Resumen de Human resource function strategic role and trade unions: exploring their impact on human resource management practices in Uruguayan firms

Alvaro Cristiani Labat, Vicente Safón Cano

• Organizations worldwide are confronted with different contextual constraints. Jackson and Schuler [1995, �Understanding Human Resource Management in the Context of Organizations and their Environments,' Annual Review of Psychology, 46, 237�264], in their classical review, highlight the importance of the impact of the internal and external organizational context on human resource management (HRM) practices. This paper uses data collected through a survey of firms located in Uruguay, in a context where HR function and trade unions have gone through significant changes, to determine their impact on the adoption of different HRM practices. The authors find that organizations with an HR function strategically involved and with higher degree of union presence have more person-centred HRM practices, while performance-centred HRM practices were positively influenced by HR function strategic role. However, the findings do not support the moderating role of trade union presence on the relationship between the HR function strategic role and HRM practices.