The alignment of strategic human resource management is set to take the corporate world by storm once it is fully embraced. Professionals who are in charge of the sectors in the organizations that use the systems have realized the potential, as well as the benefits of incorporating their human resource heads in other key areas of their operations with many positive effects.
The managers who have adapted the strategies into their mode of operation have experienced rises in the productivity in various aspects of work within their organizations. They are also more familiar with the goings on of the organization at all levels and they can use their influences to deter situations that may be otherwise threatening to the success of the organization.
In the world at present, the business scene has become more focused on globalization with mixed reactions such as uncertainty emanating from competition. The importance of strategic human resource management steps in to save the situation in the world of business institutions that are struggling to keep alive in the shrewd world of business.
Strategic human resource management refers to the methodical administration that acts as a connection between business organizations and man (Roehling 1999, p. 978). The aspects of strategic human resource management, when applied effectually, will serve to assist in maintaining a sustainable competitive edge against the rivals in the industry while at the same time enhancing the business aspects of the organization.
The importance of strategic human resource management is that is serves to lay emphasis on the vital aspects that ought to be looked at in the process of setting up comparisons that may be evident between the strategic goals of the organization as well as the policies that have been formulated that govern the principles of human resource.
There are some of the very important aspects that without which a firm cannot survive without. The firm will only go under if it does not implement the strategies that have been put in place. Without structure, strategy, as well as human resource practice, the future of any firm is bleak.
The main aspects that strategic human resource management seeks to address include integration as well as coordination of the activities that are encompassed in various practical areas that exist in the structured framework of any given business. This is done to achieve the long-term organizational goals of the organization.
In comparison to technical human resource management, strategic management may be categorized as being more or less modern. This is despite the continued advancements that have been made in the field over the past 20 years.
As much as scholars have still not reached a consensus reading the précis definition of the term strategic human resource management (SHRM), the key functions of the field are more or less common sense.
They involve designing as well as implementation of inner policies that are regarded consistent and the practices that make certain that the capital in form of humans that an organization forms the core of the success of the organization (Wooden 2010, p.321-6).
Most business moguls are aware that the human resource that an organization has can offer them a more competitive edge as long as the practices, as well as the policies or principles that they use to manage people are incorporated into their strategic objectives as well as their targets.
Wooden (Wooden 2010, p.321-6), asserted, “The major challenges of profitability, work-life balance, and increased global competition have made the strategic HRM more important to business success than ever before”. This statement forms a basis for the decisive answer, which is in the affirmative.
It has been discovered that recently, organizations have started facing serious challenges that have greatly influenced them. Most of these challenges are concerned with strategic human resource management. Some of the impacts that the organization have faced include the increase in competition globally as well as the sense of profitability and the balance of work and life in individuals in the organization.
In the present situation where all of the institutions in the field of business are seeking to make profits within the challenging economical situations against the large organizations as the competition, all of the organizations are seeking to keep their heads above the water. They all aim to attain the ultimate goal in business, which is profitability.
They face the serious challenge of being able to reduce costs as well as enhance their potential to be more profitable than they were. The aspect of work and life is another serious challenge that the organizations face in their quest to attain profitability and remain afloat. Some of the facets that employees have to juggle in their lives as employees include friends and family as well as their social and mental lives.
The aspects of improving the productivity as well a customer service will greatly reduce absenteeism and increase turnover of the firm. Lack of balance in the lives of employees may result in the employee suffering from burn out at some point in time (Gollan 2009, p. 178-219). The rise in competition is one of the main challenges that firms have to realize and tackle.
There is a marked increase in the arrival of globally competitive organizations in all regions of the world. This is mainly attributed to the dropping of trade barriers as well as the decrease that is being realized in the cost of most transactions. The increase in the number of competitive business organizations will bring about plenty of changes in the field of international trade.
Kaplan and Norton (1992, p.71-79) indicated, “To overcome challenges, the organization and the HR manager need to adopt a strategic approach, be part of the top management team, be involved in corporate planning, develop business know-how, become bottom-line oriented and develop a vision for HRM”.
Strategic human resource management lays emphasis on the cooperation of all of the activities encompassed in the aims of the strategic targets, which are the focus of the organization. Strategic human resource management may be used in order to establish the most acceptable implementer of human resource.
This is in a bid to attain success in the organizations targets, which in turn facilitates the incorporation of human resource practices as well as the policies with each other. It may also incorporate that business strategy that the firm plans to use (Maguire 2002, p. 67-180).
In any organization, the fact that strategic human resource management is one of the most powerful tools that can be used to attain success in pursuit of financial goals is undisputed. Strategic human resource management plays a major role in the daily running as well as the changes that are experienced in any organization.
Strategic human resource management also plays a key role in ensuring that employees perform at their optimum levels. It affects that way they are handled, the nature of their tenure as employees as well as their security of tenure as employees in the organization. It even goes as far as affecting individual relationships among the employees in the organizations.
Strategic human resource management calls for professionals in the field of human resource who are competent at the level of general management to exercise their powers and abilities all over. They ought to be capable of handling their responsibilities as well as those outside of their field of human resource (Drucker 1974 p. 427).
The specialists in the field of human resource who ensure that human resource strategies are sellable in the organization, as well as their abilities to be able to attain the crucial level of influence and partake in executive as well as strategic levels of management ought to help attain the goals of strategic human resource management (Drucker 1974 p. 427).
Additionally, those who can bring about their special talents in handling human resource duties must bring their functions or merge them with the strategies as well as the objectives of the corporate body (Drucker 1974 p. 427).
Following the development of a strategy, the most important step is to implement the strategy effectually. The practices have been taken into consideration to this level. It is exhibited in the mode that it is utilized. Implantation of strategies incorporates the devolution after planning, of the main aims of the organization. It is not as easy as it may appear.
Any organization head will assert that it is one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish. Strategies may be turned into plans, but the daunting task is capable of producing wonderful performances and results in terms of achievement of business goals.
The professionals have proper understanding of the work in the field of human resource, as well as their abilities to carry out evaluations regarding aspects such as business needs, and the external and internal environmental facets. They are also knowledgeable in the technical aspects on the connection of practices that are common in human resource concerning the business strategy of the business in an organization.
In most organizations, majority of the key strategic matters that are faced in the organization make use of the strategic human resource management practices. They are used since they are considered as being the way forward in terms of focusing the attention of many people.
In a bid to win over the challenges that are faced in many organizations, strategic human resource management plans ought to be running individuals in an attempt to enhance the performance effectively in the process of the application of the strategy. Some of the common practices that are included in strategic human resource management encompass deployment of employees after recruiting and training them.
Also included is employee remuneration, as well as appraisal. Handling all of these issues ensures that attainment of the goals of the organization, which is geared towards achieving the vision, mission, as well as the strategic objectives. This implies that majority of the strategies ought to be strategic for the success of the company (Mudrack 1997, p.217-25).
The management team carries out the process of recruitment selectively. This is evident when managers elucidate that they carry out the process in that manner (Caruth & Handlogten 1997, p. 298-314). This is because they only seek to hire the most suitable person for the job. In any case, the criteria that they use to choose the correct person for the job is analyzing the job design as well as the job analysis.
Getting to understand what the job or vacancy entails is one of the strategic rungs in the ladder of recruitment when it comes to choosing a person for the right job. The process should be done well before the interview day and everything regarding the position should be known.
All the facts that are pertaining to the position ought to be at hand by the time the shortlisted interviewees are called. Choosing management executives is one of the most strategic processes in any organization (Sloan 2010, p.324-366).
In order for the organization to anticipate its needs, it needs to come up with a strategic human resource management plan, via the precise and objective outlook that they ought to have compiled, with regards to the specific candidate that they are looking for who can be most suited to the position. Proper scrutiny of resumes ensures that only the most qualified individuals get the chance to serve in the organization.
Most important is the ability of the human resource management team formulating a plan that they will stick to when it come to the process of recruiting and selecting candidates for their organizations. The variables that affect the selection process also vary from organization to organization. This means that not all of the organizations experience the same challenges in the same manner as well as the time.
One organization will always experience their challenges in the course of achieving their set goals, in a different manner from the other.
Zhang (2010, p.69-74) asserted, “Selection procedures include the full range of assessment techniques from traditional paper and pencil tests, performance tests, training programs, or probationary periods and physical, educational, and work experience requirements through informal or casual interviews and unscored application forms”. Various processes can be used to test candidate’s proficiency.
The need to survive becomes the paramount goal for most organizations. Despite the challenges that it holds, the changes that are brought about may only act to enhance efficiency and quality. The competitive edge that an organization gains due to the severe challenges that it undergoes makes it effectual.
In a bid to counter the challenges that an organization faces, the , strategic human resources management team ought to consider the matter of approaching the procedures that they administer in the course of recruitment and selection from a strategic point of view. The strategies used in the recruitment and selection procedures ought to be incorporated into the strategic human resources management, as well as organizational strategies.
It may suffice to state that strategic human resources management is becoming one of the strongest aspects in the world of business.
The role of strategic human resources managers is to ensure that the organization is operating at its optimum in a manner likely to suggest that the main focus of operations is to work for the overall success of the organization as well as to prevail over the challenges while at the same time rake in huge profits.
The moral obligations that human resource administrators must adhere to are some of the most sensitive aspects of any organization. It can be stated that for the organization to attain overall success in its objectives, the role of the strategic human resources management plan ought to encompass much more than the conventional plans used to in the past.
The conventional system of human resource management can be touted as being solely responsible for familiarization quality control as well as labor safety and discipline of newly employed individuals upon induction into the system. There are only a handful of human resource teams that will organize training sessions, as well as organizational enhancement programs or schemes.
The performance of employees will always be questionable if there is lack of training that is more or less compatible with the goals of the organization as well as the work that the organization carries out.
In such instances, even the most adept of employees will encounter difficulties in their aim to attain excellence and perform well. There are some quarters that may overlook the balance of work as well as life thus making it difficult for the employees to perform at their optimum.
It is important to carry out performance appraisal concerned with determining how well employees are doing their job, communicating that information to employees, agreeing on new objectives, and establishing a plan for performance improvement (Cooper 2009, p.290). This is done in a bid to correspond the norms, as well as culture of the organization in a bid to ensure that the workers embrace the values of the firm.
Formerly, the human resource department heads used to act as disciplinarians. Their core duties wee to point out weaknesses and find faults, which they would act upon according to the policies of the firm. Conversely, strategic human resource management concerns itself with the appraisal process. This may include various aspects such as performance feedback and performance assessment as well as incentives.
It also concerns itself with aspects that touch on appraisal management and plans. It pays closer attention to aspects that touch on incentives and feedback in a bid to ensure that the employees’ performance increases rather than regresses. The aim of this program is to make the entire performance of the whole organization a competitive one.
Remuneration of employees is one of the most crucial aspects of strategic human resource management. A methodical approach to the issue of remuneration of employees decreases the levels of prejudice.
This in turn has a recurring effect. Brumbach (1988, p.387-402) stated that the organization will experience difficulties in terms of “monitoring cost-effectiveness, legal compliance, pay equity, the relationship between pay and performance, and whether its remuneration program supports its business strategy”.
Strategic human resource management is crucial when it comes to ensuring the rapid enhancement of the organization as well as the success of the careers of the employees. Coupled with that is the fact that the firm is always recruiting the most talented people in the field whenever vacancies come up.
The personal enhancement schemes coupled with strategic human resource management offers a system that may serve to improve the training that is carried out by human resource departments.
Reference List
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