Hsu 2000

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A study of HRM and

recruitment and selection
policies and practices in
Taiwan
Yu-Ru Hsu & Mike Leat
Published online: 18 Feb 2011.
To cite this article: Yu-Ru Hsu & Mike Leat (2000) A study of HRM
and recruitment and selection policies and practices in Taiwan, The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 11:2, 413-435, DOI:
10.1080/095851900339936
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Int. J. of Human Resource Management 11:2 April 2000 413-435
A study of HRM and recruitment and

selection policies and practices in Taiwan
Yu-Ru Hsu and Mike Leat

Abstract In this paper, the authors present and discuss the ndings of a survey of
human resource management (HRM) and recruitment and selection policies and practices
in a sample of manufacturing industry in Taiwan. The results indicate that there is a
general desire among HR professionals in participant companies that HRM policies are
integrated with corporate strategy and that HRM should be involved in decision making
at board level. Evidence was also obtained that some HRM decisions are shared between
line management and HR specialists and that line managers had a particularly in uential
role in decisions regarding recruitment and selection, training and development, and
workforce expansion/reduction. There was also some evidence supporting an assertion
that certain recruitment and selection practices were culturally sensitive and this was
supported by evidence of association between recruitment and selection practices and
country of ownership.
Keywords Human resource management; line management; manufacturing industry;

recruitment; selection; Taiwan.
Introduction
The globalization of product markets and enhanced multinational activity of business
organizations has encouraged a greater degree of interest in human resource
management (HRM) and its cultural relativism and transferability. In the academic
literature, many of the prominent theoretical or analytical models of HRM and strategic
HRM have been developed by either American or European researchers, e.g. the
Matching Model (Tichy et al., 1982), the Harvard model (Beer et al., 1984), Guest’s
model (1989a), Hendry and Pettigrew’s model (1990), the European model of HRM
(Brewster and Bournois, 1991), the Storey model (1992) and the 5-P model of strategic
HRM (Schuler, 1992). Many of these models re ect the particular cultural character-
istics of their country of origin and this raises questions about the applicability of these
Western-oriented models in a different cultural and contextual environment (in this case
Taiwan).
A number of recent researchers on HRM practice in Taiwan (Yeh, 1991; Chu, 1990;
He, 1993; Chin, 1993; Hsu, 1993; He and Yang, 1993; Tsai, 1995) seem to have
adopted Western models of HRM without critical evaluation of their suitability or
transferability and none of them has developed an analytical framework to facilitate our
understanding of the concept of HRM in the Taiwanese context. Therefore, in this
article, the authors seek to develop an appropriate framework for examining HRM in
Yu-Ru, Hsu, 6th oor, 16 Lin Nan Street, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC (fax: 1 886–7–2519603) .
Mike Leat, Plymouth Business School, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth
PL4 8AA, UK (e-mail: [email protected]).
The International Journal of Human Resource Management
ISSN 0958-5192 print/ISSN 1466-4399 online © 2000 Taylor & Francis Ltd
414 The International Journal of Human Resource Management
organizations in Taiwan. The framework proposed in this paper may then be used as a
base for a more comprehensive study of HRM in Taiwan and for further international
and comparative studies.
A number of British academics (Krulis-Randa, 1990; Sisson, 1990; Armstrong, 1992)
have suggested that HRM has a number of distinctive characteristics and values or
philosophies underpinning the concept. For example, there is an assertion that HRM
represents a strategic approach because it tends to emphasize the importance of
integrating HRM policies and practices with corporate strategy (Guest, 1989a, 1989b),
and that the locus of responsibility for people management is devolved to line
management; the role of personnel specialists is to support and facilitate line
management in this task, not to control it (Armstrong, 1992). These two central features
of HRM have been highlighted in an empirical survey conducted by Budhwar and

Sparrow (1997), who used the concepts (levels) of ‘integration’ and ‘devolvement’ to
analyse strategic HRM practices in Indian organizations. Budhwar and Sparrow pointed
out that the eld of strategic HRM has placed considerable emphasis on integration and
devolvement; however, most studies have been carried out in the West. They suggested
that a study of these two concepts would help to categorize strategic HRM practices in
India and would also facilitate comparison with HRM practices of rms in different
countries. In this respect, Budhwar and Sparrow’s study supports our decision to
investigate Taiwanese HR managers’ wishes for strategic integration and the extent to
which the responsibilities for HRM activities have been devolved to and are shared with
line management.
There appears to be some general agreement among a number of leading American
and European researchers (e.g. Beer et al., 1984; Guest, 1989a; Brewster and Bournois,
1991; Bratton, 1994) that, whatever models of and perspective on HRM are used,
recruitment and selection policies and practices can be perceived as integral. Recruit-
ment and selection not only seek to attract, obtain and retain the human resources the
organization needs to achieve the strategic goals, but may also have signi cant impact
upon the composition of the workforce, the ultimate t with the organization’s needs
and culture, and upon long-range employment stability (Beer et al., 1984).
There is some debate among cross-cultural and/or cross-national researchers as to
whether HRM policies and practices are converging across national boundaries or
diverging. In two relevant and recent cross-cultural comparative studies, the research
ndings of Easterby-Smith et al. (1995) and Lawler et al. (1995) provided support for
the culturally relativist (divergence) view of HRM with recruitment and selection
practices being found to be culturally sensitive and to vary across national borders,
whereas others such as manpower planning and reward systems were not. Moreover, in
other recent studies (Shaw et al., 1993; Lawler et al., 1995; Budhwar and Sparrow,
1997), company size and ownership pattern (along with other contingent and non-
contingent variables) were suggested to have some in uences, upon HRM policies and
practices. Hence, in this research, company size and ownership pattern were treated as
independent organizational variables and were examined to see if they have any
signi cant effects upon recruitment and selection processes, methods and techniques in
Taiwan.
Research hypotheses
Based upon the issues referred to above, seven hypotheses (H1 to H7) were devised.
H1 There would be a devolution/sharing of responsibility for HRM functions/
activities to line management.
Hsu and Leat: Recruitment and selection policies in Taiwan 415
H2 Recruitment and selection processes would vary signi cantly with ownership
pattern.
H3 Recruitment and selection processes would vary signi cantly with company
size.
H4 Recruitment methods would vary signi cantly with ownership pattern.
H5 Recruitment methods would vary signi cantly with company size.
H6 Selection techniques would vary signi cantly with ownership pattern.
H7 Selection techniques would vary signi cantly with company size.
Methodology
The samples for this research focused on manufacturing industry in Taiwan due to its
remarkable contributions to the economic growth over the last decades.1 The postal
questionnaire was chosen as the main vehicle for data collection. The questionnaires
concerning HRM and recruitment and selection (HRMRS) were sent to personnel/HR
managers in 500 manufacturing companies randomly selected from the Taiwan Trade
Yellow Pages. The content of the questionnaire was partially adapted from the ‘Price
Waterhouse Cran eld Survey’ questionnaire designed by Brewster and Hegewisch
(1994). The main reasons for adapting Brewster et al.’s questionnaires are that they are
the leading European authorities who specialize in the eld of human resource
management and that their questionnaire on HRM incorporates a range of HRM issues,
for example, recruitment and selection policies and practices, which are relevant to this
research, and thus their questionnaire is very helpful in this respect.
The research upon which the article is based was conducted between July 1996 and
April 1998. The questionnaire was initially designed in English and, in order to
facilitate the understanding of Taiwanese respondents, this English version was
translated into Mandarin Chinese with the assistance of a group of Taiwanese HR
specialists, who are also the ISO (International Standardized Organization) assessors at
the Bureau of Commodity Quarantine and Inspection, the branch of Kaohsiung,
Taiwan. These HR specialists were requested to check the linguistic and content
validity of the English and Chinese versions. They all agreed that the question items in
the HRMRS questionnaire were relevant to this research and that the question items
would elicit answers that could provide the necessary data for hypothesis testing. To
increase the response rate of this research, a follow-up letter was sent to the companies
which did not respond to the initial mailing. Appropriate statistical techniques such as
one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan test were employed to test the
research hypotheses.
Response rate
Of the 500 questionnaires, 156 usable responses were received after the initial mailing.
An additional twenty-four usable responses were received after the follow-up
procedures. The total of usable response was 180; and the overall response rate for the
study was 36 per cent, which could be considered as reasonable since the response rate
appears to meet the criteria established by Black and Champion (1976) and Moser and
Kalton (1985).
Characteristics of sample
Respondents were asked to identify the size and ownership of the company which they
worked for. Company size was categorized into three main groups: small, medium-
sized and large businesses, according to the number of employees. Ownership pattern
was also classi ed according to two sets of variables: (1) Taiwanese-owned, Japanese-
owned and Western-owned and (2) Taiwanese family-owned, Taiwanese non family-
owned and foreign-owned companies. The data shows, that 65 per cent of the com-
panies in which respondents were employed were small and medium sized. One hundred
and forty (77.8 per cent) of the companies were Taiwanese-owned, eighteen (10 per cent)
were Japanese-owned and twenty-two (12.2 per cent) were Western-owned companies.
Of these 140 Taiwanese-owned companies, ninety-one (65 per cent) were family-owned
and forty-nine (35 per cent) were non family-owned businesses. Of the ninety-one
Taiwanese family-owned companies, sixty-one (67 per cent) were small and medium-
scale. Family-owned businesses would appear to be one of the major organization forms
in Taiwan and most of them in the sample are small to medium in size.
The respondents (HR managers/specialists) were 121 (67.2 per cent) male and fty-
nine (32.8 per cent) female. Most of the respondents were aged from 30 to 39 (40.6 per
cent) and 40 to 49 (34.4 per cent). Only 11.1 per cent and 13.9 per cent of the respondents
were aged from 20 to 29 and 50 to 59 respectively. Re ecting the emphasis on education
in Taiwan (Hsu, 1999), the majority of respondents at least held a diploma (junior
college) (27.2 per cent) or rst/masters degree (48.9 per cent). Only a small proportion of
respondents (23.9 per cent) had graduated from junior high or high school.
Findings and discussions
HRM and strategic integration

The research results indicated that, in the majority of the responding rms, there was an
HR manager/department (73 per cent). The majority of HR managers felt it was
important that there was an HR specialist on the board participating in the development
of corporate strategy (71 per cent) and that HR policy and corporate strategy were fully
integrated (88 per cent). When asked whether there were written statements of corporate
strategy and HR policy, only about 30 per cent of the HR managers said there were. A
further 30 per cent af rmed that there were unwritten corporate strategy and HR
policy.
It should be noted that this research is not able to provide empirical evidence
concerning how many responding rms do have personnel/HR representation at board
level and whether those personnel/HR managers who do have a place on the board are
actually involved in the development of corporate strategy from the outset, or whether
they are involved in a consultative capacity or perhaps at the implementation stage. In
future years, it may be possible to tell from further research whether there is an
increasingly strategic role for the personnel function and whether this is combined with
a greater integration of personnel policies with business objectives.
A point worth bearing in mind is that, although most HR managers in the survey may
nd such ‘strategic integration’ important and by implication desirable, in practice it
may be very dif cult for them to achieve without having explicit written corporate
strategies and HRM policies to refer to. As noted earlier, only about 30 per cent of the
responding companies in Taiwan claimed to have a written corporate strategy and HRM
policy.
Responsibility for HRM functions/activities

As far as H1 is concerned, there was a substantial sharing of decision-making
responsibility for HR issues and activities with line management. In all of the areas
Table 1 Primary responsibility for HRM functions/activities
Totals and
Functions/activities (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) percentages
Pay and bene ts 61 66 10 18 22 3 N 5 180

33.9% 36.7% 5.6% 10% 12.2% 1.7% 100%
Recruitment and 42 73 11 41 10 3 N 5 180
selection 23.3% 40.6% 6.1% 22.8% 5.6% 1.7% 100%
Training and 36 72 20 32 15 5 N 5 180
development 20% 40% 11.1% 17.8% 8.3% 2.8% 100%
Industrial relations 58 59 13 26 17 7 N 5 180

32.2% 32.8% 7.2% 14.4% 9.4% 3.9% 100%
Health and safety 64 57 16 26 15 2 N 5 180
35.6% 31.7% 8.9% 14.4% 8.3% 1.1% 100%
Workforce 23 72 23 41 16 5 N 5 180
expansion/reduction 12.8% 40% 12.8% 22.8% 8.9% 2.8% 100%
Notes
(1) HR department, (2) HR department in consultation with line management, (3) line man-
agement, (4) line management in consultation with HR department, (5) other, (6) don’t know.
covered in the survey (see Table 1, columns 2 and 4), more HR managers said decision
making was shared, in the sense of being the product of consultation between the HR
department and line management, than responded that it was solely with either HR or
line management. In the main, primary responsibility remains with the HR department
but there were some interesting differences. Line management appeared to have more
devolved responsibility in the areas of workforce expansion/reduction (workforce size),
recruitment and selection, and training and development. However, even in these areas,
the HR department retains primary responsibility in a minimum of 52.8 per cent of the
respondent companies (see columns 1 and 2). Line management appeared to have least
responsibility in the area of decisions concerning pay and bene ts, health and safety,
and industrial relations – in each of these areas, line managers had primary
responsibility in less than 23 per cent of the companies (see columns 3 and 4).
We cannot tell whether there have been changes over time and whether the degree of
shared decision making and consultation in these areas is greater or less than it was. To
some extent, these responses may give an indication of line-management preferences as
well as HR managers’ preferences for involvement in these HRM functions/activities.
These responses may also re ect differences in the locus of responsibility for individual
and collective or company-wide issues and those areas in which it is felt that decision
making may be most appropriately decentralized. Certainly one might expect line
managers to be more concerned in decisions relating to staf ng, the size of the
workforce working for them and training and development issues relating to that
workforce.
Recruitment and selection processes

Recruitment and selection processes can be separated into a number of different stages
and activities. When questioned about the relative importance of these activities, HR
managers con rmed that planning present and future staff requirements, job analysis,
and the preparation of a job description and job speci cation were all important.
However, recruitment seems to be considered less important when compared with these
activities (see Table 2a).
The ‘realistic job preview’ (RJP) is considered to be only a moderately important
recruiting technique. This fact may be due to the fact that, to local Taiwanese rms, the
RJP is still a new, Western-oriented concept and hence may not be used as widely in
Taiwan as in Western countries, even though local Taiwanese rms may be aware that
this recruiting technique can better allow applicants to select whether a particular job is
suited to their needs and enables the expectations of applicants to become more
realistic. Furthermore, HR managers generally regard selection as an important activity
and they also feel that it is important to seek approval from their superiors before they
make the job offer to applicants. This may be consistent with the moderately high
Power Distance Index scores in Taiwan (Hsu, 1999).
Among the stages in the recruitment and selection processes, recruitment is the only
item that appears to be varied with rm size (see Table 2b). Although an F test or
analysis of variance can tell you that there is a signi cant difference between the means
of the three groups of rm size with respect to ‘recruitment’, it does not tell you where
the differences lie. Hence, a Duncan multiple comparison test was conducted to
determine which rm size differs signi cantly from which other. The results showed
that the means of large rms (group 3) appear to differ from the means of small (group
1) and medium-sized (group 2) rms. This means that large rms tend to consider
‘recruitment’ to be more important than do small and medium-sized rms. Except for
recruitment, the rest of the stages and activities in the recruitment and selection
Table 2a Recruitment and selection processes
Mean
Recruitment and selection processes N 5 180 SD
HRP – present staff requirement 4.05 0.82

HRP – future staff requirement 4.14 0.81
Job analysis 4.03 0.73
Job description 4.09 0.83
Job speci cation 4.07 0.85
Recruitment 3.78 0.84
Realistic job preview (RJP) 3.49 0.97
Selection 3.98 0.76
Approval concerning job offer 3.93 0.83
Note
A 5-point Likert scale (1 5 very unimportant, 2 5 unimportant, 3 5
neutral, 4 5 important, 5 5 very important) was used to indicate the
degree of importance of the recruitment processes .
Table 2b The importance of recruitment varied with company size
Small firms Medium firms Large firms

(1) (2) (3)
mean mean mean F value Sig. Duncan
Recruitment 3.62 3.67 4.03 4.72 0.01 1–3, 2–3

Note
The statistical signi cant difference is derived by using one-way analysis of variance .
processes appear not to vary signi cantly with ownership pattern and company size
(p. 0.05). Hence, the ndings reject the H2, but support H3.
Recruitment methods
The research results showed that a range of recruitment methods shown in Table 3a
have all been used to varying degrees by the responding rms in Taiwan for attracting
candidates at the managerial, professional and entry levels. When it comes to
managerial and professional recruitment, the responding rms in Taiwan appear to use
‘promotion-from-within ’, ‘transfers’, ‘advertisement in the media’, ‘job rotations’, and
‘direct applications’ more frequently. Other methods and potential sources, such as
‘employee referrals’, ‘colleges/universities’, ‘private employment agencies’, ‘public
employment agencies’, ‘recruitment consultants’, and ‘executive search consultants’,

are seldom used by the rms for managerial and professional positions. For entry-level
recruitment, ‘colleges/universities’ and ‘employees’ referrals’ seem to be used more
frequently by the responding rms, along with other methods such as ‘advertisement in
the media’, ‘direct applications’, ‘transfers’ and ‘job rotations’. In a family-based
culture like Taiwan, one might expect that ‘employees’ referrals’ of family members,
relatives, or close friends (perhaps through a guanxi relationship) would be a common
method for the recruitment of entry-level employees.
Recruitment methods by ownership pattern and company size

There are signi cant differences in F-tests on mean ownership pattern responses for six
of the thirty-three (items in Table 3b (p, 0.05 and p, 0.01) and therefore H4, that
recruitment methods would vary signi cantly with ownership pattern, should be
accepted.
According to the results of one-way ANOVA, while Western-owned companies in
Taiwan appear to use ‘recruitment consultants’ and ‘executive search consultants’ more
frequently than do Japanese-owned and Taiwanese-owned companies for managerial
Table 3a Recruitment methods

Managerial Professional Entry
(N 5 180) (N 5 180) (N 5 180)
Recruitment methods Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Promotion from within 3.86 0.79 3.64 0.74 3.03 1.12
Transfers 3.51 0.84 3.31 0.81 3.12 0.97
Job rotations 3.11 0.99 3.14 0.88 3.03 0.99
Employee referrals 2.58 1.05 2.72 0.93 3.05 0.95
Schools or college/universities 2.20 1.15 2.78 1.02 3.26 1.00
Private employment agencies 2.15 0.98 2.21 0.99 2.14 1.04
Public employment agencies 2.26 0.99 2.29 1.00 2.40 1.09
Recruitment consultants 2.08 1.08 1.97 0.99 1.82 1.03
Executive search consultants 1.90 1.11 1.74 0.88 1.62 0.91
Direct applications 3.03 1.21 3.12 1.14 3.38 1.15
Advertisement in the media 3.46 1.22 3.72 1.12 4.07 0.98
Note
A 5-point Likert scale (1 5 never, 2 5 seldom, 3 5 sometimes, 4 5 frequently, 5 5 always) was
used to indicate how often the recruitment and selection methods are used by companies.
and professional vacancies, Japanese-owned companies seem to recruit new graduates
directly from ‘colleges/universities’ more often than do Taiwanese-owned and Western-
owned companies for entry-level openings (see the signi cant levels and the Duncan
test in Table 3b).
Table 3b Recruitment methods that varied with ovnership pattern – one way analysis of
variance
Taiwanese- Japanese- Western-

owned owned owned
Mean (1) Mean (2) Mean (3) F F
Recruitment methods N 5 140 N 5 18 N 5 22 ratio prob. Duncan
Managerial level
Promotion-from-within 3.86 4.06 3.64 1.46 0.24 0
Transfers 3.53 3.72 3.19 2.34 0.10 0
Job rotations 3.16 3.11 2.77 1.49 0.23 0
Employee referrals 2.67 2.11 2.36 2.87 0.06 2–1
Colleges or universities 2.31 2.06 1.64 3.52 0.03* 3–1
Private employment agencies 2.06 2.44 2.45 2.43 0.09 0
Public employment agencies 2.77 2.33 2.05 0.59 0.56 0
Recruitment consultants 1.96 1.78 3.05 11.63 0.00** 2–3, 1–3
Executive search consultants 1.79 1.50 2.95 13.52 0.00** 2–3, 1–3
Direct applications 3.11 2.83 2.73 1.214 0.30 0
Advertisement in the media 3.49 3.56 3.18 0.67 0.51 0
Professional/technical
Transfers 3.30 3.50 3.18 0.77 0.46 0
Job rotations 3.19 3.17 2.77 2.22 0.11 3–1
Employee referrals 2.74 2.61 2.68 0.18 0.84 0
Colleges or universities 2.79 3.06 2.50 1.49 0.23 0
Recruitment consultants 1.89 1.67 2.77 9.42 0.00** 2–3, 1–3
Executive search consultants 1.66 1.44 2.55 12.24 0.00** 2–3, 1–3
Advertisement in the media 3.71 4.00 3.55 0.82 0.44
Entry level
Transfers 3.12 3.11 3.09 0.01 0.99 0
Job rotations 3.10 2.78 2.82 1.44 0.24 0
Colleges or universities 3.16 3.83 3.36 3.81 0.02* 1–2
Recruitment consultants 1.84 1.44 2.00 1.55 0.22 0
Executive search consultants 1.64 1.33 1.68 0.10 0.37 0
Notes
* represents signi cance level p , 0.05; ** represents signi cance level p , 0.01.
These results may be indicative of support for the culturally relativist arguments that
recruitment practices are culturally sensitive across national boundaries and that the
results are consistent with the ndings of Easterby-Smith et al. (1995) and Lawler et al.
(1995). Based on the particular types of recruitment method used by the Japanese-
owned and Western-owned companies, it could be inferred that these foreign
Table 3c Recruitment methods that varied with company size – one way analysis of
variance
Small firms Medium Large firms

Recruitment methods N 5 71 N 5 46 N 5 63 ratio prob. Duncan
Managerial level
Promotion-from-within 3.66 3.87 4.06 4.55 0.01** 1–3
Transfers 3.27 3.48 3.81 7.46 0.00** 1–3, 2–3
Job rotations 2.79 3.11 3.48 8.73 0.00** 1–3, 2–3
Colleges or universities 2.35 2.35 1.92 2.95 0.06 3–1
Promotion-from-within 3.44 3.70 3.84 5.44 0.01** 1–3
Transfers 3.10 3.24 3.59 6.64 0.00** 1–3, 2–3
Job rotations 2.87 3.11 3.46 8.12 0.00** 1–3, 2–3
Employee referrals 2.51 2.87 2.86 3.19 0.04* 1–3
Colleges or universities 2.65 2.87 2.86 0.95 0.39 0
Entry level
Transfers 3.00 3.15 3.22 0.92 0.40 0
Job rotations 2.87 3.28 3.03 2.42 0.09 1–2
Employee referrals 2.85 2.93 3.37 5.71 0.00** 1–3, 2–3
Colleges or universities 3.01 3.24 3.54 4.78 0.01** 1–3
Direct applications 3.07 3.80 3.41 6.06 0.00** 1–2
Advertisement in the media 3.90 4.09 4.25 2.19 0.11 1–3
Notes
*p represents signi cance level p , 0.05; ** represents signi cance level p , 0.01.
subsidiaries in Taiwan tend to adopt Perlmutter’s (1969) ethnocentric approach to
management, particularly with regard to recruitment practices (these are re ective of
home-country practices).
In addition to ownership pattern, recruitment methods also vary with company size.
The results showed that ten of the thirty-three items vary signi cantly with company
size (p, 0.05 and p, 0.01), thus the ndings support the H5 (see Table 3c). According
to the results, medium-sized rms tend to use ‘direct applications’ more frequently than
do small rms for entry-level recruitment. Large companies tend to use ‘transfers’, ‘job
rotations’, and ‘employee referrals’ more frequently than do small and medium-sized
companies for managerial, professional and entry-level posts (see the signi cant levels
and Duncan test in Table 3c). As compared with small rms, ‘promotion-from-within ’,
the internal recruitment method, is also used more often by large rms for lling
vacancies at managerial and professional levels. This may be a re ection of the
respective size of internal labour markets and the fact that a greater variety of
recruitment methods are used by larger organizations.
Other practices associated with recruitment

We obtained an insight into what the HR managers perceive to be important in facilitating
recruitment. ‘Marketing the company’s image’ (mean 5 4.05) tends to be considered as
most important. ‘Training for new employees’ (mean 5 3.91) and ‘retraining existing
employees’ (mean 5 3.90) are perceived as moderately important. Factors like ‘ exible
working hours’ (mean 5 2.86), ‘recruiting abroad’ (mean 5 2.79), ‘relaxed age require-
ment’ (mean 5 2.75) and ‘relaxed quali cations requirements’ (mean 5 2.79) are
considered as less important. HR managers seem to nd ‘relocation of the company’
(mean 5 2.33) and ‘part-time work’ (mean 5 2.28) among the least important in
facilitating recruitment. There may be a relationship between the ndings above and our
ndings on culture, for example, a relationship between status/reputation of the
company and own status and self-esteem; and training and retraining practices may be
a re ection of long-term values with respect to Confucian dynamism.2
In the recruitment process, ‘the long-term unemployed’ (mean 5 2.00), ‘older
people’ (mean 5 2.08), ‘people with disabilities’ (mean 5 2.34) and ‘school leavers’
(mean 5 2.35) are seldom targeted by the responding rms in Taiwan. Compared with
these groups of people, it appears that ‘people with work experience’ (mean 5 4.12) tend
to be targeted most frequently, and that ‘friends and relatives’ (mean 5 3.60) are also
commonly targeted in recruitment. It could be expected that, in a Confucian culture with
an emphasis on family traditions, the hiring of friends, relatives and family members (in-
groups) would be a common recruitment practice within the organizations.
Selection techniques
As with the recruitment methods, a range of selection techniques, identi ed in Table 4a,
have also been used to varying degrees by the responding rms in Taiwan. It appears
that ‘application forms’, ‘one-to-one interviews’, ‘skill or knowledge tests’, and ‘panel
interviews’ are the dominant selection techniques that the responding rms used at all
levels (managerial, professional and entry) though the latter two are used less frequently
at entry level. Other techniques, such as ‘medical examinations’, ‘aptitude tests’ and
‘references’, are seldom used by the responding rms. ‘Psychometric tests’ and
‘assessment centres’ seem to be used least at all levels and this may be a re ection of
the relative newness of these techniques, or it may be that these are approaches that do
not t comfortably in a Chinese/Confucian-based culture.
Table 4a Selection techniques
Managerial Professional Entry

(N 5 180) (N 5 180) (N 5 180)
Selection techniques Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Application forms 4.02 1.21 4.30 0.89 4.12 1.11
Aptitude tests 2.44 1.23 2.60 1.24 2.37 1.25
Psychometric tests 2.23 1.18 2.31 1.16 2.16 1.16
Skill or knowledge tests 3.33 1.27 3.69 1.18 3.07 1.27
One-to-one interview 4.20 1.09 4.09 1.04 4.04 1.04
Panel interview 3.06 1.28 3.01 1.26 2.73 1.29
Assessment centres 2.13 1.16 2.12 1.12 1.91 1.07

References 2.42 1.00 2.36 0.97 2.20 1.05
Medical examinations 2.77 1.40 2.91 1.42 2.98 1.48
Note
A 5-point Likert scale (1 5 never, 2 5 seldom, 3 5 sometimes, 4 5 frequently,
5 5 always) was used to indicate how often the recruitment and selection methods
are used by companies.
Selection techniques by ownership pattern and company size

The research results do not provide statistically signi cant support for the H6 because
the selection techniques listed in Table 4b do not vary signi cantly with ownership
pattern (p. 0.05). As is shown in Table 4b, ‘application forms’, ‘skill or knowledge
tests’ and ‘one-to-one interviews’ appear to be the common selection techniques used
by Taiwanese-owned, Japanese-owned and Western-owned companies. ‘Panel inter-
views’ are used more frequently by Taiwanese-owned and Western companies.
‘Medical examination’ is used more often by Western-owned companies. In addition to
‘medical examination’, Western-owned companies use ‘panel interviews’, ‘aptitude
tests’ and ‘application forms’ more frequently at all levels than do the Japanese-owned
and Taiwanese-owned companies. It appears that Western-owned companies in Taiwan
tend to use a greater variety of selection techniques than do the Taiwanese-owned and
Japanese-owned companies.
Unlike ownership pattern, company size has signi cant effects on some of the
selection techniques that the responding rms used, therefore H7 is accepted. As Table
4c shows, twelve of the twenty-seven items are found to differ signi cantly with
company size (p, 0.05 and p, 0.01). For example, both medium-sized and large rms
appear to use ‘aptitude tests’, ‘psychometric tests’ and ‘skill or knowledge tests’ more
frequently than do small rms for managerial or professional selection. Large rms also
use ‘panel interviews’, ‘assessment centres’ and ‘medical examinations’ more often to
select the potential applicants at all levels than do small rms. The ndings above
suggest that the number and type of selection techniques that the responding companies
use to select the right employees for the jobs may be associated with rm size; and this
is con rmed by the signi cance level as Table 4c illustrates. It appears that size is a
more in uential variable upon the range of selection techniques used and upon which
techniques are used than is ownership nationality.
Primary responsibility for the nal selection decisions

That line management is either solely responsible (19.4 per cent) for the nal hiring
decisions or is primarily responsible but in consultation with HR department (39.5 per
Table 4b Selection techniques that varied with ovnership pattern – one way analysis of
variance
Taiwanese- Japanese- Western-
owned owned owned
Selection techniques N 5 140 N 5 18 N 5 22 ratio prob.
Managerial level
Application forms 4.01 3.89 4.23 0.43 0.65
Aptitude tests 2.39 2.50 2.77 0.97 0.38
Psychometric tests 2.19 2.28 2.45 0.48 0.62
Skill or knowledge tests 3.41 3.11 3.05 1.07 0.34
One-to-one interview 4.17 4.33 4.27 0.23 0.80

Panel interview 3.07 2.72 3.27 0.93 0.40
Assessment centres 2.17 2.33 1.73 1.72 0.18
References 2.41 2.17 2.64 1.10 0.33
Medical examinations 2.75 2.50 3.14 1.10 0.33
Professional level
Aptitude tests 2.58 2.50 2.82 0.41 0.66
Panel interview 2.99 2.61 3.45 2.30 0.10
References 2.41 2.22 2.14 0.94 0.39
Entry level
Aptitude tests 2.38 2.22 2.45 0.18 0.84
Panel interview 2.72 2.33 3.14 1.97 0.14
References 2.29 1.89 1.91 2.11 0.12
cent) was indicated by 58.9 per cent of HR managers altogether (see Table 5). This
situation suggests a considerably greater role for line management in the nal selection
decisions than was indicated for recruitment and selection as a whole (28.9 per cent, see
Table 1, columns 3 and 4). This may imply that HR specialists are more responsible for
recruiting/attracting candidates and early screening processes, but that, when it comes
down to the decisions about who to appoint, line managers are very much involved and
have a dominant role.
Promotion criteria
Among the promotion criteria, ‘technical competence’ (mean 5 4.27), ‘leadership’
(mean 5 4.19) and ‘past performance’ (mean 5 4.08) tend to be considered by HR
Table 4c Selection techniques that varied with company size – one way analysis of
variance
Small firms Medium Large firms
Selection techniques N 5 71 N 5 46 N 5 63 ratio prob. Duncan
Managerial level
Application forms 3.79 4.09 4.24 2.41 0.09 1–3
Aptitude tests 2.07 2.48 2.84 7.09 0.00** 1–3
Psychometric tests 1.92 2.33 2.52 4.80 0.01** 1–3
Skill or knowledge tests 3.17 3.39 3.48 1.04 0.36 0
One-to-one interview 4.04 4.26 4.33 1.29 0.28 0
Panel interview 2.75 3.11 3.38 4.28 0.02* 1–3

Assessment centres 1.90 2.07 2.44 3.92 0.02* 1–3
References 2.42 2.28 2.51 0.68 0.513 0
Medical examinations 2.66 2.65 2.98 1.11 0.33 0
Application forms 4.23 4.13 4.51 2.86 0.06 2–3
Aptitude tests 2.20 2.65 3.02 7.83 0.00** 1–2, 1–3
Psychometric tests 1.96 2.43 2.60 5.87 0.00** 1–2, 1–3
Skill or knowledge tests 3.37 3.85 3.95 4.86 0.01** 1–2, 1–3
Panel interview 2.73 3.02 3.32 3.69 0.03* 1–3
Assessment centres 2.03 1.98 2.32 1.61 0.20 0
References 2.32 2.26 2.46 0.63 0.54 0
Medical examinations 2.73 2.87 3.14 1.42 0.24 0
Entry level
Application forms 4.08 4.09 4.19 0.18 0.83 0
Aptitude tests 2.00 2.39 2.78 6.94 0.00** 1–3
Psychometric tests 1.87 2.22 2.43 4.03 0.02* 1–3
Skill or knowledge tests 2.83 3.24 3.21 2.05 0.13 0
Panel interview 2.39 2.80 3.06 4.79 0.01** 1–3
Assessment centres 1.77 1.87 2.10 1.56 0.21 0
References 2.14 2.22 2.25 0.20 0.82 0
Medical examinations 2.72 2.87 3.35 3.28 0.04* 1–3
Notes
*p represents signi cance level p , 0.05; ** represents signi cance level p , 0.01.
Table 5 Primary responsibility for the nal hiring/selection decisions

Totals &
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) percentages
Final hiring/selection 9 56 35 71 9 N 5 180
decision 5.0% 31.1% 19.4% 39.5% 5.0% 100%
Notes
(1) HR department, (2) HR department in consultation with line management, (3) line man-
agement, (4) line management in consultation with HR department, (5) other.
managers of the responding rms as important. ‘Loyalty’ (mean 5 3.89) and ‘sociability’
(mean 5 3.63) are perceived as moderately important. ‘Seniority’ (mean 5 3.28) is found
to be the least important. The greater emphasis on ‘technical competence’, ‘perform-
ance’, and ‘leadership’ and less emphasis on ‘loyalty’ and ‘sociability’ based promotion
may be an indication of cultural change or changes of work-related values of Taiwanese
people within the society in the past two decades when compared to Hofstede’s (1991)
ndings. 3
On the whole, the research results discussed so far demonstrate that a range of
recruitment methods and selection techniques (the main area of focus), identi ed in this
study, have all been used by the survey rms in Taiwan to varying degrees, and that
recruitment methods varied signi cantly with ownership pattern and selection tech-
niques did not. However, the Japanese-owned companies’ more frequent hiring of
graduates directly from ‘universities/colleges’ and Western-owned companies’ greater
use of ‘recruitment consultants’, ‘executive search consults’, ‘psychometric tests’ and
‘assessment centres’ suggest that recruitment and selection practices may be culturally
sensitive. Therefore, the research ndings provide some support for the culturally
relativist view of HRM, particularly in the area of recruitment and selection. In addition
to ownership pattern, company size also has signi cant effects upon some of the
recruitment methods and selection techniques used. It could be anticipated that, as the
company expands or grows bigger, the greater the variety of recruitment methods and
selection techniques the company is likely to use.
Implications
Strategic approach to HRM
The results of the present survey showed that HR managers of the responding rms in
Taiwan generally felt that it is important to have HR managers on the board
participating in the development of corporate strategy and that it is important to
integrate HRM policy fully with corporate strategy. It has been suggested that, at the
conceptual or theoretical level, HRM can be seen as a strategic approach, because it
focuses on the importance of ‘strategic integration (or t)’, where HR polices and
practices are closely linked to the strategic objectives of the rms (external integration/
t) and are coherent and consistent among themselves (internal integration/ t) (Guest,
1989a; Brewster and Bournois, 1991; Storey, 1992; Armstrong, 1992; Legge, 1989,
1995).
According to Lengnick-Hall and Lengnick-Hall (1988), the integration of HRM with
business strategy has four advantages: (1) it provides a broader range of solutions for
solving complex organizational problems; (2) it ensures that human, nancial and
technological resources are given consideration in setting goals and assessing
implementation capabilities; (3) organizations explicitly consider the individuals who
comprise them and who implement polices; and (4) it ensures that human resource
considerations contribute to, rather than are subordinate to, strategic decisions. In
response to Lengnick-Hall and Lengnick-Hall’s last point, Legge (1995) also makes a
similar comment that HRM policies should not be passively integrated with business
strategy, in the sense of owing from it, but should be seen as an integral part of
strategy, in the sense that they underlie and facilitate the pursuit of a desired
strategy.
This nding, however, seems to stand in opposition to the view generally held by a
group of researchers (Devanna et al., 1982, 1984; Ackermann, 1986; Miller, 1987) that
HRM should in some sense ‘follow’ corporate or business strategy. For example, as
Devenna et al. note, ‘human resource management has been largely missing from the
general strategic management process. . .the critical managerial task is to align the
formal structure and the HR systems so that they drive the strategic objectives of the
organization’ (1982: 47). Purcell and Ahlstrand (1994) also argue that HRM policies are
not developed and implemented independently of corporate strategy. Rather, they
constitute ‘third-order’ decisions that follow from decisions on strategy ( rst-order) and
structure (second-order), and should be closely linked to them. This step implies that
HRM is the dependent variable and the corporate strategy the independent variable in
this relationship. The underlying assumption of this view is that HRM in some sense
becomes strategic only when it closely follows the corporate strategy.
However, in the context of the present ndings and as far as ‘strategic integration’ is
concerned, it would appear that HR managers of the responding rms in Taiwan would
prefer or desire a tight t between HRM policy and corporate strategy, although this
research is not able to produce empirical evidence on the extent to which strategic
integration taken place.
Responsibilities of line management
In the majority of the areas of HR activity included in the survey, HR managers

indicated that they shared responsibility with line management rather than having sole
responsibility. The area in which they seem to have the greater incidence of sole
responsibility being ‘health and safety’. Line involvement seems to be stronger in the
areas of ‘recruitment and selection’ and in particular regarding the ‘ nal hiring
decisions’, ‘training and development’ and ‘workforce expansion/reduction’. The
ndings to some extent appear to be consistent with the point made by Armstrong
(1992) who emphasizes that the performance and delivery of HRM is a management
responsibility, shared among line (operational) managers and those responsible for
running service or staff (related) functions.
The decentralization of responsibilities to the line has also been viewed by a group
of researchers (Krulis-Randa, 1990; Sisson, 1990; Kirkpatrick et al., 1992; Armstrong,
1992; Legge, 1989, 1995) as one of the key characteristics of HRM that differentiates
it from conventional personnel management. Given the results presented earlier, it could
be argued that line managers in the survey rms indeed have some substantial
responsibilities for HR issues. This evidence is consistent with a suggestion that some
of the principles of Western models of HRM have been adopted in the respondent
organizations – there is a desire for strategic integration and some substantial
devolution and sharing of decision making over responsibility for standard areas of
HRM activity.
Contributions of personnel/HR managers to the organizations
The research results showed that around 73 per cent of the responding rms in Taiwan
have a personnel/HR management department/manager to deal with personnel func-
tions. However, only 33 per cent of the responding rms have a written HRM policy,
with 59 per cent of companies claiming to have an unwritten HRM policy or to have no
HRM policy at all. This nding implies a considerable degree of scope and opportunity
for personnel/HR managers to develop a strategic dimension to their role and to
emphasize this by the formulation of written HR policies and practices and to do so in
the context of their rms’ overall organizational objectives and business plans.
In some cases, for example, in smaller rms, there may not be much of a need for
formalized and detailed HRM policies due to the simple nature of tasks and limited
organizational functions. But in large companies where organizational structure and
activities are more complex, it may be more important to establish formal and explicit
HRM policies and practices, so that they can be communicated to employees at all
levels and guide them in the achievement of desired organizational and HR
outcomes.
The proactive and strategic role of HR managers
As the research evidence has shown, HR managers of the responding rms felt that it
was important to have HR managers on the board participating in the development of

corporate strategy, and that it was important to integrate HRM policy fully with
corporate strategy. If HR managers in these responding rms would like to pursue and
achieve ‘strategic integration’, they may need to play a proactive role by being
members of the senior management team and by participating in the development of
corporate/business strategy. It has been suggested that only by being involved at this
stage would HR managers be in a much better position to develop an effective HR
strategy which could integrate with the business strategy and to institute coherent and
consistent HRM policies which could directly support the achievement of strategic
goals (Armstrong, 1992).
Recruitment practices
The research results showed that internal recruitment methods such as ‘promotion-
from-within’, ‘transfers’ and ‘job rotations’ are commonly used by the responding rms
in Taiwan. The implication for practice is that the good use of the internal recruitment
methods may not only motivate current Taiwanese employees to perform better and
increase their commitment towards the organization, but may also improve their job
security through upward or lateral career opportunities (potentially desired HRM
outcomes). Using internal personnel sources effectively may also allow management to
observe and assess the abilities of employees accurately given the accrued knowledge
gathered over the employment relationship (Sparrow and Hiltrop, 1994).
Although the ndings showed that ‘recruitment consultants’ and ‘executive search
consultants’ (the external recruitment methods) have not yet been commonly adopted in
Taiwan, a small number of the survey rms (including local, Japanese-owned and
Western-owned) are turning to such rms to look for potential candidates with
specialist knowledge, technical or managerial skills for the most senior posts. As an HR
manager/specialist, it may be important to bear in mind that using a ‘search rm’ to
recruit a senior executive or a manager with rare technical or managerial skills should
be considered to be as important as planning the career development of a company’s
existing high-potential managers and should be handled with the same careful planning
and attention to detail. While the ‘search rm’ is assisting with recruitment, the HR
manager may need to retain responsibility and accountability for the overall success of
the service. This requirement means that he or she should be able to act as the in-
company project manager monitoring and guiding the work of the consultant at every
stage of the assignment. The combination of a well-connected and professional search
consultant working closely with an involved and fully accountable company HR
manager may minimize the risk of failure and achieve the desired results (Adshead,
1990).
Selection practices
Among the selection techniques, the research evidence showed that ‘application forms’,
‘knowledge or skill tests’ and ‘one-to-one and panel interviews’ appear to be used most
frequently by the survey rms in Taiwan. ‘Psychometric tests’ and ‘assessment centres’
seem to be used least. This nding may arise because such Western-oriented selection
instruments are still new to local Taiwanese rms and hence may not be used as widely
in Taiwan as in the USA and/or in Europe. It should be noted that, although the use of
a psychological or psychometric test may have a positive effect on organizational
effectiveness (e.g. reduce employee turnover rates), this technique can be quite costly
if the organization (e.g. small rm) does not have trained and quali ed staff and
requires the help of professional psychologists from outside the rm to administer and
interpret the test results.
Personnel/HR managers should recognize that the types of selection technique they
utilize to select the right employees for the jobs are critical to their rms’ success. The
misuse of any kind of instrument may be costly to the organization and may also be
demoralizing to the employee who may nd himself or herself in the wrong job and
consequently de-motivating to the rest of the workforce (undesired HRM outcomes).
Further, when making the nal hiring or selection decisions, HR managers/specialists in
Taiwan should look for potential candidates whose quali cations, characteristics and
work-related values and attitudes most closely conform to the requirements of the open
positions and who can t well with the organization’s needs and culture, and can
effectively carry out required tasks and collaborate well with other colleagues.
On the whole, HR managers/specialists need to ensure that the type of recruitment
and selection practices they adopt is coherent and consistent with their rms’ business
strategies and with other associated functions of HRM such as HR planning, training
and development, pay and bene ts, etc. In other words, recruitment and selection need
to be considered as an integrated process rather than a marginal, ad hoc activity. Since
recruitment and selection are the rst stages of a dialogue between applicants and the
organization that form the employment relationship, HR managers/specialists in Taiwan
may need to realize the importance of the formation of expectations during the
recruitment and selection processes. If they fail to do so, this may result in the loss of
high-quality applicants and set the initial level of the employment relationship at such
a low level as to make the achievement of potentially desired HRM outcomes (e.g.
increasing employee performance and commitment, etc.) most dif cult (Gold, 1994).
Conclusions
Developing a framework for examining HRM in organizations in Taiwan
The ndings and implications above enable the study to develop an appropriate
framework for examining HRM in organizations in Taiwan. As is shown in Figure 1,
this framework has a number of signi cant features, which are highlighted in the
following paragraphs.
The rst feature is that this framework is partially based on empirical evidence; and
most of the models of HRM and strategic HRM (e.g. the Harvard model, matching
model, Guest’s model and Hendry and Pattigrew’s model, etc.) were not. The second
feature is that, at the macro-level outer context, Figure 1 takes into account the current
external environmental contexts of organizations in Taiwan. Examples of these external
contexts and in uences at a macro level include Taiwan’s recent economic achievement
Figure 1 A framework for examining HRM in organizations in Taiwan
(from agricultural to industrial-based sectors), the government’s emphasis on technol-

ogy-based industries and service sectors (e.g. computers and telecommunications),
labour-market conditions (low turnover and unemployment), foreign direct investment
from, for example, the USA and Japan, vocational/occupational-oriented education and
training systems, high quality labour supply, and the regulatory regimes (e.g. labour
standards law and equal opportunity legislation) (see Hsu, 1999).
The third distinctive feature of Figure 1 is that, unlike the Harvard model, Guest’s
model, the matching model and the European model, the framework in Figure 1
incorporates the composition of the workforce (gender, age and educational level of
non-managerial employees) as part of the micro-level inner context. Having conducted
an empirical study concerning culture, Hsu (1999) found that gender, age and
educational level are the factors that in uence attitudes on the part of employees,
besides rm size and ownership pattern.
The fourth feature, perhaps the most striking one, is that, unlike any other models of
HRM, Figure 1 encompasses the work-related values of Taiwanese non-managerial
employees as part of the internal environment, for example, employees’ attitudes
towards leadership style (paternalist or consultative), security, challenge, recognition,
and earnings, as well as their attitudes towards traditional Chinese/Confucian work
values such as harmony, industry and perseverance, etc. This framework acknowledges
that the values and wishes expressed by the current employees (see Figure 1) may
exercise some important in uences and/or constraints upon an organization’s HRM
policies and practices and may also have some potentially important implications for
recruitment and selection practices. For example, employees’ emphasis on ‘security of
employment’, ‘job advancement’, ‘high earnings’, ‘challenging tasks’, ‘full use of skills
and abilities’ and ‘job recognition’ imply that the organizations’ focus on the internal
labour market and their effective use of ‘promotion-from-within ’, ‘transfers’ and ‘job
rotations’ (the in-group recruitment practices) and ‘performance’ and ‘competence’-
based promotion may be able to ful l the wishes and values of their current employees.
Moreover, given the ndings (Hsu, 1999) which emphasize the importance of Chinese/
Confucian work-related values such as harmony, industry, co-operation, perseverance,
etc., the implication may be that the traits, attributes and work-related values of
potential employees should be taken into consideration in selection/hiring decisions.
Although the Harvard model also includes employees as stakeholders, it does not seem
speci cally to take their work values and attitudes into consideration.
The fth notable feature of Figure 1 is that, in addition to the ‘pyramid of people’
form of organizational structure (given the combination of the moderately high scores
on the Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance dimensions in Taiwan) (Hsu, 1999),
the ‘family’ form is also common among organizations in Taiwan due to the profound
in uences of Confucian ideology. As the empirical evidence of this research has shown,
most of the responding rms are family-owned businesses and are small to medium in
size. Other previous studies (Silin, 1976; Redding and Wong, 1986; Whitley, 1990;
Hwang, 1990; Oh, 1991; Chen, 1995) also suggested that the authoritarian or paternalist
type of leadership style tends to be adopted most by the owners or managers of family
rms. It is in these smaller companies that there is a greater likelihood of absence of
formal rules and procedures and impersonal written communications due to the simple
nature of tasks or limited organizational functions. This form of organization may be
more consistent with Hofstede’s ‘family’ model (Hofstede, 1991).
As far as the organization is concerned and given the present ndings that emphasize
strategic integration, a range of HRM policies/activities outlined in Figure 1 are placed
closely with corporate strategy. These HRM policies/activities were identi ed on the
basis of the current ndings. Like the Harvard model, Guest’s model, the European
model and Hendry and Pettigrew’s model, Figure 1 also incorporates the assumption
that HRM policies/activities should be designed to achieve certain desired HR and
organizational outcomes. Except for ‘strategic integration’, the present study is not able
to specify what these desirable outcomes are because of the lack of empirical evidence.
However, this could be pursued in further research.
The last feature which is worth mentioning is that Figure 1 provides a dual-way
feedback loop to each and between the components: ‘« ’ indicates a continuously
interactive ow of communications, planning, adjustments and/or evaluations. This
dual-way feedback loop seems to be neglected in those models of HRM mentioned
earlier.
As is noted in the beginning of this paper, a number of relevant studies on HRM
practices among employing organizations in Taiwan have been conducted by a group of
researchers (Yeh, 1991; Chu, 1990; He, 1993; Chin, 1993; Hsu, 1993; He and Yang,
1993; Tsai, 1995). However, none of these researchers has actually developed an
analytical framework of HRM to facilitate our understanding of the concept of HRM in
the Taiwan context. They seem to adopt the Western models of HRM without critical
evaluation of their suitability or transferability. The framework in Figure 1 could form
a base for a more comprehensive study of HRM in Taiwan and for further comparative
analysis.
Directions for future research
The current study was centred on in-depth manufacturing industry analysis. Therefore,
the ndings related to HRM and recruitment and selection should not be generalized
outside the manufacturing sector covered in this study. However, future study of HRM
policies and practices could be extended to cross-industry (e.g. public vs private sectors
or manufacturing vs service sectors) and cross-national (e.g. Taiwan and USA, or
Taiwan and UK) comparisons.
In the present study, HR managers generally felt that having an HR specialist on the
board participating in the development of corporate strategy was important, as was the
integration of HRM policies and corporate strategy. Future research could develop more
speci c, complex and in-depth questions regarding whether those HR managers who do
have a place on the board are actually involved in the development of corporate strategy
from the outset, at a consultative or implementation stage, or not consulted at all and
whether the strategic integration is actually obtainable between those corporate
strategies and those relating to HRM issues. This may require longitudinal research
through the combinations of case study personal interview, questionnaire survey, and
document study.
Moreover, the areas concerning the relationships between HRM polices and practices
and desired HR and organizational outcomes, although not examined in this study, may
well be worth further exploration.
Notes
1 Manufacturing industry in Taiwan has played a signi cant role in Taiwan’s economic
development. In particular, petrochemicals, computers, electronic components and consumer
goods, and pharmaceuticals have received special attention and support from the Taiwanese
government. The ratio of heavy chemical and technology-intensive industries in the total
production value of all manufacturing industries has increasingly steadily, rising from 56.54 per
cent to 73.26 per cent, a growth of 29.6 percentage points for the period of 1982 to 1995
(Current Status of Economic Development, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan, 1995; Hsu,
1999).
2 The concept of Confucian dynamism was developed by Hofstede and Bond in the 1980s, an
attempt to overcome the potential Western bias in the Hofstede’s original IBM surveys and
analysis. This dimension was composed of values taken from the teachings of Confucius.
Hofstede (1991, 1993) indicates that the values on the long-term orientation pole (e.g.
perseverance, ordering relationships by status and observing this order, thrift, and having a
sense of shame) are more oriented towards the future and they are more dynamic, whereas the
values on the short-term orientation pole (e.g. personal steadiness and stability, protecting your
‘face’, respect for tradition, and reciprocation of greetings, favours and gifts) are more oriented
towards the past and present and they are more static.
3 Hofstede’s (1991) original ndings indicated that the culture of Taiwan exhibited relatively
high ratings on collectivism and moderately high ratings on Femininity. However, the results of
the empirical study conducted by Hsu (1999) showed that Taiwanese people, in some respects,
have become more Individualistic and Masculine in their orientations than was the case two
decades ago when compared to Hofstede’s analysis. This may be an indication of cultural
change or change of work-related values of Taiwanese people within the society and
subsequently may have some in uences or impose constraints upon an organization ’s HRM-
related policies and practices, such as promotion criteria.
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This article was downloaded by: [Ondokuz Mayis Universitesine]

On: 09 November 2014, At: 06:49

The International Journal

A study of HRM and

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/095851900339936

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Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of

A study of HRM and recruitment and

Yu-Ru Hsu and Mike Leat

Keywords Human resource management; line management; manufacturing industry;

of HRM have been highlighted in an empirical survey conducted by Budhwar and

Findings and discussions

HRM and strategic integration

Responsibility for HRM functions/activities

Pay and bene ts 61 66 10 18 22 3 N 5 180

Industrial relations 58 59 13 26 17 7 N 5 180

Recruitment and selection processes

Table 2a Recruitment and selection processes

HRP – present staff requirement 4.05 0.82

Table 2b The importance of recruitment varied with company size

Small firms Medium firms Large firms

Recruitment 3.62 3.67 4.03 4.72 0.01 1–3, 2–3

employment agencies’, ‘recruitment consultants’, and ‘executive search consultants’,

Recruitment methods by ownership pattern and company size

Table 3a Recruitment methods

Recruitment methods Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Taiwanese- Japanese- Western-

Recruitment methods N 5 140 N 5 18 N 5 22 ratio prob. Duncan

Small firms Medium Large firms

Recruitment methods N 5 71 N 5 46 N 5 63 ratio prob. Duncan

Other practices associated with recruitment

Managerial Professional Entry

Selection techniques Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Assessment centres 2.13 1.16 2.12 1.12 1.91 1.07

Selection techniques by ownership pattern and company size

Primary responsibility for the  nal selection decisions

One-to-one interview 4.17 4.33 4.27 0.23 0.80

Panel interview 2.75 3.11 3.38 4.28 0.02* 1–3

Table 5 Primary responsibility for the  nal hiring/selection decisions

Strategic approach to HRM

Responsibilities of line management

In the majority of the areas of HR activity included in the survey, HR managers

Contributions of personnel/HR managers to the organizations

The proactive and strategic role of HR managers

was important to have HR managers on the board participating in the development of

Developing a framework for examining HRM in organizations in Taiwan

Figure 1 A framework for examining HRM in organizations in Taiwan

(from agricultural to industrial-based sectors), the government’s emphasis on technol-

Directions for future research

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Pay and bene ts 61 66 10 18 22 3 N 5 180

Primary responsibility for the nal selection decisions

Table 5 Primary responsibility for the nal hiring/selection decisions