The Promoting Sustainable Performance (PSP) program started life in 2006 as ... the creating new solutions for industry, helping business owners and leaders of ... 2 For a framework on the structuring of small firms see: Edwards, P., Ram, M., ...
Promoting Sustainable Performance The theoretical foundations – from growth to high performance The Promoting Sustainable Performance (PSP) program started life in 2006 as an EU Interreg IVA project, the aim being to research the characteristics, processes and constraints that SMEs face in achieving sustainable business growth. This initial program of work focused on a comparative analysis of Northern France and Southern England. Overall, this program led to new thinking in the growth of organizations, informing academia and the creating new solutions for industry, helping business owners and leaders of SMEs to develop and grow their organizations. The first stage of the work involved a comprehensive review of the literature on business growth and performance. This review highlighted the positivist and linear nature of business growth models, and whilst popular in the classroom and academic literature, had not been thoroughly empirically examined. These models addressed “what” questions: what stage or state a firm might be said to experience at a given point in time. We wanted to dig deeper, we wanted to answer “how” and “why” type questions and develop new understanding, and ultimately a new theory on organizational growth. The high performance literature showed promise in its ability to dig deeper. Within this field a number of academics were developing contextual approaches that were more capable of explaining difference and demonstrated the role of internal and external context (e.g. Paauwe, 2004 1; Edwards et al., 2006 2, 20093; Harney and Dundon, 20064; Gilman and Edwards, 20085). These approaches are grounded in human resource management, and identify the central role that people play in achieving sustained competitive advantage. They are also sensitive to critical realism and open systems thinking; the importance of understanding the underlying causal mechanisms that catalyse observable phenomena (e.g. Fleetwood and Ackroyd, 20046; Fleetwood and Hesketh, 20067; Easton, 20108).
1
For Contextually-based Human Resource Theory see: Paauwe, J. 2004. HRM and Performance: Achieving Long Term Viability, New York, Oxford University Press. 2
For a framework on the structuring of small firms see: Edwards, P., Ram, M., Sen Gupta, S. & Tsai, C.-J. 2006. The Structuring of Working Relationships in Small Firms: Towards a Formal Framework. Organization, 13(5): 701-724. 3
For a practical discussion on how to analyze firm type see: Edwards, P., Tsai, C.-J., Sen Gupta, S. & Ram, M. 2009. From Modern to Paternalistic: How Does your Firm Type Affect your Performance? Executive briefing. London: Advanced Institute of Management Research. 4
Harney, B. & Dundon, T. 2006. Capturing complexity: developing an integrated approach to analysing HRM in SMEs. Human Resource Management Journal, 16(1): 48-73. 5
Gilman, M. W. & Edwards, P. K. 2008. Testing a Framework of the Organization of Small Firms. International Small Business Journal, 26(5): 531-558. 6
Fleetwood, S. & Ackroyd, S. 2004. Critical Realist Application in Organisation and Management Studies, London, Routledge. 7
Fleetwood, S. & Hesketh, A. 2006. HRM-performance research: under-theorized and lacking explanatory power. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17(12): 1977-1993. 8
Easton, G. 2010b. Critical realism in case study research. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(1): 118-128.
Capturing complexity – defining a suitable methodology To move these theories on, we had to develop a research model that was capable of capturing complexity, one that took a multidisciplinary approach to research. We brought together some of the best academic minds, from the fields of value chain management, strategy, human resource management, finance and research methods and designed a new methodology. We have since run this methodology three times in Southern England (2006-2008, 2009-2011, 2014-2015) and have now expanded to West Midlands (UK) and Calgary (Canada). The future is bright for this work, and we are currently in talks with a number of international institutions who are also keen to work with the PSP model.
Our current state of thinking We have since published PSP data on high performance work systems in SMEs (see: Gilman and Raby, 20139) and the value of context-sensitive approaches to examining HR practices in SMEs (see: Gillman, Raby and Pyman, 201510). The PSP research continues to unlock thinking on the growth and development of SMEs across a range of disciplinary fields. We are in the process of developing a multidimensional framework for SME development and growth, applying an events-based approach (Morgesson, 201511) to examine the interaction of HRM practice with the state and stages of growth, and working with faculty members in various fields across the world. Please do get in touch to find out more.
Business. Improvement. Growth In addition to informing academia, PSP has also informed the development of a range of tools and programs for ambitious business owners and leaders of SMEs. These include: The BIG Ten™
The Big Ten™ is a diagnostic tool to help business owners, leaders and employees gain greater clarity on their key strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities for improvement and growth.
The BIG Journey™
The BIG Journey™ is a business growth and development program. It is for those ambitious business owners and leaders who want to step back from the day-to-day, transition to a strategic leader and develop a comprehensive and robust strategic plan for their future.
The BIG Futures Network™
The BIG Futures Network™ is a business growth and development network. It is for those ambitious business owners who have clarity over their strategic plan and want to resolve the ongoing challenges that come with the process of execution.
For further discussion on the content of this document please contact: Simon Raby on +1.587.435.7229 9
Gilman, M. & Raby, S. 2013. National context as a predictor of high-performance work system effectiveness in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): a UK-French comparative analysis. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(2): 372-390. 10
Gilman, M., Raby, S. and Pyman, A. 2015. The Contours of Voice in SMEs: The Importance of Context. Human Resource Management Journal, 25(4): 563–579 11 Morgeson, F., Mitchell, T., & Liu, D. 2015. Event system theory: An event-orientated approach to the organization sciences. Academy of Management Review, 40(4): 515-537.
