专业英语论文.doc

专业英语课程论文 题 目: Human resource management and competitive advantage: An application of resource-based view in the shipping industry 姓 名： 学 院 经济管理学院 专 业：人力资源管理 教 师：孙 学 号：20091332034 2012年5月 25 日CatalogueAbstract .3Introduction .4Body.41. Resource-based view and strategic human resource management .42. Application of resource-based view in shipping and crew management.63. Results from the field survey.84. Managing humanresources in shipping: an integrated framework.10Conclusion11Reference.12Acknowledgements.13Human resource management and competitive advantage: An application of resource-based view in the shipping industryHaixiao Yu(俞海啸)20091332034，May 2012 Nanjing University of Information Science and technology, School of Economics and Management, Department of Human Resource Management, Completed 24 May 2012. AbstractThe resource-based view (RBV) of the firm has been established as one of the main approaches to strategy formulation for the development of sustainable competitive advantage. Moreover, humanresource management can be conceptualised as a source of competitiveness. This paper proposes that RBV could contribute to the confrontation of the hindrances that shipping companies face in the management of their human resources, and to the formation of sustainable competitive advantage. The paper analyses the findings of a field study, regarding the different humanresource and crew managementpractices that are applied by Greek-owned shipping companies. Finally, based on the RBV of the firm, it proposes an integrated framework for managing humanresources in the shipping industry in a way that could lead to the formation of sustainable competitive advantage.KeywordsCompetitive advantage; Human resources ; Resource based view; Shipping1. IntroductionOne of the basic goals for companies operating in the shipping industry has always been the ability to produce low-cost services. The highly competitive business environment of this industry, along with the international regulations and other institutional arrangements, keeps affecting till today the companies strategies to operational cost reduction. Considering the fact that manning expenses represent almost 50% of the operational, and that it is presumed as the most flexible , one could understand why shipping companies seek to employ low-cost seamen. Especially nowadays that the global maritime labour market offers a variety of officers and ratings, the quest for cheap labour seems to be easyin terms of quantity, but also riskyin terms of quality. While this variety should be considered as strength seeing from ahumanresourcemanagement (HRM) view, in many cases in practice, it is treated more as a hindrance. Factors that contribute to it, apart from the companies strategic approach with respect to theirhumanresources (HR), are various structural characteristics of the shipping sector, which will be discussed later on.This paper proposes that the resource-based view (RBV) could contribute to the confrontation of several hindrances that shipping companies face in the management of their HR, and to the formation of sustainablecompetitive advantage. The paper analyses the findings of a field study, and compares the different approaches that shipping companies apply with regard to the management of their personnel. The contribution of RBV and HRM in the achievement of competitive advantage are introduced in Section 2, where references to shipping companies HR are also made. The structural characteristics of the shipping industry and maritime labour market, are further examined in Section 3. Section 4 presents the methodology, discusses the results and gives the basic outcomes of the field survey. Section 5 proposes an integrated framework for managing HR in the shipping industry, in a way that could lead to the formation of sustainablecompetitive advantage. 2. Resource-based view and strategic human resource managementResource-based view (RBV), initially introduced by Wernerfelt , realises the firm as a bundle of resourcesand capabilities that combined develop competencies. Resources and capabilities constitute the base for the formation of sustainable competitive advantage. Resources can be classified : physical capitalresources (including plants, equipment, finance), organisational capital resources (e.g. organisational structure, control systems, HR systems) and human capital resources (skills, judgment and intelligence of employees). Capabilities can be defined as the skills a firm needs to take full advantage of its assets. Without such capabilities, assets are of little value. Competencies can be defined as “a set of observable performance dimensions, including individual knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours, as well as collective team, process, and organisational capabilities that are linked to high performance, and provide the organisation with sustainable competitive advantage”. Literature on strategic HRM accentuates the importance of firms HR, in the way that they can lead to the creation of sustainable competitive advantage . Nowadays, people are perceived as an indispensable and inextricable part of a company; an element that requires proper management, in order to comprise a profitable investment and to offer competitive advantage. Regarding shipping, crews can contribute to cost reduction through their low level of wages, their knowledge and performance, or their commitment to the goals of the firm; all these can lead to cost savings in the ship's maintenance or reduction of ship's off hires.RBV is based on four basic tenets, which constitute the VRIO model: value (V), rareness (R), imitability (I), organisation support (O). Barney considers that a company holds a competitive advantage, when it displays a competitive superiority, based on some distinctive and enviable competence or capability, which rivals cannot possess or imitate. Companies should seek for tracking and exploiting their HR valuable and rare characteristics, and try to align the company's aims with the employee's personal needs and expectations. For example, not all seafarers hold initiative, creativity, seamanship; and even if they do, these characteristics cannot be manifested and become fully worthy, unless the working environment motivates them. Both valuable and rare characteristics contribute to short-term competitiveness, because eventually, they can be imitated by competitors. What is important for a company is to seek for developing such characteristics to its HR, which could not easily be imitated by the competitors. For example, trust, loyalty and adoption of “company's identity” by Greek seafarers have contributed to the competitiveness of Greek shipping companies. Every company should develop systems that will allow “humanresource characteristics to bear the fruit of their potential advantage” . The existence of HRM systems makes the competitive advantage of the firm sustainable . 3. Application of resource-based view in shipping and crew managementIn the shipping industry, corporate activities take place in a business-to-business level. Shipping services are produced in order to satisfy the derived demand for the transport of cargoes. Especially companies of the bulk shipping sector were traditionally the less interested in investing to advertising, marketing or any other activity that may improve the firm's image. In the application of RBV in shipping (especially bulk shipping), one should take into account certain structural characteristics of the sector, whichon the one hand, create hindrances for the adoption of the RBV, and on the other, make the adoption of RBV even more useful for creating sustainable competitive advantage. These aspects of the industry include:(a) Complexity: Complexity is one of the most important organisational traits as it has major effects on the behaviour of its members. There are three elements of complexity that are most commonly identified, i.e. horizontal differentiation, vertical or hierarchical and spatial dispersion . Shipping companies appear to have high level of complexity in all these three elements. In this context the design and implementation of organisational systems, either for the management of HR or for any other operational aspect in each one of the organisational structures is a complex task.(b) The need for unit cost minimisation: Bulk shipping is built around minimising of unit cost . This pursuit has created patterns for the selection of competitive strategies, with that of cost leadership to prevail. Shipping companies are always searching ways for the minimisation of their unit cost in all possible areas, with the manning related cost to be one of them. In many cases, HRM function confronts certain limitations imposed by the need to minimise cost. In this way, seafarers may not be always able to bring to the surface their skills, and, concurrently, shipping companies may not be always able to take in full advantage their skills.(c) Formalisation: Formalisation refers to “the extent which work roles are structured in an organisation, and the activities of the employees are governed by specialised, written and enforced rules and procedures”. The extent to which firm's employees adopt its organisational culture, affects the level of formalisation. Furthermore, formalisation influences the flow of the explicit and tacit knowledge in the company's internal parts. In shipping companies, formalisation is, to some extent, enforced by international rules and legislations, but is much more intense on board, where the environment is extremely dynamic and strongly affected by external factors. The frequent turnover of people and nationalities on board necessitates the existence of rules and formalised working procedures, in order to assure a high level of crew's security and effectiveness.(d) Investment strategies: For many companies that implement an “anticyclical investment strategy” seeking to accumulate profits mainly by purchasing and selling ships, seafarers are not always considered as integral part of their structures, since they are the first that are left out. In such a case, it is not easy for the companies to design and implement coherent HRM systems. This for example, seems to be the case for several shipping companies, whose fleets are enlarged or diminished in periods of low or high freight rates, and ship prices, respectively. On the other hand, there are traditional shipping companies that have a different perspective, and seek to operate their vessels from its “birth” till scrap, that treat seafarers as a valuableresource.(e) Freight markets volatility: This characteristic leads to the sudden increase or decrease of the shipping companies income and earnings. In periods of high freight rates and earnings for the companieswhen the operational cost of the ship is not the decisive factor for its profitability, it is expected that shipping companies invest more in the development of their humanresources. On the contrary, in periods of low freight rateswhen the income is reduced and the companies are much more concentrated on the minimisation of their operational cost, the relevant investments are in many companies abridged. However, speaking ofhumanresources, to succeed in exploiting their potential contribution, companies need to be consistent and to convince the employees that they are long term partners.(f) Institutional arrangements: Institutional arrangements influence the applied crew management practices and the companies perceptions towards HR's value; they comprise two categories. The first concern these arrangements that are imposed by the flag states, and include the imposition of minimum schemes regarding the nationality of the seafarers. This is the case for the Greek flag, whose institutional patterns intervenes and actually distorts the competitiveness of Greek seafarers in the international maritime labour market. The second category concerns the existence of registries that do not comply with the regulations of international organisations, with regard to the seafarers employment conditions. This leads to phenomena, such as seafarers abandonment, salaries lower than the ILO/ITF minimum level, etc.4. Results from the field survey4.1. MethodologyThe current results are based on data gathered during personal interviews with crew managers and managing directors, with the use of a structured questionnaire, which examined the applied HRM practices and strategies, and the attitudes and opinions towards the competitiveness of seafarers. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data were used in the analysis. The field survey took place in Athens and Piraeus during the first half of 2007. The sample consisted of 91 Greek-owned and Greek-operated shipping companies, managing a total number of 1076 vessels. The sample was analysed and categorised using data provided by Petrofin for the number of companies and Lloyd's-Fairplay for the number of ships . The majority of the vessels flew the Greek flag (35%), while the rest flew 17 foreign flags, such as Malta (19%) and Panama (13%). The vessels were bulk carriers (45.3%), tankers (33.3%), and containers (9.7%). The survey revealed that Greek-owned shipping companies employ a variety of 34 different nationalities. The most frequently employed nationalities include Filipinos (24%), Greeks (21.6%), Ukrainians (16.8%), Romanians (8.9%) and others. The most popular crew synthesis is the one that mixes Greeks with foreigners of many nationalities, even on foreign-flagged vessels.4.2. Results and discussionHumanresources, compared to financial, physical, organisational and intangible resources were ranked, with respect to their importance and their contribution to the companies competitiveness, as the most important by the Greek shipping companies. However, if one focuses to the size of the companies, one can see that opinions differ. Humanresources are considered as the most vital resources for large- and medium-sized shipping companies, while for companies of small size financial resources are preceded. With regards to the small firms this can be considered as expected, taking into account that one of the small firms main weaknesses is their limited access to financial resources. As it can be seen, the way the companies assess the importance of their financial (operation, sale and purchase, chartering policy, etc.), physical (fleet size, type, age and technology of vessels, etc.), human (ski