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The Impact of Strategic Human Resource Management Practices on Australian Dairy Farm Performance

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Work Organization and Human Resource Management

Part of the book series: Management and Industrial Engineering ((MINEN))

Abstract

The purpose of this Chapter was to assess the impact of human resource management (HRM) practices adopted by 205 Australian dairy farmers on their business performance. Factor analysis extracted ten factors out of sixty items that represented all possible HRM practices in the farming context. Ten HRM practice factors were subsequently entered into multiple regression analysis as explanatory variables; these were formal selection process, hiring procedure, training, performance reviews, communication process, career opportunities, risk management of occupational health and safety (OH&S), informal social interaction, compliance-based HR records and standard milking procedures. Dependent variables were financial outcome measured by percentage increase in farm profitability and net profit shared with employees; and herd health measured by percentage of cows treated for mastitis, culled and death rates due to poor health conditions. Four business strategies (i.e. cost reduction, product quality, technology innovation and people management) were used as control variables. Regression results show a clear link of HRM to farm performance, despite several formal HRM practices (i.e. validated hiring, selection and training) negatively related to dairy farms’ financial outcome however positively related to herd health. The results also show that informal HRM practices (i.e. daily & peer performance review, communication and social interaction) played more significant roles in improving financial outcome; whilst HRM practices integrating with business strategies (i.e. product quality, technology innovation and people management) predicted better herd health in dairy. Implications of these results are discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Livestock Economics and Business, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

    Aman Ullah

  2. Deakin Graduate School of Business, Faculty of Business and Law, Deakin University, 70 Elgar Road, Burwood, VIC, 3125, Australia

    Connie Zheng

Authors
  1. Aman Ullah
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  2. Connie Zheng
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Correspondence to Connie Zheng .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economic and Management Department of Management, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Carolina Machado

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    J. Paulo Davim

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Ullah, A., Zheng, C. (2014). The Impact of Strategic Human Resource Management Practices on Australian Dairy Farm Performance. In: Machado, C., Davim, J. (eds) Work Organization and Human Resource Management. Management and Industrial Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06376-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06376-8_4

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-06376-8

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