Strategic Human Resource Management - Essay Example

Strategic Human Resource Management Introduction The effective use of Strategic Human Resource Management initiatives in an organisation entails generating and executing reliable human resource operations that ensure that the firm’s output matches its objectives. Strategic human resource management is basically descriptive of the process of using strategic human resource functions such as selection, recruitment of personnel, the rewarding of productive workers to meet corporate objectives. To retain workers in the modern competitive business environment, it has become necessary for employers to combine strategic HR initiatives with talent management strategies in order to attract talented workers. Many organisational executives tend to categorise their workers according to their future potential as well as present performance. They also do not presume that success in one job position is indicative of better achievement in higher levels. This is because all positions in an organisation - from those of supervisors to those of corporate executives- call for different qualities. In all these positions, though, high-flyers- or exemplary workers- have to be treated in unique ways so as to retain their loyalty. The Significance of Talent In the modern business setting, there is a lot of competition among organisations that are all seeking to employ high flyers. These are workers who have already attained considerable success in a relatively short time span (Cappelli, 2008). Employers are no longer merely interested in dealing with average workers; but are seeking to ensure that their organisations make strategic investment in acquiring the most qualified human capital. The perception of workers has also changed (Kim 2007). Unlike the past, the majority of workers no longer wish to merely get a monthly pay check. Employees today are readily prepared to migrate among organisations seeking for the best environment which caters to their multifaceted needs. For younger employees, in particular, money is a secondary factor when seeking for a job (Glen 2006). Organisations can capitalise on the trend of high flyers seeking for the best potential employers by using talent management initiatives to draw them. Talent Management usually includes different integrated corporate HR processes which are created to develop, retain and motivate their productive employees. The main objective of talent management initiatives involves creating a culture that meets operational as well as strategic objectives. In organisations, executives have the responsibility of ensuring that the necessary human resource strategies are used to make sure that high-flyers are strategically deployed. To accomplish this, the organisation has to focus on incumbents who make up a corporation’s pivotal pool of talent and hold critical positions. According to Cappelli (2008) filling organisation’s pivotal positions from the company’s talent pool calls for a change from vacancy-led hiring practices to recruiting in such a way as to attract talent. To fulfill this, organisations can first choose to determine future business requirements in regards to capabilities as well as knowledge and then base recruitment on these needs (Cooke and Saini 2010). In any organisation, the talent pool has to be centred on dealing with the risks as well as costs that may be connected with outcomes that are not easily predicted. Some common risks include the possible mismatch between workers and skills where there are either too few workers to fulfil the present business demands or too many workers and the prospect of redundancies. Another risk has to do with the inability to hold on to talented workers; leading to a loss in the initiatives for investment development. These risks are all common challenges in the present volatile global economy (Macey and Schneider 2008). Talent Management According to Cappelli (2008) business organisations prefer to create their own meanings of what talent will be defined as within their precincts instead of using the usual prescribed definitions. This is because there is an obvious difference in how business organisations in different industries define talent. Moreover, many organisations begin by using a working definition to identify the meaning of talent management. In most business establishments, talent is described as being descriptive of the personnel who can develop or even enhance organisational performance by means of direct contribution by showing the greatest potential, or even in the longer-term. SHRM departments, on the other hand, tend to define talent management as the methodical attraction, recognition, development, and deployment of the personnel who are of great significance to a business organisation (Saks 2006). These personnel could be important in terms of future potential, or because they fulfil specific roles in critical business operation processes. This speaks to how important it is to understand that organisations will not benefit fully by just drawing personnel with great potential; but that they also have to make plans for the management, development, and retention of the talented personnel in their organisational tactical strategies (Holbeche 2009). In the modern competitive business scene, there are more organisations that are growing increasingly interested in adding to their definitions of SHRM strategies. They mainly aim to do this by examining the existing ‘talents’ of all their workers and then finding ways of enhancing their strengths. Different aspects of Talent Management Strategies There are different aspects that have to be considered in the creation of talent management strategies. Some of these include: Alignment to the organisational strategy – This entails making sure that the generated talent strategy is corresponds with the general organisational strategies. In coming up with a talent strategy both external as well as internal elements should be considered (Saks 2006). In essence, a company’s strategic analysis should be allowed to feed into an HR estimation which would be of great assistance in shaping a corporation’s modified approach to realising talent management. Inclusive versus exclusive approaches - There are organisations that choose to make use of an inclusive approach when creating talent management. This is done by generating a ‘whole workforce’ approach towards the realisation of talent development. An exclusive approach, on the other hand, would entail on the segmentation of talent development in the workforce according to need (Hopkins and Washington 2006). In both of these approaches, consistency as well as fairness are two factors that are necessary if the talent development plan is to be fulfilled. In addition, there must be considerations of diversity in order to make sure that business establishments have the opportunity to draw talents from the widest populations available. The Importance of Involving the right people – It is very important for organisational executives to pay attention to including the right stakeholders in different processes of the implementation of talent management strategies (Schaufeli and Bakker 2004). It is evident that SMHR professionals play an important role in supplying guidance and support during the development and designing of different methods of implementing talent management strategies. For any talent management strategy to be fully implemented there has to be support from the senior levels of an organisation, particularly when workers from across the entire organisation will be involved in the process. In addition, the support of line managers is vital in all stages of implementation (Colbert 2004). This is because the responsibility of managing performances and identifying the talents of different workers or groups of workers falls under line managers. Line managers can also encourage their employees to view talent as a local as well as corporate asset. The personnel that participate in talent management programs can also be counted as significant stakeholders that ought to be regularly consulted and encouraged to offer feedback about the best ways of customising development processes. The talent management loop basically comprises of four elements which are attracting, developing, supervising or managing talent, and lastly, evaluating talent. Attracting talent - The capability to draw external talent is reliant on the premise of how potential applicants perceive the business industry, organisation, or sector that the firm operates in and finding out whether the sector has identical values with the organisation (Woodruffe 2005). The establishment of an attractive brand of employer brand is a matter of great significance in the process of drawing external talent. Where necessary, lower monetary rewards can be offset by employer values or alternative benefits. Developing talent - Talent development is usually connected to separate development initiatives. Appropriate learning initiatives are obligatory in relevant phases of the career path needed by talented individuals so as to realise their maximum potential (Storey, Wright and Ulrich 2009). The process of developing talent requires the use of formal as well as informal learning interventions. Such interventions could include predictable development operations; however there is also the chance to make use of inventive alternatives like talent coaching. Managing talent – This calls for the implementation of plans, active steps, and activities in order to maintain and engage talent that is needed for the betterment of the business organisation. It also necessitates the investment in learning leadership skills, management operations, and other development functions that can positively affect talent retention (Tansley, Harris, Stewart, and Turner 2006). Business organisations can generate performance cultures where workers are allowed to take responsibility for the unbroken improvement of corporate processes as well as the development of their own personal skills. Employee Engagement Employee engagement is particularly important in the interests of retaining high-flyers. High flyers, who are usually self-motivated, can infect co-workers with enthusiasm to a greater extent than average workers. According to Beardwell, Holden and Claydon (2004) organisations that increasingly engage their workers in tough times are more likely to emerge as more formidable competitors in the long-term with the added benefit of having a more committed workforce. According to Baumruk, Gorman Jr., Gorman, and Ingham (2006) there are significant benefits enjoyed by organisations that readily engage their workers more. In addition, organisations that readily engage their workers tend to outperform their business rivals. However, correctly engaging talented or high-flying employees is of utmost importance because they are more likely than other workers to detect false enthusiasm. When employee engagement initiatives are undertaken for the purpose of increasing the stock price, it can result in disgruntlement among high-flyers. Sincere engagement initiatives, though, can inspire actual connections between co-workers or emotional attachments. Organisational executives have to ensure that their employee engagement initiatives have the right intent. Additional ways through which SHRM can assist corporations to be more competitive are through operations such as: Training and development – This stresses on the fact that it is important to constantly train the organisation’s personnel in order to attain competitive advantage (Meyer and Gagne 2008). Training will make certain that workers acquire the right attitudes, skills, and knowledge that will permit them to be able to carry out their responsibilities effectively. Recruitment and selection – This factor stresses on the importance of hiring the most qualified personnel to oversee different corporate tasks. Hiring decisions cannot be based on location, gender, or ethnic background. Motivation – Workers have to be well motivated if they are to deliver sustained soaring levels of performance. This can be accomplished by use of rewards, and even quality leadership. Management development - Managers should show that they have an important vision that includes not just the realisation of local but also global expansion. The critical success factors that allow organisations to succeed include quality leadership and innovation. These characteristics are mainly dependent on the executives’ capabilities in meeting the distinct demands of the organisation within its particular circumstances. Employee participation - Employee engagement enhances the workers contributions to the organisation. Employee involvement in determining the direction that the business takes could include the implementation of quality circles, joint consultation, and even suggestion schemes. Reward management – It is important to create a system of rewards for the most efficient workers as this will encourage workers to strive to perform to their level best. Quality management - The strategic human resource management personnel have a vital role in making sure that quality work is performed in all organisational levels. This kind of quality can only be achieved if there is a considerable investment in workers. Job design- In organisations today, jobs have to be created in such a way that they suit the existing environmental demands, if they are to bring productivity. Organisational culture - To survive in the present competitive business environment which is filled with uncertainty, it is necessary for an organisation to develop an environmentally sustainable work culture. Theoretical Perspectives of Strategic Human Resource Management To deal with problems such as the shortage of trained workers and adverse economic situations, key employees should be a top priority for effective talent management that supports corporate objectives that will be met through human resource management strategies. Since the prospect of paying workers for their particular talents integrates many principle talent management operations like performance management, talent assessment, employee development, and succession planning, an organisation should consider the inclusion of these operations in different theoretical models that define SHRM needs. Some five important Strategic Human Resources Management theoretical perspectives include: The Universalistic approach: In describing the universalistic approach, Harlod Doty and John Delery define Strategic HRM initiatives as being procedures that convert traditional HR operations into a definite number of “acceptable” HR policies that seek to entrench selective hiring practices and employment security, and focus on implementing decentralised decision making, in-depth employee training, and the realisation of high pay levels (Bhatnagar 2007a). The Strategic fit approach: In contrast to the universalistic approach, the strategic fit approach entails the process of matching definite HR operations to the organisation’s general corporate strategy. External fit defines how well HR functions correspond with particular traits of an organisation’s external environment. Internal Service Provider: In the Internal Service Provider approach, the goal of Strategic HRM, in an organisation is to improve the efficiency of the operations involved in delivering products or services to its customers. Configurational: This approach seeks to establish that there is an assortment of configurations of HR activities that go hand-in-hand and can cooperatively enhance business performance. According to this theory, the efficiency of SHRM strategies in improving an organisation’s competitive advantage is reliant on the use of a group of HR practices and not a singular HR policy. Resource based Model: This SHRM model seeks to emphasise that business establishments attain competitive advantage when they have extremely talented or qualified workers or through the improvement of an organisation’s value. Assessment based on the preferred Organization (The Apple Corporation) Can we understand what motivates high flyers? A lot of the Apple Corporation’s dynamism comes from the guidance that is provided by its executive leaders. For a long time, these leaders have emphasized on the importance of generating a corporate culture that is constantly looking to improve on its latest model or electronic gadget. Apple’s executives understand that the only thing that will keep high-flyers committed to their positions and the company is a culture of implementing cutting-edge innovations. The Apple Corporation seeks for employees who can display agility in regards to talent. The organization’s famous creator, the late Steve Jobs, generated a corporate culture in which workers were impacted by the feeling that even when they created an electronic gadget for which they were internationally feted, there were still many other things that they had yet to discover. This type of culture forces employees to embrace the fact that change will be the only constant principal in their working lives. The anticipation of radical change is something that contributes towards the eradication of any lethargy because the employees can sense that mediocre work is simply not acceptable. In the Apple Corporation, employees are always being subtly reminded that they have to cultivate confidence in their skills to the extent that they actually look forward to dealing with challenges on a regular or daily basis. The Apple Corporation also encourages competition among its workers by assigning them to work in different individual projects. Skilled employees who work in Apple usually are not faced with boredom because the organization assigns changing workloads to its personnel. This is one of the reasons why so many young graduates yearn to work with the organization. This strategy has even served to improve Apple’s sales in different gadgets. Apple’s domination in different industries is related to its habit of attracting the most competent and talented workers and then retaining them. How might they [high flyers] be assessed, then managed? Organizations such as the ‘Apple Corporation’ are dependent on the use of the latest technological applications because the industry is extremely competitive. The only way for organizations to survive in the electronic gadgets industry is by being able to anticipate market changes in order to be able to respond on time to potential market demands. At Apple, the skills of workers are assessed by conducting external evaluations that help to determine the skill sets of individual employees. Apple’s managers also assess the turnover of their new employees, which means that new workers are always exposed to more scrutiny than ordinary workers. To manage the skills of workers, the Apple Corporation also endeavors to hire executives who are acquainted with the different skills of the workers. In fact, the Apple Corporation usually only promotes multi-skilled workers to managerial positions because it expects its managers to be able to oversee workers with assorted skills. What instruments should be used to assess them? At the Apple Corporation, executives will administer pre-employment tests to determine if an applicant to applicants for all positions within the corporation. Before applicants can be accepted as workers, they have to meet the advertised position’s minimum qualifications. Organizational executives believe that the performance of applicants in their distinct roles can give an indication of how the applicant will behave in the workplace. At Apple, even promotion to a different position calls for advanced pre-employment tests to ensure that the worker in question will be able to handle the new responsibilities. There may also be different tests that examine an applicant’s technical aptitude in different subjects. Apple also administers assessments that are based on personality traits as well as psychological profiles. It also conducts criminal background checks for applicants of different job positions. What learning and development interventions should be used to help them learn and support their development? Organizational learning and development interventions are descriptive of the methods that are formed to assist with creating solutions for an organization’s pressing problems. At Apple, such interventions are usually used when necessary. Some of the organizational development interventions that can be used by the Apple Corporation include the survey feedback, goal setting, sensitivity training, team building, job enrichment, structural interventions, and development discussions. These methods could be quite helpful for the management at Apple. For instance, the survey feedback would provide executives with the statistics and information pertaining to individual workers; while managerial grid interventions would contribute towards the improvement of leadership skills. Implementing organizational development learning interventions is would be beneficial for the organization because it would allow for the generation of a relationship between organizational development and corporate strategy. Organizational interventions also allow for an organization to experience development even in the face of a lot of competition from business rivals. How can we retain these people and also prevent their derailment or non-suitability? The Apple Corporation is basically seeking to sustain its state as a meritocracy. The company has a rewards and benefits package that is quite different from those of other organizations in that it provides substantially bigger amounts of funds. At Apple, even part-time employees receive significant benefit packages. Working at the Apple Corporation is not just beneficial in terms of finances. People who have worked at Apple are sought after by other organizations because of the experience they are expected to have acquired at Apple. The Apple Corporation has been phenomenally successful because it tends to operate on ‘spontaneous’ basis. At Apple, even though there is a chief executive officer and senior executives, these individuals do not use their positions to impose an internal command system. Workers are essentially left free to do as they wish in trying to come up with innovative discoveries that will shake the market. This is an extremely attractive proposition for all technologically skilled individuals who are promised resources that they can experiment with in order to come up with new implements. At Apple, workers are also allowed to work for extended periods of time at single or team projects without feeling constrained to hurry up and create results. They also have the option of choosing to work among the people they get along with instead of being forced into teams that have been chosen for them by higher management. These liberties, that are rarely if ever extended to employees in other industries, are the factors that draw skilled employees to Apple and keep them there. Conclusion In any organisational setting, a strategy can be contained in a formal process or as part of a shared agenda. Interpreting corporate strategies as a part of SHRM practice is important because it allows the organisation to be able to accept changes as the period between the launching of business strategies and their realisation is shortened. It can also allow organisations to be able to meet the demands of customers in better ways. In addition, it allows business organisations to be able to realise more profit due to increased efficiency. The implementation of SHRM policy within an organisation can be accomplished by the combination of resources that sustain the corporate strategy while also maximising on the full potential of an organisation’s human resource division. The implementation of SHRM also requires that the firm’s assets like physical resources as well as financial capital be leveraged in such a way that they complement the human resource-based advantage. References Baumruk, R., Gorman, Jr., B., Gorman, R.E. & Ingham, J. (2006) ‘Why managers Are crucial to increasing engagement’, Strategic HR Review, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 24-27. Bhatnagar, J. (2007a) ‘Talent management strategy of employee engagement of Indian ITES employees: key to retention’, Employee Relations, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 640-63. Beardwell, I., Holden, L. & Claydon, T. (2004) Human resource management, Prentice Hall, London. Cappelli, P. 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