What Are the Advantages of Strategic Human Resource Management - Literature review Example

Recognize the strategic advantage to be attained through effective HR management planning and implementation and, understand the application of systems models to HR management activities. Name Professor Course Date Akers H., 2015. What Are the Advantages of Strategic Human Resource Management?Wise Geek, 21 March. Human Resource Management is deployed in many business organizations to optimize the performance of the workers in line with the employers strategic objectives. Human resource management primarily revolves around the management of people within business organizations. It also focuses on policies and the business systems. Human resource departments in many organizations undertake a number of activities, which include employee training, recruitment, employee development, and rewarding performance appraisal (Boon & Paauwe, 2009). In reference to the article written byAkers (2015) on human resource management, there exist various advantages of strategic human resource management that are key in the modern day. These advantages include selective hiring and the encouragement of optimal employee performance. The act of performance appraisal goes to great lengths in promoting a constructive working environment for all members of an organization. Performance appraisal has enabled many business enterprises to construct their overall goals and objectives in accordance with the spirit of their employees. Performance appraisal gives the workers an appetite for working even harder in order to achieve the set targets. When put into practical shape correctly, human resource management has been noted to foster a positive working environment that steers the business towards performance excellence. Besides the employee recruitment and hiring of new personnel, all human resource departments are active in the training of employees and in the maintenance of a good employer/employee relationship. Another strategic advantage arising from human resource management is that it ensures that the relationship between an employer and his employees remains constructive and accommodating.Activities that fall under the scope of employee/employer relationship maintenance include equippingthe involved managers with knowledge on how to welcome newly acquired employees to the organization. These activities also include explaining to the workers about benefit programs and how these rewards can add up to their satisfaction. From this article, I gained knowledge on a number of key elements that all business employees should exercise as key equipment for the achievement of business objectives. Acquiring employees and retaining their valuable human capital is the key human resource management strategic advantage. The management should value the workers since they are valuable towards fulfilling the main objectives of an organization (Akers, 2015). The human resource department must come up with a plan on how to align its policies with the firms strategic goals. From this article, I have derived the key tools behind the achievement of business objectives. An organization should not just hire the most promising candidate for a job position without first identifying the responsibilities of the job and the candidate’s individual skills. These are essential in the making of a positive contribution to the culture of the organization. Human resource management also allows selective hiring of employees, which helps in the process of weeding out mediocre candidates who may turn out to be detrimental to the goals of the organization. Literature review Theoretical background in human resource management The management of human resource has its roots deeply embedded in the evolution of large factories in the 18th century. The development in the industrial approach to work occurred rapidly and brought dramatic changes to the world. Most industries prioritized cheaper production and, therefore,the organizations hired more workers who would work for at least 16 hours a day. From the developments, the managers discovered that employees who were satisfied by the employer had a higher productivity compared to their depressed counterparts. Many organizations began to introduce voluntary programs for their employees in a move to improve their comfort and satisfaction. The government on the other hand intervened to the harassment of employees by introducing key human rights (Barney, 1991). After the first evolution in the 18th century, the second positivity in human resource management took place. The personnel management was introduced by most organizations. The unit had extensive responsibilities that included dealing with issues and ensuring adherence to government law requirements. The department also implemented the safety programs of different social and work places. The focus of everything on the productivity of employees and the frequent performance appraisal increments that were the key measures for employee management gave birth to the modern day human resource departments in organizations. The significant change was introduced after the World War 2 because the military developed manyprograms for training new soldiers. When the war ended, this became a key process in personnel department (Schuler, 1992). Strategic advantages obtained from the management of human resource involve the word strategy that is described as a combination of fundamental choices about the progress of a business (Schuler 1992). A strategy is referred to as an official statement of what the business enterprise aims to achieve, the financial strides it wants to make and generally, how the firm intends to achieve the set objectives. In human resource related strategies, three major primary factors which include competitive advantages, distinctive capabilities and the strategic fit must be developed with a relevant aim to sustain the goals of the organization (Barney, 1991). An active human resource department is, therefore, one of the elements of organizational strategies designed to sustain the long-term targets of a business. According to Schuler (1992), Human resource management is defined as activities that can influence the behavior of employees in their daily efforts to formulate and implement the strategic goals of the enterprise. The literature source has also elaborated on the topic as the flow of planned human resource deployments, which are intended to enable the organization to achieve its goals. According to Wright and Mchanan(1992), effective human resource management is the source of competitive advantage. The provision of appropriate education, motivation, training and proper performance appraisal can motivate the employees. Most human resource management planning strategies look forward to optimizing human capital and taking care of the connection between themanagement and their employees. Human resource management is integrated independently in the implementation process of management strategies. Developments in human resource management planning Globalization and workforce diversity Various developments in the human resource management field have made it easy to achieve strategic goals. One of the trends is globalization. Since the business world today has no boundaries, it has a widespread reach around the world. Due to the increase in multinational corporations, the human resource departments in the organizations have found it important to improve their working environment. Therefore, the departments have managed to improve their working environments by ensuring an appropriate mixture of employees in terms of skills, knowledge, and cultural adaptability in order to handle the enormous global assignments. According to OBrien (2009), organizations have trained their employees to meet the challenges that come with the trend globalization. In order to attain globalization, human resource management has developed mechanisms that aim at enabling individuals from different cultural backgrounds to work together. Effective human resource management, therefore, equips the organization’s employees with basic knowledge of the language and culture in terms of morals, values, and customs. It trains managers on the importance of recognizing and accommodating the differences of its employees who come from all over the world. Another trend in human resource management is the diversity achieved in its workforce. Nowadays, human resource management is becoming more complicated having in mind that a business enterprise has to deal with a more diverse workforce in terms of variation in gender, sexual orientation, literacy, age, social class, ethnicity, language, marital status, and religion. Change in skill requirements and downsizing Since diversity is key to the achievement of the organization’s targets, human resource management has embraced it, therefore, better creativity and greater innovation.Another important development in the human resource management planning is the change in skill requirements. In this trend, business organizations have embraced the activity of recruiting skilled workers. The capability of an organization to compete effectively in the market and produce goods of high quality wholly depends on a diverse workforce that has been properly equipped with appropriate skills. Lack of these Skills translates into huge losses for the business due to the poor quality of work, lower employee productivity,the rise in employee accidents and consumer dissatisfaction. The human resource management carefully weighs the skill and language deficiencies in the organizations employees and relays this information to the relevant educators and other stakeholders on the need to equip their students with higher language levels compared to the existing language level. The change in skill requirements is vital in the diversification of the products that a business offers. An improvement in the state of technology education that is provided to the employees means that the workers will produce better products and even offer faster and better customer care services. The change in skill requirements is expected to be on an upward trend as more and more machines are being designed daily. The urge for more skills is, therefore, paramount in order to achieve the goals of an organization (Boon & Paauwe 2009). The human resource management comes up with short-term programs and training in order to meet the gaps and deficiencies in terms of skilled labor. Corporate downsizing is also another important development that enables an enterprise to achieve greater efficiency in terms of productivity. The new trend of downsizing is aimed at reducing the number of workers who are employed by an organization. It has a bright future due to its ability to maintain a pool of competing employees by getting rid of the lazy workers (DeGraff, 2010). In reference to Klerck (2009), the human resource management department of acompany plays a key role in corporate downsizing by ensuring that proper communication is carried out to inform the employees of the downsizing program. The department is expected to reduce the negative effects arising from rumors and ensure that all individuals are updated with factual data. The department also assists the company by dealing with the actual layoff. Continuous improvement programs According to Johnason (2009), another development in human resource management is the continuous improvement programs that focus on the long-term progression of the business. During the process, an organization aims to builda better foundation in order to serve its customers. The continuous improvement programs often revolve around an organizations wide initiative to improve employee productivity, thus boosting the quality of its products. The development is poised to be a prime necessity in the achievement of the organization’s goals due to its ability to keep the workers in check. In reference to Conaty & Ram (2011), the business modifies its operations in order to focus on their customers. As a result, the business can ensure that its employees are involved in solving matters that affecttheir customers. The organizations work hard to improve their daily activities that range from hiring quality and skilled employees to meeting the needs of their customers. Since such initiatives are not easily implemented, effective human resource management planning has an important role to fill in the process of implementing the continuous improvement programs. Whenever a business embarks on anyimprovement efforts, the staff face the change that did not originally exist in the organization. At this point, the human resource management of the company mentally prepares the individuals for the change. This is possible through providing clear and extensive information on why the change will occur and its expected effect on employees. Re-engineering Boon & Paauwe (2009) argue that re-engineering the work processes for better productivity in an organization is yet another development in human resource management. Although initiatives targeted at continuous improvement are the positive starts in many organizations, the initiatives primarily focus on the ongoing incremental change. Because some organizations function in a dynamic environment, they are hit by rapid and constant changes and, therefore, continuous improvement programs do not always possess a positive impact for the organization. This is because they may tend to provide a false feeling of security for the entrepreneurship. Upon implementing efficient human resource management, re-engineering has the ability to evaluate and alter most of the inappropriate work processes in a business enterprise. The human resource department should, therefore, develop theorganization’s managers in order to come up with ideas on how re-engineering should be achieved. Since re-engineering has the ability to change the way companies do their business and directly affect the employees, the human resource department also designs mechanisms to plan for conflict management among its staff. In order to enjoy the strategicbenefits of re-engineering in the future, the human resource management should offerskill training such as technology enhancement and decision-making authority to its workers. Contingent workforce development In reference to Johnason (2009), the contingent workforce is also a development in human resource management planning. An individual who is hired by an organization when it is undergoing a significant deviation in its workflow is referred to as a Contingent employee.The human resource management faces several issues when coming up with the decision to hire contingent workers. This range from the ability to avail the virtual employees whenever they are needed with the ability to provide scheduling options that can meet the needs of the contingent workers. The human resource management sufficiently plans for the smooth transition from an ordinary workforce to a contingent workforce without any major hitches. The effective human resource management also ensures that the contingent workers adapt quickly and bring the much-desired skill into the organization. Conclusion As a human resource manager, I would emphasize on proper human resource practice due to its vast benefits. My choice is supported by Akers (2015) who states that proper implementation of human resource management can steer a positive working environment that enables the employees to offer their best in the production process. Barney(1991) argues that competitive advantage is attained through the provision of a good working environment that accommodates every employee in an organization. In agreement, Schuler (1992); Wright &Mchanan (1992) argue that human resource management acts as a source of competitive advantage.OBrien (2009) argues that globalization is a key factor in influencing organizational productivity. Therefore, there is a need to comprehend the culture of the customers to provide quality services. Boon & Paauwe (2009) argue that a change in skill requirements is a new development in human resource management. This theory is self-explanatory since better skills are required as more advanced machines are designed daily to improve productivity. Klerck (2009); DeGraff (2010) states that corporate downsizing is an important development in human resource management. However, corporate downsizing reduces the number of workers;thus its application is misleading due to lack of mechanisms to assess the inability of a worker. In reference to Johnason (2009), the theory oncontingent workforce gives a clear guideline on the issues that a business should employ to accomplish its set objectives by hiring temporary workers. The sources give a good theoretical background on efficient human resource management. References Akers H., 2015. What Are the Advantages of Strategic Human Resource Management. Wise Geek, 21 March. Barney J., 1991. Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management, Volume 17, pp. 99-120. Boon J. & Paauwe C., 2009. Strategic HRM: A critical review. In: WoodG. & CollingsD. G., ed. Human resource management: A critical approach. London: Routledge, pp. 38-54. Conaty B. & Ram C., 2011. The Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers. Crown Publishing Group. DeGraff J. E., 2010. The Changing Environment of Professional HR Associations. Cornell HR Review, 21 February. Johnason P., 2009. HRM in changing organizational contexts. In: Wood G. & CollingsD. G., ed. Human resource management: A critical approach. London: Routledge, pp. 19-37. Klerck G., 2009. Industrial relations and human resource management. In: Wood G. & CollingsD. G., ed. Human resource management: A critical approach. London: Routledge, pp. 238-259. McMahan P. M.& Wright & G. C., 1992. Theoretical perspectives for strategic human resource management. Journal of Management, 18(2), pp. 295-320. OBrien M., 2009. HRs Take on The Office. Human Resource Executive Online, 8 October. Schuler S., 1992. HRM Practices in Service-Based Organizations: A Role Theory Perpective. Advances in Services Marketing and Management, Volume 1, pp. 123-157. Read More