Questions:
1. Explain the importance of strategic human resource management in organisations.
2. Assess the purpose of strategic human resource management activities in an organisation.
3. Evaluate the contribution of strategic human resource management to the achievement of an organisation’s objectives.
4. Analyse the business factors that underpin human resource planning in an organisation.
5. Assess the human resource requirements in a given situation.
6. Develop a human resources plan for an organisation.
7. Critically evaluate how a human resources plan can contribute to meeting an organization’s objectives.
8. Explain the purpose of human resource management policies in organisations.
9. Analyse the impact of regulatory requirements on human resource policies in an organisation.
10. Analyse the impact of an organisational structure on the management of human resources .
11. Analyse the impact of an organisational culture on the management of human resources.
12. Examine how the effectiveness of human resources management is monitored in an organisation.
13. Make justified recommendations to improve the effectiveness of human resources management in an organisation.
“Human resources are like natural resources; they’re often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they’re not just lying around on the surface. You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves.”
-Ken Robinson
This quote speaks a lot about the importance, relevance, need and inherent requirement to strengthen and modulate the human resource management which is the ingredient for a successful business or organization.
Strategic HRM lies in the heart of the company to define the plans and goals of the organization achieved by the means of human capital which is a major source of competitive advantage and with the help of a systematic approach (Schuler, 2008) to define objectives. The approach is based over long term issues and some of the macro concerns like quality, values, commitment, and such issues. Strategic human resource management is a task of toil requiring thinking ahead and planning in advance (Bratton, 2007) to match up the goals of the company with the needs of the employees. It is hardly notices, but development of the employees is the key factor of concern of strategic HRM practices. The stress and focus of strategic human resource management is based over emphasizing the code of ethics of an organization, philanthropy (Jackson, 1995), improving quality of life of employees, managing of social impetus of business decisions (Golding, 2010) etc.
The study will focus upon two models of HRM namely, Storey’s hard and Soft HRM and Best Practice Model.
The hard and soft HRM are distinguished as hard HRM lays its focus over costs included by human resources whereas soft HRM is all about all the human related aspects of management. Hard HRM have task focused attitude with a highly defined job description, low span of training, consistent work design, hierarchical structure and no career progression for the employees. Soft HRM on the other hand is people focused with high skill and diverse workforce, bigger picture in descriptions, shared culture, career development, flexible approach (Truss, 1997).
On the other hand, the best practice model it is observed that best practices are added onto previous performances to create some new strategies. It is based on universalism (Marchington, 2000) aiming at high performance. The elements of this model are job security, selective hiring, narrow status differentiation, high wages for high performances, decentralization and team work.
Great vision without having great people is irrelevant and impossible. It is really essential for an organization to invest time and resources in human resource management as it is the key for sustaining of the business. The objectives of human resource management are to motivate the employees to work in the direction of organizational goals. The department makes sure that there is an integrated group for organizational effectiveness which is creating opportunities for growth by the means of training and development. The role and goal of HRM is to employ the required skills and to enhance the employee’s satisfaction and the essence of self actualization. The human resource management is responsible for creating a sense of belongingness and team spirit to uphold high level of morality and human relations. Human resource management have organizational, social, professional and corporate significance that is exerted in the company.
A framework for human resource management can be well explained with the help of this formalized diagram in which every task is summarized in terms of inputs, processing and outputs for the organization. HRM is an amalgamation of mission of the company, internal forces, external factors, technology, conceptual development, code of ethics, information management, career management, governance, employment and such issues (Schuler, 1993).
This diagram is an informal way of understanding the framework for human resource management blending the essence of all the aspects of functioning.
The purpose of strategic human resource development is to construct a philosophical framework for strategically focused people. The strategic human resource development adds on strategic and critical thinking to the organization therefore, is required for fueling up the operational aspect of the organization. It is the engine to take the organization onto a next level by integrating business with the growth conditions by aligning the employees towards specific business requirements. The purpose of its inclusion is to analyze the scope of threats and opportunities and to control the activities for organizational objectives. It is the ladder to minimize adverse conditions, to effectively allocate resources and time, to encourage forward thinking and for a great degree of discipline. Therefore, strategic human management is the core of a company to pave the path for success and overall development. The purpose of strategic human resource management is to imbibe in some breakthrough ideas within the organization and handle the dynamic changes in the competitive environment in an efficient and effective manner. Another purpose of strategic human resource management is to make the HRM department competent with the present trends of the market and create higher level of job satisfaction among the employees. It reengineers the organizational processes and manage the change in the industry with well implemented strategies.
SHRM is a way to align the business with its objectives. The organizational objectives can be closely related with all the management issues within the organization and SHRM is a key component for formulating strategies for training and development, employee acquisition, compliance management, project management, quality and cost control management. The primary goal of SHRM is to translate the strategies of the business to make them into priorities of human resource.
There were a myriad of challenges that were faced by British Airways that have brought a sense of urgency to check and control the human resource management of the largest organization of UK. There was a loss of momentum because of recession, mergers, employee turnovers, loss of senior managers (Colling, 1995), and such issues. Human capital management solution should be chosen for recruitment process to experience a full momentum of response and result. It is required to focus over the training programs ‘putting people first’ and ‘managing people first’ (Merkert, 2012) for significant human resource management. Individual learning in human resource is to achieve a pool of competencies in every individual employee. An appraisal scheme or reward system should be devised for British Airways to motivate the employees for consistent service.
The merger was a blend of cultures, trends and styles of two different regions which could have led to enormous bundles of problems and challenges for both the organizations. It is likely to have various human resource problems like employee turnover, lacking expectations, strained relationships, dysfunctional teams and more. Cultural mismatch was the greatest of all the challenges which should have been mitigated towards a mutual benefit.
There is a need to check the cultural mismatch issues and become prepared for it. These issues revolve around power distance between the top management and the employees, uncertainty avoidance in terms of risks, individualism versus collectivism, time orientation, masculinity etc. With some of the huge, remarkable and noteworthy gaps between the cultures and values of Iberia and UK, it is essential to map the cultures to a common set goal and value system so as to avoid any kind of discrepancy and conflict. Cultures should be driven down by the path of Top Management Team abbreviated as TMT. Communication, trust and security should be maintained within the organization going in the pace with workplace flexibility. There must be provisions of arranging training workshops to believe in innovation and effectiveness of the strategies. It is required for both of the companies to respect for both of the cultures and to pay regard to the human side of the enterprises.
In this situation of a merger, the human resource department helps people to manage and control the challenges as the process unfolds. It fills up the gap between the cultures of an organization by neutralizing the overall work culture of the place. SHRM smoothens out the transition process for the employees by helping them overcome their fears. Human resource communicates the role requirements to employees and make them permeate the new structure of the organization.
Ranging from small business to huge conglomerates, human resource management is the catalyst for successful trajectory of any organization. It plays a strategic key role in formulating the strategies of a company and to control the employee centered activities of the company.
Human resource management is not a stand alone department in the organization but, is related with every other feature of the company. Each of the strategies, operations, functions, management goes in compliance with human resource department.
There are some of the business factors relating the human resource planning that affect them in the company. Political aspects have an external impact on the organization and economic impacts in the society guide the strategic human resource management. The shape of the current economy is a business domain that modulates the course of strategic human resource development. The demographics of workforce and different compensation packages have a close relation with the focal point of human resource development. The technological revolutions have modulated the consumer’s viewpoint and finally business factors relating them.
The structure of the organization have an essential role to play in management of HRM. There are basically two key schools of thought in which an organizational structure which is based over resource based theory which in which resources and the effective utilization of those resources forms competitive advantage for the company and other one soft HRM in which product differentiation and the cost leadership are the keys for success. In the former school of thought HRM is placed at the center or the heart of the organization and in the latter part, it is regarded as a general business strategy (Huselid, 1997). In a structure for the organization which has its mission focused around people and employees, human resource department is the most refined and dignified department of the company. Departmentalization in an organizational structure should foster interrelation of all the departments including HRM to be able to make sure that there is a collaboration of human resource department with every other section of the company. Decision making power if handled with human resource manager would be a profitable strategy because if the internal employees or stakeholders of a company are effectively managed and are in line of order then every output is systematic and as per the requirements. There is a requirements of flexible structure within the organization to be able to incorporate the dynamicity of the market in context with recruitment, training, development, performance, sustainability, retention and satisfaction (Delaney, 1996), all covered in human resource management. The organization must have a small size or in other words limited span of control so as to have an individual attention over the employees. There must be scalar chain of command as another structure which is rigid and complex, will lead to confusions in the management of human resource. A flat or a hierarchical structure in the organization is best foe germinating the values in human resource department and for its smooth and efficient functioning.
HR policies of an organization having a positive workplace culture and climate are likely to be fully embraced within the organizational mission and SMART goals. The socio cultural environment of the organization affects the work culture and finally the employees catering to human resources. Culture and human resource management are intertwined with each other as corporate culture is itself a past managed (Cox, 1991) by the human resource management. It is a control and exchange mechanism to monitor the response of the workers and employees towards policies of the companies so as to plan the retention policies. A healthy culture with open communication is likely to be employee oriented raising the contentment and satisfaction of the employees and encourage them to perform better for a mutual growth. The corporate culture is the catalyst to monitor and control the behavior of the employees by instilling values (Ferris, 1998) and beliefs of the company and therefore, part of the role of human resource management is handled by taking care of the culture of the company. An organizational culture that is based over creativity and innovation is most likely to produce practices of rewards, acknowledgements, training, team work and such features in the human resource management. Culture is regarded as an antecedent for the strategic human resource management as a flexible culture is a key for a competitive environment of the human resource management department. New recruits tend to focus more upon the culture of the organization and then become a part of it. Therefore, recruitment, selection, training, relationship and every other domain of HRM is guided by the culture of the organization.
The effectiveness of human resource management can be measured and analyzed in both qualitative and quantitative methods. For a quantitative analysis, HRM can be combined with business metrics to set some of the KPIs and assign some threshold for the employee’s performance (Becker, 1996) to be measured at the end of a cycle and evaluate the effectiveness of the human resource management in the organization. The quantitative methodology also focuses upon the effectiveness of HRM in relation with competitors and suggest steps to improve the policies and strategies. The breadth, depth and meaning of workforce data, analytics and benchmarks can be evaluated to build upon effectiveness of HRM. For a qualitative analysis, productivity, absenteeism, turnover, quality, service and other such measurable can monitor the HRM of an organization. Workforce and salary planning also gives a genuine review of the organizational human resource department with an additional control of recruitment records like cost, quality, number and success rate. Job impact indicators can be monitored for the purpose of measuring the effectiveness of training and development (Legge, 1989). Benefit to cost ration, stability index, separation rate and other records can be used to monitor the effectiveness. Workforce scorecard and auditing may also be employed for the purpose.
Human resource policies of an organization are to make decisions supporting the administrative personnel, performance management functions, resource utilization and employee relation. Policies further enable clarification for a consistent managerial behavior to help devise action plans for legal and external pressures in the company. Policies are based on some of the common grounds such as principles such as innovation, change management, performance improvement, terms and conditions for contractual agreements, employee relations including unions, safety matters, control over conflicts and work behaviors, equal opportunities in all aspects etc.
All organizations under the tab of human resource development must comply with some of the regulatory policies such as Labor laws. Employment Act 2008 protects vulnerable workers by easing their business goals. Employment Relations Act 2004 concerns with collective laws and trade union rights. Employment Rights Act 1996 deals with employee rights in the case of dismissal, time offs or rights of parenting redundancy. Equal Pay Act 1970 prohibits unequal treatment of men and women. Work and Family Act is a balanced package of rights including maternity leaves, four weeks leave and planning for future. Data Protection Act 1998 is for regulation of processing of information.
1. It is essential to encourage the employees to learn new skills and to test their acquired knowledge in innovative fields. Therefore, training opportunities should be given to the willing employees in order to foster effective strategies for the company.
2. An open communication both verbally and in written must be maintained within the organization to be able to smoothen the exchange of ideas and strengthen the leadership of HRM.
3. Brainstorming sessions, flexible working projects, innovation room, collaborative spaces and such ideas should be implemented so as to increase the cohesion between the employees and make them work as a single entity.
4. Competence management, knowledge management, talent management, and such systems must be included in the toolkit of HRM to enhance the effectiveness.
References
Schuler, R. S., & Jackson, S. E. 2008,Strategic human resource management, John Wiley & Sons.
Bratton, J. 2007, Strategic human resource management.Human Resource Management içinde, Der: John Bratton,-Gold, Jeffrey, London: Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp. 37-71.
Jackson, S. E., & Schuler, R. S. 1995, ‘Understanding human resource management in the context of organizations and their environments’, Strategic Human Resource Management, 46, pp. 237-264.
Golding, N. 2010, Strategic human resource management,Beardwell, J. and Claydon.
Truss, C., Gratton, L., Hopeâ€ÂHailey, V., McGovern, P., & Stiles, P. 1997, ‘Soft and hard models of human resource management: a reappraisal’,Journal of Management Studies, 34, no. 1, pp. 53-73.
Marchington, M., & Grugulis, I. 2000, ‘‘Best practice’human resource management: perfect opportunity or dangerous illusion?’,International Journal of Human Resource Management, 11, no. 6, pp. 1104-1124.
Schuler, R. S., Dowling, P. J., & De Cieri, H. 1993, ‘An integrative framework of strategic international human resource management’,Journal of Management, 19, no. 2, pp. 419-459.
Colling, T. 1995, ‘Experiencing turbulence: competition, strategic choice and the management of human resources in British Airways’,Human Resource Management Journal, 5, no. 5, pp. 18-32.
Merkert, R., & Morrell, P. S. 2012, ‘Mergers and acquisitions in aviation–management and economic perspectives on the size of airlines’,Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 48, no. 4, pp. 853-862.
Huselid, M. A., Jackson, S. E., & Schuler, R. S. 1997, ‘Technical and strategic human resources management effectiveness as determinants of firm performance’,Academy of Management journal, 40, no. 1, pp. 171-188.
Delaney, J. T., & Huselid, M. A. 1996, ‘The impact of human resource management practices on perceptions of organizational performance’,Academy of Management journal, 39, no. 4, pp. 949-969.
Cox, T. H., & Blake, S. 1991, ‘Managing cultural diversity: Implications for organizational competitiveness’, The Executive, pp. 45-56.
Ferris, G. R., Arthur, M. M., Berkson, H. M., Kaplan, D. M., Harrell-Cook, G., & Frink, D. D. 1998, ‘Toward a social context theory of the human resource management-organization effectiveness relationship’,Human Resource Management Review, 8, no. 3, pp. 235-264.
Becker, B., & Gerhart, B. 1996, ‘The impact of human resource management on organizational performance: Progress and prospects’,Academy of management journal, 39 no. 4, pp. 779-801.
Legge, K. 1989, ‘Human resource management: a critical analysis’,New perspectives on human resource management, pp. 19-40.
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