Strategic Human Resource Management - Assignment Example

 Strategic Human Resource Management Abstract Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) is an important function of any organization. Efficient and effective human resource management strategies can contribute heavily to the development or growth of an organization. The activities of HR manager are not only vital to the human resources alone, but it is important for other resources like materials, machines and money because these resources cannot be utilized effectively without human supervision. Human resources and its effective utilization are the major duties of the HR manager and he should be able to plan the human resources in an effective manner. HR planning includes both qualitative and quantitative methods. Each method has its own merits and demerits. This paper briefly analyses the concept of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) and three Human Resource Management (HRM) activities that a Human Resource (HR) manager will be asked to undertake. Introduction Human resources are the most important resources of an organization. It is impossible for an organization to function effectively if all the other resources are available except the right professionals at the right place. All the organizational resources need human supervision. For example, all the machineries of an organization need operators for its effective functioning. Same way even if money resources are available to an organization, the effective management of money is planned by the human resources. Thus for each and every resource management in an organization, need the supervision of the humans and the importance of skilled and professional human resources are essential for the smooth functioning of an organization. Strategies are essential for the effective management of human resources. Even smart professionals will be wasted in the absence of proper strategies in human resource management. On the other hand, right strategies can make even unskilled workers productive for the organization. Human resource management and strategic human resource management have lot of differences. Concept of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Upson (2010) has defined Human resource management as all the aspect of a business that affects employees, such as hiring and firing, pay, benefits, training, and administration whereas he defined strategic human resource management as the proactive management of people which requires thinking ahead, and planning ways for a company to better meet the needs of its employees, and for the employees to better meet the needs of the company (Upson, 2010). In short it is possible for an average manager to manage human resources whereas only a well organized and smart human resource manger can successfully implement strategic human resource management. Strategic human resource management needs capabilities of critical thinking in order to foresee the requirement well in advance and to formulate strategies. Strategic human resource management is all about formulating strategies for the problems related to human resources well before it actually occurs. For example, consider an organization thinking in terms of diversification or expansion. Strategic human resource managers will recruit or keep talents suitable for the future needs well in advance so that at the time of expansion, there will not be shortage of skilled professionals. Strategic human resource management is about managing human resources in practical manner. For example, an employee who is inefficient in one department might be efficient for another department. There are many cases in which the human resource managers may place some employees in departments which are unfit for them. Strategic human resource management is about placing the right employee at the right place at the right time. Such strategies will ensure more productivity from the employees and the organization can avoid wastage of human resources. Employees placed in the wrong positions may not perform well and they would become a liability to the organization whereas employees placed at the right positions will become an asset to the organization. Three Human Resource Management (HRM) activities that a Human Resource (HR) manager will be asked to undertake Recruitment or hiring, training and placement of the newly recruited employees are the three major activities normally a human resource manager undertake. Recruitment Recruitment is the process of hiring new employees to an organization when vacancies exist in an organization. The HR manager should have exact idea about the nature of the vacancies before he undertake the recruitment process. He should have better idea about what type of talents he is looking for at the time of recruitment. He should formulate right strategies to identify the right talent. These strategies may include written tests, personal interview, group discussion, psychology tests, etc. The general recruitment methods can be classified into two broad categories; internal and external recruitments. The internal recruitment refers the recruitment of the employees within the existing employees to fill out the vacancies internally. It is quite possible that many people working in an organization may have lowly paid jobs even though they were well qualified for better positions. Such people were forced to accept such lowly paid jobs because of the lack of employment in the market. They can be benefited from internal recruitment strategies. On the other hand external recruitment is the hiring of professionals from external sources of the organization. The HR manager should decide what type of recruitment he must undertake after analyzing the available internal talents and the vacancies. The HR manager should consider the following things while taking a decision about what type of recruitment methods he is going to undertake. Internal recruitment is the cheapest and the quickest method of recruitment, but it limits the number of potential applicants (Recruitment methods, n. d) Because of the readily available internal work force, organizations can avoid the expensive advertising, testing and interviews if they opt for internal recruitment. In other words, organizations can save money and time if they go for internal recruitments. At the same time, organizations would be handicapped by limited options or choices when they go for internal recruitments. They have to select between the limited existing employee resources from their organization when they go for internal recruitment. On the other hand, external recruitment process though expensive, can offer a wide range of potential employees and the organizations may have more flexibility and diversity in their selection or hiring choices. Internal recruitment provides opportunities for the organizations to promote their existing talents and hence the employees will be motivated heavily, but it can negatively impact the employees who were unable to get promotion (Recruitment methods, n. d). Those who got promotion may improve their productivity and will exhibit more loyalty towards the organization. On the other hand, those who were unable to find their names in the promotion list may get dejected and their performances can be adversely affected due to internal recruitment. Some employees may feel that their abilities and performance have not considered seriously by the organization and they may develop harsh feelings against the organization. If the HR manger can seek the help of job centres, job advertisements, recruitment agencies and personal recommendations if he is going for the external recruitment method (Recruitment methods, n. d). Job centres and recruiting agencies have wide databases of job seekers from all over the world and the organizations can search through these databases and find suitable persons for their requirement. In most of the cases, the recruiting agencies will identify talents for the organization if the organization authorizes them for that. Advertisements in news papers, internet, and television like Medias can attract job seekers from all over the world towards the organization and the hiring process can be implemented through written tests, interviews, group discussions etc. Personal recommendation is another method of external recruitment. For example, in America, lot of international workforces are working in different sectors and whenever a vacancy arises in their organization, they would think of their relatives or friends who are qualified in their native countries and recommend for them. Training “If training is not considered as a priority or not seen as a vital part in the organization, then it is difficult to accept that such a company has effectively carried out HRM. Training actually provides the opportunity to raise the profile development activities in the organization” (Training and human resource management, 2007). Once the recruitment process is over, it is the duty of the HR manager to arrange proper training or mentoring to the professionals newly recruited. Even through professionals may face difficulties in adapting with the new organization and the training is essential for the newly recruited personnel for making them aware of their duties and responsibilities, organizational goals, vision and mission, culture etc. It is not necessary that two organizations follow the same culture, so even for employees worked in one organization need proper training while joining another organization. The following figure illustrate the necessity of training and the parameters associated with training. (Introduction Of Training, 2007) HR manager should devise the training in such a way that it may helps an employee to understand the business environment of the organization he is working for. Business environments can be different in different organizations. For example, business environments of Pepsi and Coke might be entirely different even thought they operate in the same soft drink manufacturing industry. In order to make the employee custom made, training is essential for each and every organization. The second aspect considered by the HR manager in training the employees is the variety of changes and challenges facing in different organizations. Changes and challenges faced by different organizations might be entirely different. For example, as mentioned in the above example, the challenges faced by Pepsi might not be the same for Coke because of the different geographical locations they were operating. Even in same countries they may face different challenges. For example, Coke is accused of exploiting underwater resources more than the allowed in India which force them to face so many legal challenges in India. On the other hand, Pepsi seems to have no such problems in Indian conditions. The third aspect of training is the creating the opportunity to the employee to implement his knowledge in a practical way. Training helps an employee to learn further and to apply his learning in practical situations. For example, it is not possible for an employee to excel in his profession if he doesn’t know how to apply his knowledge. For example, it is not necessary that a marketing professional who excelled in American condition may excel in Indian or Chinese markets because of difference in markets politically, culturally and socially. Training is essential for the professional to customize his strategies for different situations. Placement Placement is a process of assigning a specific job to each of the selected candidates. It involves assigning a specific rank and responsibility to an individual. It implies matching the requirements of a job with the qualifications of the candidate (Placement and induction in HRM, 2008). After training and mentoring, it is the duty of the HR manager to place the trained professionals in the right place. The efforts taken for the recruitment and training would be wasted, if the HR manager fails to place the right employees at the right place. At the time of training itself the HR manager should analyze each trainee at a microscopic level in order to identify their skills and hidden potentials. Some of the trainees may have leadership skills while some others may have sales skills or planning skills. All these traits and abilities of the trainees should be carefully evaluated by the HR manager in order to place the trainees correctly and effectively. Effective placement helps the employees to integrate into the new organization and to develop a sense of belonging Conclusions Human resource management is one of the vital areas of an organization. Strategic human resource management is essential for the current organizations to forecast the future challenges correctly and to take necessary actions. Placing the right person at the right time at the right place is the core of human resource management. Recruitment, training and placements of trained employees are the three major functions of a human resource manager. The success of an organization lies in how well the human resource manager was able to recruit employees, give training to them and placing them effectively in suitable departments or places. References 1. Introduction Of Training, (2007), Retrieved on 19 April 2010 from http://traininganddevelopment.naukrihub.com/training.html 2. Placement and induction in HRM, (2008), Retrieved on 19 April 2010 from http://bmmanhum1109.blogspot.com/2008/08/placement-and-induction-in-hrm.html 3. Recruitment Methods, (n. d), Tutor2u. Retrieved on 19 April 2010 from http://tutor2u.net/business/gcse/people_recruitment_methods.htm> 4. Training and human resource management, (2007), Retrieved on 19 April 2010 from http://traininganddevelopment.naukrihub.com/training-and-hr-management.html 5. Upson Margo, (2010), What is Strategic Human Resource Management?, Retrieved on 19 April 2010 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-strategic-human-resource-management.htm Read More