Operations and Human Resource Management: Working together for a better tomorrow
Lori A. Erickson
East Tennessee State University
Introduction Historically, operations management and human resource management have been separate fields, only interacting for administrative issues regarding payroll and other matters (Boudreau et al., 2002). However, human resources play an integral role in the development of strategic plans for organizations. Since no operations can take place without the human capital necessary to implement the operations, special attention should be paid to the linkages between the operational strategy and the human resource strategy of the firm. According to Ahamd and Schroeder (2003, p. 19) “human resources are
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If employees are not paid, they will not work; if machines are not running, employees have nothing to do; if the bills are not paid, the plant cannot continue operations. The majority of the functions within a firm are interrelated and dependent upon one another.
Human Resources as a Strategic Partner in Operations Martell and Carroll (1995) stated that there are two types of human resources: strategic and operative. They went on to describe four characteristics of human resource initiatives: (1) They are long-term oriented; (2) They are connected with the corporate strategies; (3) They are connected with the organizational performance; and (4) The line managers are involved in the details of decisions regarding human resource management. Too often, both operations managers and human resource mangers forget that they are working toward the same goal. Often, human resources will adopt policies and procedures that are hard for line managers to implement, and line managers expect human resources to have an inherent understanding of the processes taking place on the plant floor. The relationship between the best human resource practices and organizational performance must always
The HR department officials in most organizations perform as they should. In most cases, they also focus on achieving the right things. Human Resource departments focus organizing, controlling, and hiring employees in organizations. When organizations apply HR practices, the results are great client satisfaction, a good net margin, and reduced sickness absence (Richard and Johnson, 2001). Vermeeren et al. (2014) posit that there is a great relationship between performance and HRM. Most organizations use the human resource department to ensure that operations run smoothly.
Human resource departments today have a more distinct, calculated position within organizations, and human resource strategy influences the bottom line. “One of the challenges for HR leaders is convincing executive leadership teams that human capital is one of the most important resources in which the company can invest” (Mayhew, 2014, p.). Subsequently, “this return on investment is an essential part of the argument for including HR as part of an overall business strategy” (Mayhew, 2014, p.). Human resource departments utilize the information given to them from company executives and leaders, coupled with their respective expertise on all things personnel, and they plan and implement staffing concerns for the betterment of the organization. From preparing job analysis, to comparing inventory and forecasting, it is the responsibility of human resources to consider the objectives of an organization and fulfill those goals while operating the specific planning relative to HR.
In an era of organizational flux due to competition and globalization, companies and employees are faced with constant change. Leaders must be able to adapt to change as the environment shifts. HR has been known as the organizational change agent, administrative expert, and employee advocate. More recently they have been regarded as business strategic partners for many organizations. In order to be successful and remain competitive in today’s market, Human Resources (HR) must be considered a strategic partner if an organization wants to flourish. Top executives today commit significant resources to ensure that their company’s functions are capable of rapid change and achieving their
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
Typically operations management covers three broad areas of an organisation that helps to produce both products and services at an effective cost in both effort and financial cost. Human Resource management is the art of maintaining staff wellness, benefits and ergonomics to maintain a pleasant working environment for all staff to be apart of. This is critical for success so that staff produce quality products and services with minimal driving from management.
Contemporary globalization of businesses and growing global market competition has made effective human resource planning as one of the major strategies to forge ahead and remain proactive. It can be said that an organization 's success lies to a great extent to the knowledge, skills, creativity, and dedication of its workforce. Every aspect of an organization needs human capital to drive its activities or operations to achieve individual strategic goals and objectives towards its purpose of existence, growth, and competitive status. Companies can compete at all levels of the marketplace through improved commitment not only through creativity, innovation, and research, but also human resource development (Truong, Heijden, & Rowley, 2010). In this regard, the human resource planning is needed to ensure a systematic analysis of human resource needs so that the right quantity and quality of employees are always available when required. Fundamentally, organizations are looking for the best people that would help drive them to their desired destination of achieving their missions. Therefore, it is important to develop human resource strategies to support organizational strategies, through measures such as forecasting human resource requirements, and effective strategic staffing. Technically, an organization 's mission, goals, and objectives drive its strategy and human resource (HR) and staffing strategy in an interactive manner. The purpose of this
Business environment is facing a rapid change that reminds the business management to focus on its core competencies to survive and sustain in the competitive environment. The core competencies can be developed by strategic human resource management. According to Armstrong (2006) employees are the valued assets for a company. The strategic human resource management is mainly developed in accordance to the fact that human resources need to be managed strategically for the company to enjoy sustainable competitive advantage.
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
According to Allison and Hobbs (2010: pp 590-602), resource management more especially the human capital is critical in ensuring there is increased productivity and performance of the organization in the market. Apple Inc. operations management ensures the employees are well managed and motivated with the focus on increasing efficiency and effectiveness in their operations to increase service delivery in an organization. The human capital resource can be enhanced in an organization through increased training and investments in educational facilities to increase their
Human Resources Management and Operational Management are two very distinct managements that are strangely co-dependent of each other in my view.
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.
This paper intends to define, firstly, the Human Resource management, functions and then, broadly, the System in terms of General System Theory. Strategic Human Resource Management has been defined in various ways and by various scholars. Following are the most precise definitions: “Designing and implementing a set of internally consistent policies and practices that ensure a firm’s human capital (employees’ collective knowledge, skills and abilities) contributes to the achievement of its business objectives” (Huselid, Jackson, Schuler and Randoll, 1997: 171) “It is the pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities intended to enable a firm to achieve its goals” (Wright, 1998: 187). First, the Human Resource System, consists
Human resource management faces many challenges and operates in a constant environment of change. Two of the most important challenges to the role of human resource management in the future is the ability to move to a strategic human resource model and the capacity
The term Human Resource Strategy is well defined as - “Human Resource management (HRM) is a strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasises that leverage people 's capabilities is critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, this being achieved through a distinctive set of integrated employment policies, programmes and practices.” [ Bratton and Gold,4e,p3]
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