New PIJM now accepts submissions exclusively via the Editorial Scholar portal — a dedicated submission & review system.
Go to Editorial Scholar →
Associated Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd. | COPE Member
Scopus Q2 UGC-CARE |
Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management logo

Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management

ISSN: 0975-2854 Frequency: Monthly Peer Review: Double-blind Published since: 2008 Language: English
A publication of AMCPL
amcon.co.in
New Delhi, India
Indexed in: Scopus Q2 UGC-CARE Group II Google Scholar J-Gate NISCAIR Crossref Cabell's Journalytics

A Conceptual Framework for Agile as HR Operational Strategy

Open Access Original Article

A Conceptual Framework for Agile as HR Operational Strategy

Wilson C. D.1,  Sathiyaseelan Balasundaram2,  Jain Mathew3

1 Ph.D. Research Scholar , School of Business and Management, Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bengaluru – 560 029, Karnataka

2 Associate Professor & Area Chair, HR Specialization, School of Business and Management, Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bengaluru – 560 029, Karnataka

3 Professor & Dean, School of Business and Management, Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bengaluru – 560 029, Karnataka

Volume 17
Issue 8
Pages 23–39
Year 2024
Received: Sept. 25, 2023 Accepted: June 12, 2024 Published: Aug. 14, 2024
Abstract

Purpose : This paper examined Agile human resource (HR) as an operational strategy, emphasizing the relationships between operational, HR, and organizational strategies. It develops a collaborative culture, establishes learning organizations, supports agile team design, and improves agile strategic behavior. Agile HR has been underutilized in academic literature despite its potential, highlighting the disconnect between practitioner objectives and HR research.

Methodology : A conceptual framework for Agile HR was developed using qualitative secondary research methods. Secondary sources included books, journal articles, research papers, reports, and whitepapers. A thematic analysis was used to code the data and identify themes relevant to Agile HR, and concept mapping was used to illustrate the relationships between the key concepts.

Findings : A conceptual framework for Agile HR strategies was developed to foster an agile organizational culture and equip employees with agile strategic behaviors. Organizations will be able to establish and preserve a durable competitive edge in quickly changing marketplaces by using these tactics.

Practical Implications : This paper provided insights into implementing agile HR operational strategies. Continuous iteration was used to enhance processes, boost employee experiences, and improve organizational agility to implement these strategies.

Originality : While existing literature explored the relationship between organizational agility and dynamic capabilities, it largely overlooked the concept of agile behavior. This research addressed this gap by proposing a framework for flexible adjustments to human and organizational capabilities. It was a targeted approach for agile management aligned with organizational, HR, and agile strategies, emphasizing scalability.

Keywords Agile HR operational strategy agile HR methodologies strategic human resource management (SHRM)
How to Cite

Wilson C. D., Sathiyaseelan Balasundaram, Jain Mathew (2024). A Conceptual Framework for Agile as HR Operational Strategy. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 17(8), 23–39. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2024/v17i8/173774

References
  1. Ajayi, F. A., & Udeh, C. A. (2024). Agile work cultures in it: A conceptual analysis of hr's role in fostering innovation supply chain. International Journal of Management & Entrepreneurship Research, 6(4), 1138–1156. https://doi.org/10.51594/ijmer.v6i4.1004
  2. Ajgaonkar, S., Neelam, N. G., & Wiemann, J. (2022). Drivers of workforce agility: A dynamic capability perspective. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 30(4), 951–982. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-11-2020-2507
  3. Al Jafa, H., Jihad, F., & Várallyai, L. (2021). The role of agile management in HRM environment change. Journal of Agricultural Informatics, 12(2), 37–45. https://doi.org/10.17700/jai.2021.12.2.606
  4. Almagharbeh, B. K. (2024). The effect of human resource agility on organizational sustainability: Structural equation modeling approach. International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management, 9(1), 177–188. https://doi.org/10.22034/IJHCUM.2024.01.12
  5. Altındağ, E., & Aktürk, H. B. (2020). The impact of new generation management approaches on the firm performance: The moderating role of strategic human resource management applications. Sage Open, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020948845
  6. Anand, A., Kaur, K., Narula, N., & Vasquez-McCall, B. (2021, June 30). Why an agile transformation office is your ticket to real and lasting impact. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/why-an-agile-transformation-office-is-your-ticket-to-real-and-lasting-impact
  7. Anwar, G., & Abdullah, N. N. (2021). The impact of human resource management practice on organizational performance. International Journal of Engineering, Business and Management (IJEBM), 5(1), 35–47. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijebm.5.1
  8. Armstrong, M. (2020). Strategic human resource management: A guide to action. Kogan Page.
  9. Arora, R., & Pratibha. (2022). Relationship between flexible work arrangements, well-being, and performance of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 15(2), 8–23. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2022/v15i2/168332
  10. Balog, K. (2020). The concept and competitiveness of agile organization in the fourth industrial revolution's drift. Strategic Management, 25(3), 14–27. https://doi.org/10.5937/StraMan2003014B
  11. Battour, M., Barahma, M., & Al-Awlaqi, M. (2021). The relationship between HRM strategies and sustainable competitive advantage: Testing the mediating role of strategic agility. Sustainability, 13(9), 5315. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095315
  12. Bianchi, M., Marzi, G., & Guerini, M. (2020). Agile, stage-gate and their combination: Exploring how they relate to performance in software development. Journal of Business Research, 110, 538–553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.003
  13. Brosseau, D., Ebrahim, S., Handscomb, C., & Thaker, S. (2019, May 10). The journey to an agile organization. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-journey-to-an-agile-organization
  14. Cappelli, P., & Tavis, A. (2018). HR goes agile. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/03/hr-goes-agile
  15. Chakraborty, D., & Biswas, W. (2020). Going green with green HRM practices – A strategic initiative for reinvigorating performance optimization in companies. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 13(10–11), 8–26. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2020/v13i10-11/156006
  16. Chakraborty, D., Santra, A., & Dhara, S. K. (2019). Factors affecting the liquid workforce in different organizations and its effectiveness. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 12(4), 44–60. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2019/v12i4/143348
  17. Chatterjee, S. R. (2022). Human resource management in India: 'Where from' and 'where to?'. In M. D. Tiwari, I. Tiwari, & S. Shah (eds.), Strategic human resource management at tertiary level (1st ed.). River Publishers.
  18. Chopra, A., & Bhilare, P. (2020). Future of work: An empirical study to understand expectations of the millennials from organizations. Business Perspectives and Research, 8(2), 272–288. https://doi.org/10.1177/2278533719887457
  19. Christofi, K., Chourides, P., & Papageorgiou, G. (2024). Cultivating strategic agility – An empirical investigation into best practice. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 43(3), 89–105. https://doi.org/10.1002/joe.22241
  20. Dank, N., & Hellström, R. (2020). Agile HR: Deliver value in a changing world of work. Kogan Page Publishers.
  21. Darino, L., Sieberer, M., Vos, A., & Williams, O. (2019, April 29). Performance management in agile organizations. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/performance-management-in-agile-organizations
  22. Das, S., Mohapatra, A. K., Mohanty, D., & Chaturvedi, S. (2024). Investigating the strategic interactions among Gartner's eight building blocks of successful customer relationship management. Indian Journal of Marketing, 54(5), 8–25. https://doi.org/10.17010/ijom/2024/v54/i5/173827
  23. Denning, S. (2016, September). Explaining agile. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2016/09/08/explaining-agile/
  24. Denning, S. (2020). The emergence of agile people management. Strategy & Leadership, 46(4), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-04-2018-0042
  25. Edvardsson, I. R., & Durst, S. (2021). Human resource management in crisis situations: A systematic literature review. Sustainability, 13(22), 12406. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212406
  26. Gandhi, N., & Paik, J. (2019, July 22). An agile HR leads to happier employees. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/an-agile-hr-leads-to-happier-employees
  27. Giri, A., & Chatterjee, S. (2020). Impact of fluid team performance on strategic HRM: An empirical study in the organized retail sector of West Bengal. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 13(4), 25–42. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2020/v13i4/151824
  28. Gothelf, J. (2017, June 19). How HR can become agile (and why it needs to). Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/06/how-hr-can-become-agile-and-why-it-needs-to
  29. Harney, B., & Collings, D. G. (2021). Navigating the shifting landscapes of HRM. Human Resource Management Review, 31(4), 100824. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2021.100824
  30. Heilmann, P., Forsten-Astikainen, R., & Kultalahti, S. (2020). Agile HRM practices of SMEs. Journal of Small Business Management, 58(6), 1291–1306. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsbm.12483
  31. Hemavathi, G. P. (2023). Flexibility culture, person-job fit, and job benefits as predictors of eudaimonic workplace well-being and turnover intention of employees. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 16(10), 46–60. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2023/v16i10/171900
  32. Hongal, P., & Kinange, U. (2020). A study on talent management and its impact on organization performance- An empirical review. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research, 10(1), 64–71. https://doi.org/10.31033/ijemr.10.1.12
  33. Jadoul, Q., Mahadevan, D., & Risch, P. (2021, February 11). How agile can power frontline excellence. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/how-agile-can-power-frontline-excellence#/
  34. Janssen, M., & van der Voort, H. (2020). Agile and adaptive governance in crisis response: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Information Management, 55, 102180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102180
  35. Jengwa, E., & Pellissier, R. (2022). An operational excellence strategy implementation model for growth in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment. Acta Commercii, 22(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.4102/ac.v22i1.960
  36. Jooss, S., Collings, D. G., McMackin, J., & Dickmann, M. (2024). A skills‐matching perspective on talent management: Developing strategic agility. Human Resource Management, 63(1), 141–157. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22192
  37. Junita, A. (2021). Agile HR strategies: Prerequisite of business competitiveness in a dynamic environment. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Indonesian Social and Political Enquiries. European Union Digital Library. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.9-10-2020.2304778
  38. Lee, P. (2015). A study of human resources practices within agile organizations (Publication No. 1602000) [Doctoral dissertation, Pepperdine University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. https://www.proquest.com/openview/7cdd61b7af7c98a822218fa6034e3af4/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750
  39. McMackin, J., & Heffernan, M. (2021). Agile for HR: Fine in practice, but will it work in theory? Human Resource Management Review, 31(4), 100791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2020.100791
  40. Mergel, I., Ganapati, S., & Whitford, A. B. (2021). Agile: A new way of governing. Public Administration Review, 81(1), 161–165. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13202
  41. Miles, A. (2013). Agile learning: Living with the speed of change. Development and Learning in Organizations, 27(2), 20–22. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777281311302058
  42. Moh'd, S., Gregory, P., Barroca, L., & Sharp, H. (2024). Agile human resource management: A systematic mapping study. German Journal of Human Resource Management. https://doi.org/10.1177/23970022231226316
  43. Mollet, L. S., & Kaudela-Baum, S. (2023). Critical HR capabilities in agile organisations: A cross-case analysis in Swiss SMEs. Review of Managerial Science, 17(6), 2055–2075. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-022-00570-4
  44. Motwani, J., & Katatria, A. (2024). Organization agility: A literature review and research agenda. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-07-2023-0383
  45. Muduli, A. (2016). Exploring the facilitators and mediators of workforce agility: An empirical study. Management Research Review, 39(12), 1567–1586. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-10-2015-0236
  46. Mukherjee, B., & Chandra, B. (2018). Conceptualizing green human resource management in predicting employees' green intention and behaviour: A conceptual framework. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 11(7), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2018/v11i7/129940
  47. Pandita, D., & Bedarkar, M. (2015). Factors affecting employee performance: A conceptual study on the drivers of employee engagement. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 8(7), 29–40. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2015/v8i7/72347
  48. Patil, R., Pandita, P., & Waghmare, G. (2023). Design thinking: A creative approach to develop an employee experience scale. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 16(2), 40–59. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2023/v16i2/172730
  49. Petermann, M. K., & Zacher, H. (2020). Agility in the workplace: Conceptual analysis, contributing factors, and practical examples. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 13(4), 599–609. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2020.106
  50. Ragas, M., & Ragas, T. (2021). Understanding agile for strategic communicators: Foundations, implementations, and implications. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 15(2), 80–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1898147
  51. Revutska, O., & Maršíková, K. (2021). Agile approach in human resource management: Focus on generation Y. E&M Economics and Management, 24(2), 65–83. https://doi.org/10.15240/tul/001/2021-2-005
  52. Rigby, D., Elk, S., & Berez, S. (2020). Doing agile right: Transformation without chaos. Harvard Business Review Press.
  53. Rigby, D., Sutherland, J., & Takeuchi, H. (2022, May). Embracing agile: How to master the process that's transforming management. Harvard Business Review, 94(5), 40–50.
  54. Storme, M., Suleyman, O., Gotlib, M., & Lubart, T. (2020). Who is agile? An investigation of the psychological antecedents of workforce agility. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 39(6), 28–38. https://doi.org/10.1002/joe.22055
  55. Subramanian, N., & Suresh, M. (2022). Assessment framework for agile HRM practices. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 23(1), 135–149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40171-021-00294-6
  56. Tennent, K. D. (2020). Chandler and the visible hand of management. In B. Bowden, J. Muldoon, A. M. Gould, & A. J. McMurray (eds.), The Palgrave handbook of management history. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62114-2_39
  57. Tötterman, L. (2023). What can agile principles applied to human resource management offer growing companies that is not otherwise available? (Doctoral dissertation, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences). Theseus. http://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/809905
  58. Tripathi, A., Bagga, T., & Aggarwal, R. K. (2020). Strategic impact of business intelligence: A review of literature. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 13(3), 35–48. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2020/v13i3/151175
  59. Tripp, J. F., Riemenschneider, C., & Thatcher, J. B. (2016). Job satisfaction in agile development teams: Agile development as work redesign. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 17(4), 267–307. https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00426
  60. Vatsa, R., & Bhatnagar, P. (2021). Role of learning ability and learning agility for corporate success: A textual analysis. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 14(10), 24–37. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2021/v14i10/166642
  61. Walsh, B., & Volini, E. (2017). Rewriting the rules for the digital age: 2017 Deloitte global human capital trends. Deloitte University Press.
  62. Wilson, C. D., & Balasundaram, S. (2024a). Book review — Riina Hellström and Natal Dank, Agile HR: Deliver value in a changing world of work. Kogan Page Publishers, 2020, pp. 328, ₹ 3668. South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management. https://doi.org/10.1177/23220937241234147
  63. Wilson, C. D., & Balasundaram, S. (2024b). Agile HR-based employee management practices for improving hospital service delivery. International Research Journal of Multidisciplinary Scope (IRJMS), 5(2), 636–651. https://doi.org/10.47857/irjms.2024.v05i02.0593
  64. Wilson, C. D., & Balasundaram, S. (2024c). Agile HR “Lite”: Adapting agile principles to HR. In D. Belias, I. Rossidis, & C. Papademetriou (eds.), Organizational behavior and human resource management for complex work environments (pp. 17–41). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-3466-9.ch002
  65. Wright, P. M., Coff, R., & Moliterno, T. P. (2014). Strategic human capital: Crossing the great divide. Journal of Management, 40(2), 353–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206313518437
  66. Zavyalova, E., Sokolov, D., & Lisovskaya, A. (2020). Agile vs traditional project management approaches: Comparing human resource management architectures. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 28(5), 1095–1112. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-08-2019-1857
  67. Zhang-Zhang, Y., Rohlfer, S., & Varma, A. (2022). Strategic people management in contemporary highly dynamic VUCA contexts: A knowledge worker perspective. Journal of Business Research, 144, 587–598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.12.069
Editorial Scholar

Submit your Research to PIJM

Submit your Manuscript → Author Guidelines