Introduction

The objective of this report is to review selected articles. They are “Senior Carriers in
Retailing” (Article No 1) and “Valuing Human resources: Perceptions and Practices in UK
organisations” (Article No 2). These two articles are neither interrelated nor interchangeable.
Relative importance of each article is very much high. Both researches have conducted to
address very important issues in current business world. Findings of both researches can be
used to guide/drive managers in organisations to think and be cautious about each topic.
These findings are very helpful to a creative manager to find new dimensions in both topics.

Research Issue

Article No 1.

Examine the perceived facilitators and problems of Senior Retail Managers’ carrier
development, in order to see if it offers any insights for others to achieve senior managerial
positions.

Article No 2.

Why organisations do not consider publishing Human Resource (HR) and Intellectual Capital
(IC) in Financial Reports.

Comment

In the Article No 1 researchers have tried to derive the relationship between gender
differences and Senior Retail Managers Carrier Development. Researches of the Article No 2
tried to explore reasons; why organisations have given less importance to publish Human
Resource (HR) and Intellectual Capital (IC) in Financial Reports.

Research Question

Article No 1.

Do men and women Senior Retail Managers experience similar or different facilitators and
problems, and how does this contribute to our understanding of the carrier development
within the retail sector?
Article No 2.

Why measuring human resources is important to organisations and identifying current

measurement practices, barriers to measurement and the progress?

Comments

In the Article No 1 they tried to find factors that help to enhance the carrier development of
the Retail Managers. It is observed that the effort to find factors is successfully completed by
the researchers.

In the Article No 2 researches has found reasons to justify the idea of publishing Human
Resource and Intellectual Capital. Emerging idea of disclosing Human Resource (HR) and
Intellectual Capital (IC) in Financial Reports indirectly assist to researches to conduct their
research and get the cooperation from related parties.

Research Objective

Article No 1.

To explore the relationship between gender differences and carrier development of Senior
Retail Managers.

Article No 2.

To examine reasons for non publishing Human Resource Accounting and Intellectual Capital
in Financial Statements.

Comments

In both articles researchers tried to find causes for their research question and that has been
stated as the objective of the research. Both groups have identified their objective clearly and
designed the research to accomplish their objective.
Significance

Article No 1.

This is important for current professionals to achieve executive positions and identify
facilitators and problems to develop the carrier.

Article 2.

This is to provide information about the cost and value of Human Recourses, guide Human
Resource decision making and motivate decision makers to adopt a Human Resources
perspective.

Comments

Findings of the Article No 1 is very important to managers and other executives in order to
enhance their performance in any industry.

Conceptual Model

In Both Articles Dependent and Independent variables cannot be clearly identified.

Operationalization

Article No 1.

Information gathered from questionnaires was presented in tables. (Table II to Table V) Most
of the decisions taken in the research are based on above table.

Article No 2.

Many concepts and techniques have been followed by practitioners These include return on
investment, the IC index, Tobins Q, the human capital index, the balanced scorecard and
economic value added. Human resource respondent two-tailed t-tests were first used to
investigate differences in relation to other organizations views on the importance of
measuring human resources.
Comments

In the Article No 1 researches have not computed complex ratios and they have presented
their findings by using tables.

In the Article No 2 that can be observed they have used complex statistical tools to derive
relationships.

Research Design

Article No 1.

Questionnaire sample there were slightly more women Senior Manager in their 20s and
slightly more men in their 50s, although no significant differences were found between those
below and above the age of forty.

Article No 2.

4938 questionnaires were distributed; 1000 questionnaires were mailed to human resource
professionals in traditional companies, knowledge intensive companies, accounting
professionals in traditional companies.( Of the 4938 questionnaires mailed, 288 responses
were received, a response rate of 5.8 %)

Comments

Both Article No 1 and 2 have used questionnaires to gather information. A small sample has
been used in the first Article.

Hypothesis

Article No 1.

H0: To enable respondents to discuss freely about supporting factors that they perceived had
helped their carrier development.

H1: To enable respondents to discuss freely about supporting factors that they perceived had
hindered their carrier development.
Article No 2.

Ho: A range of issues surrounding the measurement of Human Resources and the practices
cause to implement HR practices in organisation.

H1: A range of issues surrounding the measurement of Human Resources and the practices
do not cause to implement HR practices in organisation.

Comments

Both articles do not give a clear indication of the hypothesis they have used. Therefore we
would suggest earlier mentioned hypotheses as most appropriate for the subject matter.

Findings

Article No 1.

The findings revealed that apparently more similarities than differences were reported by the
men and women Senior Retail Managers. This is given that retailing operates in a strong
masculine culture therefore to assume that men and women encounter similar facilitators and
problem ignores that there being compared against a norm of male characteristics and values.

Article No 2.

While the majority of respondents regarded the measurement of human resources as

important to their organisation little or moderate progress was expected in measurement
practices over the next few years. The main reasons for this included a lack organizational
support uncertainties as what should be reported, lack of precision in current measurement
practices and sensitivities around what should be reported.

Comments

Findings of both researches can be used to develop models and frameworks to enhance
performance levels in related areas.