Nick Kinnie

• Human Resources at University of Bath

The relationship between professionals and clients has received considerable interest, more recently through the concept of client capture. However, little is known to date about the mechanisms through which professionals become captured by their clients. Drawing on 50 interviews investigating the promotion of lawyers to partnership in seven UK law...

This study contributes to our understanding of the link between the multiple foci of commitment (i.e. organization, profession, team, and/or client) and the intention to quit in a knowledge-intensive organizational context. This link is important to understand given that KIOs are reliant upon the commitment of their employees in order to survive. D...

This study develops existing theoretical and empirical understanding of the relationship between professionals and their clients situated in professional service firms (PSFs). It does so drawing on a career lens and regarding careers as contested and triadic in nature. In particular, it examines how the influence of clients is constructed during th...

This study draws insights from the strategic human resource management literature to improve our understanding of the functioning of internal service quality, the key foundation of the service profit chain. We identify three human resource management sub-systems, i.e. skill-, motivation-, and empowerment-enhancing practice bundles, as proxies for i...

Building on the findings of the previous three streams, we also draw on an analysis of survey results to develop five innovation profiles which characterise the main approaches to innovation that organisations adopt. We outline the drivers of each of these profiles and identify the most prominent leadership and talent dimensions and effective learn...

The search for causal links between strategic HRM and business performance has dominated both academic and practitioner debate for over two decades. This article poses fundamental questions such as what is meant by performance, how an HR system is to be configured, how the causal chain between HR practices and performance outcomes is to be modeled,...

Do human resource management practices actually work? This timely and engaging volume examines the links between people management practices and organizational performance. Focusing on the implementation and impact of HR strategies, the book puts forward a model, which draws attention to: The importance of the culture and values of the organization...

The dynamic internal and external environments faced by many professional service firms mean that the simultaneous exploiting of existing knowledge assets as well as exploring new knowledge capabilities become critical. These two modes of learning (March, 1991) can take place in two distinct time frames: the planned, longer-term and the accelerated...

How have employers responded to deteriorating economic conditions in their strategies for managing industrial relations? Here the author, using empirical data for 1977–83, discusses the changes taking place in management strategies and the rationales behind them.

This article argues that managerial control over industrial relations is becoming more centralised. Managers are deliberately following a strategy which balances elements of centralisation and decentralisation. There are implications both for management and for the future study of single employer bargaining.

Research into the links between HR and performance has assumed that managers have a high degree of strategic choice in this area. We argue this choice is constrained by members of the network within which the firm operates. Two contrasting firms are examined to discuss how and why strategic choice varies by reference to the resource dependency theo...

Much of the research into telephone call centres has focused on the coercive employment systems which are adopted in these organizations. This appears to contrast with the high levels of customer service and satisfaction which are often required for them to be successful. Our research, which is based on two case studies of call centres studied in d...

The changing environment within which SMEs are operating is examined by reference to detailed case studies of three medium-sized firms (one in the pharmaceutical sector and two in engineering). Following the development of a framework for analysis the cases are discussed to illustrate the direct and indirect ways in which pressures in the network o...

Note: This paper was first published in International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Volume 11 Number 9, 1991.

Examines the part that “non-technical” factors play in the experience of changing a manufacturing strategy. Considers, in particular, the importance of these factors in the organization's approach to formulating and implementing a change in manufacturing strategy. Following analysis based on case study research establishes an association between th...

Manufacturing strategy needs to be appropriate to the needs of the organization acceptable to all employees, and capable of subsequent renewal by management. To achieve this, attention needs to be paid not only to the objectives and framework of the manufacturing strategy, but also to the processes through which the manufacturing strategy is formul...

A great deal of attention has been given to developments in industrial relations on new or ‘green field’ sites, especially those owned by foreign companies. However, there is relatively little empirical evidence of the changes which are taking place on existing, or what might be called ‘brownfield’ sites.

The contribution that human resource management practices might make to the successful implementation of manufacturing strategy is examined. It is argued, on the basis of empirical research, that organisations typically adopt one of three different approaches to handling the critical human resource management practices which are identified. These f...

Manufacturing Strategy needs to be appropriate to the needs of the organisation, acceptable to all employees, and capable of subsequent renewal by management. To achieve this, attention needs to be paid not only to the objectives and framework of the Manufacturing Strategy, but also to the processes through which these are developed, implemented, a...

Research into the issues faced by managers who introduce IT into their organisations: how does technological change affect human resources policies? What human resources issues need to be dealt with before the benefits of technological change can be fully exploited?

Whilst clocking in and out has been a feature of factory life for nearly 100 years it is now being abolished by an increasing number of employers. The authors discuss the pros and cons of the system and argue that it is likely to disappear altogether for several reasons.

This working paper is produced for discussion purposes only. The papers are expected to be published in due course, in revised form and should not be quoted without the author's permission.

Abstract Growing,knowledge ,intensive firms ,(GKIFs) have ,a number ,of distinctive characteristics including innovative organisational forms which ,are seen as quite different from traditional structures (Mintzberg, 1983; Ghoshal and Bartlett, 1995; Quinn, 1992). However, some of these firms have a feature which has received relatively little atte...