HUMAN-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, MANUFACTURING STRATEGY, AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

This study examines two alternative views-universal and contingency-of the human resources (HR)-performance relationship in manufacturing se ttings, Results from a survey of 97 plants primarily support a conting ency approach to human resource management (HRM), An HR system focused on human capital enhancement was directly related to multiple dimensi ons of operational performance (i.e., employee productivity, machine e fficiency, and customer alignment), but subsequent analysis revealed t hat this main effect was predominately the result of linking human-cap ital-enhancing HR systems with a quality manufacturing strategy, Other manufacturing strategies also moderated the HR-performance relationsh ip.