effects of culture and human resource management policies on supply chain management strategy, The

Over the past decade, the management of a firm's entire supply chain has become the process for building improved and stronger upstream and downstream business linkages. "Win-win" relationships, that utilize the strengths of other channel members, are created between supply chain partners (Katzorke and Lee 2000). While there are considerable discussions about the importance of supply chain relationships, less emphasis has been allocated to the concept of corporate culture and its role in facilitating or hindering these relationships.

Corporate culture is similar to a firm's personality in that it provides an organizational memory that minimizes the need to start over whenever personnel changes occur (Walsch and Ungson 1998). Organizational memory regulates communication flows both within the organization and between channel members by ensuring continuity of norms. In addressing this issue, Mohr and Sohi (1995) state: "shared norms implies that the manufacturer and dealer share the belief that information sharing is important and expected" (p. 398). Conversely, when shared norms are not reinforced by an organizational memory, information sharing appears to be less important and less expected. Research confirms that shared values positively influence both commitment and trust between a firm and its channel members (Morgan and Hunt 1994).

Human resource management policies, which directly influence and are influenced by corporate culture, also significantly impact supply chain members. That is, human resource decisions are important because, when firms hire personnel that meld with their company culture, these actions enhance shared social knowledge and increase consistency between employee and firm goals (Wilkins and Ouchi 1983). Shared social knowledge guides employees in making the right decision when confronted with novel situations (Weitz and Jap 1995).

The purpose of this article is to provide guidance to effectively implement human resource management (HRM) policies that result in the desired logistical and supply chain strategies. In this pursuit, cultural characteristics and their relationships to HRM policies are examined. Then, four different combinations of HRM and supply chain strategies are discussed. These four strategies are examined in terms of the degree of interfirm cultural fit that is likely to develop. Finally, managers are presented with a list of questions that must be considered when developing a supply chain strategy.

ORGANIZATIONAL VARIABLES AND SUPPLY CHAIN ORIENTATION

Figure 1 presents a model of the interactions that exist between organizational culture, HRM policies, and supply chain orientation. HRM policies both influence and are influenced by the firm's corporate culture which can result in a transactional or relationship focus with employees in purchasing, employees in distribution, and other employees.

Organizational Culture

The concept "organizational culture" refers to the personality of a firm, i.e., what makes the organization unique in the eyes of insiders and outsiders. While there are many definitions of culture, the common theme is the presence of shared values, beliefs, assumptions, and patterns of behavior (c.f., Schein 1992). Two critical cultural elements are inherent in this definition.

The first element of culture is the shared nature of job or role expectations. Based upon a history of interactions with others working at an organization, employees develop a shared understanding about what is expected of them. Over time, supply chain members also develop a common awareness about what is expected of them and what they can anticipate in return. In this sense, there are two aspects of shared expectations: (1) the internal culture that characterizes employee expectations and (2) the external culture that designates channel member expectations.

The second element of culture is the stability of the organization's norms and values. Based upon repeated, consistent experiences, employees develop behavioral norms. Externally, these norms represent predictable patterns that allow a person to anticipate the behaviors and relationship requirements of channel members.

It is important to comprehend that interplay exists between an organization's internal and external culture or organizational image. That is, channel members' perceptions are greatly influenced by the employees that manage their business relationships. This means that cultural consistency is characterized by met expectations. Employees and channel partners not only know what to expect from the organization, but they also agree about how these expectations are to be met, and they act accordingly. Stated differently, both parties have met the terms of their psychological contract (Blancero and Ellram 1997). In this situation, one would predict high levels of channel member and employee job satisfaction. In contrast, cultural conflict is characterized by "unmet expectations, which means there is a discrepancy between employee and channel member expectations. This discrepancy typically leads to both employee and member dissatisfaction, which in turn contributes to higher direct and indirect supply chain costs.