Lost in Translation: The Human Resource Business Partner in a Scandinavian Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.148116Keywords:
Employment, Wages, Unemployment & Rehabilitation, Gender, Ethnicity, Age and Diversity, Organization & ManagementAbstract
Business partnerships and human resource transformation (HRT), marketed since the late 1990s as solutions for human resource management (HRM), have spread widely, mainly in US, Europe, and Scandinavian organizations. This paper problematizes the contextualization of the human resource business partner (HRBP) model, the key component of the HRT concept, in a global cor- porate group’s Swedish HR function, based on an in-depth empirical case. The paper shows that the HRBP model created tensions and ambiguities for HR practitioners working as HRBPs in their daily work due to the mismatch between the objectives of this work role and the actual requested work, complicating their relationship with line managers. Broadly, this means that this management model does not fit the Scandinavian work context. A modified HRBP role is proposed to incorporate closer cooperation within the HR function.
References
Alvesson, M., and Lundholm, S. (2014). Personalchefers Arbete och Identitet – strategi och strul (Personnel managers’ work and identity – strategy and mess-up), Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Alvesson, M., and Sköldberg, K. (2000). Reflexive Methodologies: Interpretation and Research, London: SAGE.
Alvesson, M., and Willmott, H. (2002). Identity regulation as organizational control producing the appropriate individual, Journal of Management Studies 39(5): 619–644. Https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00305
Baum, T., and Francis, H. (2018). HR Transformation within the hotel industry: building capacity for change, Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes 10(1): 86–100. Https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-10-2017-0064
Bennett, H., McCracken, M., O’Kane, P., and Brown, T. (2023). The elusiveness of strategic HR partnering: Using paradox theory to understand tensions surrounding the HR business partnering role, Human Resource Management Journal 1(18). Https:// doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12538
Bevort, F., and Einarsdottir, A. (2021). Human Resource Management in the Nordic Context. The Oxford Handbook of Contextual Approaches to Human Resource Management, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 209–238. Https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190861162.013.10
Boglind, A., Hällsten, F., and Thilander, P. (2011). HR transformation and shared services: adoption and adaptation in Swedish organizations, Personnel Review 40(5): 570–588. Https://doi.org/10.1108/004834811111544441
Boxall, P., and Purcell, J. (2011). Strategy and Human Resource Management. 3rd ed., New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Braun, V., and Clark, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology, Qualitative Research in Psychology 3: 77–101. Https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Brewster, C. (1995). Towards a European Model of human-resource management, Journal of International Business Studies 26(1): 1–21. Https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490163
Buyens, D., and DeVos, A. (2001). Perceptions of the value of the HR function, Human Resource Management Journal 11(3):70–¬¬-89. Https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-8583.2001.tb00046.x
Caldwell, R. (2008). HR business partner competency models; Reconceptualizing effectiveness, Human Resource Management Journal 18(3): 275–294. Https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-8583.2008.00071.x
Czarniawska, B. (2007). Shadowing: And Other Techniques for Doing Fieldworks in Modern Societies, Copenhagen: Liber and Copenhagen Business School Press.
Czarniawska, B., and Sevon, G. (2005). Global Ideas: How Ideas, Objects and Practices Travel in the Global Economy, Copenhagen: Liber and Copenhagen Business School Press.
Delamare LeDeist, F., and Winterton, J. (2005). What is competence? Human Resource Development International 8(1): 27–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/1367886042000338227
Ferm, L., Wallo, A., Reinholm, C., and Lundqvist, D. (2023). Defender, disturber or driver? The ideal-typical professional identities of HR practitioners, Personnel Review. DOI 10.1108/PR-06-2023-0511
Filatotchev, I., Ireland, R. D., and Stahl, G. K. (2022). Contextualizing management research: An open systems perspective, Journal of Management Studies 59: 4. Https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12754
Gerpott, H. F. (2015). The right strategy? Examining the business partner model’s functionality
for resolving Human Resource Management tensions and discussing alternative.
Zeitschrift fur Personalforschung 29(3–4): 214–234.
Https://doi.org/10.1688/ZfP-2015-03-Gerpott
Guest, D., and Conway, N. (2011). The impact of HR practices, HR effectiveness and a “strong HR system” on organizational outcomes: a stakeholder perspective, The International Journal of Human Resource Management 22(8):1686–1702. Https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2011.565657
Heizmann, H., and Fox, S. (2019). O Partner, Where Art Thou? A critical discursive analysis of HR managers’ struggle for legitimacy, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(13):2026–2048. Https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017-1314974
Häll, A., Tengblad, S., Oudhuis, M., and Dellve, L. (2023). How hard can it be? A qualitative study following an HRT implementation in a global industrial corporate group, Personnel Review. DOI 10.1108/PR-05-2020-0377
Jarzabkowski, P., Le, J. K., and Van de Ven, A. H. (2013). Responding to competing strategic demands: how organizing, belonging, and performing paradoxes coevolve, Strategic Organization 11(3):245–280. London: SAGE. Https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127013481016soq.sagepub.com
Keegan, A., Bitterling, I., Sylva, H., and Hoeksema, L. (2018). Organizing the HRM function:
responses to paradoxes, variety, and dynamism, Human Resource Management 57(5):1111–1126. Https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21893
Keegan, A., Brandl, J., and Aust, I. (2019). Handling tensions in human resource management: insights from paradox theory, Zeitschrift fur Personalforschung 22(2):79–95. Https://doi.org/10.1177/2397002218810312
Keen, K. (2003). Kompetens: vad är det? (Competence: what is it?) Idmans/Mitt förlag
Kvale, S., and Brinkman, S. (2009). Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. (The qualitative research interview), Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Legge, K. (2005). Human Resources Management; Rhetorics and Realities, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Legge, K. (2006). Human Resource Management. The Oxford Handbook of Work and Organization, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, W. M., and Smith, W. (2022). Reflections on the 2021 AMR Decade Award: Navigating paradox is paradoxical, Academy of Management Review 47(4):528–548. Https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2022.0251
Link, K., and Mueller, B. (2015). Delegating HR work to the line: emerging tensions and insights from a paradox perspective, Zeitschrift fur Personalforschung 29(3–4): 280–302. Https://doi.org/10.1688/ZfP-2015-03-Link
McCracken, M., O’Krane, P., Brown, T., and McCrory, M. (2017). Human resource business partner lifecycle model: exploring how the relationship between HRBP’s and their line manager partners evolves, Human Resources Management Journal 27(1): 58–74. Https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12125
Miles, M., and Huberman, M. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook. 3rd ed., Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Oudhuis, M., and Tengblad, S. (2013). Experiences from implementation of lean production: standardization versus self-management: a Swedish case study, Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies 3(1).
Pritchard, K. (2010). Becoming HR strategic partner: tales of transition, Human Resource Management Journal 20(2):175–188. Https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-8583.2009.00107.x
Putman, L., Fairhurst, G., and Banghart, S. (2016). Contradictions, dialects, and paradoxes in organizations: a constitutive approach, The Academy of Management Annals 10(1): 65–171. Https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2016.1162421
Ragin, C. C., and Becker, H. S. (1992). What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Reichel, A., Scheibmayr, I., and Brandl, J. (2019). The HR lady is onboard; untangling the link between HRM’s feminine image and HRM board representation, Human Resource Management Journal 30(4):586–603. Https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12263
Rothwell, W. J., Prescott, M., and Taylor, W. (2008). Human Resources Transformation: Demonstrating Strategic Leadership in the Face of Future Trends, Palo Alto: Davies-Black Publ.
Sanders, K., and Frenkel, S. (2011). HR - line management relations; characteristics and effects, The International Journal of Human Resource Management 22(8):1611–1617. Https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2011.565644
Sapir, A. (2006). Globalisation and the reform of European social models, Journal of Common Market Studies 44(2): 369–390
Sheehan, C., De Cieri, H., Greenwood, M., and van Buren III, H. J. (2014). HR professionals role tensions: perceptions and responses of the top management team, Human Resource Management 53(1): 115–130. Https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21574
Skålen, P., Quist, J., Edvardsson, B., and Enquist, B. (2005). The Contextualization of human resource and quality management: a sensemaking perspective on everybody’s involvement, The International Journal of Human Resource Management 16(5):736–751. Https://doi.org/10.1080/09585190500083095
Smith, W. K., and Lewis, M. W. (2011). Toward a theory of paradox: a dynamic equilibrium model of organizing, Academy of Management Review 36(2): 381–403.
Smith, W., and Tracey, P. (2016). Institutional complexity and paradox theory. Complementarities of competing demands, Strategic Organization 14(4): 455–466. Https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127016638565
Storey, J. (2007). Human Resource Management: A Critical Text. 3rd ed., London: Thomson Learning.
Tengblad, S. (2023). I den bästa av världar? Om organisering av HR/HRM i Sverige. Cranet rapport 2. (In the best of worlds? About the organization of HR/HRM in Sweden. Crane report 2.) Https://www.gu.se/global-hrm/
Tengblad, S., and Andersson, T. (2024). The struggle for industrial democracy in Sweden: a sociological macro-meso analysis 1960 – 2020, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Forthcoming.
Ulrich, D. (1997). Human Resource Champions: The Next Agenda for Adding Value and Delivering Results, Cambridge: Harvard Business Press.
Ulrich, D., and Brockbank, W. (2005). The HR Value Proposition, Cambridge: Harvard Business Press.
Wallo, A., and Coetzer, A. (2023). Understanding and conceptualizing the daily work of human resource practitioners, Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance 10(2):180–198. Https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-01-2022-0013
The Corporate Group. (2017, 2018). Annual and Sustainability Reports.
The Corporate Group. (2006). HRBP Target Role Core Competencies.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Author and Journal
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Copyright Holder of this Journal is the authors and the Journal. Normally the journal use the CC-BY NC-ND 4.0 licence.
Exceptions to the license terms may be granted
If you want to use content in the Journal in another way then described by this license, you must contact the licensor and ask for permission. Contact Bo Carstens at bo.carstens@gmail.com. Exceptions are always given for specific purposes and specific content only.
Sherpa/Romeo
The Journal is listed as a blue journal in Sherpa/Romeo, meaning that the author can archive post-print ((ie final draft post-refereeing) and author can archive publisher's version/PDF.
Copyright of others
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere.
Archives policy
All published material is archived at Roskilde University Library, Denmark, and transmitted to the Danish Royal Library in conformity with the Danish rules of legal deposit.
Plagiarism screening
We do not screen articles for plagiarism. It is the responsibility of the authors to make sure they do not plagiate.