Strategic Human Resource Mangement - Essay Example

s as well as in the implementation of those strategies through HR activities such as recruiting, selecting, training and rewarding personnel” (Lii, 2003). SHRM models work to promote learning and competitiveness of the workforce as the basic prerequisite for improved competitiveness and better efficiency in organizations. Cadbury and Craft are the two examples of how SHRM works in practical workplace environments. Needless to say, SHRM in these organizations is heavily influenced by national and corporate cultures, and is closely aligned with the social responsibility and ethical dimensions of workplace performance.

The history of SHRM at Cadbury dates back to the times when there were no unions; yet, Cadbury’s owners clearly well realized the value of HR to their competitiveness and performance. Cadbury considered people as inherently valuable to the firm and thus a resource that had to be used effectively (Price 2007). Those were also the views promoted by Craft in its approaches to HR. Obviously, those were the roots of SHRM that positions effective utilization of human resources as the source of strategic competitive advantage (Bratton & Gold 2001).

For both Cadbury and Craft, SHRM stands out as the cyclic combination of several different activities: organization’s direction, environmental analysis, strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation; these altogether exemplify Bratton’s model of SHRM which successfully works in dozens of modern organizations. Moreover, Craft and Cadbury realize that HR are valuable, inimitable, and rare – the view that goes in line with the resource-based view of the firm (Hall 1993). Finally, the success of SHRM in Cadbury and Craft lays in that both organizations were successful in linking their HRM practice to behavioral, performance, and financial outcomes the way they are discussed by Guest (HRM Guide 2005).

As a result, HR stands out as the core of sustained competitiveness in organizations in the long run.