Strategic human resource management
Hoorcollege 1
Employability = career potential
,Why strategic HRM important for your (job) future?
employees want money, satisfaction (purpose), being part of a social network
In order to be a good supervisor you have to study the ambitions, needs and
preferences of each individual employee. Otherwise you can’t manage the
human resources. This is also called talent management
HRM expresses that you don’t only have to manage your personel but also the
resources of your personel. This implies that sometimes you have to fire people
It deals with the allignment between individual goals and organisational goals
Focus on strategic HRM leadership
Ambitions are a strong predictor of career success. Believe in your one strength
is only possible when you have ambitions. Then you start finetuning your
ambitions in relation to your competences, and you try to fill in the gaps
between your competences
CHRO’s = chief human resource officer
HR was lacking because it was soft, not translateble in money
find empirical proof (evidence based knowledge) for the fact that human
resources practicers predict employee outcomes and these predict organisational
performances
SO:
HR practicer employee outcomes organisational outcomes
betekent: positively/negatively predict
Examples of HR practicer: education, training and development practices,
teambuilding, socialisation, selection
Examples of employee outcomes: well-being, performance, employee turnover
(and the intention to) = leaving the company (this is helpful when downsizing /
outplacement, help find alternatives)
Examples of organisational outcomes: whistleblowing, profit
“…employees matter and the management of employees (human resource
management) is a potential source for achieving organizational goals.”
Strategic HRM in the 21st century (volgens Schnabel), characteristics:
Impact of organizational change
o Acquisitions
o Mergers
o Reorganizations
o Strategic alliances
o Private equity interventions
o Global crisis
o Financial crisis
o Ageing population
o Etc.
have impact on organizations and employees
5 I’s (Schnabel):
1) Internationalization is increasing
2) Individualization is increasing
, o Individual preferences and needs, fulfil affinities in work and
private life)
3) Informalization
o Power distance
4) Informatization (technological changes, ICT)
5) Intensification
o Individuals are more network orientated, work-life balance more
important
Competitiveness
o All kinds of levels: sustainability, globalisation and technology
Three perspectives (MHRM, IHRM & SHRM)
o MHRM = micro HRM (=organisational behaviour, protecting the
well-being of people) focused on individual employee
(development)
It covers the sub functions of HR policy and practice including
recruitment & selection, induction & socialization, and training &
development.
MHRM is closely related to the studies in Organizational Behaviour
and Occupational Psychology often focused on the impact of single
HR practices on employee attitudes and behaviours.
Instroom, doorstroom en uitstroom (each phase requires different
activities)
o IHRM = international HRM (deals with international companies,
expatriates)
IHRM is concerned with HRM in multinational companies (MNCs) and
HRM across borders (Brewster, 2004). IHRM is focused on issues
such as the transferability of HR practices across business units in
different countries, the optimal management of expatriates and the
impact of different institutional country contexts on human resource
management.
o SHRM = strategic HRM (=align the micro focus with the strategy /
organisational level)
It focuses on issues of linking HRM to the business strategy,
designing high performance work systems and adding value through
good people management in an attempt to gain sustained
competitive advantage (Delery & Doty, 1996). The concept of ‘fit’
plays a central role within SHRM.
Stakeholder perspective = we take the responsibility as HRM
researchers to take into account perspectives, feelings etc. of everyone
involved (for instance: individual employees, supervisors, partners, team-
members, society as a whole)
Balanced approach (= we try to balance employee at work vs employee
at home, long term vs short term perspective) not only into HRM for the
short term, but also protect your employee HR for the longer term
In the strategic balance model, organizational success can only be
achieved when financial performance AND societal performance of an
organization are above average in the particular population in which the
organization is operating.
Goals of the individual employee
Organizational goals
, Societal goals
Sustainable careers: happy, healthy and productive
Division in literature: productivity for the company VS happiness/health for the
employee
Nog kijken naar Hofstede power distance
3 perspectives in studying SHRM practices:
1) Multi-actor perspective (multiple stakeholders including employees,
managers, HR professionals, works councils, trade unions, top
management, shareholders, financiers and government);
2) Broad societal view with an emphasis on different institutional contexts,
for example, on the level of branches of industry, regions and countries;
3) Multi-level perspective including the individual employee perspective
and the strategic organizational perspective
Organizational change and competitive advantages
The relevance of optimal coping with change is embedded in the concept of
competitive advantage.
Competitive advantage:
Is important for organizational survival;
And is at least partly manageable by human resource management.
HPWS = High Performance Work Systems
Paauwe (2004)
Human resources are something more than just ‘resources’;
Human resource management is not concerned solely with financial
performance;
Human resource management focuses on the exchange relationship
between employee and organization;
And the shaping of the employment relationship takes place in an era of
continuous tension between the added value and moral values.
Psychological contact
Boxall & Purcell (2008)
HRM covers all workforce groups, including core employees (main focus of
supervisors, permanent contracts), peripheral employees and contingent
workers (both are neglected, but mostly work with the same years in a
row);
HRM involves line and specialist managers, and is not solely aimed at
employees;
HRM is all about managing work and people, collectively and individually;
HRM is embedded in industries and societies
MD programs = management development programs
,Hoorcollege 2
The more fit (alignment) between strategy and HRM, the better
In order to define your HR strategy, you need to have knowledge about your
environment. The better the environment fits with strategy and the strategy
with the HR, the more performance an organization can achieve. When you think
about your strategy, you have to think about your purpose (WHY?) , mission (=
how you can accomplish the purpose) and vision (= how you invision your
results/effort in the market)
You have to look at your own believes and values in order to formulate a strategy
(as a person and organisation). Then you look at the environment and who you
want to attract. Enactment is needed. scan the environment and see what is
going on and how you can invision the future. What contribution do you want to
add to your envisioned future.
If you don’t find the fit with your environment, you might underperform. Misfit
between what you do and what society wants/needs you to do
Misfits cost a lot of money and reduce individual and societal well-being
Fit-theory: understanding ‘The Shaping of Employment Relations and (S)HRM in
relation to Performance:
Multiple Fits in SHRM:
Internal/horizontal fit = the fit between the HR practices
Vertical/strategic fit = fit between strategy and environment
Institutional fit = relates to all things that are influenced by regulations
(and not directly influenced by the market)
Organizational fit =
Person-environment fit (see Chapter 7: Person-job fit & Person-
organization fit) = it is important to attract people in your organisation that
have the same values and purpose
Cultural factor: trust, power distance
Model used in the book takes into account the past 5 years and future 5 years
Strategy = An organization’s intention to achieve certain goals through planned
alignment (or fit) between the organization and its environment
Goal-based strategy based on the organization’s vision (what) and
mission (how) (inspired by its purpose, beliefs and values= why)
Strategic formulation is the process of forging a cohesive integrated set
of strategies designed to deal with the environment and achieve the
business strategic goals.
Strategy implementation is the actions the organization takes to
execute the strategy it has formulated.
, General environment
Business environment
Organization
Some elements in the environment are not
predictable
Even though you have a planned strategy,
you will deviate from that strategy because
things are unpredictable. Change strategy
while you’re going
SWOT analysis based on population or
organizational fields
Organisational field = A community of organisations that partakes of a
common meaning system and whose participants interact more frequently and
fatefully with one another than with actors outside the field
Organisational fields influence eachother
Changes in an industry can affect another
industry
strategic management process
This is what you need to need before you
develop your HR strategy
Functional silos:
Business strategy:
4 silos:
1) Competitive strategy = markets to
enter & how to compete them
2) Financial strategy = how to fund
the businesses
3) Operational strategy = which
supplies, technology & methods
4) HR strategy = how to recruit, organize, develop & motivate people
Strategic or vertical fit four linkages: alignment overall business strategy and
the HR-strategy
1) Administrative linkage
2) One-way linkage
3) Two-way linkage
4) Integrative linkage
Integrative linkage is the ideal
situation
Strategic Choice or Agency (see Figure 2.4, p. 30)
Extent of strategic choice available to firms?
1. Hyper-determinism
2. Hyper-voluntarism
