انعطاف پذیری منابع انسانی و روابط قوی در تیم های کارآفرینی

Human resource flexibility is important in entrepreneurial ventures that need to respond to the changing challenges of growing the new business. This research investigates the impact of previously well-known people (strong ties) as entrepreneurial team members on the human resource flexibility of new ventures. Data collected from German founding entrepreneurs in technology-oriented, incubator-based firms shows that choosing a well known individual to join the entrepreneurial team increases the founder's ability to modify the team member's work role, but complicates asking the team member to leave the team if required. Hence, strong ties both increase and reduce human resource flexibility. However, the effect of strong ties on role modifiability is statistically significant only with novice entrepreneurs. These research findings counsel founders to discuss role modification and exit during partnership and entrepreneurial team membership negotiations.

This research examines the impact of previously well-known people (strong ties) as entrepreneurial team members on the human resource flexibility in entrepreneurial teams. Usually, firms founded by teams are more successful than those founded by individuals (Kamm et al., 1990). New member addition critically impacts on the human capital and knowledge available (Page and Noel, 2009) as well as the culture and social interaction prevalent in the venture (Forbes et al., 2006). Moreover, these factors affect the firm's performance potential (Ensley et al., 2002 and Lechler, 2001). Few studies, however, analyze new member addition to develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the entrepreneurial team and its consequences (Forbes et al., 2006 and Ucbasaran et al., 2003), even though the entrepreneurial team's ability to adapt and respond flexibly is necessary for success (Watson et al., 1995), especially for innovative and growth-oriented start-ups in new and emerging markets (Soriano, 2010). Therefore, the founder should try to select team members who can form a cohesive and stable, yet flexible core of human capital for the new venture. This research focuses on the impact of new member addition on the flexibility of the entrepreneurial team by investigating the concept of human resource flexibility (Milliman et al., 1991). In essence, this concept suggests that an entrepreneurial team performs better if the team members are willing to modify their roles and also exit the entrepreneurial team if required. This study proposes that the way the founder selects team members may affect the human resource flexibility in the venture. For the purpose of this study, an entrepreneurial team member refers to any additional individual added by the founding or lead entrepreneur to the team of working owner-managers. From the perspective of the founding entrepreneur, one of the major controllable strategies for entrepreneurial team formation is whether to select entrepreneurial team members from existing strong contacts, or to search more widely among less well-known contacts. The selection of a new team member, “as it actually occurs” (Forbes et al., 2006, p. 232), is more frequently based on interpersonal fit rather than on competence. Therefore, most entrepreneurs assemble their new venture teams based on pre-existing relations (Kamm et al., 1990). This research proposes that in terms of the new venture's human resource flexibility, a strong tie is a double-edged sword. Team members with whom the founding entrepreneur has a longstanding personal relationship are more likely to be committed to this person and their venture, which simplifies having these team members modify their work roles when required. At the same time, the commitment in a strong personal relationship is likely to be mutual. This may impede asking the team member to leave when the firm's development needs outgrow the individual's skills. The consequence is that the team may be agile in the early phases of the new venture's development but when the venture grows and the need for additional expertise increases, the firm is not flexible enough to exchange members of its team of working owner-managers. However, this research also proposes that the effect of strong ties applies mainly to novice entrepreneurs who start a business for the first time. Individuals with previous entrepreneurial experience, so called serial or habitual entrepreneurs (Westhead et al., 2005), are more likely to run their businesses in a more professional manner and thus do not pay so much attention to personal relationships. In other words, this study expects the serial/novice distinction to moderate the impact of strong ties on human resource flexibility. This article makes the following theoretical and practical contributions to knowledge on entrepreneurial teams. First, researchers identify the effects of the use of strong ties in the selection of entrepreneurial team members on aspects of human resource flexibility including role modification and opportunity to exit the working relationship. Secondly, this study detects that, although habitual and nascent entrepreneurs may use strong ties in their selection of entrepreneurial team members, experienced entrepreneurs have different relationships between strong ties and human resource flexibility, creating differing moderating effects for these two groups. Finally, the study develops implications for entrepreneurs concerning entrepreneurial team formation.

This study contributes to the theory of entrepreneurial team formation by explicating the effect of an initial strong tie between the founding entrepreneur and a new team member on the human resource flexibility of the new venture. Choosing a well known individual to join the entrepreneurial team increases the founder's ability to modify the team member's work role, but complicates asking the team member to leave the team if required. An important further finding is that the effect on role modifiability applies more to ventures established by first-time, novice entrepreneurs, while strong ties do not impact on role modifiability in ventures led by experienced entrepreneurs. These findings counsel founders to discuss role modification and exit during partnership and entrepreneurial team membership negotiations.