Strategic Human Resource Management

Part A
Answer to the question no: 01
Best fit approach is the centre of the strategic HRM. The Best Fit approach emphasizes that HR
strategies and organizational strategies must be aligned, and Best Fit would be achieved only
when HR strategies work means to an end (organizational strategy). HR strategies become more
efficient when it is linked/ tailored to its surrounding context or environment of the
business (Abascal, Zardoya and Posada, 2005)
Weakness of Best fit models:
Best fit models tend to ignore employee interests in the pursuit of enhanced economic
performance.
The lack of emphasis on the internal context of individual businesses within the same
sector.
Reliance on the classical rational-planning approach to strategy-making.

Strengths of best fit approach:
Can develop a competitive strategy.
Encouraging teamwork then rewarding individual performance.
Make sure that practices are in proportion to the organization.


Answer to the question no: 02
Human resource management is a function in organizations designed to maximize employee performance
in service of their employers strategic objectives. HR strategy is a vision for the organization. The whole
organization must engage with the strategy, live with it and breathe it (Gallagher, 2000).
Human resources planning are a process that identifies current and future human resources needs for an
organization to achieve its goals. Human resources planning serve as a link between human resources
management and the overall strategic plan of an organization.
There is a big difference between manpower planning and human resource planning. In HRP the
managers are concerned with motivating people, a process in which cost, number, control and systems
interact and play a part. In manpower planning the managers concerned with the numerical elements of
forecasting supply, demand, matching and control in which people are a part.


Answer to the question number: 03
Reward strategy clarifies what an organization wants to do in the longer term to develop and implement
reward policies, practices and processes that will further the achievement of its business goals. It is a
declaration of intent, which establishes priorities for developing and acting on reward plan that, can be
aligned to business and HR strategies and to the needs of people in the organization(Boyd and Salamin,
2001).
Concepts in reward strategy are: Holistic, best fit, integrative, strategic, people centered, customized,
distinctive, and evolutionary.
Elements of a reward strategy: pay, benefits, individual growth, quality of work, organizational culture,
positive work environment, non-financial recognition, work life balance.





Answer to the question no: 04
The data need to analyse the potential absence problem of the organization:
Name or identification of the employee concerned
where they can be contacted
date of the first day of absence
cause of absence
whether the injury or illness is considered to be work-related
working days absent (updated regularly)
date the employee was last contacted and the outcome
expected length of absence, if known
Return-to-work date.
short-term or acute medical conditions
work-related injury
Other.
Answer to the question number: 05
Strengths of best practice models of HRM:
much agreement / tradition on basic best practice
Established rules of thumb for selection; training; appraisal methods.
No need to re-invent(Wales, 2000).
Weakness of best practice models:
There is great diversity of best practice which moves away from uniformity.
Danger of becoming an end in itself at the expense of company goals /
interests
Can be conflict between benefit to company & benefit to worker re-
engineering & downsizing.
Employees may lose their voice.
May not be appropriate in all situations or even in sections of same
business.
Answer to the question number: 06
To develop a reward strategy we must consider three things. They are:
Integration: Not only must the reward strategy fully support and complement the organizational
strategy, it must also be integrated with other HR activities, such as Performance Management
and Learning and Development in order to be successful(Armstrong and Murlis, 2007).
Improvements driven: The success of the reward strategy will be dependent on how well it
drives individual and team performance, and ultimately organizational success.
Financial control: Reward policy must be sustainable even during more challenging economic
times, in order to be successful.

Answer to the question number: 07
Recommendation on the mechanisms of employee involvement:
Employee involvement and voice participation is very significant factor in achieving highest level of
efficiency and task effectiveness. The mechanisms of employee voice participation are being redefined in
ways that formulates four different manifestations of voice (Heneman, H. & Berkely, R., 1999).
First, voice can be enunciated as Individual Dissatisfaction which is focused at a particular problem or
fact with the work management.
Second, Employee voice should express Collective Organisation that neutralizes the source of power to
accountable management.
Third, Employee involvement should contribute through raising active voice in Management Decision-
making and be concerned regarding productivity improvements and efficiency enhancement.
Fourth, Mutuality of Interest can be another employee involvement tools which can help in developing
understanding through active listening with compassion (Mayson, S. & Barrett, R., 2006).

Answer to the question number: 08
Recruitment and employee selection practices efforts to attract talented candidates who are most qualified
and ultimately, possess the capacity to make hiring and investment decisions for a company efficiently
(Barber, A.E., 1998). Because of the general importance of seeking skilled and motivated employees,
both the practice of recruitment and selection process is designed according to the job position and
responsibilities. However, some authors argue that the recruitment and selection are areas where growth
companies typically rely on unstructured practices. Therefore, the recruitment and selection practices
plays very vital role to deliver Strategic Human Resource Management by building a qualified pool of
employee candidates who possess the required skill for efficient work performance (Dess, G.G., &
Lumpkin, G.T., 2003).
Answer to the question number: 09
Principles of human resources can be well summarized by 10 cs (Mayhew, 2014);
Comprehensiveness: This includes proper management of all the people the
organization is working with.
Cost-effectiveness: Company should check their remuneration process in order to sustain
itself (Employment.blurtit.com, 2014).
Control: In order to make sure the consistency of productivity and quality firms should
take charge over their employees.
Coherence: Firms should make coordination with its work to its mission and vision.
Communication: Proper communication can raise firms achievement.
Credibility: Firms should maintain their credibility to their customers.
Creativity: Firms should make new ideas and new ways of performing things.
Competence: Organizations should bring the skilled workers into the sophisticated work.
Change: Organizations need to accustom themselves with the upcoming change.
Commitment: Firms need devoted employees to meet the objectives one by one.


Answer to the question number: 10
Best practice or high performance work can be explained further as the systems and HR methods that
have additive, universal and positive consequences on organizations performance. The main assumption
is that firms may achieve high commitment and high performance if certain models are followed which
are universal (Wales, 2000) Three best practice models are leadership, culture and organizational strategy.
Some similarities and dissimilarities are given below;


Part B
Answer to the question number: 01
The practice of strategic human resource management is based on the view based resources management
and focuses on how companies should organize, implement, and the sequence of its human resource
management practices in order to strengthen their human capital (Barney, J. & Wright, P., 1998). This
process provides a framework for companies to improve the way the company can respond to your
competitive environment by aligning key HR systems (recruitment and selection, training and
development, and reward systems) aspects focusing on core business strategy. In this sense, strategic
human resource management focuses on internal alignment of each component of a system of human
resource management so that each part is fed smoothly into other components of human resources
(Barrett, R. & Mayson, S., 2007). There is variety of effective strategies available for efficient recruitment
to small and entrepreneurial firms. More specifically, this approach encourages managers to think about
how each practice independent human resources (e.g. recruitment, selection, training, etc.) affect all other
practices (e.g. compensation , performance evaluation, retention of employees). Therefore, this approach
focuses on the internal practices of independent alignment of human resources in a way that maximizes
the capacity of human resources (i.e. employees) to contribute to company performance and longevity.

Answer to the question number: 02
Performance Management System is the efficiency tool of organizational effectiveness for employers
strategic human resource management (Huselid, M.A., & Becker, B.E., 1997). Performance management
system has three key selective areas that functions in order to maintain the performance standard (Starner,
T., 2013). Those three key selective areas include
Goal Setting: The effective ways to determine the particular objectives to be achieved over a
limited track of time.
Reviewing Performance: The procedure of evaluating progress toward the desired goals.
Plans for Performance improvement: The process of evaluating each particular individual
work performance standard.
The aim of this performance management system was to highlight management practices implemented in
common human resources throughout the country. However, the systems are not necessarily placed in
strategic application or in a manner that would create a competitive advantage (Carlson, D.S., Upton, N.,
& Seaman, S., 2006). The implementation of strategic HR initiatives, managers think of two ways which
includes: internal alignment (between each initiative independent human resources) and external
alignment (between system around human resources and global competitive strategy companies) and how
these forms of aid alignment create employees who are able to meet their basic obligations in a way that
allows the tasks of the company to develop a strong competitive advantage. It is important to recognize
that there are other common systems of human resource management that are not covered in this system,
such as compensation and reward systems and feedback evaluations.

Answer to the question number: 03
Reward strategic should always include performance related pay because this is the most
justified way to reward an employee. Employees skills should be given importance and
appreciation from the top management (Boyd and Salamin, 2001)
Rewards are very much important to encourage work and increase productivity in the
organizations. Rewards can be given by providing extra salary, different incentives etc. But
performance related reward is very much crucial for both the employee and also for the
organizations. The organization can find out their best and skilled employees through this
process and also the rewarded employees feel more committed to the organisation. Performance
related pay or merit pay is very much for an individual employee. For many firms this is
considered as the main reward strategy. In many firms time based pay, seniority pays etc. Now
the question is why should organizations pay the employees or reward the employees on basis of
performance. The answer is very simple. If firms want to bring skilled people on the important
position they must reward the employees on the basis of their performance or not skilled
employee yet young will miss his/her righteous position in the organisation due to isolation of
the top management and the position will be held by senior or aged employees.


Answer to the question number: 04
Individual performance related pay (merit pay): Individual performance related pay is the
most popular and used payment system. Under this process individual workers get rewarded with
the basic salary due to their significant contribution that assists organisations to reach their
mission and vision (Boyd and Salamin, 2001). This sort of reward is also provided for showing
extraordinary merit or talent on certain fields.
Time based pay: Time based system is the most used payment system. The idea is to provide
payment after certain period of time is passed into the organisation. So it is clear that the
employees must be manual worker.
Skills based pay: Skill based pay is very much logical. The main purpose is to keep encouraging
skilled employees in the organizations in order to motivate them and increase productivity. The
more the skill the more the payment will be. So this reward can be varied person to person.
Team based pay: Team based pay is one kind of performance related pay. This sort of pay is
very much popular now a day but still is not out of critics. Under this system employees
performing in a team are rewarded based on their skill and performance. Here all the team
members get the reward for fulfilling certain company goals and the amount is equal.







References
1. Abascal, F., Zardoya, R. and Posada, D. (2005). ProtTest: selection of best-fit models of
protein evolution. Bioinformatics, 21(9), pp.2104--2105.
2. Armstrong, M. and Murlis, H. (2007). Reward management. 1st ed. London: Kogan
Page.13
3. Barber, A.E., (1998). Recruiting Employees. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication
4. Barney, J. & Wright, P., (1998). On becoming a strategic partner: The role of human resources
in gaining a competitive advantage. Human Resource Management, 37, p. 31-46.
5. Barrett, R. & Mayson, S., (2007). Human resource management in growing small firms. Journal
of Small Business and Enterprise Development, ed. 14, p. 307-320.
6. Boyd, B. and Salamin, A. (2001). Strategic reward systems: A contingency model of pay
system design. Strategic Management Journal, 22(8), pp.777--792.
7. Carlson, D.S., Upton, N., & Seaman, S., (2006). The impact of human resource practices and
compensation design on performance: An analysis of family owned SMEs.
8. Dess, G.G., & Lumpkin, G.T., (2003). Strategic management: Creating competitive advantages.
Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
9. Employment.blurtit.com, (2014). What Are The Principles Of Human Resources
Management? - Blurtit. [online] Available at: http://employment.blurtit.com/55610/what-
are-the-principles-of-human-resources-management [Accessed 9 May. 2014].
10. Gallagher, P. (2000). Human resource planning. 1st ed. Kent, C.T.: Scitech.
11. Huselid, M.A., & Becker, B.E., (1997). The impact of high performance work systems,
implementation effectiveness, and alignment with strategy on shareholder wealth. Academy of
Management Proceedings, p. 144-148.
12. Huselid, M. A., Jackson, S. E., & Schuler, R. S., (1997). Technical and strategic human resource
management effectiveness as determinants of firm performance. Academy of Management
Journal, 40, p. 171-188.
13. Heneman, H. & Berkely, R., (1999). Applicant attraction practices and outcomes among small
businesses. Journal of Small Business Management, 37, p. 53-74.
14. Mayhew, R. (2014). Principles of Human Resource Planning | eHow. [online] eHow.
Available at: http://www.ehow.com/list_7417863_principles-human-resource-
planning.html [Accessed 9 May. 2014].
15. Mayson, S. & Barrett, R., (2006). The "science" and "practice" of HRM in small firms. Human
Resource Management Review, 16, 447-455.
16. Starner, T. (2013). SHRM Offers Performance Management Standard. [online]
www.HREOnline.com. Available at:
<http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=534354955> [Accessed 9 May. 2014].

17. Wales, N. (2000). Best Practice Model.