Summary of all lectures of the course Strategic HRM/SHRM (EBM011A05). It's a mandatory course of the MSc HRM that is offered by the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG) / University of Groningen.
Video lecture #1 – SHRM fundamentals (ch. 1,2)
Fundamentals of strategic HRM:
1. What approach do we take to study SHRM?
2. What are human resources?
3. What is human resource management?
4. Who are involved in HRM?
5. What roles do HR specialists fulfil?
6. What are the strategic goals of HRM?
7. What is strategic in HRM?
1. Analytical approach to studying SHRM
What do managers do in HRM? (description)
Why do they do what they do? (explanation)
2. What are human resources?
= characteristics that are intrinsic to human beings, which people can apply to the various tasks and
challenges of their lives
• Our knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs)
• Our physical and emotional health, motivations, intellectual capabilities, and personalities (Big
Five) that underpin our KSAs
➔ Who owns human resources?
Individuals possess own human resources and have rights over how and where to use them
Organizations depend on people who have the human resources they need to be successful
HRM is an inevitable process in organizations
3. What is HRM?
= the process through which management builds a workforce with the kind of human resources their
organization needs and creates the kind of human performances that will make it successful
• HRM is a management activity carried out to achieve organizational goals
• Managers design and use HRM systems to be able to manage work and people
➔ What are HRM systems (HRM models)?
HRM policies and practices for work management:
Design of work (can range from low-discretion jobs to highly autonomous jobs)
Design and implementation of teamwork in team settings
Design and implementation of organizational change
HRM policies and practices for people management:
Workforce planning, recruitment & selection, training & development, performance management,
compensation, incentives, retention
4. Who are involved in HRM?
a) Senior management is responsible for:
o Aligning HRM with organizational goals and strategy (vertical fit)
o Aligning HRM with other functional areas (M, P, F; horizontal fit)
o Aligning HR policies and practices with one another (internal fit)
o Involving other stakeholders in HRM processes
b) Line management is responsible for:
o Implementing and using HRM practices to hire, develop, motivate, reward, and retain
employees
c) HR specialists are responsible for:
o Supporting managers to align HRM with the overall business strategy, and designing and
implementing HR policies and practices
d) Employees are responsible for:
o Developing perceptions of HRM policies and practices
o Being involved in and using HRM practices
, 5. What roles do HR-specialists fulfil?
Strategic partner:
• Supports senior management and line management to develop a HR strategy
• Supports senior management and line management to align HR policies and practices with the organization overall
business strategy and external environment
• Helps senior management and line management to align HRM with the other functional areas (production, marketing
finance, etc.)
• Helps senior management and line management to align HR practices with one another
Change agent:
• Helps line management and employees to adapt to changing circumstances
• Participates in change management teams and communicates planned changes to employees
• Tries to gain employees’ trust for changes
• Prepares employees for the change by planning training sessions
• Helps the employees to acquire new skills that they need for performing the changed work/tasks
Administrative expert:
• Develops and designs HR practices
• Delivers HR instruments and services
• Has knowledge about labour laws and keeps the personal data of employees accurate
• Introduces and operates HR operations systems and electronic HR practices/tools
Employee champion:
• Focusses on protecting the interests of employees
• Creates a positive company and work culture in which people like to work
• Uses surveys to measure employee satisfaction and helps support short comings
• Tries to ensure that managers are fair to all employees
• Can help the change agent by offering training and development of employees and ensure that employees have
opportunities to apply for new jobs/promotions within the organization
6. What are the goals of SHRM?
I. Economic goals
a) Cost-effective labour
» HRM needs to secure the economic viability of the firm (making a profit that investors and lenders
consider acceptable)
» Thus, the goal of HRM is making human resources productive at affordable cost
b) Organizational flexibility
» Short-run responsiveness
Numerical flexibility (e.g. overtime, temporary/zero-hours contracts)
Financial flexibility (e.g. mix of wages, performance-based bonuses)
Functional flexibility (e.g. cross-trained or multi-skilled employees)
» Long-run agility
Capacity to create endurable changes to cope with radically changing environments (e.g. offshoring
production facilities → HRM model for dual workforce)
Long-run agility is difficult to achieve, because established thoughts and routines in organizations are
hard to change
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