Cogprints

Opening the black box: How staff training and development may affect the innovation of enterprises

Mate, Davide and Carpaneto, Alberto and Tirassa, Corrado and Brizio, Adelina and Rezzonico, Raffaele and Brassesco, Barbara and Surra, Fabio and Rabellino, Daniela and Tirassa, Maurizio (2010) Opening the black box: How staff training and development may affect the innovation of enterprises. [Conference Paper]

Full text available as:

[img] PDF
61Kb

Abstract

We describe a research on the interplay that appears to exist in companies between Human Resource Management and innovation. This complex, multicomponent, non-linear and dynamic interplay is often viewed as a "black box". To help open the black box, we outline both a theoretical framework and preliminary empirical data. We view innovation as an organization-level property, favored by the organization's self-perception as a knowledge engine. Therefore, we devised a protocol to study the companies' strategies for training and development and their innovation profile. The protocol consisted in a questionnaire with 100 closed questions, suitable for companies which rely mostly on an inner training and development service. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of Italian firms from the Food & beverages and Fashion markets. The results show that certain facets of training and development are indeed correlated to innovation. Finally, we discuss the results.

Item Type:Conference Paper
Keywords:Innovation; Human resource management; Staff training and development; Business performance
Subjects:Psychology > Cognitive Psychology
Philosophy > Ethics
Psychology > Social Psychology
ID Code:6862
Deposited By: Tirassa, Prof. Maurizio
Deposited On:01 Jul 2010 01:20
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:57

References in Article

Select the SEEK icon to attempt to find the referenced article. If it does not appear to be in cogprints you will be forwarded to the paracite service. Poorly formated references will probably not work.

Alcazar, F.M., Fernandez, P.M.R. & Gardey, G.S. (2005) ‘Market orientation, learning orientation and product innovation: delving into the organization’s black box’, Management Revue, vol. 16 (2), pp. 213-41.

Baker, W.E. & Sinkula, J.M. (1999a) ‘The synergistic effect of market orientation and learning orientation on organizational performance’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 27 (4), pp. 411–27.

Baker, W.E. & Sinkula, J.M. (1999b) ‘Learning orientation, market orientation and innovation: integrating and extending models of organizational performance’, Journal of Market Focused Management, vol. 4 (4), pp. 295–308.

Baker, W.E. & Sinkula, J.M. (2002) ‘Market orientation, learning orientation and product innovation: delving into the organization’s black box’, Journal of Market Focused Management, vol. 5 (1), pp. 5–23.

Bertalanffy, L. von (1967) General system theory. Foundations, development, applications, New York: Braziller.

Blalock, H.M., Jr. & Blalock, A.B. (1968) Methodology in social research, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.

Carassa, A., Morganti, F. & Tirassa, M. (2004) ‘Movement, action, and situation: presence in virtual environments’, Proceedings of the 7th Annual International Workshop on Presence, ed. M. Alcañiz Raya & B. Rey Solaz. Valencia, Spain: Editorial Universidad Politécnica de Valencia.

Carassa, A., Morganti, F. & Tirassa, M. (2005) ‘A situated cognition perspective on presence’, Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Mahwah: Erlbaum.

Chesbrough, H.W. (2006) Open business model: how to thrive in the new innovation landscape, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Clancey, W.J. (1997) ‘The conceptual nature of knowledge, situations and activity’. In P.J. Feltovich, K.M. Ford & R.R. Hoffmann, ed. Expertise in context. Cambridge: AAAI Press/MIT Press, pp. 248-241.

Costner, H.L. (1969) Theory, deduction, and rules of correspondence, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Day, G.S. (1994) ‘The capabilities of market-driven organizations’, The Journal of Marketing, vol. 58 (4), pp. 37–52.

Diamantopoulos, A. & Siguaw, J.A. (2006) ‘Formative versus reflective indicators in organizational measure development: a comparison and empirical illustration’, British Journal of Management, vol. 17, 263-282.

Dickson, P.R. (1996) ‘The static and dynamic mechanics of competition: a comment on hunt and morgan’s comparative advantage theory’, The Journal of Marketing, vol. 60 (4), pp. 102-6.

Edwards, J.R. & Bagozzi, R.P. (2000) ‘On the nature and direction of relationships between constructs and measures’, Psychological Methods, vol 5 (2), pp. 155-174.

Gerhart, B. (2005) ‘Human Resources and business performance: findings, unanswered questions, and an alternative approach’, Management Revue, vol. 16 (2), 174-185.

Han, J.K., Kim, N. & Srivastava, R.K. (1998) ‘Market orientation and organizational performance: is innovation the missing link?’, The Journal of Marketing, vol. 62 (4), pp. 30–45.

ISTAT (2008) Statistiche sull’innovazione nelle imprese 2002-2004. http://www.istat.it/dati/catalogo/20080227_00/inf_08_01_statistiche_innovazione_nelle_imprese_2002-2004.pdf

Katou, A.A. & Budhwar, P.S. (2010) ‘Causal relationship between HRM policies and organizational performance: evidence from the Greek manufacturing sector’, European Management Journal, vol. 28, pp. 25-39.

Laugen, B.T. & Boer, H. (2008) ‘Continuous innovative practises and operational performance’, International Journal of Technology Management, vol. 44 (3/4), pp. 338-53.

Mate, D. & Tirassa, M. (2010) ‘Knowledge’. In L. Cummings, ed. The pragmatics encyclopedia. London and New York: Routledge, pp.239-242.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945) Phénoménologie de la perception, Paris: Gallimard. English translation: Smith C. (1962) Phenomenology of perception, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Nagel, T. (1986) The view from nowhere, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nassar-McMillan, S.C. & Dianne-Borders, L. (2002) ‘Use of focus groups in survey item development’, The Qualitative Report, vol. 7 (1). http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR7-1/nassar.html.

Purcell, J., Purcell, K. & Tailby, S. (2004) ‘Temporary work agencies: here today, gone tomorrow?’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 42 (4), pp. 705-725.

Slater, S.F., & Narver, J.C. (1995) ‘Market orientation and the learning organization’, The Journal of Marketing, vol. 59 (3), pp. 63–74.

Tirassa, M. (2009) ‘Identity and agency in complex organizations’. Workshop Limits to rationality in economics and financial markets. Glasgow, Scotland. http://www.instituteforadvancedstudies.org.uk/.

Tirassa, M. & Bosco, F.M. (2008) ‘On the nature and role of intersubjectivity in communication’. In F. Morganti, A. Carassa & G. Riva, ed. Enacting intersubjectivity: A cognitive and social perspective to the study of interactions. Amsterdam: IOS Press, pp. 81-95.

Tirassa, M., Carassa, A. & Geminiani, G. (2000) ‘A theoretical framework for the study of spatial cognition’. In S. Ó Nualláin, ed. Spatial cognition. Foundations and applications. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: Benjamins, pp. 19-31.

Varela, F. (1996) ‘A science of consciousness as if experience mattered’. In S.R. Hameroff, A.W. Kaszniak & A.C. Scott, ed. Toward a science of consciousness: The first Tucson discussions and debates. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Wright, P.M., Gardner, T.M., Moynihan, L.M. & Allen, M.R. (2005) ‘The relationship between HR practices and firm performance: examining causal order’, Personnel Psychology, vol. 58, pp. 409-446.

Metadata

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Cogprints is powered by EPrints 3 which is developed by the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. More information and software credits.