Innovative HR architecture for organizational transformations

Abstract

Innovation is a vital component of organizational transformations. There is a general consensus in literature that both technical and non-technical innovations drive organizational transformations, providing differentiation led competitive advantage. Innovation literature has extensively focused on technical innovations and less emphasis has been placed on non-technical innovations; such as human resource (HR) innovations.This reflects a gap in strategy literature given that competitive advantage built on HR innovation is not easily imitable, and is therefore, a source of sustained competitive advantage. Furthermore, research has identified that HR is a vital contributor to the success as well as failure of organizational transformations. The fit between the differentiated HR architecture and strategic capabilities and business processes that implement strategy, are suggested to be the basis of differentiation led organizational transformations. HR architecture refers to the systems, practices, competencies, and employee performance behaviors that reflect the development and management of the organization‟s strategic human capital. However, research examining the role of innovative HR architecture in organizational transformations has been limited and fragmented. Addressing the above mentioned research gap, this paper presents a unified theoretical model of the role of innovative HR architecture in organizational transformations capturing the antecedent constructs that drive innovative HR architecture. Due to the relatively underdeveloped nature of the area of study, this paper will make a significant theoretical contribution, and provide valuable insights to government policy planners and HR practitioners.