MIOIR-IB Group Joint Seminar - Human resource management and machine investments. A new take on the relations between technical change, automation and jobs in organizations
| Dates: | 17 March 2025 |
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| Times: | 15:30 - 16:30 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Alliance Manchester Business School |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Alumni, Current University students, General public |
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Manchester Institute of Innovation Research & International Business (IB) Group Joint Seminar, with Guest Speaker Professor Martin Henning
Human resource management and machine investments. A new take on the relations between technical change, automation and jobs in organizations
Co-authors: Emelie Hane-Weijman and Ola Bergström
The impact of new technologies on work and employment has become a widely discussed topic among academics, policy makers and human resource professionals. While there is a clear agreement in the literature about the need for firms to adopt new technologies to maintain competitiveness, there is less evidence about what it means in terms of workforce strategies at the firm level. Most often it is assumed that implementation of new technologies requires a radical shift of the human capital pool. But disruptive change also has costs. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) and a longitudinal data set of all firms in the Swedish manufacturing industry between 2000 and 2020, our study quantifies the occurrence and outcomes of realized workforce strategies implemented at the firm level, when firms invest in new technologies. We find that investments in new technologies are associated with stabilizing rather than disruptive workforce strategies, and that firms using a stabilizing strategy have better chances for survival across investment classes. Combining investments with workforce volatility beyond incremental recruitment is not a recipe for success. These findings contribute to debates regarding strategic human resource management and the literature on technological change and employment.
Martin Henning is professor in Economic geography at the School of Economics, Business and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Martin’s research focuses on the geographies of economic structural change; in particular on the interactions between technological change and labour mobility. Besides articles, Martin is the author of the (rather recent) book Evolving Regional Economies (Agenda Publishing, 2022).
About the Seminar:
This event is in person for AMBS and UoM staff and students, with an online option available. Please feel free to share this invitation with your internal networks.
External participants are welcome to join online via Zoom, link to register will be available shortly.
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
9.041 (Online option available)
Alliance Manchester Business School
Booth Street West
