below. Furthermore limitations of the research will be discussed as well as implications for further research.
Research questions
The first research question was about the power position of HR professionals. The changing role of HR in organizations brings them in a position in which their work bears similarity with the work of external consultants. Based on research on the power position of consultants it was hypothesized that power bases that are relevant for consultants are also relevant for HR professionals. The results suggest that this is indeed the case, each of the power bases that were relevant for consultants are relevant for HR professionals as well. The line managers rated the HR professionals above the average of the scale on most of the power bases. Also the HRM power bases have a positively correlation with effectiveness, which means that the power bases are related to what the HR professional accomplishes. The relation of the power bases with effectiveness will be discussed in more depth when handling the second research question.
The power bases in the abilities category refer to what the power holder ‘is’ (Emans, 1995). This means he or she can not directly do something with it, except for that they are qualities that are attributed to the HR professional and thereby give him or her influence. The results show that the HR professionals are rated highly on those power bases that are related to his or her personal features. These are the HR professionals’ expertness, their personal relationships and the relationships they have with formal power holders. The power base in this category with a score below the scale average is status power. Although personal characteristics determine partly the status that the HR professional has in the organization, the status is also determined by the status of the HR department as a whole. This means that the power position of HR professionals can be positively or negatively affected by the image that
the HR department has in the organization, something which the individual HR professional cannot easily influence.
The second category of power bases are related to dependencies of the HR professional. These bases create power because he or she can exchange them for influence.
The line managers in this study rate the HR professionals above the average of the scale. This indicates that the HR professionals whom the respondents referred to are indeed able to obtain power from actions like exchanging knowledge, giving positive or negative feedback and by making use of their personal network. With respect to the power base control over information the results are inconclusive. The power base was not part of the power base taxonomy for consultants, it was hypothesized to be a unique power base for HR originating from their position in the organization. The reliability of the scale was somewhat poor and the mean scored exactly in the middle of the score range. What we can say is that is does not seem a completely unknown phenomenon to the line management.
The last category of power bases is the abilities category, it is made up of different skills that are attributed to the power holder. All skill types that were hypothesized as power bases are attributed to the HR professionals by the line managers. This is good news for HR because the skills are seen as important features to posses in the new roles they now need to perform. Beer (1997) sees analytic and social skills as essential for HR in becoming a business partner. And according to Buchanan and Boddy (1992) for people in change agent roles communication skills and interpersonal skills are important competencies.
The second research question pertains to what the HR professional accomplishes by utilizing his or her power position. Based on the survey we cannot speak of a cause and effect relation between the power bases that were attributed to the HR professional and their effectiveness in influencing the attitude and the work of the line managers. So the results are correlational and above all based on a rather small sample, nevertheless the results do show some interesting patterns that will be discussed.
The HRM power bases all show a significant positive correlation with effectiveness on attitude. Which means that those HR professionals that are able to positively influence the line managers’ attitude towards their ideas and requests were rated highly on the power bases.
Regression analyses were done in two steps to see which power bases were best able to predict the effectiveness. That is, which ones of the bases can be considered as a predictor in itself, apart from its relatedness to the other power bases. As such, expertise power and resources power came up as predictors for effectiveness on attitude. Both of these power
bases rely on the knowledge of the HR professional. This would suggest that knowledge is important for the power position of the HR professional in two ways. The first is by making information he or she presents on the domain of his expertise more easily accepted; i.e. expert power. The second is by providing organizational members with information in an exchange relation; i.e. resources power. The nature of the relationship of the other power bases with effectiveness on attitude is unclear. The current data shows that, although the regression analyses do not indicate a unique contribution for them, they are positively related to the HR professional’s effectiveness. Research with a greater sample can map out in what way the other power bases contribute to effectiveness and the extent to which they can add to effectiveness separate from the other power bases.
Not all HRM power bases correlate with effectiveness on work content. In fact some power bases that had a quite strong correlation with effectiveness on attitude showed no significant correlation with effectiveness on work content. Expert power has a correlation of .64 with effectiveness on attitude but has a correlation of close to zero (0.09) with effectiveness on work content. A possible explanation is that the expertness of the HR professionals is valued only when they ask for support on proposals related to their HR expertise, however when request are made pertaining to the work content of the line managers their expertise does not give them influence. Thus, to the line managers, the domain of expertness of HR does not extend to the way they do their work. This corresponds with the assertion of French & Raven (1959) that the influence of expert power is limited to the domain of the expertise. Three of the six power bases that have a significant positive correlation with effectiveness on work content belong to the dependencies category. This suggests that power from some form of exchange is important in influencing the way the line managers do their work. The regression analyses with all three categories as predictors showed that only resources power was able to make a unique contribution to the prediction of effectiveness on work content. The power of the resources power base is also based on exchange for influence.
Galang (2004) found that HRM practices are more likely to be successfully implemented when the HRM department in the organization has a high status. The results of the current study suggest that status power seems to play a role in both types of influence. The regression analyses with the power bases from the attributes category as predictors show that for effectiveness on attitude, as well as for effectiveness on work content, status power is a significant predictor. What stands out is that of all the HRM power bases status power has the
effectiveness measures the regression analyses give resources power as the best predictor. But again the mean score for resources power is rather low (3.3) in comparison to the other power bases. Although these scores are from quite a small set of respondents, they would suggest that the power position of HR professionals is weakest on the power bases that are most important for their effectiveness in influencing the line management.
When considering the influence of HR professionals on the attitude of the line managers we see that all HRM power bases have a positive correlation and can be hypothesized to contribute to effectiveness. For the influence on work content of the line managers only six power bases have a positive correlation with effectiveness. So with regard to influencing the work content of the line manager the power position of HR professionals seems more limited. A comparison of the two effectiveness measures shows that the mean on effectiveness on attitude is higher (3.3) than the mean score for effectiveness on work content (2.7). Firm conclusions based on this result may be premature, however Khilij and Wang (2006) found that there is a gap between intended and implemented HRM practices. And Legge (1995) contends that there is a discrepancy between the rhetoric about HRM and the reality. The gaps mentioned by these authors are largely between the intentions or rhetoric that can be heard about HRM at the top management level of organizations and the practice that can be found at middle or lower levels. The findings in this study are different in this respect that at a lower level HR seems to be able to some extent to change the attitude of line managers, but translating this in changing the way they do their work is more difficult. A somewhat pessimistic explanation would be that line managers only pay lip service towards the ideas brought forward by HR and that they do not support real changes in the way they perform their work. It could also be that the line managers’ support is sincere but that other factors prevent implementation towards their daily work. McGovern, Gratton, Hope-Hailey and Truss (1997) found that managers tend to give less priority to HR activities because it gives no short-term results. They reported that the two most important reasons for managers to do get involved in HR practices are personal motivation and institutional pressures.
Whereas institutional pressure would have to originate from top management, there may be room for HR to influence the personal motivation of line managers. The challenge is then to find out how to extend that personal motivation from a positive attitude to changes in work content.
Limitations
Some marginal notes towards the results of this research are in place. First of all the number of respondents is rather low. The results that have been presented are based on the answers of 26 questionnaires that were filled in. This means that we must be cautious in attaching firm conclusions to the presented results. The current results only point out the likely direction of the effects that are found. What is also missing in this research is information on control variables. Factors pertaining to the personal characteristics of the HR professional as well as characteristics of the organization might play a role in the relation between the power position of HR and their relation with line management.
Another remark that has to be made concerns the measurement of the power bases. The questionnaire measured the extent to which the line managers attributed the power bases to the HR professional. This means that it is their perception of the extent to which the HR professionals possess these power bases. One could say that for the purpose of this research the line managers are also the group that is to be influenced, so their perception is relevant in this situation. This is of course true but it does not necessarily have to mean that the line managers’ perception is correct. It may be so that they have a wrong impression of the power bases of their HR colleagues and that the effectiveness of these HR professionals is caused by different power bases. It would at least be interesting to compare attributions of power bases by line managers with the attribution of power bases that HR professionals give of themselves.
Conclusions
Based on the research presented several conclusions can be drawn. First of all, the proposed HRM power bases are characteristic for HR professionals in their relation with line management. Although considering the mentioned limitations, a replication of this result is desirable. Second, all HRM power bases have a relation with the ability of HR professionals to influence the attitude of line managers towards their ideas. The exact interplay between the different power base and how they relate to effective influencing is still unclear. The results suggest an important role for the knowledge of the HRM professionals, either by gaining credibility as an expert or by exchanging knowledge for influence. Third, for influencing the work content of line managers the power position of HR professionals seems more limited.
Examining the status of the HRM department and related to this the status power of the HR professional may prove interesting, although an investigation of other, more external, factors
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APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE ITEMS
For each scale in the questionnaire the original items are given in Dutch, supplemented by a rough translation in English. Items marked * were removed from the final data-set for methodological reasons.
Expert power
De P&O-medewerker beschikt over ervaring in zijn/haar vakgebied
The HR professional has experience in his/her field of expertise
De P&O-medewerker beschikt over kennis over zijn/haar vakgebied
The HR professional has knowledge about his/her field of expertise
De P&O-medewerker beschikt over ervaring in de branche waar onze organisatie in opereert
The HR professional has experience in the industry in which our organization operates De P&O-medewerker beschikt over kennis
over de branche waar onze organisatie in opereert
The HR professional has knowledge about the industry in which our organization operates
De P&O-medewerker beschikt over ervaring in onze organisatie
The HR professional has experience in our organization
De P&O-medewerker beschikt over kennis van onze organisatie
The HR professional has knowledge about our organization
De P&O-medewerker beschikt over kennis over het soort veranderprojecten waar wij nu mee te maken hebben
The HR professional has knowledge about the kind of change projects that we are dealing with at the moment
De P&O-medewerker weet hoe ons dagelijks werk en de daarmee samenhangende
problemen eruit zien
The HR professional is familiar with our daily work and the problems that come with it
Personal power
De P&O-medewerker is open en toegankelijk The HR professional is open and accessible De P&O-medewerker past als persoon binnen
onze organisatie
The HR professional fits in our organization as a person
De P&O-medewerker heeft een vertrouwensband opgebouwd met medewerkers uit onze organisatie
The HR professional has build up trusting relationships with fellow workers from our organization
De P&O-medewerker toont betrokkenheid bij het reilen en zeilen binnen onze organisatie
The HR professional shows involvement with how things are going within our organization
Status power
De kleding van de P&O-medewerker geeft hem/haar aanzien
The clothing of the HR professional give him/her prestige
Het gebruik van ICT hulpmiddelen geeft de P&O-medewerker aanzien
The use of ICT tools give the HR professional prestige
De P&O-afdeling geniet aanzien binnen onze organisatie
The HRM department has status within our organization
* De omvang van het project geeft de P&O- medewerker aanzien
* The size of the project gives the HR professional prestige
* De P&O-medewerker geniet aanzien binnen onze organisatie
* The HR professional has status within our organization
De P&O-medewerker is door zijn/haar status in staat resultaten te boeken
The HR professional is capable of achieving results by his/her status
Indirect formal power
Onze directie draagt het belang van het veranderproject uit in de organisatie
Our board of directors propagates the importance of the change project in our organization
Onze directie vervult een voorbeeldfunctie in het project
Our board of directors acts as a role model in the project
De P&O medewerker is bij belangrijke besprekingen van onze directie aanwezig
The HR professional is present at important meetings of our board of directors
Onze directie geeft de P&O medewerker openlijk steun
Our board of directors openly support the HR professional
External network power
De P&O-medewerker beschikt over relevante contacten buiten onze organisatie
The HR professional has relevant contacts outside our organization
Resources power
De P&O-medewerker is in staat mensen met dezelfde belangen in onze organisatie bij elkaar te brengen
The HR professional is capable of bringing people with shared interests in our
organization together De P&O-medewerker weet wat er bij
verschillende mensen in onze organisatie leeft
The HR professional knows what is happening for different people in our organization
De P&O-medewerker is in staat contacten binnen onze organisatie te gebruiken om het draagvlak te vergroten
The HR professional is capable of using his/her contacts in our organization to strengthen support
De P&O-medewerker kan individuen en groepen vooruit helpen door ze van kennis en denkmodellen te voorzien
The HR professional helps individuals and groups make progress by providing them with knowledge and models
* De voortgang van individuen en groepen wordt bepaald door de inhoudelijke inbreng van de P&O-medewerker
* The progress of individuals and groups is determined by the contribution with regard to content of the HR professional
De voortgang van individuen en groepen wordt bepaald door de procesmatige inbreng van de P&O-medewerker
The progress of individuals and groups is determined by the contribution with regard to process of the HR professional
* In een impasse is de P&O-medewerker in staat nieuwe oplossingen aan te dragen
* In an impasse the HR professional is capable of coming up with new solutions Rewarding feedback power
De P&O-medewerker heeft vertrouwen in de kwaliteiten van onze medewerkers
The HR professional has confidence in the qualities of our workers
De P&O-medewerker heeft oog voor zaken die goed gaan
The HR professional gives attention to things that go well
De P&O-medewerker vindt dat binnen onze organisatie op een aantal punten goed werk wordt verricht
The HR professional feels that on some points good work is being done in our organization
De P&O-medewerker is in staat complimenten te geven bij goede prestaties
The HR professional is capable of giving compliments for good performances Coercive feedback power
De P&O-medewerker is in staat slechte prestaties te benoemen
The HR professional is capable of denominating bad performances De P&O-medewerker is in staat mensen aan te
spreken op niet-nagekomen afspraken
The HR professional is capable of calling people to account for not sticking to agreements
De P&O-medewerker legt de vinger op de zere plek als dat nodig is
The HR professional puts one’s finger on the spot when needed
Negatieve feedback geeft de P&O-medewerker rechtstreeks
The HR professional gives negative feedback directly
Control over information
De P&O-medewerker is goed op de hoogte van nieuwe ontwikkelingen binnen onze
organisatie
The HR professional is well informed on new developments within our organization De P&O-medewerker is beter geïnformeerd
over nieuwe ontwikkelingen binnen onze organisatie dan ikzelf
The HR professional is better informed on new developments within our organization than I am myself
Ik ben soms afhankelijk van de P&O-
medewerker voor mijn informatievoorziening
I am sometimes dependent on the HR professional for my information services De P&O-medewerker heeft als eerste toegang
tot bepaalde informatie
The HR professional is the first to have access to certain information
Attributed persuasive skills De P&O-medewerker beschikt over overredingskracht
The HR professional has persuasive power De P&O-medewerker kan mensen overtuigen
op basis van inhoudelijke argumenten
The HR professional is capable of
convincing people on the basis of arguments with regard to content
De P&O-medewerker komt overtuigend over The HR professional makes a persuasive impression
De P&O-medewerker kan verbaal goed communiceren
The HR professional is capable of good verbal communication
Attributed analytical skills
De P&O-medewerker is in staat om snel potentiële probleemsituaties te herkennen
The HR professional is able to detect potential problem situations fast De P&O-medewerker kan vanuit een ander
perspectief naar situaties binnen de organisatie kijken
The HR professional is capable of looking from a different perspective at situations in our organization
De P&O-medewerker kan snel verbanden leggen
The HR professional is capable of making connections fast
De P&O-medewerker heeft snel in de gaten hoe verhoudingen tussen mensen en afdelingen liggen
The HR professional quickly knows how relations are between people and
departments
Attributed social skills
De P&O-medewerker toont oprecht interesse in anderen
The HR professional shows sincere interest in other people
De P&O-medewerker maakt makkelijk een praatje
The HR professional easily has a chat De P&O-medewerker beschikt over
persoonlijke contacten binnen onze organisatie
The HR professional has personal contacts within our organization
De P&O-medewerker vindt makkelijk aansluiting bij andere medewerkers
The HR professional easily connects with other fellow workers
Attributed communicative skills
De schriftelijke communicatie van de P&O- medewerker is van een goed niveau
The written communication of the HR professional is of a good standard De P&O-medewerker spreekt in begrijpelijke
taal
The HR professional speaks in understandable language
De P&O-medewerker gebruikt veel jargon The HR professional uses a lot of jargon De P&O-medewerker kan op de verschillende
niveaus in onze organisatie goed communiceren
The HR professional is able to communicate well in different levels of our organization
Effectiveness on attitude
De P&O-medewerker brengt mij op nieuwe ideeën
The HR professional gives me new ideas Ik leer veel van de P&O-medewerker I learn a lot from the HR professional De P&O-medewerker zorgt ervoor dat ik
medewerking verleen aan het verandertraject
The HR professional makes me cooperate with the change project
De P&O-medewerker weet mij te overtuigen om in te stemmen met zijn/haar voorstellen
The HR professional convinces me to give approval for his/her proposals
De P&O-medewerker weet mij aan het denken te zetten
The HR professional is able to set me to thinking
De P&O-medewerker weet mij te overtuigen van het nut en de noodzaak van de verandering
The HR professional convinces me of the purpose and the merit of the change De P&O-medewerker weet mij te overtuigen
van het plan van aanpak voor een verandering
The HR professional convinces me of the plan for change
Effectiveness on work content
De P&O-medewerker heeft invloed op de manier waarop ik mijn werk uitvoer
The HR professional has an influence on the way I perform my work
De P&O-medewerker heeft invloed op de manier waarop ik mijn tijd in de organisatie besteed
The HR professional has an influence on the way I spend my time in the organization De P&O-medewerker heeft invloed op de aard
van mijn werkzaamheden in de organisatie
The HR professional has an influence on the nature of my duties in the organization De P&O-medewerker heeft invloed op mijn
doen en laten in de organisatie
The HR professional has an influence on the way I act in the organization
