Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

Table 23: Polish firm typology
degree of integration of older
workers
stage of development of
HRM strategy
HRM strategy
internalisation
medium-internalising
position
medium-externalising
position
Firm PL-15
rather strategic orientation Firm PL-14* Firm PL-9, Firm PL-12,
Firm PL-17
externalisation
Firm PL-13
rather reactive orientation Firm PL-7 Firm PL-11
´muddling through´
Firm PL-8, Firm PL-16,
Firm PL-1
Firm PL-2, Firm PL-4,
Firm PL-6, Firm PL-10
* = based on one interview only
Firm PL-3 and PL-4 were not included in the analysis due to scarce material and the absence of collective
regulations.
The cells in grey contain ´good practice´ companies.
Pearson Correlation between the variables ´degree of integration of older workers´ and ´stage of development
of HRM strategy´: -0.296, p =0.283.
It can be seen from Table 23 that there is large variance with regard to the internalising,
resp. externalising effect of personnel policy in Polish firms. Also, the two dimensions
depicted in the table are not significantly correlated. The dimension in the left column
(HRM strategy vs. ´muddling through´) differs from the German case, where I took into
account the grade to which HRM policy considers the ageing of the workforce. However, in
the Polish case, age management was largely unknown 57 , therefore I assessed such firms
positively which were active in many HRM fields, as an elaborate HRM strategy constitutes
in my view the first step towards an age management strategy which also has a long-term
orientation. Moreover, good practice in age management has to be evaluated in relation the
what other countries in the given national – and not international – context have achieved,
as the institutional setting and the socio-economic history of a given country determine the
opportunities for establishing such a policy at all. 58 This approach is in line with Maurice´s
(1991) proposition of a comparative analysis based on the “societal effect”, whereby
phenomena at micro level (like the personnel policy of singular firms) cannot be compared
between different nation-states without previous analysis of the nationally unique
combinations of factors at micro and macro level.
The importance of the national context can be seen on the example of Firm PL-14,
which achieved the highest position among the 15 Polish firms depicted in Table 23 and can
be assessed as ´good practice´ example. Although the firm was acquired by a Western
57 This is in line with results at aggregate level from an employers´ survey (Tokarz 2007a:14).
58 The European Foundation (1998: 2) defines ´good practice´ as „the best available given particular national
circumstances“.
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