Strategic Human Resource Management

Human resource management (HRM) is the art of managing employees in an organization. It involves the use of people to achieve organizational objectives in a productive manner and still satisfy the needs of individual employees (Fuller, 2005). This is the traditional approach to human resource management. Human resource management has always been viewed as a department set apart from the rest of the organization.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Strategic Human Resource Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Lately however, the human resource department has had to justify its existence within an organization due to the increase in use of technology in place of human resources. The move is an attempt by the HR department to remain relevant to an organization in the face of the current technological changes. This has led to the emergence of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM). SHRM is a form of manag ement that links HRM with organizational goals and objectives to improve performance and to strengthen organizational culture (Fuller, 2005). SHRM focuses on organizational performance rather than individual performance (Inyang, 2010). Unlike HRM, SHRM is not just reactive. It seeks to prevent problems rather than tackling them when they occur. The objective and activities of SHRM must be measurable, must include deadline for accomplishments, should identify and involve key stakeholders and HR customers, and should nominate individuals responsible for implementation (Fuller, 2005). It is difficult to implement SHRM and as such, it is faced with various challenges. This paper discusses the issues that a human resource manager should understand and the actions that should be taken to get the job done. The three big issues facing HR managers in recent times include developing and retaining talent, anticipating change, and enabling the organization (Society for Human Resource Management , 2002). Although strategic talent management lacks a consistent definition and clear conceptual boundaries, Collins and Mellahi have defined it those activities and processes that involve the identification of key positions that contributes to the organization’s competitive advantage. It is the development of a pool of talent consisting of high performing employees and the development of a human resource structure to facilitate filling of these roles (Collings Mellahi, 2009, p. 304). In the search for a good employee, the HR department is normally faced with the challenge of observing the behavior of an employee and determining if it is a good fit for the organization. For example, the behavior of an employee seeking a job in a discount store cannot be equated to that of an employee seeking a job in an upscale store. HR is charged with the responsibility of managing talent, improving leadership development, managing work- life balance, and managing demographics.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The HR manager is faced with the problem of finding the right talent in a market short for talent, and where employees are less loyal to employers. Tough economic times mean that employees have fewer choices for the few available jobs. This presents the HR department with a challenge as they try to figure out which employees have the desirable qualities for the job. In order for the HR department to fully exploit the potential of their internal talent, it must first identify those positions within the organization which have the potential to impact differentially on performance (Collings Mellahi, 2009, p. 313). Once the talent has been identified, the challenge now is to manage it to give full benefit to the organization and to ensure that employees do not leave. A human resource manager should always be the voice of the employees. This is because when it comes to dealing with an employer, the employee is usually on the losing side. The HR manager acts as a bridge between the employee and the employer. He or she ensures that the employee is treated fairly and justly without compromising on the goals of the organization. When the workplace is no longer favorable for the employee, the organization’s bottom line suffers. Employee discontent leads to high employee turnover, poor productivity, and inaccuracy (Muhammad, 1999). This reflects badly on the HR manager. A HR manager has to find out what incentives would keep employees in the company. Some HR departments in certain organizations accomplish this by carrying out a survey to get a feel of what employees want. HR optimizes total rewards by working with senior management to find the right combination of pay, benefits, environment, and learning opportunities to engage employees and reinforce company culture (Society of Human Resource Management, 2002). Change is inevita ble and it normally affects all organizations. Technology and globalization has hit the Human resources and forced it to acquire a different strategy. For majority of the large organizations, globalization is becoming a reality for the different HR professionals as technology leads to a global market (Society of Human Resource Management, 2002). In a global market, there are fewer restrictions on the flow of commodities across national borders. A good example is the flow of goods in Europe due to the formation of the European Union. There is also the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Economic Community of West African States (Armstrong, 2008). Any organization that desires to compete in such a global market must have a HR department that is open to change. The HRM is in this case is required to adjust to a different culture and economic and political system.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Strategic Human Resource Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The HR manager is faced with the challenge of managing external and internal environments. As a way of anticipating change, the HRM often undertakes an environmental analysis. This analysis looks at the internal organizational strengths and weaknesses and the external environment for opportunities and threats (Bratton Gold, 2007). These strategic factors allow the HR department to maintain the organization’s strengths while eliminating its weaknesses. Opportunities like global markets and potential talent should be acquired by any HR manager who is considered to be a strategic planner. For example if a competitor is doing better in the market due to the way its employees are being trained, The HR manager should look into it and ensure that the organization’s workforce remain competitive. For the HR department to be productive, it requires top management support, and this may be difficult to achieve. The HR department may be required to recruit employees who are a good fit for the company and also to master all processes pertaining to the HRM. In SHRM, HR professionals need to be equally adept at managing both the business and the people (Society for Human Resource Management 2002). They need to figure out a way of becoming strategic partners in the organization. If the HRM is to become a strategic partner in an organization, it had to change the way it operates. In the traditional HRM design, corporate, business level and organizational strategies determined HR policies and practices. HRM would wait until the strategies were made, then they would design their policies based on what they were told. For HR managers to be successful, they have to embrace SHRM where they have a seat at the strategic table and are actively engaged in strategy formulation (Bratton Gold, 2007). To accomplish this, they have to be part of the top management team of the organization. They also need to be invo lved in corporate planning. Their contribution should be in developing and communicating a vision for HRM. One way of showing the value of HR function is by quantifying the value its initiatives bring to the bottom line (Society for Human Resource Management 2002). This has been simplified by the presence of technological software programs in the market that make it easy for HRM to show their contribution in figures. HR is expected to deliver on recruiting and staffing. In acquisition and development of employees, the HR strategy develops a good balance between nurturing the employees that are already present in the organization and recruiting externally. Their objective is to keep employee turnover low while hiring good productive employees.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A good balance must exist between work and life. Employees who are overworked tend to resign quickly and if they do not work enough, the organization does not profit. SHRM works out the most appropriate balance to keep both parties content and committed. A HR professional is often expected to master HR processes, while the HR strategy is expected to nurture social relationships, encourage mutual trust and respect employees instead of focusing on monitoring and controlling employees’ compliance with company standards (Bratton Gold, 2007). The HRM is also expected to know the current legislations pertaining to employees. They should understand what is considered legal and what they can or cannot ask the employees to do. One issue that a human resource manager ought to understand is that there is need to make an attempt at showing the value of HR function to the organization. Since technology being a possible substitute for the HR department, the HR managers should figure out h ow they can compete. What is it that they can bring to the table that technology cannot? Because human resources will always be a requirement in every organization, how can they use technology to make their work easier and more useful? There are various types of strategies used by HR. They include growth, retrenchment, and stability. HRM strategies must mirror the strategic objectives of the organization. They must support culture, climate and organizational processes to attract and keep employees. They must be geared towards sustaining organizational commitment. SHRM objectives should be measurable and they should have specific dates of completion (Fuller, 2005). To successfully handle the issues of talent management, rapid change and difficulties in enabling the organization, a HR professional must be highly knowledgeable about business and its environment (Inyang, 2010). This allows him/her to become a strategic partner in the organization hence remaining relevant. The HR profess ional must develop a strategic vision, acquire the latest skills in technology and think globally. Becoming a member of the management team is also important in keeping up with the organization’s issues. The HR professional should also work towards retaining the existing pool of talent because it is hard and equally expensive to recruit new talent. Top and genuine leadership often produces the best results. And as such, the HR strategy should be part of the larger business strategy. In addition, it should also engage all its employees and customers as well. Reference List Armstrong, M. (2008). Strategic Human Resource Management: A Guide to Action. New York: Kogan Page. Bratton, J., Gold, J. (2007). Human Resource Management, Fourth Edition: Theory  and Practice. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Collings, D.G., Mellahi, K. (2009). Strategic Talent Management: A review and research agenda. Human Resource Management Review, 19(4), 304–313. Fuller, T. (2005). Strategic Hum an Resource Management. London: John Wiley and Sons. Inyang, J. (2010). Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM): a Paradigm shift for achieving sustained competitive advantage in organization. Web. Muhammad, A. (1999). The challenges of globalization and the role of human resources. Web. Society for Human Resource Management. (2002). The future of the HR profession. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/pages/default.aspx This assessment on Strategic Human Resource Management was written and submitted by user Elise Walker to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here. Strategic Human Resource Management Table of Contents Introduction SHRM Concept Roles of HRM Strategic Management Administrative Expert Employee Championship References Introduction Strategic Human resource management is a concept that had been advanced more recently by human resource specialist that recognize employee as key factor to the success of the organization (Pinnington and Edwards, 2000). SHRM is different from traditional personnel management in that it recognizes the need to incorporate and align employee work procedures with the organization’s long term business operations strategic objectives.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Strategic Human Resource Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Thus, SHRM is concerned with attainment of two main objectives, that is best utilization of the human personnel which is achievement of the organizations strategic business and operational objectives as outlined in the organizatio n’s mission statement as well as ensuring that the human resource achieves job satisfaction in the process (Stone, 2006). Unlike ordinary personnel management strategies, SHRM goes beyond the routine activities of human resource such as recruitment, training, personnel development, and salary processing. The key concept of a SHRM is to achieve an efficient human resource that complement the organizational business goals and visions which also build on a framework that integrates the external factors of the organization as well (Fernado, 2005). SHRM Concept The SHRM model is based on seven groups of characteristics that have been designed to highlight the core values of a framework which should be incorporated in any form of employee management that is designed to be effective. There are four models of SHRM which have so far been advanced: Harvard, Soft or Hard, Unitarist or Pluralist and Relationship to IR (Butod, 2009). The Harvard model concept is build around employee effi ciency that it identifies to be of crucial value that an organization must invest in order to achieve organization desired goals effectively. Hard or Soft HRM model is a two part approach to employee management where the Hard element of the model focuses on strategic employee management to achieve personnel efficiency, and Soft engages employee in workplace through consultation, communication and cultivates personnel commitment (Stone, 2006). Unitarist or Pluralist is also a two part model where Unitarist strives for commitment through development of mutual objectives between the organization and employee that are aligned together, Pluralist anticipate conflict with employee and therefore develops contingencies. Finally the HRM and Industrial Relationship model argues that organization leaders must factor in complications in personnel management due to interference from employee union organizations (Butod, 2009). The core SHRM characteristics can me summarized in seven groups of pra ctises that defines the way that organizational should ideally interact with their employees. Time and Planning Perspective is one of the characteristics; under this characteristic an organizational has three objectives to deliver as far as human resource are concerned. One, a company applies long term measures towards solving employee problems and therefore promotes employee retention (SouthPacific.edu, 2010).Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Two, an organization should anticipate, design and implement policies that are in the best interest of the company and employee welfare long before employee start agitating for them, this way employee feels contented at all times with their jobs. Finally an organization develops employee policy reforms that are consistent with it future strategic goals and objectives, which is notably one of the core features of SHRM. The second ch aracteristic that an organization has to its employee under the frameworks of SHRM is referred as Psychological Contract, towards this end an organization approach to human resource management aims to achieve commitment from personnel rather than enforce compliance (SouthPacific.edu, 2010). This way high compliance rate is achieved as well as favourable working condition and the organization gets to save on cost associated with enforcement of organizations policies in the process. A third characteristic of SHRM is Control System which requires an organization to implement systems that promote employee self control as a strategy for personnel management rather than internal or external control systems. Four, Employee Relations Perspective require organizations to apply Unitarist theory towards employee management and therefore cultivate a culture of trust between personnel and organizations management (SouthPacific.edu, 2010). Number five characteristic is the need for organizations to have Proffered organizational theory which should ideally be a devolved structure with flexible employee roles. Closely related to this characteristic is the organizations role in creating personnel jobs; as such employee job responsibilities according to SHRM should be integrated with organizational operational and business strategies. Finally, SHRM requires organization to redefine the way it undertakes it evaluation criteria which should involve engaging with employees for purposes of maximum utilization (SouthPacific.edu, 2010). Collectively these seven characteristics as well as the various SHRM models defines the concepts of SHRM that organizations are ideally expected to implement which is different from traditional human resource management approaches. Roles of HRM A core feature of HRM involves personnel management duties as well as management of systems within the work systems. Thus, because HRM is a process that involves personnel and systems management there are two p ossible approaches that HRM can adopt which include instrumental (hard) and humanistic (soft) (Stone, 2006). Under Instrumental approach the HRM recognizes the need to strategic and qualitative management of human resource under a framework that is oriented towards improving employee performance and increasing the competitive advantage.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Strategic Human Resource Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In humanistic approach the HRM strives towards integrating the organizations policies in employee job responsibilities without compromising on employee development, trust, collaboration, informed choice and active participation. It is from this background that the roles of a human resource manager can be comprehensively understood because they are based on these two approaches and core duties that we have so far discussed. In this section we are going to discuss the major rol es of a human resource manager based on the SHRM model and concepts. There are four major roles that an effective HR manager must consistently strive to perform in order to achieve ideal employee work output in an organization. Strategic Management The major roles of a HR manager according to Stone involve strategic management, administrative expert, employee championship and catalyst for change agent (2006). One of the unique features of SHRM that sets it apart from other human resource management approaches such as Clerks of works or even Contracts negotiator is its strategic management aspect. As a result, strategic management is arguably one of the core duties that HR manager is expected to deliver under the SHRM model; the essence of strategic management is based on five components. These are organizational mission and objectives, industry environmental analysis, SWOT analysis, strategy implementation, performance evaluation and a component for feedback (Stone, 2006). These fiv e components are essential to designing the types of strategies that HR manager needs to develop for the organization. Some of the types of strategies undertaken by HR manager include retrenchment, stability, growth and international strategies among others (Stone, 2006). Ultimately the objective of strategic management by the HR department is undertaken for several reasons some of which include integration of HR functions with organizational business operations, focus on empowerment and utilizations of organizations human resource, management of organizations culture, behaviour change and work environment among others. The importance of HR managers role of strategic management cannot be more emphasized if one was to consider the fact that good employee management skills is crucial in enabling an organization attain high level of employee retention which is key to its competitive advantage.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Examples of strategic management activities in organizations include harmonizing employee career objectives and that of the organization to ensure that employees and organization achievements feed on each other which is consistent with SHRM hard model framework. Another example of strategic management role of HR includes focus on employee skill building and adoption of policies that recognize employee as a core resource for the company. It is also through strategic management that HR manager is able to work toward strengthening the overall employee teamwork relationship in a way that employee workforce is efficiently directed towards meeting organizational objectives. Administrative Expert Because a big part of HR department duties and responsibilities involve people and administrative management, the HR manager is essentially an administrative expert responsible for ensuring smooth operation of organizational systems. As an administrative expert HR manager should strive to increase both organizational and personnel value through implementation of systems and policies that strengthens both these aspects. Some of the administrative tasks for HR department include job procedures which include defined process of work, problem solving skills, work innovation among others that enables the organization to increase production. It is the responsibility of HR manager to ensure that employees abide by work guidelines and continuously acquire new skills that improve and make their work more efficient (Boxall and Purcell, 2008). Thus, the administrative duties of a HR manager must involve activities that increase organizational value through employees as drivers of such a process. Pfeffer has identified seven key areas in organization that build on employee efficiency and directly contribute to the company performance thereby creating it value. These key areas are: employment security, self-managed teamwork, pay rise pegged to personnel performance, selective recruitment process, regular personnel training, communication facilitation in organization and reduction employee differentials (McCourt and Edridge, 2004). An example of administrative roles of HR manager involves reevaluating it perspective on employee to one that recognizes the human resource as valuable to the company growth. This is because administration activities are run according to the organizational policies, as such change of policy is necessary in order to influence the way that HR department implements administration duties. Another administrative role for HR manager involves initiating organizational culture change where employee commitment to organizational objectives are cultivated rather than enforce commitment through authoritative approach. This requires good administrative systems to be in place so as to attain employee long term cooperation and ultimately ensure that organizations growth is sustained Employee Championship An integral duty of HR manager that is articulatel y captured in the SHRM model is the employee championship that requires HR department to anticipate and agitate for employees rights within the organization context. According to Havard model of SHRM, HR manager can undertake several initiatives that are ideally directed towards improving employee working condition within the organization. Foremost, the HR manager has the mandate to cultivate good relationship between employees and organizational leaders by improving employee welfare. In order to be able to effectively achieve this, HR manager should adopt practices for personnel that boost performance, because employee performance translates to organizational success which means an organization is in a better position to improve employee performance. As an employee championship, HR manager should adopt to have a policy of cost cutting that does not compromise employee welfare as well as working conditions which is different from what many organizations does at the moment because of the need to deliver on organizations bottom line which is generation of increased profits. As far as employee welfare is concerned, HR manager should go beyond the mere improvement of employee welfare at work place to include assisting employees to strike a balance between work and rest and therefore promote favourable work conditions that does not involve working under pressure (Boxall and Purcell, 2008). Employee championship also involves adopting measures that do not exploit employee labour force and which are consistent with labour laws of the country in which the organizational is based. As such, HR manager plays an important role in driving employee reforms within the organization which means they positions themselves as partners to employee unions rather than their antagonists. As a result HR manager appreciates and respect the role of employees unions as an integral component of employee welfare and explore ways that would improve the working relationship between the union body and the organizational towards the common goal of improving employee welfare. In conclusion an effective SHRM management system must address all these areas and every other area that personnel are managed against which makes up the HR management roles under a framework of SHRM model. References Boxall, P. Purcell, J. (2008). Strategy and human resource management (2nd ed.). Houndmills. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Butod, M., (2009). SHRM/HRM Models and Theories. Web. Fernado, M., Pedro, R., and Gonzalo, S. (2005). Strategic Human Resource Management: Integrating the Univerlistic, Contingent, Configurational and Contextual Perspectives, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(5): 633-659. Pinnington, A., and Edwards, T. (2000). Introduction to Human Resource Management. Washington, DC: Oxford University Press. Stone, R. (2006). Human resource management (5th ed.). Milton: John Wiley Sons Australia. McCourt, W., and Edridge, D., (2004). Global Human Resource Management: Managing People Developing and Transitional Countries. California, Edward Elgar Pub. SouthPacific.edu. (2010). Introduction to Human Resource Management. Web. This assessment on Strategic Human Resource Management was written and submitted by user Josie Ray to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here. Strategic Human Resource Management