HR management implementation in scaled startup companies through an organizational learning lens

• Ano de defesa: 2023
• Autor(a) principal: Miyazaki, Fernando Rejani
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Aprendizagem organizacional; Empresas startup; Estudo de casos múltiplos; HR implementation; Implementação de RH; Multiple-case study; Organizational learning; Qualitative; Qualitativo; Startup companies
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12139/tde-15062023-182018/

Organizations seek, through their Human Resources (HR) areas, policies, and practices, to gather and mobilize their people to create a source of competitive advantage. Although, an intended change may not produce the expected result if there is no engagement from management and employees in general. Startup companies add complexity to that by acting in environments of extreme uncertainty with limited resources while trying to find a suitable business model and a solution that allows the company to achieve scale gains. This thesis studied five cases (startups with at least 100 employees, plus a complimentary case from actors related to investment in startups) in 18 interviewed participants (12 female participants) from various roles. Content analysis indicated eight main findings: 1) These companies started their HR areas in their first 100 employees (usually between 50 and 60). 2) The implementation considers demand and the available budget. 3) Structuring an HR helps the organization in several other aspects, from reducing the workload of the founder previously in charge of HR to helping to structure other areas and processes. 4) HR may act to enhance, reinforce, and share the organizational culture, a fundamental aspect for startups. 5) HRTechs (startups with HR-related solutions) have a slight advantage in HR since it is possible to find a significant body of knowledge inside those companies, which can also use HR to help improve their main product based on HR. 6) The studied companies have learned how to improve and adapt their recruitment processes according to their needs and the specificities of the position to fulfill, such as tech talent, usually with a simplified process due to the scarcity of professionals and the intense competition for them. 7) It was not possible to find significant differences between startups from different industries (except for HRTechs, since HR is part of their core business). However, a more extensive startup may tend to have a more structured HR area, but it is unclear if that happens for a single reason. 8) The Covid-19 pandemic was a significant challenge that triggered profound and immediate changes in all participating companies. However, some were fortunate enough to benefit from that scenario, scaling despite (or even because of) the difficulties. Culture has played an essential role in engaging people to find and implement solutions that allowed their organizations to adapt and survive the crises, each with its strategy and means