Micro-agency of human resource professionals in a large family firm: shaping the implementation of human resource development practices

ABSTRACT

The implementation of Human Resource Development (HRD) practices in family firms presents several challenges. In attempting to protect the socioemotional wealth of the firm, family managers might design HRD practices that ignore the well-being of nonfamily employees. Moreover, Human Resource professionals (HRPs) may lack the power to influence HRD practices. We adopt an interpretive single case study of a large Mexican family firm to explore HRPs’ role in influencing mutual gains for the firm and its employees through HRD. The findings illustrate HRPs’ use of power over meaning to persuade family managers by creating a legitimate rhetoric that tailors HRD practices to foreign subsidiaries, and satisfies both family and nonfamily stakeholders. The paper has implications for the literature on HRD in family firms by drawing on the mutual gains’ perspective and the micro-agency of nonfamily executives.

KEYWORDS:

• Family firms
• HRD practices
• human resource professionals
• mutual gains
• micro-agency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. All the secondary documents referenced helped to understand the culture model and values indicated by a ‘D’ followed by a number (D124 refers to document 124).