How a Firms HR Strategy Could Be Its Source of Competitive Advantage - Assignment Example

Critically examine how a firm’s HR strategy could be its source of competitive advantage The organizational realms have attained success through their reliance on workforce from different nations. These people have contributed towards the success paradigm of a nation for a long time now. However all this has come with a lot of planning and hard work on the part of the relevant authorities, who have toiled day in day out to bring rich dividends for the coming times. The companies have reaped success with an earnest effort and a desire to make it big within the comity of nations and that too on a constant basis. The resilience has been there all this while to bring harmony within the related ranks and thus the eventual result has been made apparent to one and all. This success has come with its share of problems and discrepancies as well. There have been occasions when the workforce has just not been good enough. Also the fact that this workforce has relied heavily on the adequate usage of the resources at hand is another quagmire that the peculiar business fraternities have found themselves within. The manner in which the HR operations have brought about a huge drift within the global business operations and the building up of competitive advantage over a period of time is an example in its own right and one that deserves its due share of acclaim and applaud, however the significance of having diverse workforce regimes is one aspect that needs to be understood within the proper contexts. The present day workforce depends a great deal on the way in which workers perform their duties and remain committed to the growth potentials of the business. It does not really matter if the workers are full time employees, or contingent or part time ones. What is needed and looked upon is the manner in which employees work towards attaining the goals and objectives of the business and provide benefits to the eventual position of the organization. This is the single most quintessential basis for the HR to identify with and no other aspect is deemed in the same vein when it comes to the amount of significance that the organizational employees could exhibit on any given day. (Peterson, 2002) If the HR entity has a major share of temporary workers within its fold, it is of paramount essence that the organization’s own culture is strong and there are no apprehensions in this basis whatsoever. This is because organization’s culture lays the foundation stone for their devotion and work place performance levels to a higher magnitude. Any set of values and beliefs make up a culture, the simplest definition that one could come up at this juncture, taking into consideration the related realms in perspective. (Handy, 1993) On the same pretext, a corporate culture is a set of values, morals, beliefs, traditions and norms which come from the industry specific regimes in line with the society under which it exists in the first place. Thus it would not be wrong here to suggest that the corporate culture is dependent on the industrial undertakings and the competitive influences occurring at the same time. The HR strategy is a direct result of this culture manifesting different policies and enacting measures for the smooth working regimes of the employees in the long run. The workforce diversity quarters can pose a number of problems for the group members but it is the duty of the leader of the group to make the group members hailing from different cultures to feel comfortable within the group and contribute to the best capacity they can, both as an individual and in the form of a group as a whole. (Hopkins, 1998) The impact of HR strategy and diversification studies suggest that more efforts are needed to be put in place so that each of the members knows what his duty is and whether this person is communicated about the roles that are asked of him, both in the short term as well as in the long run. Moreover, diverse changes mean that the leader has to focus more on a particular set of people or at times, the ones who are not very easy going along with the corporate workforce. Hard work and commitment thus form the key in the whole equation of getting the best out of even the ordinary of people in the corporate workforce. (Shenkar, 2004) Within the domains of the HR strategy, competitive advantage comes about with the culmination of different strengths that the workers put in as a whole. The combined result is what counts at the end of the day. The training and staffing regimes are thus pinpointed in the area of managing these people well with the help of a manager who not only takes care of them but also acts as a professional knowing how to get work done from his sub-ordinates. One needs to keep in mind that the staff for the HR unit recruits people who have expertise in handling the affairs within the geographical landscape and who are apt at making decisions on their feet. The global workforce located in distinctive regions of the world report directly to the headquarters and thus the corporate finds it easy to communicate with them on a one-on-one basis. It is the first and foremost responsibility of the HR unit to be true to its people and then to the business which is being conducted at the end of the day. Leadership effectiveness within the organization means that the productivity of the workforce becomes apparent when the going gets tough and when there are a lot of hurdles in the way of success. (Guest, 1994) Effective leaders accomplish respect from all and sundry and have an edge over the normal leaders which are found just about in every other organization. Thus a leader is a person who aims to bring out his best in relationships with the people around him as he constantly asks of them for efforts both in the business concern and in an individual capacity so that the end result is one of success and achievement. The changing HR environment demands that the organizations are ready to change whenever the need so arises. The organizations need to be on their toes all the time and carry out activities; both tactically as well as from the long term perspective that satisfies all the stakeholders and not just the consumers who receive their products and/or services. The organizations must ring in changes in terms of their strategies which need to be chalked out with the facilitation of both the top management as well as the knowledge organization as these are the ones that actually have the much needed (solid) knowledge, as to how the relevant strategies can be incorporated within the system of the organizations in the first place. Thus it is very important to understand that an organization which is willing to place the knowledge base at level with the top management when it comes to calling the shots (taking the decisions), is willing to experiment in a very proactive manner; one that can reap rich dividends in the near future. Learning within an organization can also be an intrinsic entity when there are special trainings and in house courses and seminars for the employees and stakeholders. By this process, these people come to know of the industry norms and what new activities are taking place in the world of relevant business paradigms. Also it helps to improve the understanding and knowledge levels of these people who are tied in closely with the very organization in the first place. An organization which is willing to learn is such that can create value for its customers and provide more investment opportunities as far as its stakeholders are concerned. What this does is that it creates a competitive environment and spirit within the organization and each entity that functions within it, is ready and willing to give in their very best so that the eventual goals of the organization could be met in a positive and safe manner. The strategies within the organizations are always drawn up whilst keeping the future in perspective while tactics usually change every now and then and are of a short term nature. (Iles, 2001) Training and HR practices have no such boundaries within which they can be confined and limited to, yet there are certain customs to which the particular corporation has to change its approach towards. This could be due to diverse workforce regimes in place and sometimes due to the different backgrounds that are widespread within a nation. But all in all, an organization must keep these unique features of a region within its mind and continue with the growth process within those very limits. Staffing, training and HR practices are also considered global since these must be centered on the premise of providing benefits for all and sundry. The same generates a big amount of revenue from all quarters of the business centers; if not in all countries then surely in some regions of the world. It can also be a source of providing jobs and human resources to a number of individuals within different regions – all of which contribute to the well-being of the organization. Employee motivation and involvement at workplace works to the advantage of the firm and the people at the helm of it since they know for sure that their employees would give in their best no matter how trying or tough the circumstances are. This means that they are assured of their commitment levels and the intensity of the hard work that they will put in, even under the most strenuous of routines. But this raises an interesting proposition, a stance which needs to be discussed by everyone. Over work can reduce employee motivation as well as add to the stress on the part of the employees’ physical and mental domains. (Blyton, 1998) What needs to be done by the HR unit is to gauge the exact amount of work that they can handle within a time period as well as to give them enough incentives so that they remain loyal to the cause of the organization. If there is no privacy for the employees, they would not feel motivated to do their tasks and activities in an effective and efficient manner and it is ultimately the firm which will lose out on the productivity angle nonetheless. It would be proper to state that sound organizational control and HR strategy formulation paves the way for an organization to be run in a professional manner. Competitiveness has to remain the key for the organization and the top management at the helm of affairs cannot deny the very same fact. An organization to function in vacuum merely dependent on its revenues over a period of time is just not the order of the day anymore. HR strategy should mingle itself with the policies that are coming in every now and then in the business world and try to play its part in accordance with the very same. (Hollinshead, 1995) The usefulness of its resources can only be harnessed when there is a decent enough endeavor to understand the dynamics of the market, the overall industry and more than anything else, the stakeholders who have invested huge sums of money within the realms of the organization and last but not the least the customers themselves for which the company strives to run a business in the first place and without whom the organization will not even be what it is in current state. With attention paid on getting things done in the textbook manner, the organizational gurus must ensure that learning is being used upon with case studies and recent examples to document their efforts. Also performance management systems within the domains of the HR units are very significant to the actual basis under which an organization conducts itself. (Lewis, 1994) Thus the business is pretty much dependent on the way in which the organization’s different operating techniques are employed and the attempts must be in line with getting these operational tactics and strategies right every time there is a crisis or even when one is missing. Being proactive remains the key in such a changing global scenario within the organizational realms. All said and done, specific organizations must ensure that their workings are based on ethical and moral principles rather than minting money from left, right and center. It is the social responsibility aspect that makes an organization winner or otherwise at the end of the day. Bibliography Blyton, Paul. (1998). The Dynamics of Employee Relations. Basingstoke Macmillan Guest, D. (1994). Human Resource Management, Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Human Resource Management. Routledge Handy, Charles. (1993). Understanding Organizations. Penguin Publishers Hollinshead, Graham. (1995). 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