Enhancing Productivity: The Role of Management Practices

Advanced Institute of Management Research Paper No. 065

41 Pages Posted: 3 Dec 2008

See all articles by Peer-Olaf Siebers

Peer-Olaf Siebers

The University of Nottingham - School of Computer Science

Uwe Aickelin

University of Melbourne - School of Computing and Information Systems

Giuliana Battisti

Warwick Business School

Helen Celia

Independent

Chris Clegg

University of Leeds - Division of Management (deceased)

Xiaolan Fu

University of Oxford

Rafael E. De Hoyos Navarro

World Bank

Alfonsina Iona

Aston University - Finance & Accounting Group

Alina Ileana Petrescu

University of Central Lancashire - Lancashire School of Business and Enterprise

Adriano Peixoto

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: February 1, 2008

Abstract

There is no doubt that management practices are linked to the productivity and performance of a company. However, research findings are mixed. This paper provides a multi-disciplinary review of the current evidence of such a relationship and offers suggestions for further exploration. We provide an extensive review of the literature in terms of research findings from studies that have been trying to measure and understand the impact that individual management practices and clusters of management practices have on productivity at different levels of analysis. We focus our review on Operations Management (OM) and Human Resource Management (HRM) practices as well as joint applications of these practices. In conclusion, we can say that taken as a whole, the research findings are equivocal. Some studies have found a positive relationship between the adoption of management practices and productivity, some negative and some no association whatsoever. We believe that the lack of universal consensus on the effect of the adoption of complementary management practices might be driven either by measurement issues or by the level of analysis. Consequently, there is a need for further research. In particular, for a multi-level approach from the lowest possible level of aggregation up to the firm-level of analysis in order to assess the impact of management practices upon the productivity of firms.

Suggested Citation

Siebers, Peer-Olaf and Aickelin, Uwe and Battisti, Giuliana and Celia, Helen and Clegg, Chris and Fu, Xiaolan and De Hoyos, Rafael E. and Iona, Alfonsina and Petrescu, Alina Ileana and Peixoto, Adriano, Enhancing Productivity: The Role of Management Practices (February 1, 2008). Advanced Institute of Management Research Paper No. 065 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1309605 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1309605

Peer-Olaf Siebers (Contact Author)

The University of Nottingham - School of Computer Science ( email )

Jubilee Campus
Wollaton Road
Nottingham, NG8 1BB
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~pos/

Uwe Aickelin

University of Melbourne - School of Computing and Information Systems ( email )

Australia

Giuliana Battisti

Warwick Business School ( email )

Scarman road
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

Helen Celia

Independent

Chris Clegg

University of Leeds - Division of Management (deceased)

United Kingdom

Xiaolan Fu

University of Oxford ( email )

3 Mansfield Road
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3TB
United Kingdom

Rafael E. De Hoyos

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Alfonsina Iona

Aston University - Finance & Accounting Group ( email )

United States

Alina Ileana Petrescu

University of Central Lancashire - Lancashire School of Business and Enterprise ( email )

Preston, PR1 2HE
United Kingdom

Adriano Peixoto

affiliation not provided to SSRN