A Comparative Study of Cognitive Schemas of HRM During Economic Crisis in Two Slovenian Sectors

The main objective of this article is to present a qualitative studyof HRM schemas in the recent economic crisis in Slovenia. Cognitiveschemas influence perception and behavior and serve aspowerful sense-making frameworks. In-depth interviews with 16ceos, HR executives and trade unionists from the production andservice sectors and analyses of annual reports were conducted tofind the content of their HRM schemas. In addition, a comparisonbetween schemas from companies from both sectors was made.Results reveal that HRM schemas in companies from the financialsector include more ‘HRM is bureaucratic’ attributes, whereas incompanies from the automotive sector ‘HRM is strategic’ attributesprevail. In companies’ annual reports, the socially responsiblerole of HRM toward employees is only moderately present. Whilethe crisis in 1990s was an influential factor for the sense-makingand ‘flexibility is crucial’ attribution in companies in the automotivesector, the current HRM schema in selected companies fromthe financial sector was influenced by the occurrence of conjuncture.