Role of Human Resource Management in the Strategic Process

HR Management Essay

This essay will evaluate the role of human resource management (HRM) in the strategic process. This will include the function of recruitment and training programs in HRM, the concept of strategic fit and how human resource management can lead to a competitive advantage. The manner in which an organization's personnel are managed has a tangible influence on the productivity of the employees, which ultimately acts upon the firm's bottom line. Corporate success is dependent upon the integration of the human resource plan and the corporate strategic plan. It has become a prominent part of business management, that people provide organizations with an important source of sustainable competitive advantage and that the effective management of human capital, not physical capital, may be the ultimate determinant of organizational performance (Youndt, Snell, Dean, Jr, & Lepak, 1996).

The relationship between the strategic planning of an organization's people and the overall strategy is being increasingly recognized as one of great importance. A growing recognition of human resources as being a company's most important asset has, and will continue to, changes the focus of strategic planning. It is no longer acceptable to exclusively plan for those assets that will appear on the balance sheet. A plan integrating human resource management and the overall strategic plan is necessary, such that the management of people is not a distinct function, but acts as a medium through which all other business strategies are implemented (Armstrong and Long, 1994: p. 42). In essence, the competitive, human resource, and structural strategies should all be linked in a systemic and dynamic fashion (Boxall, 1996: p. 61).

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The purpose of HRM is to anticipate changes within the employee framework, thereby ensuring that the organizational objectives are fulfilled (Nankervis, Compton and McCarthy, 1993: p. 53). This process is critical to the strategic objectives of the firm. If changes in the ‘people market' can be anticipated, and if this is attended to at the senior level, human resource management (HRM) can act as a proactive advisor. However, the relationship between overall strategic planning and HRM is largely dependent on the perceptions of both HRM and senior management towards the contribution that the workforce can make to corporate success. For example, companies that are aware of the strategic value of human resources are more likely to integrate HRM with the overall strategic plan (Nankervis, Compton and McCarthy, 1993: p. 56).

Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is "the process of identifying the organization's strategic goals and the use of these goals as the basis for personnel practices and procedures" (Butler, Ferris and