Werner Nienhueser: Empirical Research on Human Resource Management as a Production of Ideology
findings are mainly used for a symbolic legitimisation of decisions in the company
(Pfeffer, 1981). That information considered to be necessary for the process of decisionmaking
is often supplied by watching other businesses that are comparable and perceived
to be successful – in contrast to justifying the decision to third parties (Nienhüser,
1998), where the assistance of business consultants plays a role (Kieser, 2006).
If empirical findings in general were to offer a kind of legitimisation-quarry where
companies could help themselves as needs arise, then these could be employed as a
means in the manifest or latent conflict with stakeholders. This would be particularly
easy for management if the totality of findings were already tailored to such a demand
by integrating more the interests of managers and capital owners than those of other
stakeholder groups beginning with the set-up of the study. At the same time this
would make it more difficult for other stakeholder groups to utilise the empirical findings
(in their totality).
In summary: statements of empirical HRM research have a particular ideological
potential when they offer a power advantage in conflicts irrespective of their truthcontent.
3. Analysis
The analysis starts first of all with the question of which topics are higher priority in
empirical HRM research, which are lower priority and which ones are not addressed at
all. This includes what the guiding questions in HRM research are and which questions
are omitted, which dependent and independent variables are used and how these
are interpreted with regard to content (conceptualised).
Second we need to ask which interests and values matter in HRM research and
have a selective effect. Is HRM research specifically characterised by a one-sided capital
or employee orientation or is there a broad variety of values so that we can speak
of a pluralistic (or at least a dualistic, i.e. oriented in the values of capital and labour)
value landscape?
Third, I raise the question of which “human resources” are the object of HRM
research. Is it mainly the “upper echelons”, (senior) executives and other organisational
elites such as academically qualified professionals or is research also interested
in the broad masses of employees? What should be clear is that a concentration on the
second group does not necessarily imply “employee orientation” in terms of the aim
of realising employee interests. Interest orientation is the object of the previous point
and has to be analytically separated from the question about the object of the analysis.
Fourth, there is potential for selectivity and bias in the fact that access to certain
companies is systematically more likely than access to others. There is the possibility
that companies with conditions that are more favourable for the employees or “presentable”
are more likely to grant researchers access.
Fifth, access to companies might be granted and perhaps we are even asking the
“right” questions. But who is answering those questions? Is it also the elites of the organisation
or do we get information from other groups as well?
There are two other points which I will not cover despite their importance. For
one I will largely leave out the question about those theories that guide empirical re-management revue, 22(4), 367-393 DOI 10.16