HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management

Abstract

In today's turbulent economy, company executives and human resource (HR) practitioners, most especially, are called to move away from their traditional administrative functions and to play a more strategic role in strengthening organisational capabilities. Because more is expected of people today, HR practitioners must be more than an administrative arm of an organisation and be increasingly involved in enabling growth, productivity, and profitability. HR professionals must understand the conditions of internal and external environment in which the organisation operates. Realizing the importance of these terms and conditions for HR professionals can make the HR-solutions to promote business development. Consequently, HR is becoming a strategic partner in business. Receipt and interpretation of company accounts can be a good start. Further, HR professionals must learn market conditions, conditions of production of goods, the competitive environment, customer interaction, the conditions of research and development, management, etc. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the assertion that in the current economic climate, increased competition has made the HRM function more important to business success than ever before.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Human Resource Management5

Universalistic perspective5

Contingency perspective6

The changing purpose of HRM6

The HR function of the future: new roles and a changing focus7

Current Economic Climate and HR Strategies8

HR strategy9

1. Connecting HR strategy with the overall business strategy10

2. Identify and clarify metrics for HR - a balance scorecard10

3. Define a model for HR service delivery11

4. Act as a performance enhancing agent via behavioural change12

HR is not measured in dollars12

HR Metrics for creating value in organisations13

Integration of Human Resource Management into Planning and Decision Making Process14

Strategic Human Resource Management15

Benefits of a Strategic Approach to HR16

HRM and SHRM17

Importance of HRM for Organisational Success17

Conclusion18

References20

Human Resource Management

Introduction

Many forces affect businesses and how they operate today. These range from globalization to increased competition, to the changing age and competency profile of the current workforce. As an enabler for the knowledge economy, information technology can also be considered a driving force. In the wake of recent terrorist threats and corporate scandals, security and corporate governance concerns also expand the operational requirements of a business (Ulrich 2000, pp: 15- 21).

While these forces may affect companies in varying degrees over time, some organisational realities remain unchanged. Management will always want to leave a healthy organisation for the next generation, and this may entail investing in and maximizing various assets. The increasing recognition of “human capital” as an asset with a significant impact on sustained competitive advantage is driving the transformation of many companies' HR function (Becker and Huselid 2001, pp: 25-31).

A great deal of research still needs to be conducted about the specific needs of employees and organisations. The field of management is still relatively new, and until recently, the existing research mainly focused on describing the workforce and understanding the apparent differences in pay (Bhattacharya and Wright 2005, pp: 929-948). However, recent articles examining human resources issues in organisation have begun to build our understanding of what makes working in the organisation unique and how we can begin to better motivate and ...