Why Human Resource Management Innovations have many Versions not in Theory but in Practice

In the last few decades, most organizations have embraced the notion of Change or Perish. As a result, Management Innovations (MI) are adopted the moment they are produced by fashion setters among others. However, these innovations are not usually adopted and implemented in full. The innovations are usually modified consciously and unconsciously. This has attracted a lot of criticism from researchers and experts. Although this phenomenon has been widely acknowledged by researchers and practitioners, surprisingly very little research has addressed the issue of why and how MI are modified. Given the importance of modification of MI to organizations who undertake it and to those organizations that wish to emulate them, understanding of why and how MI are modified is very important to the understanding of why MI work or do not work.. Therefore, the central objective of this paper is to explain why and how MI are modified. Using a theoretical framework, the paper argues that why and how MI are modified are largely influenced by the reason for the adoption of the innovation in the first place. The practical and research implications are discussed.