Aligning HRM with business strategy
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Now that you have given some initial critical thought to the notion of aligning HRM with business strategy. Be sure to discuss ways in which your experiences and differing perspectives can help you understand what you have read and, in turn, how your readings can help you expand your thinking about strategic HRM within an organisation.
Exploring similarities and differences in your perspectives on the potential for alignment between business strategy and HRM practices
Sharing alternative perspectives on the notion of ‘best practice’ vs. ‘best fit’ as a means to alignment
Deepening your understanding of what it means to take a critical stance on management practice, particularly strategic HRM
Asking insightful questions about the experiences of your colleagues and about their interpretations of ideas from the Learning Resources
Extending the discussion into new but relevant areas
In your essay, bring in examples of how traditional aspects of the HR function, such as recruitment, selection, succession planning, performance management, reward management, talent development, and disciplinary practices, might become better aligned with business strategy, and how this might benefit or present challenges to an organisation.
The following conditions must meet in the essay:
1) I want a typical and a quality answer which should have about 1100 words.
2) The answer must raise appropriate critical questions.
3) The answer must include examples from experience or the web with references from relevant examples from real companies.
4) Do include all your references, as per the Harvard Referencing System,
5) Please don’t use Wikipedia web site.
6) I need examples from peer reviewed articles or researches.
Appreciate each single moment you spend in writing my paper
Best regards
SAMPLE ANSWER
Aligning HRM with business strategy
Introduction
The term strategy refers to the general or specific elements of a business’ plan which have been formulated to ensure it achieves a certain goal in the near or distant future. The employees of an organization play an important role in ensuring that it meets its commercial objectives to the market which demands products as well as to its investors who demand profits and growth. Business strategy therefore has a lot to do with the achievement of these objectives with special attention being given to a specific set of parameters such as monetary value, volumes moved, market share realized among others. The work force of the organization should therefore be appropriately aligned to these goals as this plays a critical role in the achievement of corporate strategy for the business organization. A good understanding of the dynamics that exist between Human Resource Management strategies and the achievement of these objectives (Martin and Fellenz, 2010).
Similarities between Strategic HRM practices
In this exercise, strategic HRM practices that will be analyzed include the manner in which strategic HRM is applied in the processes of recruitment, selection, succession planning and also performance management (Allen et al, 2010). In Strategic HRM the differences and similarities of these activities need to be carefully considered as this knowledge will help in the planning process. These will be briefly illustrated below.
Similarities in the Strategic Human Resource Management Processes
The main similarity that strategic HRM processes have is the fact that almost all of the decisions made are based on a reverse analysis of the objectives whereby a path is drawn from the end result towards the initial action. This is done in with the aim of ensuring that plans being formulated will lead towards a desired result rather than going for an experimental approach. This is very much in line with the strategy component of this process (Armstrong, 2002). If an organization will for instance want to develop a new type of housing for its market they first have to be in possession of a relatively solid idea of all the defining characteristics of these houses such as the materials, the costing and the sizes. Based on this definition, the human resource manager can work backwards by analyzing the number of workers needed, the possible time-frame, the available budget, the skill level required, how to best inform prospective employees about the opportunity and other factors (Baker et al, 2014). After this is done the process of recruitment will take place in such a manner that will attract a caliber of employees whose attributes are aligned to those of this firm.
Another similarity of strategic HRM is the fact that the procedures that are laid out are geared at ensuring the employee is continually progressing in terms of his or her skills and responsibilities in the organization. The degree of progress will obviously vary but it is important to note that there is no single stage where the employee is considered to be stagnant. Following the recruitment phase, the employees begin to go through a series of trainings and probation to find out if they are capable of adding value to the employing organization (Chen et al, 2014). Those who pass the probation are given more responsibilities and during this period it is expected that their skills and output will improve over time. The HRM department also organizes for seminars and trainings that are designed to ensure the employees are aligned with the strategic plan of the organization. Many organizations also offer to sponsor their employees to courses that help in upgrading their skills such as masters programs. There are several motivation strategies that are put in place to ensure the progression of these improvements.
Differences
One key difference in the application of SHRM strategies is the type of focus applied to the human resource of the organization (Torrington et al, 2011). There are two main approaches namely the shotgun approach and the rifle approach and these are used to differentiate between widespread application of strategy and subjective focus of strategy. During the stages of recruitment as well as team building the strategy is applied subjectively across the entire population of prospective workers and employees respectively. This approach is employed when the desired result is a uniform action by the group being targeted. This could be for them to fill out applications for a vacancy or for them to improve their communication for prospective employees and current employees respectively. This takes places at the pace set by the organization.
The rifle approach refers to a scenario where a SHRM strategy is applied to an individual based on attributes he or she has been found to have (Downs and Swailes, 2013). This may be charisma or creativity which is much needed in improving the performance of the marketing department of an organization. The HRM department may sponsor such an individual for a given course that will better define his or her skills. Such a person may also be given more responsibilities and challenges with the aim of preparing them for a given management position. Apprenticeship is a rudimentary form of subjective application of SHRM policies in an organization. The pace of such initiatives is often dependent on the rate at which the target employee is gaining skills. It is often hoped that such an individual will play a leadership role in furthering the strategic plan of an organization (Wei et al, 2014).
Critical Question: Are today’s Human Resource Managers able to distinguish the relevance of these two approaches to strategy?
Best Practices and Best Fit
Best practices are strategies that have been proven to be effective in the achievement of Strategic Human resource Management. They key strength which also makes them attractive is the fact that they are applied by industry leaders whose products are used as benchmarks in the different industries. It is believed that this approach promises benefits for any firm that incorporates them into its day to day operations. The Best fit approach on the other hand advocates for the implementation of HRM policies that have been formulated to correspond with parameters pertaining to a specific organization. This makes it significantly more subjective than the best practices approach.
The key advantage of the best practices approach is the fact that it is a ready-made strategy that can be applied as soon as it is acquired. The main advantage of best fit on the other hand is the fact that it can be easily adjusted to unique aspects of a business strategy.
The main disadvantage of the best practices approach is the fact that it is limited to strategies that are generic within a given industry and offers no real help in product differentiation. The challenge of the best fit method is that it takes a lot of resources to develop and this does not guarantee its working as it may still not function.
Evidence from the field indicates that many HRM professionals employ both of these strategies with best practices being used for generic aspects of management and best fit being applied to the differentiation strategies. Best fit method has a more profound impact in the alignment strategies since they are more flexible.
Critical Question: Is it possible for an organization to rely purely on Best Fit or Best Practice exclusively in its HRM alignment strategy?
References
Allen, D. G., Bryant, P. C., & Vardaman, J. M. (2010). Retaining talent: Replacing misconceptions with evidence-based strategies. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 24(2), 48-64.
Armstrong, M., & Baron, A. (2002). Strategic HRM: The key to improved business performance. CIPD Publishing.
Baker, T. (2014) Attracting and Retaining Talent: Becoming an Employer of Choice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Chen, S., Han, M., & Zheng, Y. (2014). The Talent Training Model Construction and Implementation Strategy of Collaborative Innovation. Education Research Frontier, 4(3).
Downs, Y., & Swailes, S. (2013). A capability approach to organizational talent management. Human Resource Development International, 16(3), 267-281.
Martin, J and Fellenz, M (2010) Organizational Behaviour and Management, 4th ed.
Torrington, D., Hall, L. and Taylor, S. (2011) Human Resources Management. Eighth Edition. Prentice Hall.
Wei, Y., Zheng, Z., Wu, Y., & Yin, X. (2014). Talent cultivation of Excellent Engineer Training Plan in Henan Polytechnic University. Science, 2(4), 96-100.
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