Strategic Human Resource Management and Human Resource Manager Roles - Essay Example

STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER ROLES Name Course Tutor Date Introduction The field of Strategic human resources management has experienced remarkable dominance during the past years, and still remains to be the center stage of most scholarly literature as well as the management practitioners. Pursuant to this, there has been considerable interest of both employees and employers in the understanding SHRM. This is actually because of the mutual benefits that accompany SHRM. The focus of most organizational objectives has therefore been, to come up with an efficient strategic human resources management (SHRM). This has been elevated by the need to become the employee of choice which is a strategy used to win the war of talents. There are different organizations with different objectives. This means that there is corresponding number of different approaches or models taken for SHRM to be effective. Human resource managers are useful components in the organization when considering the success of SHRM. Strategic Human Resource Management Strategic human resource management or SHRM refers to the process of making decisions based on the objectives of an organization with reference to the employee-management relationship, recruitment and selection, performance evaluation, performance improvement, performance management, training and development and policies among others (Darwish, 2013). SHRM defines the plans and intentions of the organization giving a roadmap on how its goals are to be achieved. SHRM is based on three major propositions (Darwish, 2013). First, that there must be a systematic approach adopted to define the organizations roadmap. Second, that human capital brings competitive advantage. Lastly, that it is the human resource itself that implement the strategic plan. There are many features of strategic human resource that make it different from human resource management. SHRM is aligned with the business strategies. For this matter, the employees are seen as the fundamental components of the organization (Darwish, 2013). This has been leveraged upon by organizations to have competitive advantage over their competitors. As far as SHRM is concerned the HR managers only come in to formulate strategies whereas the other HR practitioners offer advisory services to the organization concerning SHRM (Condrey, 2010). SHRM is also aligned with the long term goals of the organizations in question. It backs the goals through ensuring that there are effective policies and procedures to ensure efficiency of the human capital. At the center of SHRM lies goal setting that remains a major role of the management. There is a very clear distinction between SHRM and human resource management. While the former is based on the soft management approach, the latter is mainly inclined towards the hard management approach. SHRM is based on the idea of using the human capital to make the firm gain competitive advantage (Darwish, 2013). On the contrary, HRM is mainly aimed at effective management of employees and achievement of objectives. HRM goals are set at the human resource level while SHRM at the business level. The overseers of SHRM still remain to be managers operating at higher levels of the organization (Condrey, 2010). The converse is true for human resource management. There are various approaches to SHRM. This include the strategic fit model, resource based approach, high performance management, high involvement management and high commitment management (Darwish, 2013). Darwish (2013) also notes various models that are widely discussed in literature. These include the Strategic Labor Allocation Process commonly abbreviated as SLAP, strategic fit model and business oriented model. The classifications are based on the focus and roles that each does in the achievement of set objectives (Darwish, 2013). For example, the business oriented model is associated with a firm’s competitiveness in the market (Darwish, 2013). SLAP on the other hand deals with decision making. Lastly, the strategic fit model aligns the opportunities in the organization with resources including HR capital (Darwish, 2013). Roles of Human Resource (HR) Manager Human resource management literature has focused on human manager as the facilitator of the objectives of HRM. The focus however has been the functions rather role than of this manager. Wright (2011) elucidates the role of the managers making a clear distinction between the roles and function. According to Wright (2011) the human resource managers have the role of administrative expert, being employees advocate, ambassador of the organization, legal advisor, the executive and board resource, and the strategic partner of the organization. As such the managers should be presentable, analytical, well communicated and problem solvers. The three chosen roles for the purpose of this paper are administrative expert. Administrative Expert Generally the HR manager oversees nearly all HR related tasks in the organizations. Proper recruitment and selection, training and development, performance evaluation and appraisal, and motivation systems at the workplace fall under the jurisdiction of the HR manager. The manager is also tinged with the duty of formulating and making policies, communicating the policy to the employees, monitoring the implementation of the policies and ensuring there is legal compliance with all the HR regulations and laws (Wright, 2011). Additionally, the manager also keeps records of the employees and maintains them. The manager also assists in human resource planning in the organization (Condrey, 2010). Yusoff (2012) opines the manager to be the key administrator in the organization whose impact is felt both vertically and horizontally in the organization. The manager must ensure that all the reward and remuneration systems are smooth and running. The managers do this through policy making. Yusoff (2012) adds that the only powerful tool that the managers have on their side is the policies they make and implement. The manager therefore must digest the policies and communicate them in a way understandable by the employees and other management team (Wright, 2011). It is also the mandate of the manager to actually design jobs in the organization. Additionally, the manager may be forced to develop a matrix for all the jobs in the organization so that the task of administration is simplified (Condrey, 2010). When there is conflict and crises in the organization the manager has to make quick and stern decisions to solve the status quo. Talent Manager As stated in the introduction, the war of talents is real and most companies leverage on the HR manager as the one who manages talent stream of the organization (Condrey, 2010). The HR manager creates conducive environment that lures, develops and later retains the best performing employees (Condrey, 2010). The manager also assesses the organizational need in terms of talent and comes up with a strategy or roadmap that will be used to get the talented individuals. According to Wright (2011) the manager is responsible for ensuring that the supervisors, executive and the employees in general are developed. The manager organizes training and development strategies depending on the talent gap in the organization. Wright (2011) notes that the manager ensures that there is succession planning in the organization by identifying leaders and investing resources in them for future leadership (Condrey, 2010). The manager goes to the extent of tracking the best performing employees out of the organization so as to identify a talent pool from where the organization can absorb talent (Wright, 2011). The manager keeps records of all talents involved in projects for future reference. Employee Agent The HR manager elaborates the procedures for the employees so that they are able to ask open and honest questions (Wright, 2011). This mostly happens in open forums where the employees are encouraged to feel free and share any relevant information they have concerning their welfare. The manager also deals with performance appraisal issues (Condrey, 2010). The manager has the role of acting as a team member in projects. The manager must have in place an effective and efficient feedback mechanism so that the employees concerns are properly addressed (Condrey, 2010). When there are skip level meetings the manager acts as the chair. HR managers also act as the employee’s voice in periods of decision making by the management (Condrey, 2010). When the decisions are too tough on the employees, the manager intervenes through proper negotiation. HR managers also act as peace keepers in the organization solving any grievances that occur in workplace (Condrey, 2010). Banfield & Kay (2012) observe that with the current diversified workforce, discriminatory behavior may result into conflicts. The manager has the role of offering long term solutions that favor the least represented. Condrey (2010) suggests that the HR manager should also evaluate the job satisfaction levels of the employees and act wisely and professionally. Conclusion The field of SHRM is of importance as can be seen from the paper. Most researchers, who aim to venture into management that is packed for the future, should consider this field. The field has received considerable and remarkable ascendancy in the past two decades. There are various features that make the concept of strategic human resource management different from that of human resource management. This is mainly based on the objectives of the two. Worth to note is that SHRM is geared towards making an organization competitive, through instituting competitive advantage. Some of the key roles of the HR managers have been identified and discussed. The scope of this paper covers administrative expert, employee advocate and talent manager role of the HR manager. Bibliography Banfield, P., & Kay, R. 2012, “Introduction to human resource management”. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Darwish, T. K. 2013, “Strategic HRM and performance: Theory and practice”. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Pub. Condrey, S. E. 2010, “Handbook of human resource management in government. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Yusoff, Y. M. 2012, “The path From an Administrative Expert to a Strategic Partner Role: A Literature Review”. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(9), 141-154. Wright, P. M. 2011, “The chief HR officer: Defining the new role of human resource leaders”. San Francisco (CA: Jossey-Bass. Read More