Strategic Human Resource Management - Coursework Example

Strategic Human Resource Management Insert Name of the Student Insert Name of the Instructor Insert Name of the Course Insert Code of the Course Insert Submission Date Introduction Human resource management has evolved in three phase: Human resource management, strategic human resource management, and international human resource management. Initially, it involved managing groups and individuals using human resource roles such as staffing, retention, training, development, and remuneration. Then strategic management integrated the practices above with the business strategies. International human resource management covers human resource practices for multi-nationals (Lengnick-Hall et al., 2009). The strategic human resource management has been developed over the last 30 years with origin in the US. It involves the effective management of human capital to achieve an organisation’s strategic plan or goals. Ulrich identified four roles of strategic human resource management: The human resource professionals should be strategic partners of the organisation to execute strategy effectively, and the professionals should deliver human resource practices such as staffing and training with expertise. In addition, providing employees with the necessary resources to increase capability and commitment, and be change agents to manage the organisational culture and any developing culture. The human resource mangers therefore provide client services, manage organisational change, manage strategic activities, and develop human capital (Gardner, Lepak, & Bartol, 2003). However, the human resource manager needs to understand various issues affecting his profession. This paper will look at these issues in terms of globalisation, technology, staffing, and retention. Globalisation The world has increasingly become a global village with the advent of technology and ease of travel around the globe. The world trade level grew double fold that of global output growth in 2006. Globalisation has changed business economies from manufacturing-based to knowledge-based economies increasing the role of human capital than ever before. Both consumers and manufacturers have access to free information from the internet for comparison compared to the previous century. This therefore necessitates effective business strategies aligned with effective human resource management to remain competitive in the long term. The risk is even higher for multi-national companies. Therefore, other than the traditional human resource practices such as training, recruiting, and performance management, globalisation presents an additional practice in knowledge management. This has to be aligned with the company’s corporate strategy. In Singapore, the government was forced to adapt a knowledge-based after the Asian financial crisis of 1997. The country is not resource endowed and to sustain its economy, the human resource managers had to maximise on their human capital. With a workforce of 1:4 foreign-local ratios, the government and firm’s invested on developing the workforce’s capacity that has proved successful in developing Asia’s most competitive economy according to the 2006-2007 World Economic Forum (Choo, Halim, & Keng-Howe, 2010). In its formative years as an independent state, Israel suffered from the effects of a closed economic state. It banned imports through high duty and tax to encourage local growth and employment of returning refugees after the Second World War and there was shortage of foreign currency. Businesses had rigid cultures reliant on local culture. Globalisation has since changed the country’s businesses. The government has adapted free trade agreements with foreign countries. This has resulted in an influx of foreign companies such as IBM, Motorola, Benettons, and McDonalds. International mergers and acquisitions are also common currently. Increased competition has made the workforce more volatile creating a new challenge to the human resource manager in keeping the workforce satisfied and preventing them from seeking better opportunities elsewhere. Globalisation has also necessitated search for new markets abroad as the country is small. This means managing divergent cultures and maintaining the company’s profitability. In addition, companies are forced to send expatriates abroad. Therefore, the human resource manager has to consider family ties of the expatriate and the effects on the expatriate’s job performance and the firm’s goal, and performance (Harpaz & Meshoulam, 2010). Technology Technology is now an integral part of any business entity and almost all business operations. It is transforming the human resource department from an administrative, operational, function, and reactive oriented to a more proactive, business oriented, consultative, and strategic functionality. The employees are expected to be generalists and not specialists with greater emphasis on breadth of functions than depth. The human resource manager has to develop an understanding of such systems to enable him align the human resource activities with the overall organisational strategy (Gardner, Lepak, & Bartol, 2003). A study by Marler and Fischer (2013) asserts that there is a positive relationship between the quality of human resource strategies and the level of IT support services. From manual records in the 20th century, mainframe computer systems in the 1970’s, to standalone computer software, technology has made easier the role of human resource managers such as in training, development, and performance appraisals (Stone & Dulebohn, 2013). In contrast, a UK based manufacturing firm developed a software for the human resource department administration. Over a 10-month period, it was found that the human resource personnel had added no value to the business by refusing to collaborate with the line managers as expected (Marler & Fischer, 2013). This is an example of some failed human resource management strategies using IT. The Human resource manager therefore needs to understand technology models first before implementation to avoid such losses. Trends such as e-mails and video conferencing increase the capability of employees working from different geographical locations other than the office. It is becoming less important to work centrally from the office. It is therefore important for the human resource manager to develop key strategies that the firm will employ in managing such emerging trends and at the same time manage the personnel efficiently. Northern Telecom (Nortel) for example, manages over 300 entities established in over 60 countries through teleconferencing, internet, and a data network (Lepak & Snell, 1998). HR managers also need to understand that technology adaptability varies with gender. Men unlike women easily accept technology, respond positively to new technology, and experience less anxiety in usage (Gardner, Lepak, & Bartol, 2003). In addition, technology threatens lay-off of workers as computer systems can perform more efficiently and faster than humans do. Paul, Oluseyi, and Christopher (2011) assert that in the next fifty years four to five human resource personnel will be operating entire multi-national operations. Therefore, the human resource manager should be in a position to devise organisational strategies that factor in minimal staff such as outsourcing of activities that contribute indirectly to the firm’s success. Staffing and retention Newbert 2007 in Munyon, Summers, & Ferris (2011) assert that the employment mode used by an organisation is dependent on the strategic value and uniqueness of resources used. Strategic value refers to the benefits derived by customers from the human capital investment whereas uniqueness of resources refers to degree of specialisation, or rarity of the human capital. For example, the organisation may develop internal human capital when the uniqueness of resources and strategic value is relatively high whereas it may higher externally when the uniqueness of resources and strategic value is relatively low. The organisation also may use individual or team based hiring methods. Individual hiring involves recruitment and selection of individual units to fit in an existent team whereas team based hiring assigning new roles to pre-existent teams (Munyon, Summers, & Ferris, 2011). The human resource manager ought to understand these hiring modes before staffing. Some key questions to ask are: Does the firm have enough resources to higher whole teams or individuals? What benefits will the firm accrue after the hiring? Is it more efficient to develop internal human capital than externally hire? Is the staffing in line with the company strategy? Before strategic human resource management, staff retention was based on the employee’s ability and the sufficiency of skills in meeting the organisational goals. However, the introduction of strategic human resource management changed this to organisational performance, strategic capabilities, and capital contributions (Lengnick-Hall, et al., 2009). It recognises that organisational performance is dependent on individual performance and organisational success is dependent on efficient strategic management. Huang 2000 in Lengnick-Hall et al. (2009) in a study of 315 Taiwanese firms found out that the most effective ones integrated strategic practices such as staffing, training, and development with their business strategies. Consequently, they had less turnovers compared with firms that did not integrate the two. The human resource manager should therefore develop good staff retention plans instead of reacting to replace when staff leaves. In this competitive era of globalisation when staff have many options in occupational and geographical mobility, staff retention mechanisms such as good salary’s, training, flexible working hours and off days cannot be over-emphasised. Conclusion Globalisation necessitates the human resource manager to develop efficient strategic practices to manage diversity, new markets, knowledge, and competition. Singapore is an example of success in managing globalisation using strategic human resource management. Israel on the other hand provides a good example of the human resource issues brought about by globalisation. Technology too provides various challenges and human resource managers should be quick to learn and adapt to emerging technological trends for efficient strategic management. In addition, the manager needs to understand the various hiring modes as well as retention strategies. References Choo, S. S., Halim, H., & Keng-Howe, I.C. (2010). The impact of globalisation on strategic human resources management: the mediating role of CEO in HR. International journal of business studies, 18, (1), 101-124. Gardner, S. D., Lepak, D.P., & Bartol, K.M. (2003). Virtual HR: The impact of information technology on the human resource professional. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 63, (2), 159-179. Harpaz, I., Meshoulam, I. (2010). The meaning of work, employment relations, and strategic human resources management in Israel. Human Resource Management Review, 20, (3), 212- 223. Lengnick-Hall, M. L., Lengnick-Hall, C.A., Andrade, L. S., Drake, B. (2009). Strategic human resource management: The evolution of the field. Human Resource Management Review, 19, (2), 64-85. Lepak, D.L., & Snell, S.A. (1998). Virtual HR: Strategic human resource management in the 21st century. Human Resource Management Review, 8 (3), 215-234. Marler, J. H., & Fisher, S.L. (2013). An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 23, (1), 18-36. Munyon, T. P., Summers, J. K., & Ferris, G. R. (2011). Team staffing modes in organizations: Strategic considerations on individual and cluster hiring approaches. Human Resource Management Review, 21, (3), 228-242. Stone, D. L., & Dulebohn, J. H. (2013). Emerging issues in theory and research on electronic human resource management (eHRM). Human Resource Management Review,23, (2), 1-5. Read More