Innovative human resource management strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic narrative review approach

Mohammad Reza Azizi; Rasha Atlasi; Arash Ziapour; Jaffar Abbas; Roya Naemi

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07233

Innovative human resource management strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic narrative review approach

Heliyon. 2021 Jun;7(6):e07233. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07233. Epub 2021 Jun 7.

Authors

Mohammad Reza Azizi¹, Rasha Atlasi², Arash Ziapour³, Jaffar Abbas⁴, Roya Naemi⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Economics and Management, Islamic Azad University, Islamic Azad University of Tabriz, Iran.
² Evidence based Practice Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health (RCEDH), Health Institute, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
⁴ Antai College of Economics and Management (ACEM), & School of Media and Communication (SMC), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, 200240, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Department of Health Information Management, School of Paramedical Sciences, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran.

Abstract

Background: The spread of COVID-19 creates disruption, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity in all organizations. People are the primary asset of any organization and help achieve their goals. Accordingly, to manage human resources sustainably, the organizational strategy review is an appropriate retort.

Objective: The purpose of this comprehensive review study is to identify unknown challenges, strategies, and unusual decisions related to human resource management other than clinical organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: The study applied a narrative review approach dissection based on organizations' human resource management strategies to combat the COVID-19 impacts. The review study conducted published literature research through the electronic databases at Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and LISTA. The study extracted 1281 articles from the mentioned databases from November 2021 to the first quarter of 2021. This study reviewed selected papers, included 15 relevant articles, and removed duplicates according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, the study developed a conceptual framework of human resource management strategies based on the literature findings to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results: The COVID-19 pandemic posed numerous adverse consequences, such as economic shock, global health crisis, change in social behaviors, and challenges at the organization level to continue business operations. Besides, the strategies included flexibility, strengthening internal efficiency, talent acquisition, and making innovative changes based on organizational assessment and needs for smooth business activities.

Conclusion: The appropriate human resource management strategies implementations would increase employees' mental well-being, satisfaction, productivity, motivation, and health safety at the workplace.

Keywords: Abrupt global challenges; COVID-19 adverse consequences; Human resource management; Infectious disease; Innovative HR strategy; Novel coronavirus; Pandemic; SARS-CoV-2 virus.