Author : T. Basahel week 2 Assignment After Reading the article:
Strategic Human Resources Management: Where Do We Go From Here? Brian E. Becker 1 and Mark A. Huselid2 Huselid2 Author Affiliatio Affiliations ns
1.
School of Management, State University of New York a t Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260,
[email protected] 2 2. School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 1
Abstract The authors identify the key challenges facing strategic human resource management (SHRM) going forward and discuss several new directions in both the scholarship and practice of SHRM. They focus on a clearer articulation of the “black box” between HR and firm performance, emphasizing the integration of strategy implementation as the central mediating variable in this relationship. There are direct implications for the nature of fit and contingencies in SHRM. They also highlight the significance of d ifferentiated ifferentiated HR architecture not just across firms but also within firms.
Implications of Strategic Human Resource Management Introduction: It is a certain fact that human resource management as a subject has drawn much attention in the last two decades both in the literatures and the practice. (Becker & Huselid, 2006). But there are certain challenges and issues which human resource management face. This is due to the fact that before we evaluate the impact of the human resource management as a strategic partner of a firm it is important analyze the diversities that the behavioral pattern of the employees have on the overall performance of the firm. According to some early scholars in the filed the behavioral elements of the employees should ideally alter according to the change in the pattern of strategy and objectives. The fact is, it is certainly not an easy task. The success of an organization mostly depends on the fact that how well the human resource managers of a firm actually actually can direct direct the attitude attitude of the employees employees to achieve achieve certain goals or put them align with the specific objectives of the company. (Eriksen & Dyer, 2004). Thus the basic challenge for the human resource management is that they have to work with the emotion and attitude of people and giving a strategic alignment to these components is certainly a steep task. Role of Black Box: The concept of black box actually attempts to explain the strategic logic betwe between en the human human resour resource ce archit architect ecture ure and perfor performan mance ce that that it is delive deliveri ring. ng. (Becke (Beckerr & Huselid, 2006). The black box bo x actually tries to translate the effort made by human resource or the
relative position into competitive advantage. It is an attempt made by the practitioners of the filed to link the concepts of human resource management with the strategic capabilities of the firm. They mostly argue on the fit which can be made out from the human resource capabilities and the overall strategy of the firm. (Becker & Huselid, 2006). Now the question of linking these two factors actually depends on few major changes in view of professionals. Firstly the human resour resource ce practi practitio tioner nerss now measur measuree perfor performan mance ce of the organi organizat zation ion on a whole whole and not indivi individual dual perfor performan mance ce of employ employees ees.. Thus Thus there there is certai certain n altera alteratio tion n in the view view of the practitioners that is observable as they not confining themselves to individual departmental success but on the contrary aligning their success with the objectives of the overall organization. (Becker & Huselid, 2006). The second change in mindset is a result of the first one as now top management management is expecting expecting human resource resource managers managers to solve business business level issue and problems problems and not just problems and issues of individual employees. That means the reliance on the human resource management is now more. These strategies are basically aimed at gaining sustainable competitive advantage and achieving desirable financial results. Actually these are the factors on the basis of which the black box describes the interrelation among the strategies and the human resour resource ce implic implicati ations ons.. The differ different entiat iated ed human human resour resource ce archit architect ecture ure has firm firm specif specific ic dimensions to it which actually translate the overall strategies taken by the firm into human resource implication. (Becker & Huselid, 2006). The outcome of these differentiated human resource architecture is strategic implementation effectiveness. The employers hereby gets a clearer view on how to react to situation which will ultimately channel the emotion and positive attitude of the employees to the firm specific goals. In these market level strategies adapted by the top management of the company gets translated into specific human resource based actions and ultimately the objectives are gained. This overall transformation is an important factor considering the fact that human resources themselves are very complex and unique form of resources. Significance of Differentiated Human Resource Architecture: As mentioned in the above section the concept of this architecture actually tries to translate the strategic decisions made by the top management management into specific specific human resource resource based actions. These actions in turn actually actually contribute to the overall performance improvement for the firm. The significance of adapting such measures lies in the fact that the basic objective of human resource management now is to develop more specific strategies which will help the management to use the resources optimally. (McGuire, Stoner& Mylona, 2008). While the company determines the proper range of strategic applic applicati ation on the key issue issuess which which remain remainss is that how to manipu manipulat latee the resources resources to gain gain maximize competitive advantage. The optimal usage of the resources is what the focus is on. The capability thus which is expected from the middle level human resource managers is linking the management level strategy or the business strategy with the behavioral pattern of the employees and also their individual performances. (McGuire, Stoner& Mylona, 2008). It is an important aspect that the individual performances and contribution made by each of the employees must be well directed towards the strategic goals of the organization and should not deviate from that. This where the concept of optimality exists. The effort made by each of the employees should be direct directed ed toward towardss organi organizat zation ional al goal and ideall ideally y should should not be wasted wasted.. (McGui (McGuire, re, Stoner Stoner& & Mylona, 2008). Linking the people component with the business level objectives is the idea behind constructing the differentiated human resource architecture. At the end on the basis of the architecture the management of the firm should posses a clear idea regarding the areas in which the human capitals are allocated and also at the same time an idea regarding the expected returns from the allocated resources.
Conclusion: There There are few basic basic aspect aspectss of strate strategic gic human human resour resource ce manage management ment which which contributes directly or indirectly to the performance of the firms. With time the concept of human resource management has evolved and most of the modern management bodies are cons consid ider erin ing g it as a stra strate tegi gicc comp compone onent nt of the the firm firm.. The The diff differ eren enti tiat ated ed huma human n reso resour urce ce architecture is certainly such approach wherein the business level strategies adapted by any firm are being linked with individual level performances. Once the proper range of application is being determined the only concern for the management will be translate the objectives into results and obtain the optimal level of support suppo rt from the human capital allocated to work.
Reference:
Eriksen J, Dyer L. (2004). Toward A Strategic Human Resource Management Model of High Reliabili Reliability ty Organizati Organization on Performanc Performance: e: School of Industrial Industrial and Labor Relations, Relations, New York, USA McGuire, D., Stoner, L. & Mylona, S. (2008): “The Role of Line Managers as Human Resource Agents in Fostering Organisational Change in Public Services”, Journal Services”, Journal of Change Management, Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 73–84. Becker, B.E. & Huselid, M.A. (2006) ‘Strategic human resources management: where do we go from here?’, Journal here?’, Journal of Management , 32 (6), pp. 898–925,
