I have chosen this topic because nowadays Human Resource M anagement has became increasingly more important for the general management , largely due… [618683]

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR MIGUEL TORGA
Human Resources Management

The HR Strategic Management

Coimbra
2017
Erasmus studen t
Mure șan Iulia-Maria
No: 880737

I have chosen this topic because nowadays Human Resource M anagement has became
increasingly more important for the general management , largely due to its role in providing
competitive advantage and a drive for competitiveness, helping the organization to be aware of
the demands of a technologically advanced future.
Michael Porter, American strategist and professor at Harvard Business School , believes
that human resource management is essential in gaining competitive advantage. In more and
more organizations, human resources are now seen as a source of competitive advantage. There
is an increasing recognition to the fact that those competencies that provide competitive
advantage to the organization are due to highly developed employee skills, specific
organizational culture, processes and management systems. More and more, a highly skilled
workforce is seen as a source of competitive advantage, allowing organizations to be a strong
competitor in terms of market responses, product and service quality, product differentiation and
technologica l innovation, instead of being based only on low costs.
In regards to the importance of the strategic role of the HRM, t he economic turbulences
have contributed to the increase of it. Those, the globalization, the technology,the demographic
changes and the differences in the work values, all lead to a big environmental uncertainty.
HRSM and the process of human resources planning, are more and more seen as a way of
action against those uncertainties. We don’t have to be surprised that the HRM starts to be
integrated in the processes of the strategy making and planning. As much as the HRM becomes a
more and more important component of the competitive strategy of an organization, the general
management is stimulated to ensure alignment and consistency between the strategy and the
human resources practices and policies.
The first challenge regarding the alignment, is given by finding the answer to the
question: “Which categories of people will we need to lead the organization in the coming
years”? It is expec ted that people and practices that are according with the future strategic needs
to produce superior organizational performances. Even if there are different opinions of this,
some recent studies have found links between the high performances and the HRSM. Also, it
was recognized the contribution of the HRSM to the company’s success on the international

level. However, before those contributions, a concrete human resources strategy needs to be
developed and connected to the general strategy of the organizat ion.
In brief, I found HR strategic management important because it is part of the strategic
planning of each organization.
The strategy is the company’s long term plan for how it will balance its internal strengths
and weaknesses with its external oppor tunities and threats to maintain a competitive advantage.
On the other hand, the Strategic Management represents the process of identifying and executing
the organization’s mission by matching its capabilities with the demands of its environment.
This bei ng said, HRSM means formulating and executing human resources policies and practices
that produce the employee competencies and behaviors the company needs to achieve its
strategic aims.

Thus, the need and the importance could be listed as follows:
 Chan ging demand from customers or the market place
 New technology and increasing pressure from competitors (Philip Mirvis)
 Changes in the basic business environment (Randall Schuler)
 High levels of uncertainty about basic business conditions
 Rising costs
 Rapid technological change
 Changing demographics
 More limited supplies of highly trained labor
 Rapidly changing government legislation and regulations
 Increased globalization of industries

Introduction in Human Resources Management

Human resources m anagement is the process by which employees achieve the desired
level of satisfaction, and the organizations to which they belong achieve their goals by
harmonizing four elements: the environment, the organization, the position and the employee.
The enviro nment has four components as follow:
 The economic component (number and competitive force of organizations,
unemployment rates, interest rates, inflation, etc.);
 The social component (values and attitudes of customers and employees in terms of
work, produ cts, business, skills and educational level, their expectations);
 The political component (laws and regulations);
 The technological component (raw materials, technology).
Regarding the organization, it must ensure, through its characteristics, the satisfa ction and
performance of its employees. These features are: the size, the structure, the technology and the
culture.
If we make a pass from the “staff management” term to “human resources management”
one, we could say that the staffing function appeared w ithin organizations as a result of few
elements such as: increase of the stuff size, increase of the number and complexity of legal
regulations on staff, changes occurring within the social component of the environment.
Human resources managers' responsi bilities, include a wider area, implying their direct
involvement in:
 The elaboration process;
 The changing of the strategy;
 Providing advice on issues related to the good management of human resources;
 Knowledge of elements of the strategic management o f the organization;
 Influencing the organization's general manager;
 Determining the general manager through different methods to know the human resource
issues.

If we think about the employers and employees, and their relationship, we can mention
that for most employees, in most countries, and for much of recent history, the rewards and job
satisfaction associated with their employment relationship will have a determining influence on
their standard of living and life experience. For breadwinners with de pendent family, the
standard of living of loved ones will also be involved.
On the other hand, for most employers the relationship is also of critical importance. The
cost of labo r, and the effective use of the HR, is often a major influence on the succe ss of an
organization. The employee body as a whole will be important, although the economic
importance of individual employees will depend on the employers’ dependence on their skills,
and ability to replace them if necessary on the labo r market. In the same way, the employee’s
dependence on a particular employer will rest on whether there are employment opportunities
elsewhere.
Nevertheless the employment relationship is important for both sides. It is therefore not
surprising that it has attracted much attention and that ethical dilemmas associated with the
relationship have for long been the subject of analysis.
In another order of ideas, we use the notion of Human Resources Management (HRM) to
refer to all those activities associated with the manageme nt of work systems and employment
regimes in the firm. HRM is always part of the management of the firm —irrespective of the
existence of HR specialists —and includes a variety of managerial styles.
According to Michael Armstrong, HRM is defined as a strate gic and coherent approach
to the management of an organization’s most valued assets – the people working there who
individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives.
Also, John Storey believes that HRM can be regarded as a ‘set of interrelated policies
with an ideological and philosophical underpinning’. To constitute the meaningful version of
HRM, he suggests four aspects:

o a particular constellation of beliefs and assumptions;
o a strategic thrust informing decisions about peopl e management;
o the central involvement of line managers;
o reliance upon a set of ‘levers’ to shape the employment relationship.

Regarding the models of HRM, one of the first explicit statements of the HRM concept
was made by the Michigan School. It was he ld that HR systems and the organization structure
should be managed in a way that is congruent with organizational strategy. It was further
explained that there is a human resource cycle which consists of four generic processes or
functions that are perfor med in all organizations. These elements are:
o selection – matching available human resources to jobs;
o appraisal (performance management);
o rewards – ‘the reward system is one of the most under -utilized and mishandled
managerial tools for driving organizatio nal performance’; it must reward short – as well
as long -term achievements, bearing in mind that ‘business must perform in the present to
succeed in the future’;
o development – developing high -quality employees.

For another important approach given to the HRM, we have to mention the ‘Harvard
framework’, that is based on the belief that the problems of historical personnel management can
only be solved: “when general managers develop a viewpoint of how they wish to see employees
involved in and developed by the enterprise, and of what HRM policies and practices may
achieve those goals. Without either a central philosophy or a strategic vision – which can be
provided only by general managers – HRM is likely to remain a set of independent activities,
each guide d by its own practice tradition”.
The Harvard school suggested that HRM had two characteristic features:
1) line managers accept more responsibility for ensuring the alignment of competitive
strategy and personnel policies;
2) personnel has the mission of setting policies that govern how personnel activities are
developed and implemented in ways that make them more mutually reinforcing.
According to Boxall, the advantages of this model are that it:
– incorporates recognition of a range of stakeholder interests;
– recognizes the importance of ‘trade -offs’, either explicitly or implicitly, between the
interests of owners and those of employees as well as between various interest groups;
– widens the context of HRM to include ‘employee influence’, the or ganization of work
and the associated question of supervisory style;

– acknowledges a broad range of contextual influences on management’s choice of
strategy, suggesting a meshing of both product market and socio -cultural logics;
– emphasizes strategic cho ice – it is not driven by situational or environmental
determinism.
The Harvard model has exerted considerable influence over the theory and practice of
HRM, particularly in its emphasis on the fact that HRM is the concern of management in general
rather t han the personnel function in particular.

HRM can be described also as a central, senior -management -driven strategic activity,
which is developed, owned and delivered by management as a whole to promote the interests of
the organization that they serve. J ohn Purcell thinks that ‘the adoption of HRM is both a product
of and a cause of a significant concentration of power in the hands of management’, while the
widespread use ‘of the language of HRM, if not its practice, is a combination of its intuitive
appe al to managers and, more importantly, a response to the turbulence of product and financial
markets’. He asserts that HRM is about the rediscovery of management prerogative. He
considers that HRM policies and practices, when applied within a firm as a brea k from the past,
are often associated with words such as ‘commitment’, ‘competence’, ‘empowerment’,
‘flexibility’, ‘culture’, ‘performance’, ‘assessment’, ‘reward’, ‘teamwork’, ‘involvement’,
‘cooperation’, ‘harmonization’, ‘quality’ and ‘learning’. But ‘t he danger of descriptions of HRM
as modern best management practice is that they stereotype the past and idealize the future’.

Regarding the changing r ole of Human Resources Management nowadays, public,
nonprofit, and for -profit organizations are facing s ome daunting challenges. For HRM
departments to play a strategic role, they must focus on the long – term implications of HRM
issues. For example, we can ask how will changing workforce demographics and workforce
shortages affect the organization, and what strategies will be used to address them?
To be strategic partners, HRM departments must possess high levels of professional and
business knowledge. HRM must establish links to enhance organizational performance and be
able to demonstrate on a continuing basis how HRM activities contribute to the success and
effectiveness of the organization.

To identify the skills that high – performing HR professionals need, Dave Ulrich and
Wayne Brockbank, professors at the University of Michigan an d other partners, con ducted the
2007 Human Resource Competency Study. Over the course of the research, they identified six
core competencies. Those are as following:

 The credible activist: respected, admired, and listened to and offers a point of view,
takes a position, and challenges assumptions by:
– Delivering results with integrity
– Sharing information
– Building relationships of trust
– Doing HR with an attitude (taking appropriate risks, providing candid observations, infl
uencing others)

 The cultural steward: recognizes, ar ticulates, and helps shape an organization ’ s culture
by:
– Facilitating change
– Crafting culture
– Valuing culture
– Personalizing culture (helping employees find meaning in their work, managing work/life
balance, encouraging innovation)

 The talent manager/or ganizational designer masters theory, research, and practice in
talent management and organizational design by:
– Ensuring today ’ s and tomorrow ’ s talent
– Developing talent
– Shaping the organization
– Fostering communication
– Designing reward systems

 The strategy architect knows how to make the right change happen by:
– Sustaining strategic agility

– Engaging customers

 The business ally contributes to the success of the organization by:
– Serving the value chain
– Interpreting social context
– Articulating propositions
– Leveraging business technology

 The operational executor administers the day – to- day work of managing people inside an
organization by:
– Implementing workplace policies
– Advanced HR technology

Regarding HR’s strategic challenges, three basic challenges ar e:
– The need to support corporate productivity and performance improvement efforts
– That employees play an expanded role in employer’s performance improvement efforts
– HR must be more involved in designing – not just executing – the company’s strategic plan.

Concepts and definitions related to strategy

The term "Strategic Management of Human Resources" has become increasingly used in
the specialty literature. Generally speaking, we can consider that the purpose of strategic human
resources management is the effective use of these resources to achieve the organization's
strategic objectives and requirements.
“Strategy” is a term coming is a term that refers to a complex web of thoughts, ideas,
insights, experiences, goals, expertise, memories, perceptions, a nd expectations that provides
general guidance for specific actions in pursuit of particular ends. It is all these: perspective,
position, plan, and pattern.

Some other definitions that are commonly used say that the strategy:

o answers the question: What should the organization be doing?
o answers the question: What are the ends we seek and how should we achieve them?
o refers to basic directional decisions, that is, to purposes and missions
o consists of the important actions necessary to realize these directi ons
o it is what the top management does that is of great importance to the organization

After seeing what a strategy is, it is important to define the Strategic M anagement of the
Human Resources (SHRM) . One of the definitions is given by Michael Armstrong, and based on
it, “Strategic HRM is an approach that defines how the organization’s goals will be achieved
through people by means of HR strategies and integr ated HR policies and practices ”. This
being said, Strategic HRM focuses on the linking of all HR a ctivities with overall organisation’s
strategic objectives.
In another way, we can define the Strategic Human Resources Management as being the
linking of human resources with strategic goals and objectives in order to improve business
performance and deve lop organizational culture that foster innovation, flexibility and
competitive advantage. Inside of an organization, it means accepting and involving the HR
function as a strategic partner in the formulation and implementation of the company’s strategies
through HR activities such as recruiting, selecting, training and rewarding personnel.

Regarding the Strategic Management, we can underline two of the definitions that were
given to it, as follow:
o One is proposed by Samuel Certo and J. Paul Peter in the ir book Strategic
Management: Concepts and Applications and it claims that Strategic Management is
a continuous, iterative process aimed at keeping an organization as a whole
appropriately matched to its environment.
o The other one, we could say that is little more down to earth and based on it, the
Strategic Management means keeping the business in tune with management and
marketing forces both outside and inside the firm. This definition shows that the
firm’s management recognizes that there are forces wh ich affect the firm and the
firm’s profitability both inside and outside of the business’s operations. These forces

affect two primary components of the firm. The management component includes the
firm’s operations, financial position, labor situation, a nd overall management
structure. The marketing component includes not only the firm’s marketing strategy
(including packaging, advertising, customer service, quality control procedures, etc.),
but also recognizes the fact that there is competition that th e firm must face. This
competition exists both inside and outside of the firm. While the firm’s outside
competition is fairly obvious, the inside competition most often arises from conflicts
between the production and management functions of the business and the marketing
functions. In many small businesses, these conflicts often reside within one person.

Moving forward, we have to say that s trategic human resources management (SHRM) is
based on the belief that to be effective and able to adapt to chang es quickly, agencies need
realistic information on the capabilities and talents of their current staff — in essence, their
human resources.
SHRM refers to the implementation of human resources activities, policies, and practices
to make the necessary ongo ing changes to support or improve the agency ’s operational and
strategic objectives. Agency leaders need to understand how their workplaces will be affected
by impending changes and prepare for those changes. Agency objectives should be formulated
after re levant data on the quantity and potential of available human resources have been
reviewed.
To be competitive, organizations must be able to anticipate, infl uence, and manage the
forces that have an impact on their ability to remain effective. By invoking SHRM, organizations
are better able to match their human resources requirements with the demands of the external
environment and t he needs.
The human resources focus is not just an individual employee issue; it also encompasses
integrating human resource s into the organization ’s strategy and becomes part of the visionary
process. Strategic planning, budgeting, and human resources planning are linked in SHRM, the
integrative framework that matches HRM activities with strategic organizational needs.

Concerns of strategic HRM

HRSM addresses broad organizational issues relating to organizational effectiveness and
performance, changes in structure and culture, matching resources to future rewuirements, the
development of distinctive capabilities, knowledge management and the management of change,
It is con cerned with both meeting human capital requirements and the development of process
capabilities, that is the ability to get things fone effectively.
The focus of the SHRM is on actions that differentiate the firm from its competitors. Thus, it is
comcerne d with the ling term allocation of significant company resources, and with matching
those respurces and capabilities to the external environment.
An important aspect is how HRSM differs from HRM. In regards to this, the primary
goal of strategic human re sources is to increase employee productivity by focusing on business
obstacles that occur outside of human resources. Also , the primary actions of strategic human
resources manager are to identify key HR areas where strategies can be implemented in the long
run to improve the overall employee motivation and productivity. Further, HRSM focuses on
human resource programs with long -term objectives istead o f focusing on internal human
resource issues.
As the basics of strategic HRM , respectively the human resource manager ’s tasks, we
can list the following:
• Focus on developing HR programs that enhance organizational performance
• Involve HR in Big Picture organizational strategic planning from start
• Pro-actively participate in big picture decision making on mergers, acquisitions, and
downsizing
• Redesign organizations and the work processes to enhance overall organizational
performance
• Measure and document the financial results of all HR activities

Regarding t he roles of the HR Manager in SHRM , we can say that HR Managers h ave
many roles to play in an organiz ation, but however the re are 4 KEY roles:
 Strategic Partner

 Administrative Expert
 Employee Champion
 Change Agent

 Strategic Partner :
Every HR decision, plan, or process has to be aligned with the core business strategy. The HR
Manager needs to quickly develop business acumen, must be able to add value to the
organization’s overall strategic objectives by employing a shared mind -set and accountability to
key performance indicators. To add value , HR must innovate and continue to step outside of
traditional roles and proactively seek out opportunities to learn the business . To participate
and contribute i n business discussions, HR business partners must not only ensure smooth
systems and processes, but consider the strategic impacts of talent and organization choices. It is
all about creating and delivering value aligned with the organization’s objectives. HR must
first be strategic business partners who just happen to manage the most valuable assets of
the organization —its human capital.
 Administrative Expert :
The difference between efficient and effective is that efficiency refers to how well you
do something, whereas effectiveness refers to how useful it is. For example, if a company is not
doing well and they decide to train their workforce on a new technology. The training goes really
well – they train all their employees in record time and tests show they have absor bed the training
well. But overall productivity doesn't improve. In this case the company's strategy was efficient
but not effective .
 Employee Champion /Advocate
To be an Employee Champion requires the HR Manager to be the employees voice in
management decisions. The HR Manager needs to be on “everyone’s” side. An approach to be
Fair & Principled is needed also. Good employee relationships will help and keep HRM’s
finger on the pulse and consider Employee responses to any changes. It is a tricky balance to
achieve, but is critical to the organization’s health.

 Change Agent
A change agent is a person who acts as a catalyst for change within the organization. He has to:
– Start by leading change within the HR Department and Function itself
– Develop new Problem Solving Communication & Influence Skill s
The HR FUNCTION MUST CHANGE, AND LEAD THE CHANGE. The HR Function must
change to be more critical & more strategic. The HR Manager needs to lead the Organisation’s
Cultural Transformation and have a transformational effect on the organizations
workplace culture .
Main HR SM Activities
HRM involves the acquisition, development, reward and motivation, maintenance and eventual
departure of an organization’s human resources. Certain key HRM activities must be undertaken
to satisfy these aims: each activity is interrelated and together they represent the core of HRM.
A list for the HRM main activities is the following:
 Job analysis
 Human resource planning or employment planning
 Employee recruitment
 Employee selection
 Performance appraisal
 Human resource development activities
 Career planning and development activities
 Compensation
 Industrial relations
 Health and safety programs
 Managing diversity
Each activity is interrelated and together they represent the core of HRM. The list is just the
tip of the iceberg, but we have to run through some of these important activities .

Job Analysis :
Within Job analysis two things must be defined:
– The Job Descriptions: for individual
– The Job Specifications

HR Planning or employment planning :
– Organization attempts to ensure it has the right no of qualified people in the right jobs at
the right time.
– It does this by comparing present supply of people with the projected demand for HR.
– Produces decisions to add, reduce or reallocate employees interna lly.
– It achieves quality human resources, employee and a more effective equal opportunity
planning.
Employee recruitment
It has to decide to fill from within or outside the organisation
It had to be attractive to new and prospective employees to obtain a good pool of candidates
The m ethods used are:
• job posting
• paper ads
• WEB
• executive search

Employee selection

Here there is a 3 step process:
1. Initial Screening : Screen the all the applications received
2. Review and Ranking: Review the applications, psychological testing, interview, check
reference, medical test
3. Make the final selection

Performance appraisal
– Determine how well employees are doing continuously.
– Communicate the results of appraisals to the employees
– Establish a pla n for performance improvement
Appraisal results used for:
• performance based rewarding
• identifying training and development needs
• placement decisions

HR development activities
– Focus on acquisition of atti tudes, skills & knowledge
– Continuously Develop and Improve
• Knowledge
• Skills
• capacity to adapt
• change

Career planning
HR Management has a role to assist employees with their Career planning . This will
benefit both employee and the organis ation in developing the employee ’s talents and ski lls, and
retaining the employee.
The HR Manager has to assist the employee to identify: their career goals, new job
opportunities, personal improvemen t. By doing this HR ensures qualified employees available
for all levels of the organisation .

If one role has to be c hosen as the most important one it must be the STRATEGIC
PARTNER role. This is given by the fact that the p rimary HRSM Role is to “link the various
roles/activities of HRM with the strategic objective of the organization and make it clear ”.
Strategic partner precedes the other roles as this is at the planning stage, which is crucial
to any organisation. It is where all the HR strategies are aligned with the overall objective of the

organization. The other HRM roles follow through to help push and achieve the overall
objectives.

Important strategic HR tools

 Strategy map
It is a graphical tool that summarizes t he chain of activities that contribute to the company ’s
success, and shows employees the “big picture ” of how their performance contributes to
achieving the company ’s overall strategic goals.

 HR scorecard
It is a process for managing employee performance and for aligning all employees with key
objectives, by assigning financial and non financial goals, monitoring and assessing
performance, and quickly taki ng corrective action.

 Digital dashboard
It presents the manager with desktop graphs and charts, so he or she gets a picture of where
the company ha s been and where it ’s going. In terms of each activity in the strategy map.

HR as a Strategic Partner

Being a strategic partner is clearly related to the effectiveness of the HR function. But
there are a lot of questions that arise such as: W hat does it take to make HR a strategic p artner?
How should HR be structured? What should HR focus on? How should it be staffed?
HR is more likely to be a full strategic partner when the head of HR has an HR
background. This is a bit surprising because one might expect that having someone who is not an
HR person, typically someone from the line organization, would lead to HR being more of a
strategic partner. But as was true with organizational effectiveness, having someone with an HR
background manage the HR function is in fact a positive when it comes to HR being a strategic
partner.

It may be that when HR is not a strategic partner in an o rganization, the company puts
someone from outside HR in charge of the function in order to make it a strategic partner. As a
result, we find that HR functions headed by people without HR backgrounds are less likely to be
strategic partners. Or it may be t hat managers with an HR background are better at representing
HR issues in the strategic partnership dialogue; hence, when they head HR, it is more likely to be
a strategic partner because they bring more to the table.
Providing strategic HR knowledge and insight is an important responsibility in the
knowledge economy, as well as a challenging one. Being a good strategic partner takes
understanding the business, but it also takes understanding the HR function. Thus, it i s quite
likely that an HR head without an HR background may not be able to understand the HR issues
well enough to make the function a true strategic partner with the business.
After some surveys, it was shows that some change is taking place in the HR function
and that changes are in the direction of its becoming more of a business and strategic partner. A
number of significant changes have occurred in how HR functions are organized and how they
deliver services. The most important are the following:
• HR is more likely to use service teams to support and serve business units.
• HR is more likely to have decentralized HR generalists who support business units.
• HR is paying increasing attention to recruitment and selection and less attention to
union relations and benefits management. It is paying increased attention to employee
development, HRIS, and organizational design and development, although the rate of increase in
attention in these areas has declined over the course of the six -year study.
• The use of outsourcing for training, HRIS, benefits compensation, legal affairs, and
affirmative action has increased.
• Employees and managers are increasingly serving themselves with Web -enabled
systems that provide jo b information and performance management capabilities.
• HR executives report greater satisfaction with the HR functional skills and the
organizational dynamics skills of the HR staff.
• HR is increasingly effective in helping shape a viable employment relationship for the
future.

On the other hand, there is also a number of things have not changed. Among the major
areas that show no change are the following:

• The extent to which HR is a full partner in shaping business strategy
• The ratio of HR employees to total num ber of employees
• The amount of time spent on various HR activities
• The rotation of individuals into, out of, and within HR
• The use and effectiveness of shared services
• The problems that occur with outsourcing
• The use of outsourcing for organizational development, employee assistance, and HR
planning
• The business partner skills of members of the HR organization
• The overall effectiveness of the HR organization and its effectiveness in managing
shared services , outsourcing, and a number of individual areas of HR effectiveness .

Strategic HR and its contribution to the organization

Strategic H R can contribute significantly to t he organiz ation by enacting the
organization ’s strate gy through a focused HR plan which is in line with the organizationa l goals.
It is concerned with people issues ad activities that affe ct the behavior of individuals and their
contribution to the goal an objectives of the organization. Strategic HR offers the HR function
the opportunity to act as a key partner to the business.
The HR strategies developed by a strategic HRM approach are essential components of
the organization ’s business strategy.

Factors contributing to the strategic aspects of HR functions

In reg ards to this, we distinguish two types of factors: internal and external.
Among the internal factors, we find:
– Organization structure
– Organization culture

– Organization competencies
– Organization internal policies
– Organization processes, etc.

External factors include:
– Market scenario
– Competitors
– Government policies
– Technological advancements, etc.

Another aspect is the one of the em erging trends in the field of strategic HRM:
– The employee involvement
– Flow rate o f an HR
– Performance management
– Reward systems
– Loyalty towards the work
– Focus on employee retention
– Cross cultural iss ues
– Effects of rapid changes in tech nology
– New emerging concepts of line and general management

Conclusion

Since the development of Human Resource Management (HRM) as a field of scientific
research in the 1980s, many changes have taken place in t his area . An important development
has been the integration of HRM into the strategic management process. This growing area of
research has been labelled strategic HRM in that it emphasizes the strategic role of HRM in
meeting business objectives . Strategic HRM draw s attention to the contribution of HRM to the
performance of organizations, in other words, that is the added value of HRM for organizations?
For achieving this, the integration between strategy and HRM is emphasized; the basic premise
underlying strategic HRM is that organizations adopting a particular strategy require HR

practices that may differ from those required by organizations a dopting alternative strategies ,
assuming an important link between organiza tional strategy and HR practices that are
implemented in that organization.

Strategic HRM has four meanings which help the organization:
– The use of planning
– A coherent approach to the design and management of personnel systems, based on an
employment policy and manpower strategy , and often underpinned by a “philosophy ”
– Matching HRM activities and poli cies to s ome explicit bu siness strategy
– Seeing the people of the organization as a “strategic resource ” for the achievement of
competitive advantage.

Bibliography:

1. Armstrong, Michael, Strategic Human Resou rces M anagement: a guide to action, 3rd
Edition, London and Philadelphia: Kogan Page, 2006.
2. Armstrong, Michael, A Handbook of Human Resou rces M anagement Practice, 10th
Edition, London and Philadelphia: Kogan Page, 2006.
3. Beaumont, P.B., Human Resou rces M anagement : Key concepts and skills, London:
Sage Publications, 1994.
4. Bratton, John; Gold, Jeffrey, Human Resou rces M anagement : Theory and Practice ,
Second Edition, MacMillan Press LTD, 1999.
5. Collins , David; Wood, Geoffrey , Human Resou rces M anagement : A critical
approach , London and New York: Rout ledge, 2009.
6. Domsch, Michael, Human Resou rces M anagement in Consulting Firms, Springer,
2006.
7. Dubois, David, Competency -based Human Resource Management, Mountain View,
CA: Davies -Black Publishing, 2004.
8. Pynes, Joan, Human Resou rces M anagement for Public and Non -profit
Organizations, Third Edition, San Francisco, CA: Jossey -Bass, 2009.