HR Management and Turnover

Introduction
This paper provides a review of the article by Call, Nyberg, Ployhart and Weekley (2015) entitled “The Dynamic Nature of Collective Turnover and Unit Performance: The Impact of Time, Quality, and Replacements.” The article uses context-emergent theory to explain the relationship between turnover rate and turnover rate change. This paper will summarize the article, critique it, and discuss how its concepts can be applied in the real world of business.
Summary of the Article
The article by Call et al. (2015) shows that turnover in business, specifically in a large retail chain, has to be discussed in precise terms rather than in general, because context plays a significant role in how the turnover should be viewed. The precise elements that have to be considered are: 1) who is leaving the company and what level of quality did they bring, 2) how evenly or unevenly dispersed is the turnover throughout the company—i.e., are the majority of workers leaving from one department, such as sales or marketing or upper management. Focusing on these elements, the company will be in a better position to assess the cost of turnover and what it means to the company’s human capital resource system.
Relevant Points
The most relevant points of the article include: 1) context-emergent theory can be applied to a company’s assessment of turnover to better understand how aspects of quantity and quality with regard to turnover impact performance within the company; 2) there is a significant difference between turnover rates and turnover rate change; the latter will impact staffing requirements, which will impact forecasting and replacement cycles: if rates are high, staffing requirements are high—but if turnover suddenly drops, the change will impact HR focus on that particular area. In short, it is not just a problem that is confined to the department where the turnover is occurring; it also impacts the department tasked with staffing that department.
Another important point is the revelation that “static turnover rates and turnover rate change inform the prevalence, nature, and consequences of turnover” (Call et al., 2015, p. 1226). This means that not only the extent of turnover but also how turnover rates change over a course of time will be able to tell HR something about why the turnover is occurring and what can be done to address it if it is an issue—i.e., something that is a particular drain on human capital resources and human capital resource management. If turnover is especially troublesome, HR will want to examine rates over a period of time and see when rates changed and in which direction: that will tell HR to look at what was happening in the department at that time—or it may require looking externally at what was going on in the market (perhaps a new company opened and attracted all workers in the field). At any rate, examining turnover rate is insufficient to understanding how human capital resources are impacted by turnover. One also has to look at change and by extension the context in which the turnover is occurring: that will help HR to more effectively address it.
Critique
The study does an efficient job in establishing the background of the study, the need for the study, the problem being addressed and the purpose of the study. The literature review is exhaustive and feature up to date sources that shed light on the study’s theoretical approach, why it is helpful, and what has already been researched on the subject in the past. The study explains its methodology clearly and effectively. Hypotheses are explicitly stated and addressed in the discussions section. The study’s limitations are identified and analyzed, and future recommendations are provided. The study has validity and reliability—i.e., it measures what it purports to measure and the sense given is that the findings could be repeated were the study reproduced with a similar sample. However, it is possible that the researchers did not control for all variables, so one could still question the validity of the study—both internal and external. This is unlikely, though, as the researchers make a compelling argument for why context matters in any case. The study addresses the managerial implications of the findings, but it does not address any ethical considerations. Overall, the study is well-written; the methodology selected was appropriate to the purpose of the study and to the research questions.
Application of the Concepts
The application of the main concepts identified in this study could best be realized in the management of HR. In industries where low barriers of entry exist, turnover rates are likely to be high. Thus, HR should have an idea of what the industry is like over time and whether that in and of itself is going to change; this can have a significant impact on forecasting staffing needs and will be the place to begin contextualizing the turnover rate change data. In times where turnover rate change is static, it is important to know whether the rates are high or low. If the rates are, a small change in rate is unlikely to matter to HR’s forecasting or human resource capital management. However, if rates are low and a small change occurs, this could indicate that something is happening in the department that needs to be addressed. Small changes can make for what seem like relatively big waves when everything else is calm. So HR managers should be prepared to investigate a department for problematic issues if a small change occurs in a unit where historically low turnover has been the norm.
The timing of turnover events is important to consider as well. Turnover tends to have a negative impact, but if it can be effectively forecasted using time-oriented models, managers could essentially help to buffer the negative effects of turnover by having replacement staff lined up ahead of time so that there is no loss of production and no delays in unit performance. Managing staffing needs effectively depends on being able to understand when replacement hirers are likely to be needed and filling the gap as soon as it appears.
Finally, managers should make every effort to retain high-quality workers, so attention must be paid to the level of quality of workers quitting. Finding ways to incentivize these workers to stay or finding out why they are leaving will help to serve the company’s objectives in the long run. That cannot be accomplished, however, without using context-emergent theory. In other words, HR managers have to focus on the contextual aspect of turnover to make the right decisions.
Summary
Turnover rate and rate change are important issues for HR to look at. The article by Call et al. (2015) effectively analyzes the differences between the two and why it matters by applying context-emergent theory to the problem of turnover in the retail industry. The researchers find that turnover rate change will impact HR’s staffing decision-making. The article is well-rounded and provides relevant data for the industry overall. Managers in HR should focus on industry changes, timing, and quality of workers in turnover to be best prepared.
References
Call, M. L., Nyberg, A. J., Ployhart, R. E., & Weekley, J. (2015). The dynamic nature of
collective turnover and unit performance: the impact of time, quality, and replacements. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4), 1208-1232.