Organizations always strive to gain competitive advantage over their rivals by employing a number of strategies. One strategy that is steadily growing among different organizations is the strategic human resource management. This can be defined as matching the human recourse of an organization with its strategic goals in order to improve the overall performance and developing innovating strategies to gain competitive advantage. This involves the HR implementing the organizations strategies by recruiting and training of the human capital of the organization (Sinha, para 2).
Strategic HRM is a more general approach in the management of human resources according to the future goals and objectives of an organization. Therefore, SHRM addresses long term aspects of an organization. It encompasses all the factors influencing the performance of human resources in its endeavor to implement the organizations strategic goals (CIPD, para 3) Strategic HRM is concerned with determining how the overall performance of an organization is influenced by HRM. In addition they also try to differentiate strategic HRM from strategic plans which defines the work flow of processes in an organization.
Strategic HRM examines organizations response to its environment (Boxall and Purcell, p32). Strategic Human Resource Management and business Strategy A successful business strategy is one derived from its people factors. A consistent information flow is therefore an important factor in evaluating human resource. Since people are the greatest asset that organizations can posses, it is therefore paramount that their expertise is fully exploited to create value to an organization.
Strategic human resource management is not a derivate of the business strategy and therefore any attempt at their application should be mutual. Any human resource strategy can be coined into a business strategy so that customer service can be improved by training to improve performance (CIPD, para 6). Strategic HRM and human capital management It is argued that strategic human resource management and human capital management are similar as they match in features.These features according to Dyer and Holder (p 45) are; • Organizational level – policies are usually formulated at the higher levels since these strategies involve decision making. • Focus – people are treated as resources manageable to achieve organizational strategic goals since the strategies are business oriented to improve the overall performance of the organization. • Framework- these strategies integrate organizations goals and activities intended for the organization to cope in its environmentThe function of human capital management and strategic human resource management are complementary and strengthens each other instead of substituting the other.
Human capital management does this by attempting to draw parallels between HR intentions against the success of an organization thereby reinforcing the idea that human resource management is an asset rather than a liability (CIPD, para 12). Alternatively strategic HRM defines a framework upon which human capital is evaluated.This evaluation provides information on the effectiveness of human capital and consequently the formulation of development strategy. The success of an organization therefore depends on how the human capital is managed and translated into products and services which are of value to the market (CIPD, para 13). Strategic HRM and business performance There has been a lot of emphasis on the importance of human resource management practices on the performance of businesses. However, these practices alone do not constitute business performance.
This emphasis may result into a highly skilled human capital who will only feed into higher hierarchy of performance as a result of existence of stronger working relationship with their superiors. These factors results into individuals who are determined to apply extra effort and perform above the set standards. Organizational performance is therefore dependent of this behavior. Each individual HR strategies employed in a strategic environment should be closely knit to each other I a people-performance model to improve the overall performance of an organization (CIPD, para 14-16).
Implementing Strategic Human Resource Management Plans The question arises as to how to implement theses strategies by a human resource manager. Under SHRM, a human resource manager plays a pivotal role in formulating organizations policies in addition to being an administrator. In order to determine and define organizations strategy, the human resource manager acts as a strategic partner to manage and fully exploit the skills and knowledge of the human resources.This involves managing human resources to gain competitive advantage in the overall operation of the business (Small Business Bible, para 6).
The concept of strategic human resource management is a new field and exploiting it therefore would be advantageous to any organization. However models and framework for developing this strategy is a challenge to organizations. A number of models have been proposed to try to implement this strategy. The first model by Formburn, Tichy and Devanna emphasizes on the mutual interrelation of the different elements of human resource management.These elements are, mission and strategy, organization structure and human resource management.
Under this model, the strategy involves setting goals and the organization utilizing its resources to achieve these goals. Their conclusion is that these strategies should be implemented in such a way that the organizational strategy is not compromised. The second model called the Harvard Model of HRM proposes a framework which emphasizes on the HR outcomes, the long term effects and the flow of feedbacks into the organization (Small Business Bible, para 10).Conclusion Organizations should strive to manage their human resource in a framework coherent with their business strategy.
This can be achieved by ensuring that all human resource management aspects are closed matched in order to achieve the required business success. Different HRM strategies deliver different success and therefore organizations should define a unique strategy to their own situation significant to their overall organizational goals (CIPD, para 20).Work Citedhttps://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/hr/strategic-hrm-factsheethttp://ezinearticles.com/?What-is-Strategic-Human-Resource-Management?&id=549585
