The link between human resource management (HRM) and organizational performance has been researched tremendously over the past 20 years. The aim has been to show the value that HRM has in the organization. This previous research has been able to show association in between these two but no causation (Guest 2011). Guest (2011) argues that we do not know which HR practices or combinations of practices have the most impact or when, why or for whom they matter. This urges to continue finding explanations for the equation. One way to look at this is through the HR-managers role and work in organizations. The aim of this research is to see how the HR-managers can build sustainability to an organization’s people management and what combinations of HR-practices they see as important. 

The data for this research consists of articles published in the Finnish daily economic newspaper Kauppalehti. The articles are from an article series which is titled “WORK: inside the human resource manager’s office” (TYÖT: Henkilöstöjohtajan huoneessa). The articles consist of interviews with the human resource managers of big Finnish companies or companies operating in Finland. This series appears in the newspaper once a week or once per two weeks and presents a new human resource manager every time. Each of the articles brings front different elements of the manager’s work and also the organizations’ values concerning its people management. There are 73 one page articles all together. The articles have been published from spring 2011 to present and the series is still ongoing. Articles in my data are published between March 2^nd 2011 and January 30^th 2013.

The aim is to use this textual data to do document analysis (cf. Eriksson & Kovalainen 2008; Berg 2004). In the first phase content analysis is used to get an overall picture of the data and the issues that these interviewed managers bring front as important elements of their people management. This means that the occurrence of different themes is counted to form an overall picture of the field of HRM in these companies. The second phase of analysis will deepen the analysis and concentrate on the most important themes that are brought up during the first phase of analysis. This means a more interpretative approach and searching answers to questions like what does the text tell about the state of the human resource management in organizations, what issues are highlighted as important, what is valued in these organizations and what kind of role does HR-managers play in the organization. The third phase of analysis is to interpret how these findings reflect the elements in the human resource management literature and how the HR-managers role could explain the link between HRM and organizational performance.