The research goal of this dissertation is to make configurational HRM usable for science and practice by developing a simulation model and serious game. These tools offer HRM professionals the opportunity to design a multiyear HRM configuration that shapes employee behaviour, while enabling HRM research to get access to a level of detail that was not achieved earlier, contributing to the current state of the art knowledge on strategic HRM. To shape employee behavior in such a way that it contributes to overarching organizational goals, organizations often deploy a set of human resource management (HRM) practices. If the set of individual HRM-practices is designed correctly, they amplify each other in shaping the desired behavior. However, while there is wide agreement on the importance of combining HRM-practices in a configuration that reflects the organizational strategy, we notice a lack of consensus on which HRM-practices need to be combined given a specific strategic goal and organizational starting point. Furthermore, we did not find an agreement on how to design HRM configurations that shape the desired employee behavior within organizations in multiple years. As a result, HRM professionals that design HRM configurations are left empty handed. While the configurational approach has the potential to provide new insight on how HRM shapes employees’ behavior, applying the configurational mode of theorizing to HRM remains challenging. We explain this challenge by the level of theoretical and practical detail that is needed, by the application of the holistic principle when studying HRM configurations, and due to methodological issues. Traditional methods do not align to the dynamic assumptions and the large number of variables included in configurational HRM. In this dissertation we pose that the time is ripe to unlock the deserved value of configurational HRM for theory and practice. We do so by specifying the underlying assumptions and dynamic implications of the configurational mode of theorizing in HRM, and by defining and adding the needed level of detail. In the current research, configurational HRM is made applicable with the use of a simulation model and serious game. -172- Five sequential steps are taken to make configurational HRM applicable. Firstly, key principles of configurational HRM are identified. Secondly, to ground the simulation we look at the manifestation of ideal type HRM configurations in theory and practice. Thirdly, we collect the solidified practical knowledge of HRM professionals on the alignment of HRM-practices. Fourthly, an initial simulation model is created and tested. And finally, we solidified the simulation model for practice and research by implementing it in a serious game for HRM professionals. Taking these five steps, we have specified configurational HRM to an unprecedented level of detail that allows us to address its complexity empirically and theoretically. We claim that with the results of this research we have opened the scientific and empirical “black box” of configurational HRM. Furthermore, the simulation model and serious game provides HRM professionals with a tool to design firm specific HRM configurations in an interactive and fun way. While prior studies did already acknowledge the importance of alignment when designing HRM, the simulation model and serious game specify the general concept of alignment to a level at which HRM professionals and researchers can start selecting, designing, implementing and researching HRM configurations. The tools provide HRM professionals with a method to grasp, maneuver through the complexity of, and explore the implementation of multi-year firm specific HRM.
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Serious games foster the acquisition of complex problem-solving skills. Assessment of such skills should be in line with instruction, and within a serious game environment its content validity should equal face-to-face assessment. Research on assessment in serious gaming has remained rather scarce. This article shows how assessment can be implemented in serious gaming in a way that assures content validity. The core of the authors’ validation method entails mapping learning activities (as contained in the game scenario) on performance indicators and outputs (as derived from formal attainment levels). They present how they have elaborated and applied the method for an assessment game for ICT managers in secondary vocational education. They describe the procedure and extent to which this assessment is content-valid compared to face-to-face assessment.
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Fysiotherapie en/of manuele therapie spelen een belangrijke rol in de zorg voor mensen met lage rugpijn. Om de kwaliteit van deze zorg te verbeteren is een richtlijn ontwikkeld die vervolgens geïmplementeerd dient te worden. Technologische innovaties zoals serious games kunnen een rol spelen bij de implementatie van deze richtlijn. In een gerandomiseerde gecontroleerde studie is onderzocht in hoeverre een serious game de implementatie van een richtlijn lage rugpijn bevorderd. Achtenveertig fysiotherapeuten/manueel therapeuten zijn at random toegewezen aan een serious game groep of een groep die voorlichting kreeg over de richtlijn. Uitkomstmaten in deze studie zijn de mate van adherentie aan de richtlijn (vignettentoets), ervaren knelpunten van implementatie, de mening van de deelnemer over de wijze van implementeren, en de mate waarin de richtlijn is gelezen en wordt toegepast in de praktijk naar eigen inschatting van de deelnemer. Na zes weken follow-up is er geen significant effect gevonden van de serious game op de mate van adherentie aan de richtlijn (0,4 punten op 100 puntsschaal; 95% betrouwbaarheidsinterval -4,0 tot 4,8) ten opzichte van de voorlichtingsgroep. Ook voor de andere uitkomsten werden geen statistisch significante effecten gevonden. Het introduceren van een serious game had derhalve geen groter effect op de mate van adherentie aan de richtlijn lage rugpijn dan voorlichting.
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The project’s aim is to foster resilient learning environments, lessen early school leaving, and give European children (ages 4 -6) a good start in their education while providing and advancing technical skills in working with technology that will serve them well in life. For this purpose, the partnership has developed age appropriate ICT animation tools and games - as well as pedagogical framework specific to the transition phase from kindergarten to school.
A continuation and update of the first ALT-ER project, which produced an app for early-years students that allowed them to express their feelings and tell stories related to pro-social and important developmental themes. This follow-up project will expand the software and themes, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, to reflect a wider range of experiences for young people.
Physical rehabilitation programs revolve around the repetitive execution of exercises since it has been proven to lead to better rehabilitation results. Although beginning the motor (re)learning process early is paramount to obtain good recovery outcomes, patients do not normally see/experience any short-term improvement, which has a toll on their motivation. Therefore, patients find it difficult to stay engaged in seemingly mundane exercises, not only in terms of adhering to the rehabilitation program, but also in terms of proper execution of the movements. One way in which this motivation problem has been tackled is to employ games in the rehabilitation process. These games are designed to reward patients for performing the exercises correctly or regularly. The rewards can take many forms, for instance providing an experience that is engaging (fun), one that is aesthetically pleasing (appealing visual and aural feedback), or one that employs gamification elements such as points, badges, or achievements. However, even though some of these serious game systems are designed together with physiotherapists and with the patients’ needs in mind, many of them end up not being used consistently during physical rehabilitation past the first few sessions (i.e. novelty effect). Thus, in this project, we aim to 1) Identify, by means of literature reviews, focus groups, and interviews with the involved stakeholders, why this is happening, 2) Develop a set of guidelines for the successful deployment of serious games for rehabilitation, and 3) Develop an initial implementation process and ideas for potential serious games. In a follow-up application, we intend to build on this knowledge and apply it in the design of a (set of) serious game for rehabilitation to be deployed at one of the partners centers and conduct a longitudinal evaluation to measure the success of the application of the deployment guidelines.
Lectorate, part of NHL Stenden Hogeschool
