Roles of HRM in an Organizations Strategic Direction - Coursework Example

Roles of HRM in an Organization’s Strategic Direction Human Resource Management, as the name suggests, is defined as the management of an organization’s labor force. This, however, is a very general definition of human resource management, but it entails so much more than managing the labor force of an organization. In the past, human resource management in organizations used to only specialize in administration of the employees, whereby the human resource manager ensured that all the employees did what was right in helping the organization reach to higher heights. The human resource management of the past used to be more like the school scenario, where the teacher keeps a keen eye on the students and the students do whatever they do being careful not to get caught. In such a scenario, one of the parties is the boss or slave driver while the other party is the subject and the slave being driven about to the full benefit of the boss (Golding, 2010). With time, however, human resource management has evolved into what is known today as strategic human resource management. This is after organization managers came to the realization that an organization would only go so far with such as bossy way of handling the employees and that the employees had come to a point where they would no longer be controlled as before. A friendlier approach, therefore, had to be adopted into the organizations’ management systems. Human resource management “graduated” from being just an arm that does recruitment and management (read “administration”) of employees to one that does recruitment, training, ensuring effective communication within the organization, ensuring that employees work in a friendly and safe environment, leadership, motivation and empowerment, conflict resolution and performance management (Benson & Scroggins, 2011). In human resource management, there are two parties it deals with or bridges; the organization and its employees. In the past, human resource management used to place the organization’s goals first, and the employees’ needs came second. Therefore, the employees were driven to whichever levels, as long as the organization’s goals are realized. However, this is not the case in human resource management today; the employees’ needs are put first before the goals of the organization, and the work of human resource management in an organization is to first ensure that the employees’ needs are met so that it will be possible for the goals of the organization to be met. Human resource management, today, is done in a hands-on manner unlike in the past when it was done theoretically and managerially (Wright, 2011). Human resource management has many roles it plays in an organization, and balancing between the roles is needed. The two major roles human resource management plays in an organization include being an advocate for employees and guiding the organization strategically in the right direction using the employees as the agents of change. These two major roles need to be balanced; otherwise one or both of the parties will suffer. Most organizations today strive and invest in having the best human resource management, and other organizations outsource human resource management services from organizations that specialize in these. This essay will discuss the two roles and mainly discuss the role of human resource management in acting as a guide to the organization strategically (Armstrong, 2006). Human resource management is an employee advocate in an organization. First and foremost, this can be done by first seeing the employee as a person and then as a worker in the organization. This way, the human resource management can help the employee balance between their roles at work and at home. The human resource management does some sort of follow-up on the organization’s workers, and counseling and support programs and incentives are given for those having difficulty in their families such as health issues, marital problems, parenting problems et cetera. Human resource management also acts as an employee advocate by having crisis management programs for the employees. This program is applied for crises that happen in the workplace and outside the workplace scenario. The human resource management also receives and acts upon any concerns and complaints that the employees may submit to ensure the best working conditions (Lievens, 2010). Human resource management acts as a strategic guide to an organization mainly by finding and recruiting new employees and then by training them and ensuring their retention in the organization by providing the best working conditions. When employees are retained in an organization, the organization is freed from the costs incurred in frequent hiring, recruiting and training. The human resource management does employee training and retention in a strategic direction, with the organization’s goals as the reference point. The human resource management activities should be aligned to achievement of the organization’s goals, and this can be done by building healthy relationships between the management and the labor force of an organization (Armstrong, 2006). The main reason why human resource management has embarked on the journey of being an arm that directs the organization and aligns the activities therein is to ensure appreciation of the worth of human resource management in an organization. This is especially so because of the fact that in the past, the human resource management used to be the agent that only ensured legal compliance and compliance to the organization’s policies (Wright, 2011). However, the new form of human resource management not only ensures compliance, but it emphasizes on the end results obtained as a result of its activities. Strategic direction is achieved in an organization when the human resource management crew ensures that every decision they make about the organization’s employees are aligned to the short term, medium term and long term goals the organization hopes to achieve. It is almost impossible for human resource management to achieve this if it does not ensure that the employees of the organization are involved in decision making and planning processes, so that they “own” the organization’s goals (Benson & Scroggins, 2011). One of the roles of human resource management in strategic directing of an organization is ensuring that the human resource management activities are cut back on by assigning some human resource activities to the various managers in different parts of the organization. This ensures that the HR activities are more tailor-made and more specific. Another role of human resource management in strategic direction of an organization is ensuring that the employees of the organization give the best quality services, and this can only be achieved if the human resource management runs training programs for the employees. Alongside this, the human resource management observes the strengths and weaknesses of each employee and ensures that the employees are assigned to tasks they are best at (Golding, 2010). Cost control is another major role of human resource management in strategic direction. The human resource management controls the costs incurred by the organization by managing its projects and evaluating the benefits and risks of each. Also, cost is controlled by the human resource management ensuring that the organization’s management correctly plans policies governing the compensation of its employees and incentive policies. Quality control is another role played by human resource management in strategic direction of an organization. When the right quality standards are met, unnecessary costs are avoided and productivity is heightened, thus helping the organization to be in the right direction to achieving its goals (Swart & Kinnie, 2010). Another role is dealing with management of recruitment and replacement of employees. When new employees are recruited, it takes time for them to be adequately trained to a level where their output is more than the input given by the organization on them. The human resource management can ensure that the costs of training and developing new recruits are minimal to reduce the overheads of the organization. Also, unexpected absence of employees and managers is a common scenario in organizations. It is therefore the duty of the human resource management of the organization to employ the best approach in temporary or permanent replacement when a vacant position is unexpectedly left. This is because if the wrong person or people occupy a vacant position (especially if the vacant position is a managerial one), this can be quite chaotic to the organization. Filling such vacant managerial positions need the expertise of the human resource management crew (Lievens, 2010). The human resource management also has the responsibility of creating workable and effective strategies that an organization can employ. This is mainly done by the human resource management doing adequate market research and identifying the evolving areas in the market that need a new strategy. When such areas in the market are identified, the human resource management helps the general management of the organization to put in place the measures in the organization that will help the organization be in pace with the trends. Finally, the human resource management of an organization has a major role in managing crucial decisions made by the organization’s management that can affect its goals and its labor force. Such crucial decisions include shares (IPOs), acquiring of new businesses or lines of operation, merging with other organizations and signing of treaties (Guest, 2011). References Armstrong, M. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th ed.). London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2006. Benson, P. G. & Scroggins, W.A. International Human Resource Management: theoretical and strategic advances. Human Resource Management Reviews: 21(3), 159-256, September 2011. Golding, N. Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Approach. Prentice Hall, 2010. Guest, D.E. Human Resource Management and Performance: still searching for some answers. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(1), 3-13, January 2011. Lievens, F. Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. Wilkinson: The SAGE Handbook of Human Resource Management. Page: 133-154, 2010. Swart, J. & Kinnie, N. Organizational Learning, Knowledge Assets and HR Practices in Professional Service Firms. Human Resource Management Journal, 20(1), 64-79, January 2010. Wright, P.M. Exploring Human Capital: putting “human” back into strategic human resource management. Human Management Resource Journal, 21(2), 93-104, April 2011. Read More