Human Resources, Strategy And Business Ethic

The ‘‘best fit’’ approach promotes the concept that strategic HR should be inextricably linked to the formulation and implementation of strategic corporate and business objectives (Wilton, 2011). This means that the HR strategy is concerned with matching the employee’s role behaviour with the company‘s mission, values and goals. Wilton (2011) explains this by giving an example whereby if a company‘s business strategy is based on delivering a high quality service, then the HR strategies and policies need to focus on the quality of its employees. This would be achieved by rewarding attitudes and behaviour that match this approach. Boxall and Purcell (2008) support this idea by highlighting that companies may fail if they do not adapt to their environment. The best fit approach therefore aims to improve organisational performance by integrating all activities in such a

Alignment between HRM practices and organizational strategy establishes a coherent system for organizations. There has to be a "fit" between the human resource planning and organizational strategy, Internal fit aligns HR practices with strategic organizational objectives while external fit aligns HR practices with the external environment. The external fit exhibits a more precise fit between quality policy and assertive performance HRM practices (Youndt,

In order to develop a human resource strategy; there must be a linkage of the entire human resource function with the firm’s business strategy in order to improve business strategy execution. The first recommendation

Today 's fast-paced, competitive business environment has resulted in "rediscovery" of the human resource management function as a group that may be able to enhance firm competitiveness and performance by being "strategic" (Dyer & Kochan, 1995; Ulrich, 1997). Strategic Human Resource Management is a term describing an integrated approach to the development of Human Resource Strategy that will enable the organization to achieve its goals (Armstrong, 2005). Whiles strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or more of the organization’s goals. Strategy presents a general direction set for the company and its various components to achieve a desired state in the future. This results from the detailed

Wright and McMahan (1994) define strategic HRM as “the pattern of planned Human Resource deployments and activities intended to enable the organisation to achieve its goals.” A HR function should impact the success of an organisation; a policy must remain current and suitable to both the internal and external environment. Ulrich and Lake (1990) affirm, ‘HRM systems can be the source of organisational capabilities that allow organisations to learn and capitalise on new opportunities.’

The practise of Human Resources is moving from the traditional forms of managing people to a more strategic form whereby the Human Resources function is closely linked with organisational performance and success. This strategic form of human resources has increased the need for the Human Resource professional to understand the linkages between Corporate Strategy, Human Resource Strategy and Employee Integration.

Schuler (1997) summarises Strategic Human Resource Management as expressing how people are to be treated and valued in the workforce as well human resource management's responsibility for articulating the processes which encourage behaviour which is consistent with the organisation's business. In this context strategic human resource management also includes the development of guidelines for the implementation of people-related programs and, the more complex area of co-ordinating and facilitating change.

Human resource management (HRM) has evolved into a huge industry in the business arena. The evolution and advancement of technology has created a global platform for HRM. The effect of globalization in many organizations has opened the door for HRM, and it is a crucial component for a successful business strategy and plan. This paper will define HRM, and discuss HRM’s primary function and role in an organization’s strategic plan.

The "best fit" approach to managing workers assumes that the managers and workers share a commonality; to work together for a common goal, which is the survival and prosperity of the organisation. For this strategy to work the employees must be able to convey the behaviours and ideas of the management in charge. The best fit approach understands that to manage employees effectively each organisation must be seen as a separate entity and managed accordingly, each business is to be understood as different and is to be managed in a different way. With the best fit model of HRM in place, the strategies of managing the firm's workforce should reflect that of the organisation's mission and corporate objectives, which reflects the classical approach to strategic planning, an approach which became popular during the industrial revolution and was used to tell workers how to do their job in a way that resulted in the most productivity and efficiency. The classical approach to strategy saw that employees were trained only in working their jobs in the most efficient way possible. The view of workers as machines rather than human beings is flawed as it leads to the de-motivation of employees who feel little self worth within the organisation due to having little responsibility and being asked to perform

The "best-fit" approach questions the universality assumption of the best-practice perspective. It emphasizes contingency fit between HR activities and the organization's stage of development, an organization's internal structures and its external environment like clients, suppliers, competition and labour markets (Redman and Wilkinson 2009). HR policy should be minted by the appropriate context of individual employees and therefore support the overall competitive strategy. Aligning HRM practices to strategies can enable companies to create potential competitive advantages (Schuler and Jackson 1987 in Redman and Wilkinson 2009).

Instead, human resource practices of ‘best fit’ are more effective when they are designed to fit certain contingencies in the organization’s specific context. Consequently, ‘best practice’ is perceived to improve performance within an organization when a select bundle of policies is implemented and the employees are managed more efficiently. Jeffrey Pfeffer’s (1994) work under this conception offers a list of seven practices assumed to be most beneficial to an organization for achieving competitive advantage ‘through people’. (1) The importance of employment security is emphasized because it is unrealistic to expect such hard work and commitment from employees without some expectation of security on their part. (2) Selective hiring is a source of sustainable competitive advantage through its “capturing” of particularly exceptional human talent (human capital). (3) Self-managed teams require efficient teamwork, and are seen as a route to achievement of more creative solutions. Employees deserve to be rewarded for

More firms’ business strategy can be better realized using the integrative model of HRM. Both employees and firms’ aspirations can be met if the right strategy is used. . HR professionals must be well trained to implement this strategy.

Hard HRM, on the other hand, stresses 'the quantitative, calculative and business-strategic aspects of managing the "headcount resource" in as "rational" a way as for any other factor of production', as associated with a utilitarian-instrumentalist approach (Storey 1992: 29; see also Legge 1995 b). Hard HRM focuses on the importance of 'strategic fit', where human resource policies and practices are closely linked to the strategic objectives of the organization (external fit), and are coherent among

As the world is turning out to be more aggressive and unstable than any other time in recent memory, producing based enterprises are looking to increase upper hand at all cost and are swinging to more inventive sources through HRM practices (Sparrow, Schuler, & Jackson, 1994). HR practices has been defined by (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2016) as “the means through which your human resources personnel can develop the leadership of your staff.”

Within this essay an in depth analysis will be conducted on the difference between Human Resource Management and Strategic Human Resource Management using contemporary perspectives. Human Resource Management (HRM) is the process of managing human resources in a systematic way. It is a practice devised to maximise the performance of employees and is concerned with the application of management principles to manage organisational personnel while paying attention to the policies and systems of the entity (Delaney & Huselid, 1996). Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) is a function of management which entails development of policies, programmes and practices related to human resources, which are aligned with business strategy so as to achieve the strategic objectives of the organisation (Patrick M. Wright, 1992). Its primary purpose is to improve the performance of the business and maintain a culture that encourages innovation and works continuously to gain competitive advantage. In this essay the Resource-Based View, High Performance Management and High Commitment Management perspectives of Strategic Human Resource Management and Traditional and Collaborative