STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT This resource is part of a range offered free to academics and/or students using Armstrong’s Essential Human Resource.

STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

This resource is part of a range offered free to academics and/or students using Armstrong’s Essential Human Resource Management Practice as part of their course. For more academic resources and other FREE material, please visit www.koganpage.com/resources and then click on Academic Resources.

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STRATEGIC HRM – SESSION PLAN

1. The essence of strategic HRM2. Strategic management3. The concept of strategy4. Critical evaluation of the concept of strategy5. Key concepts of strategic HRM6. Perspectives on SHRM7. Best practice8. Best fit9. Bundling10. HR strategies11. Criteria for an effective HR strategy12. Case Study

http://www.keele.ac.uk/


Strategy is problem solving in unstructured situations.

Lester Dignam

There is a gap between the rhetoric and the reality of SHRM.

Lynda Grattan

Strategy consists of illusions in the board room.

John Purcell

Strategy is emergent and flexible.

Sean Tyson

Strategy is a pattern in a stream of activities.

Henry Mintzberg

Strategy is often fragmentary, evolutionary and largely intuitive.

James Quinn

THE CLOUDY NATURE OF STRATEGY



THE ESSENCE OF STRATEGIC HRM

• Achieve integration or ‘fit’ between HR and business strategies is achieved

• Take a longer-term view of where HR should be going and how to get there

• Decide how coherent and mutually supporting HR strategies should be developed and implemented How members of HR function should adopt a strategic approach



SO WHAT IS STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT?

Is it about long-range strategic planning?

Is it about day-to-day strategic management?

Or is it about both?



Strategic HRM is the process of defining how the organization’s goals will be achieved through people by means of HR strategies and integrated HR policies and practices.

STRATEGIC HRM DEFINED



SO WHAT IS THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF HR

SPECIALISTS?


Aware ofbusinesscontext

Understandthe

business

Appreciatehow HRcan add

value

See the big picture

Act aschangeagent

Make convincingbusiness

casefor

innovation

Practiceevidence-

basedmanagement

SEVEN STEPS TO BEING STRATEGIC



SO WHAT ABOUT HR STRATEGY?



Overall:•performance;•engagement;•‘the big idea’;•human capital advantage;

•HRM process advantage

Specific:•organizationdevelopment;

•corporate social responsibility;

•resourcing;•talent management;•learning and development;

•employee reward;•employee relations;•employee well-being.

HR STRATEGY AREAS



EXAMPLES OF OVERALL HR STRATEGIES

A strong focus on the overall effectiveness of the organization, its direction and how it's performing. There is commitment to, belief in, and respect for individuals.

New Forest Council

The only HR strategy you really need is the tangible expression of values and the implementation of values.

West Water

Stimulate changes on a broad front aimed at achieving competitive advantage through people.

Pilkington Optronics

Maintain competitive advantage by continuing to attract very high calibre people.

Boots

We want GSK to be a place where the best people do their best work.

GlaxoSmithKline

Staff who are enjoying themselves, are being supported and developed, and who feel fulfilled and respected at work, will provide the best service to customers. Lands’ End



PERSPECTIVES ON SHRM

• The universalistic perspective – organizations should adopt the best approach which develops the

relationship between individual ‘best’ practices and firm performance.

• The contingency perspective – HR policies must be consistent with other aspects of the organization.

• The configurational perspective– is an holistic approach which emphasises the importance of the pattern

of HR practices and is concerned with how this pattern of independent variables is related to the dependent variable of organizational performance.

(Delery and Doty, 1996)



BEST PRACTICE

Assumed is that there is a set of best HRM practicesthat are universal in the sense that they are best in

anysituation

This is questionable



KEY CONCEPTS OF STRATEGIC HRM

The resource-based view

•This states that it is the range of resources in an organization, including its human resources, that produces its unique character and creates competitive advantage.

•Competitive advantage will be achieved if the organization’s resources are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable.



BEST FIT

• The best fit approach emphasizes that HR strategies should be congruent with the context and circumstances of the organization

• Best fit involves vertical integration or alignment between the organization’s business and HR strategies

• There are three models: lifecycle, competitive strategy, and strategic configuration

Often said that ‘best fit is better than best practice’

but best fit models can be unrealistic



Strategic fit

•Schuler (1992:18) stated that: ‘Strategic human resource management is largely about integration and adaptation. Its concern is to ensure that:

(1) human resources (HR) management is fully integrated with the strategy and strategic needs of the firm (vertical fit)

(2) HR policies cohere both across policy areas and across hierarchies (horizontal fit) and

(3) HR practices are adjusted, accepted and used by line managers and employees as part of their everyday work’.



BUNDLING

‘Bundling’ is the development and implementation of several HR practices together so that they are interrelated and therefore complement and reinforce each other



HR STRATEGIES

HR strategies indicate what the organization wants to do about its human resource management policies and practices and how they should be integrated with the business strategy and each other



CRITERIA FOR AN EFFECTIVE HR STRATEGY

An effective HR strategy is one that works in the sense that it achieves what it sets out to achieve.

•Aligned to corporate goals.

•Set out clear aims.

•Supported by business case.

•Take account of individual as well as business needs.

•Contain realistic and achievable plans for implementation.



Checking understanding

2 Hotels•Read the case studies and answer the questions



STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT This resource is part of a range offered free to academics and/or students using Armstrong’s Essential Human Resource.

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