What is Strategic Human Resource Management?
In Human Resource (HR) and management circles nowadays there is a lot of discussion about Strategic Human Resource Management and lots of expensive books can be viewed on the shelves of bookshops. However, what exactly is SHRM (Strategic Human Resource Development), what are the key features and how does it differ from conventional human resource management?
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SHRM or Strategic human resource management is a division of Human Resource management or HRM. It is a fairly new field, which has emerged from the parent field of human resource administration. Much of the early or so called conventional HRM literature handled the idea of strategy superficially, instead as a strictly operational matter, the outcomes of that cascade down during the organisation. There was a sort of unsaid division of territory between people-centred values of HR and tougher business values in which corporate plans really belonged. HR practitioners felt uncomfortable in the war cupboard like atmosphere where corporate strategies were formulated.
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Definition of SHRM
Strategic human resource management can be described as the connecting of human resources with strategic goals and objectives to be able to boost business performance and develop organizational culture that foster innovation, flexibility and competitive edge. In an organisation SHRM means accepting and between the HR function as a strategic partner in the formulation and execution of the company's plans through HR activities like recruiting, selecting, training and rewarding personnel.
How SHRM differs from HRM
In the last two decades there has been an increasing awareness that HR acts were similar to an island unto itself with milder people-centred values far away from the hard world of genuine organization. So as to justify its own existence HR functions needed to be viewed as more intimately connected with the plan and day to day functioning of the company side of the enterprise. Many authors in the late 1980s, started looking for a more tactical approach to the management of people compared to standard practices of standard direction of people or industrial relations versions. Strategic human resource management focuses on human resource applications with long-term objectives. Rather than focusing on internal human resource problems, the focus is on addressing and solving issues that impact people management applications in the future and often globally. Therefore the primary objective of strategic human resources would be to increase employee productivity by focusing on business obstacles that occur outside of individual resources. The primary actions of a tactical human resource manager would be to identify key HR areas where plans can be implemented in the long term to improve the overall employee motivation and productivity. Communication between HR and top management of the provider is essential as without active involvement no cooperation is possible.
Key Features of Strategic Human Resource Management
The key features of SHRM are
There is an explicit linkage between HR policy and practices and overall organizational strategic aims as well as the organizational environment
There is some coordinating schema linking individual HR interventions so that they are mutually supportive
Much of the responsibility for the management of individual resources is bogged down the lineup
Trends in Strategic Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management professionals are increasingly confronted with the topics of employee participation, human resource flow, performance management, reward systems and higher commitment work systems in the context of globalization. Mature solutions and recipes that worked in a local context do not operate in an worldwide context. Cross-cultural issues play a major role here. These are some of the major issues that HR professionals and top management involved in SHRM are working with at the first decade of the 21st century:
- Internationalization of market integration.
- Increased competition, Which Might not be local or even national through free market ideology
- Rapid technological change.
- New theories of line and general direction.
- Constantly changing ownership and consequent company climates.
- Cross-cultural problems
- The economic gravity changing from 'developed' into 'developing' nations
SHRM also reflects a number of the main contemporary challenges confronted by Human Resource Management: Aligning HR with core business strategy, demographic trends on labour and the labor market, incorporating soft skills in HRD and finally Knowledge Management.
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