Select two studies on the Human resource management–performance link: (a) compare and critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the two studies; and (b) draw out the implications of your discussion in part (a) for BOTH future research and managerial practice. [State at the start of your essay the two studies that you are comparing. Equal marks will be given to each section (a and b) of your answer. Approaching the question Students are reminded that while some questions may very evidently refer to a particular unit they are all designed to span issues across the entire module. A full answer to the question will require reflection on the issues that you have encountered throughout the module. It is important to bear in mind that answering the question is the main priority and not for example outlining in great detail all the concepts entailed in the question. You will need to refer to the appropriate academic literature on HRM and performance, beginning with section 1 of the module handbook. This assignment question should be answered in standard essay format, using the Introduction – Main text – Conclusion format. Only studies that explicitly address empirically the relationship between human resource management systems or sets of practices and at least three organizational performance measures should be considered. They must be from peer-reviewed journals. You identify studies from the many overview papers in the area (e.g. T. Wall and S.Wood, (2005) 'The Romance of Human Resource Management and Business Performance and the case for big science', Human Relations¸ Vol., 58, No. 4, pp. 1–34). But bear in mind that there may be recent ones not included in these, especially from outside the US and UK, including China. We also advise that you use the electronic databases (eg Business Source Premier and Emerald) in the library to search for academic articles which deal with performance-related pay and its strengths and weaknesses. For a good overview of the papers in this area, as of 2004. Further, as the question suggests, you should employ as much relevant empirical material as possible, and make use of your own experience where you can. A good answer is likely to:1. State clearly the studies being discussed and describe their key features succinctly so you can get on with the core question. 2. In Part (a) outline the main strengths and weaknesses. The critical evaluation phrase implies that the student must go beyond simply describing these, to make an overall assessment of the value of the studies. The weight should be placed as much on the concepts and underlying objectives as the method and an answer that is solely on the minutiae of methods would not be adequate. 3. End this part of the question with a conclusion that will lead naturally into part two (b), i.e. where one needs to go after this study. 4. In Part (b) outline implications for both research (e.g. through specifying gaps, weaknesses in method to be overcome), and practice (e.g. neglected areas of personnel management, policies, practices and how managers should behave). The two parts of the whole question will be marked separately but an element of the marking of both should be for their integration i.e. consideration should especially be given to the end of part 1 and beginning of part 2. Consideration should also be given to how well they have covered both parts of (b).