戦略的人的資源管理と組織文化

―大規模養豚法人を事例として―

抄録

While the overall number of farms in our country has been decreasing, the number of corporate farms has been increasing annually, and their average scale has been expanding. Though the number of farms employing non–family members has increased in recent years, the concepts of management strategy, human resource management, and organizational culture in farm management have not been widely disseminated. In the field of agricultural management, there is little accumulated research that comprehensively analyzes the implementation of these concepts.

Large–scale pig farming corporations, which are the subject of this study, differ from agricultural corporations engaged in other types of animal husbandry and crop production. For example, most workers in such pig–farming corporations are hired as full–time employees, and all the employees are integrated into a hierarchical organization. Most of them are from non–farming backgrounds and do not intend to leave the company to run their own farming business; moreover they tend to be highly committed toward their positions.

Large–scale pig farming corporations are rapidly expanding and diversifying their operations, thereby increasing the workforce they employ. Therefore, it is important to analyze the relationship between strategic human resource management and organizational culture in such corporations, and to consider its impact on their business performance. We hypothesize that maintaining a close relationship between strategic human resource management and organizational culture leads to an improvement in corporate performance and gives agricultural organizations a sustainable competitive advantage, and examine the example of corporation A on this basis.

The research method consisted of a questionnaire survey of the full–time employees of corporation A and a survey of management performance of the company. The items on the questionnaire for employees were interest in management philosophy, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The results of the survey revealed that management philosophy was becoming more widespread among employees, and that the company was making progress in fostering an organizational culture that emphasized human resource development and the improvement of individual skills. The organizational culture of “contributing to the community” was also endorsed by the employees.

In studying the corporation’s performance, since 2017, it was found that the output had increased, while the total number of hours worked had decreased. This result was attributed to the fact that the improvement in the employees’ working conditions increased their satisfaction and willingness to enhance their performance at work.

Currently, not many agricultural corporations show much interest in human resource management and organizational culture. Organizational culture is defined as a collection of values, codes of conduct, and beliefs shared by the members of an organization; according to previous research, it is not under the direct control of the management. However, it is possible for the management to encourage employees to cultivate a desirable organizational culture by clearly presenting the company’s management philosophy and action guidelines. Appropriate encouragement by management is expected to increase organizational commitment and motivation among employees, which will have a positive impact on business performance.