Introduction
Many say Human Resource Management (HRM) refers to manage people, but in fact HRM is much more comprehensive. It is “a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an integrated array of cultural, structural and personal techniques.” (Storey, 1995). Human Resource (HR) is one of the critical factor affecting and supporting organization from financial, services and processes. Almost every aspects of business are driven by HR, hence management has to be conscientious and prudent on which HR strategies, plans and policies to implement so as to improve overall performance.
The Human Resource Management
For all organizations, HR contributes to most of the performance and goals set by the management. Which is why, HR department has to ensure that all employees
To simplify it, there are two approaches; ‘best fit’ and ‘best practice’ models.
Best fit approach is “HR policy should be minted by the appropriate context of individual employees and therefore support the overall competitive strategy. Aligning HRM practices to strategies can enable companies to create potential competitive advantages.” (Schuler and Jackson 1987 in Redman and Wilkinson 2009). This approach is customized to every businesses’ life cycle and culture; different stages having different fit. As a result, management and employees’ flexibility and adaptability have to be at high level for this to work.
Best practice approach is “HR activities exist which universally support companies in reaching a competitive advantage regardless of the organizational setting or industry.” (Redman and Wilkinson 2009). This approach has standardized sets of ‘one size fits all’ HR strategy, concentrating more on
Whether an organization consists of five or 25,000 employees, human resources management is vital to the success of the organization. HR is important to all managers because it provides managers with the resources – the employees – necessary to produce the work for the managers and the organization. Beyond this role, HR is capable of becoming a strong strategic partner when it comes to “establishing the overall direction and objectives of key areas of human resource management in order to ensure that they not only are consistent with but also support the achievement of business goals.” (Massey, 1994, p. 27)
Noe, Raymond A., John R. Hollenbeck, Barry Gerhart, and Patrick M. Wright. Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010. Print.
HRM in any company is a weighty issue that needs much attention where business performance is linked to a HR strategy (Caldwell 2008; Ulrich et al. 2008). In the recent past, competition has become stiff, such that organizations need to come up with other means to compete in the extremely dynamic market world. Thus, companies have shifted their emphasis to Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) where they enhance and empower their personnel in order to increase the productivity and the services offered into the market (Mello 2006). This goes against the traditional ways of increasing the means of competition where organizations place emphasis on tangible resources. In the past, organizations competed in terms of machinery and acquisitions. This has changed greatly due to the changing customer tastes and the diversity of the market in the present (Delery & Doty 1996; Lengnick-Hall et al. 2009).
Organizations’ other resources can be hired, retained and discarded at any time but human resources needs special treatment. It needs to be carefully hired, deserve an extra effort to retain it and requires training & development to upgrade and improve its capabilities. Other resources depreciate with the passage of time but when the human resource gains more and more experience, it becomes more beneficial for the organizations. These characteristics have brought human resources to be the central element for the success of an organization. (Mohammed, Bhatti, Jariko, and Zehri, 2013, pg. 129, para. 2)
“Hr is shifting from focusing on the organisation of the business to focusing on the business of the organisation” (Zulmohd 2011). David Ulrich points out four distinctive roles of HR which makes the organisation most effective and produce competitive advantage. He planned to change the structure of HR function and build HR around roles. The four key HR roles identified by Ulrich, one HR business partner/strategic partner – aligning HR and business strategy which plays an important role in setting strategic direction. It builds strategic relationship with clients and strategically manages the development of the workforce. The second key role is administrative expert which creates and must deliver effective HR processes made to tailor business needs. It also involves managing people and HR related costs. To continue to the third key role, change agent which understands the organisations culture, and takes the responsibility to communicate those changes internally and gain its employees trust. The final key role identified by Ulrich is employee advocate which is a core in HR role represents employees and helps to improve their experience, protect employees’ interests and confirm strategic initiatives are well balanced. Employee advocates must also “ensure fair, ethical and equitable people processes and practices.” “David Ulrich’s HR Model is about defining the HR roles and
According to Cannings and Hills (2012), HR strategy and its implementation may consist of other itself a key element in the competitiveness of the firm. This report examined how organisations can benefit by growing the impact of human resources management to support their purpose and aim. The same system of human-made resources, for its strategy, policies and practices-ca...
However you define the activities of management, and whatever the organisational processes are, an essential part of the process of management is that proper attention be given to the Human Resource function. The human element provides a major part in the overall success of the organisation. Therefore there must be an effective human resource function. In the past, most organisations viewed Human Resource Management (HRM) as an element function, that is an activity that is supportive of the task functions and does not normally have any accountability for the performance of a specific end task. Because of the emphasis on analysis and precision there is a tendency for strategists to concentrate on economic data and ignore the way in which human elements and values can influence the implementation of a strategy. 'Economic analysis of strategy fails to recognise the complex role which people play in the evolution of strategy - strategy is also a product of what people want an organisation to do or what they feel the organisation should be like.?(1).
However, according to Huselia (1995), the RBV overemphasizes on competitive advantage and leaves no room to focus on the interest alingment of organization. However, Boxall & Purcell (2000) alludes to the the assumptions of RBV theory formulation on “resource heterogenity” and resource immobility and explained that though the concept of RBV focusses on gaining competitive advantage yet the HR practices align the strategic goals of the firm to
Scholes and Johnson (1993) explain strategy as the long-term goal and vision of a company, which satisfy the shareholders’ prospect in the course of aligning of its assets to its varying situation. Methods of Human resources are essentials for any company to succeed. Hence, overseeing these practices of human resources efficiently possibly will lead to overall effectiveness of the company. Thus, Human Resource Management (HRM) can be stated as in general administration choices and mechanism which rule the way in which the institute and its workforce syndicate. (Beer, et al., 1984, p.1).
Human resource is the most valuable and unique asset of an organization. The successful management of an organization’s human resource is an exciting, dynamic and challenging task , especially at a time when the world has become a global village and economies are in a state of flux. The lack of talented resource and the growing expectation of the modern day employee has further increased the difficulty of the human resource function.
Human resource management is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. The terms "human resource management" and "human resources" (HR) have largely replaced the term "personnel management" as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organizations. Human Resource management is evolving rapidly. Human resource management is both an academic theory and a business practice that addresses the theoretical and practical techniques of managing a workforce. (1)
Wei, L 2006, ‘Strategic human resource management: determinants of fit’, Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, vol. 14. no. 2, pp. 49-60.
Human Resource Management (HRM) is fundamentally another name for personnel management. It is the process of making sure the employees are as creative as they can be. HRM is a way of grouping the range of activities associated with managing people that are variously categorised under employee relations, industrial/labour relations, personnel management and organisational behaviour. Many academic departments where research and teaching in all these areas take place have adopted the title department of human resources management. HRM is a coordinated approach to managing people that seeks to integrate the various personnel activates so that they are compatible with each other. Therefore the key areas of employee resourcing, employee development, employee reward and employee involvement are considered to be interrelated. Policy-making and procedures in one of these areas will have an impact on other areas, therefore human resources management is an approach that takes a holistic view and considers how various areas can be integrated.
In the 1980’s, the birth of a new concept called ‘Human Resource Management’ was born. This trend comes after an intense period of Taylorisation, Fordism and now, McDonaldisation. HRM came to counter balance these trends and to consider the concept of the Man as a Man and not as a machine. For the last several decades, the interests of companies in "strategic management" have increased in a noteworthy way. This interest in strategic management has resulted in various organizational functions becoming more concerned with their role in the strategic management process. The Human Resource Management (HRM) field has sought to become integrated into the strategic management process through the development of a new discipline referred to as Strategic Resource Management (SHRM). In current literature, the difference between SHRM and HRM is often unclear because of the interconnections linking SHRM to HRM. However, the concepts are slightly different. Thus, we can ask, what is strategic human resource management? What are the main theories and how do they work? What do they take into account and how are they integrated? What are the links between SHRM and organization strategy? In order to answer to these questions, we will precisely define strategic human resource management, followed by a look at the different approaches built by theorists, and finally, we will see the limits between the models and their applications depending on the company’s environment. Discussion Strategic Human Resource Management: definition Strategic human resource management involves the military word ‘strategy’ which is defined by Child in 1972 as "a set of fundamental or critical choices about the ends and means of a business". To be simpler, a strategy is "a statement of what the organization wants to become, where it wants to go and, broadly, how it means to get there." Strategy involves three major key factors: competitive advantages (Porter, 1985; Barney, 1991), distinctive capabilities (Kay, 1999) and the strategic fit (Hofer & Schendel 1986). Strategies must be developed with a relevant purpose to sustain the organizational goals and aims. SHRM is one of the components of the organizational strategies used to sustain the business long-term. SHRM defined as: “all those activities affecting the behaviour of individuals in their efforts to formulate and implement the strategic needs of the business. (Schuler, 1992)” or as “the pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities intended to enable the firm to achieve its goals.
HRM comprises a set of policies designed to maximize organizational integration, Employee commitment, flexibility and quality of work. (Guest, 1987) as cited by (Armstrong, 2009) this statement entails that HRM function has policies to guide its activities, if these policies are well integrated with the strategy of the organization, it can enhance employee commitment and result in quality of work, as cited by (Armstrong, 2009) that the overall purpose of human resource management is to ensure that the organization is able to achieve success through people, however the function of HRM is affected by several other factors, this essay will look at three Internal and external environmental factors affecting HR Specialist.