Human Resource Management (HRM) is the orderly and strategic approach to the management of the company’s most valued assets-the employees. The employees in an organization’s work individually and collectively and they help the organization to achieve its set goals and objectives. HRM in an organization deals with the issues affecting people working in the organization such as safety, hiring, selecting, performance management, employees’ motivation, training and many others. HRM strategy has four main elements. These elements include acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance of the human resources. These four key elements are the most significant steps in helping organizations achieve their goals and objectives. The essay will discuss the four main elements of a HRM strategy. It will also discuss the forms of HRM flexibility, the barriers to the implementation of the company’s plans and the evaluation of the ‘Best Fit’ verses ‘Best Practice.’

Acquisition

Acquisition functions are involved in the process of recruiting and selecting of manpower required by an organization. Large multinational corporations require an effective acquisition strategy due to the complexity of their operations, as stated by Kazmi & Ahmad (2001). Their main aim is to acquire the best manpower capable of helping them to achieve their goals and objectives. It is the beginning point of HRM strategy. Acquisition is mainly involved in planning, recruitment, selection and socialization. Planning involves setting the guidelines that the corporation will utilize in hiring new employees. Research has shown that it is important for HRM to think before they decide to hire and train employees in an organization (Kepes &Delery, 2006). Developing effective guidelines make the HRM think about their plan and philosophy of the corporation. Planning guidelines for hiring employees in an organization should reflect what the HRM wants their organization to be.

Recruitment is the backbone of an organization. Workforce is the major strength of a company. Large multinational corporations believe that the nature of the workforce is directly related to developments and profits of a firm (Akhtar, Ding & Ge, 2008). Studies have shown that it is very significant to select the most suitable candidates for an organization. Recruitment is a difficult task because organizations receive huge number of applicants. The process of filtering the quality candidate proves to be tedious. HRM often has many criteria that they utilize in the selection process. The selection process is mostly customized to help in meeting the specific needs of a company. According to Kazmi & Ahmad (2001), the selection process also plays an integral role in determining the total attrition level percentage of a firm. Research reveals that the major attrition level percentage in an organization is due to the workers’ work environment and the satisfaction of a company. The process of recruitment should have a procedure for career evaluation to assist in analyzing the candidates.

Nowadays, organizations have begun seeking for expert advices in the recruitment process. Tools that are especially designed are available for analyzing the candidates to help in determining their suitability for the job, as stated by Kepes & Delery (2006). Energy graphs service and leadership analysis tool assist HRM in analyzing a group of individuals who work together. It reveals who brings the greatest positive energy and who receive the greatest positive energy. It helps to show the person who is most disadvantaged in a group of workers. Thus, it helps in building a stable team that guarantees maximum performance. Strategic recruitment is used as the step for building teams that are functional within an organization. Therefore, these tools can have a great impact on the positive work environment, attrition rates, and profits. Large corporations use these tools to create teams that are fully functioned. Having an effective HRM strategy can help organizations acquire the most suitable candidates to fill vacant positions in their organizations. The other important acquisition step is socialization. It is the process by which new workers are oriented to the organization’s culture and values as stated by Kelliher & Perrett (2001). It helps to increase the employees’ productivity and healthy due to the development of the trust among the employees. It also makes the job enjoyable, and it encourages teamwork. Acquisition is a significant element in the workplace as it helps corporations acquire appropriate candidates to fill their vacant positions.

Developments

The phase of development starts after the socialization of the new employees has taken place. Kepes & Delery (2006) found that it involves the process of imparting skills and knowledge to the employees so that they can accomplish their task effectively and efficiently. This phase is also known as the training phase. Training can be performed in various ways, such as professional programs, coaching, teaching and many other methods. According to Akhtar, Ding & Ge (2008) the major goal of the employees’ development is to enhance the future performance of a firm by the skillful employees. The employees’ development is not only for the new employees, but also the existing ones to equip them with knowledge and skills for dealing with changes in the internal and external environment. The HRM major function is helping their employees with their career and professional developments. Managers provide employees with coaching and on-the-job training, performance goals and feedback and assisting them to prepare an individual development plan (IDP).

Individual development rest on the individual, but manager or a supervisor plays an important role in encouraging, supporting, removing obstacles and providing the necessary resources for development. The individual staff members have the responsibility of initiating their personal IDP process (Kazmi & Ahmad, 2001). However, as a manager one can assist in various ways. The manager can meet with them to discuss the plan, prove feedback on their goals and provide suggestions for development activities. He can also help them in setting realistic time frames and help in potential obstacles, monitor progress, make revisions and acknowledge the results. Supporting development and the growth of the employees has been shown to help in increasing their productivity and success in their current roles (Kepes & Delery, 2006). It also encourages motivation and retention and increasing their career opportunities. HRM strategy should, therefore, ensure that employees are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to tackle future challenges.

Motivation

Training and development of employees cannot act as enough sources of their inspirations to perform better work. For this reason, they require to be motivated. Motivation means any activity that inspires and induces workers to perform well in the workplace (Kelliher & Perrett, 2001). Motivation consists of several factors such as compensation management, work performance, punishment and reward, performance evaluation, job specification and many others. Large multinational corporations recognize that employees need to be motivated to increase their performance. One of the simplest ways of motivating employees is providing a conducive work environment. Employees love a working environment that looks friendly, appealing and comfortable. Recognizing and rewarding employees act as a strong motivating factor (Kepes & Delery, 2006). Employees feel motivated when they are appreciated for their outstanding performance. Setting an effective system of reward acts as a strong source of employees’ motivation. Employees can be rewarded with fair wages, small gifts, time offs, doing work for them and many others. Managers should understand what reward motivates their employees most.

Managers in most multinational corporations have now learned that developing a great relationship at the workplace is a strong source of motivation. Creating social events in the workplace help in improving interaction among the workers and this serve as a motivating factor. Developing an effective compensation management also help in motivating the employees (Kelliher & Perrett, 2001).Workers are motivated by a compensation system that contain both internal and external equity as stated by Kepes & Delery (2006). They like comparing their wages with that of other employees either from the same or different organization. If the employees perceive that their salaries are equal or fair to that of other workers, they feel motivated. Constant performance evaluation of the workers motivates them. Managers should design effective performance evaluation to motivate their employees. Motivation is a significant element in HRM as it increases productivity of the firm, and it helps in the retention of skilled and talented workers.

Maintenance

Maintenance is the last main element of the HRM strategy. It is involved in the process of retaining the employees in an organization, as seen in Akhtar, Ding & Ge (2008). It entails keeping the employees with excellent performance for the firm. It creates an environment that is conducive for high performers and this makes them remain in the same company for a longer period (Kepes & Delery, 2006). For this to happen, the company must strive to provide additional facilities, a friendly working environment, safe working conditions and labor relations that are satisfactory. If these activities are performed by a competent Manager, the company can benefit from having capable and competent employees. These workers are committed to the achievement of the objectives of an organization, and they are satisfied with their work.

A comprehensive strategy of people cannot be said to be comprehensive if it does not contain a proven retention strategy for keeping the employees that the company has worked hard to recruit. A study conducted in the United States found that 50% of responding companies admitted that they did not have a formal strategy for retention of their employees as stated by Kepes & Delery (2006). Most managers make a mistake in thinking that retention is based on issues of compensation, such as salary and wage levels and incentives. However, the drivers that keep employees in a company go beyond compensation issues and touch on attitudes and actions that make them feel appreciated, successful and secure. Therefore, a sound retention strategy should concentrate and critically address the four main elements. These elements include performance, communication, loyalty and competitive advantage.

Different Forms of Flexibility

There are different forms of HRM flexibility basing on two criteria. The first criterion differentiated between external and internal flexibility. The second criterion differentiated between qualitative and quantitative flexibility (Knox & Walsh, 2005). Internal flexibility is associated with the use current workforce to respond to changes. External flexibility refers to the capability of the company in incorporating external workforce. Quantitative flexibility also called numerical flexibility is related to the amount of work variation. Qualitative flexibility also known as functional flexibility is involved in measuring variations in the content of the work while paying attention to the employees’ qualifications as stated by Knox & Walsh (2005). From the analytical combination of the forms described above, the four categories are identified. One is the Internal quantitative, second internal qualitative, third, external quantitative and fourth external qualitative (Chang, Gong, Way & Jia, 2013). Each of these categories has its set of advantages and disadvantages. Some people think of HRM flexibility as made of two dimensions. These dimensions include numerical and functional flexibility. It is evident that the previous classifications of HRMflexibility are based on the differentiation of two types of flexibilities as stated by Chang, Gong, Way & Jia (2013). One is concentrated on the inside of the firm which stresses the importance of the use of human capital. The other one refers to the numerical arrangement of the workforce concentrating on the exit and recruitment mechanisms present in the labor market. Forms of HRM flexibility are very important in helping an organization to adapt to changes both internal and external and enjoy a competitive advantage.

Barriers to Implementation of the Company Plans

There exist various barriers that inhibit the implementation of the company’s plans. For plans to be effective, managers should identify potential barriers and work hard to overcome them before they can have negative impacts on the business. Some of the common barriers that hinder implementations of the company’s plan are as follows. Managers are not born with the inherent ability or capability to plan (Heide, Grønhaug & Johannessen, 2002). Some managers are not good at planning because they lack several essential elements that make a manager be a successful planner. These essential planning elements include education, effective planning background, ability and many others.

Some managers lack commitment to the planning process. Research has proved that it is much better for such managers to admit that they don’t have time for developing the needed plan than committing themselves to goals that they cannot actually meet (Heide, Grønhaug & Johannessen, 2002). Fear to fail is the other lack of commitment. Therefore, managers choose to contribute little to the development of a plan. Inferior information is another barrier to implementation of the company’s plan. Some managers use facts that are of insufficient quantity, poor quality and out-of –date which make the planning process very difficult. Some organizations rely too much on the planning department (Heide, Grønhaug & Johannessen, 2002). These planning departments conduct studies, build models, but they do not implement plans. Implementing plans is the function of the manager. Too much concentration on the controllable variables makes managers forget to consider the outside factors such as a poor economy. Effective planning in an organization is very important in overcoming the barriers to implementation of company’s plans.

Evaluation of ‘Best Fits’ verses ‘Best Practice.’

Best practice approach

The best practice approach emphasize that there is existence of particular bundles of HR activities which universally assist companies in attaining a competitive advantage irrespective of the firm’s setting or industry. This model suggest a close connection between firm’s performance and HR practices and they are always related to high management commitment (Stavrou, Brewster & Charalambous, 2010). Research in the best practice field reveals same groups of HR policies which are specifically appropriate for increasing the performance regardless of the product and market strategies. Best practice bundle of activities has been identified as HR activities that lead to workers’ competence, motivate workers and help in boosting the commitment of the employees. Basing on the concepts of the theory of expectancy, best practice HR will lead to increase in productivity and quality and decreased rates of wastages and absenteeism. This approach suffers from a number of problems. During its implementation, the firms run the risk of introducing prohibitive combinations such as teamwork and compensation basing on the performance of the individual (Hooper, Coughlan & Mullen, 2008). This combination leads to employee collaboration deterioration due to overexaggerated competition.High management commitment systems are complex undertaking. Critiques argue that this model lack linkages with organizational strategies. So managers who decide to apply this approach in the evaluation of the performance of their organization mut pay attention to its drawbacks.

Best fit approach

The Best fit model is designed to develop HRM policies, according to the strategy of the business as stated by Hooper, Coughlan &Mullen (2008). The Strategy entails performance objectives, future activities planning and policies that enable a corporation to achieve its aims. The HRM strategy should be developed and applied in supporting the identified corporate strategy. It stresses contingency fit between the activities of the HR and the stage of development of the firm and competition and labor market (Hooper, Coughlan & Mullen, 2008). The HR policy should be undertaken by an individual employee in an appropriate context and, therefore, help in supporting the overall competitive strategy. The process of aligning HRM practices to strategies can help companies in creating potential competitive advantages. This approach also suffers from severe criticism. First, in a changing environment of the business, organizations and their strategies are victims of many alternating contingencies. It is also almost impossible to adjust the entire HR systems to new challenges often (Stavrou, Brewster & Charalambous, 2010). Secondly, as firms move through their life cycle, HR practices must adapt strategies that result in better treatment of workers. Therefore, managers who decide to follow this approach must understand its limitations so that it can have positive impacts on the HRM strategies.

Conclusion

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the logical and strategic approach to the management of the company’s most valued assets-the employees. There are four main elements in a HRM strategy, and they   include acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance of the human resources. Acquisition functions are involved in the process of recruiting and selecting of manpower required by an organization. Employees’development imparts skills and knowledge to the employees so that they can perform their task effectively and efficiently. Motivation inspires and induces workers to perform well in the workplace, and this helps in the retention of the skilled and talented employees. Maintenance is an important element of the HRM strategy as it helps in the creation of a conducive environment within the organization that ensures that top performers remain in the organization. These top performers help in increasing productivity of the organization. There are four forms of HRM flexibility. They include Internal quantitative, internal qualitative, external quantitative and external qualitative. They help the firm to adapt well to the changing business environment. Organizations must address the problem caused by barriers to the implementation of the company plans if it is to succeed in its plans. Managers must understand the limitations of using the approaches of best fit or best practice in the evaluation of the performance of their employees. HRM strategy plays an integral role in the successful running of the businesses.

CLICK BUTTON TO ORDER NOW