Toward a social context theory of the human resource management-organization effectiveness relationship

Increasing evidence has been found in support of a relationship between hum an resources management (HRM) systems and organization effectiveness, which has emerged as an important body of work in the past decade. Noticeably ab sent has been sound theoretical development that explains how such HRM syst em effects operate. In an effort to address such theoretical limitations in the area, the present article proposes a social context conceptualization that incorporates culture, climate, and political considerations to shed li ght on the intermediate linkages between HRM systems and organization effec tiveness. Then, the proposed conceptualization is used to examine how the p rocess dynamics involved with diversity objectives and initiatives might be associated with organization effectiveness. Implications and directions fo r future research are discussed.