Strategic Human Resources Frameworks

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Human Resources for Frameworks. Answer: Introduction: Human resource management by definition relates to the function within a company that deals with the employment, administration, and delivering direction for the people who work in the company (Hofstede, G 1984). Line managers can also be incorporated into the HRM processes. Human Resource Management lays emphasis on the tenets that the primary resource necessary for attainment a viable and competitive advantage is the staff of an organization. Human resource actions must be incorporated into the business strategy, and that practitioners and human capital specialists are a necessity to help organizations attain both the efficiency and equity objectives (Armstrong Armstrong, 2011). For an organization to thrive in the competitive global market it needs to look into several factors such as productivity, preferred standard, and a market share. However, hardly any organizations look into the significant factor of human resource performance. Human resource management looks to achieve the success of an organization through the employees who are the key players (Chandramohan, n.d). It looks to maximize on new opportunities putting into consideration the well-being of its people. Human resource management should be integrated all through the tasks of an organization. It should start from the basic process of enrollment, training, job allocation, appraisal, performance assessment and the work atmosphere (Aswathappa, 2013). This will allow for the effective running of an organization as the workforce is motivated and their grievances are heard and addressed in a formally understandable manner (Deckop, 2006). These are activities related to employment, human associations, compensation, and the recent inclinations in HRM. Employment is the act of securing labor with the required qualifications needed by the organization to reach its set target. Human associations refer to the process of interaction between two or more parties who in this case are the organization and the employees (Wilkinson, Johnstone EEP, 2016). Positive relation motivates people to do a better job. Human relations comprise inspiring employees, initiating effective communication channels and skills, refining the excellence of work of employees and enhancing employee drive. Compensation embraces rewards that staff receive as a direct consequence of their employment. It entails of direct and indirect compensation that may be in monetary or non-financial terms as agreed in the terms of reference for the engagement (Armstrong, 2006). Financial compensation includes wage and salary, bonus among others. On the hand non-financial compensation includes job evaluation, social security and security measures for work related accidents. The recent human tendency in human resource management is an area that is fast growing. It entails the value of working life, recent development of technology in human capital management and quality of human capital (Juana, Espinosa, 2012). When organizations hire workers they have a basic capacity to work, to ensure full exploitation of their skill, managers ought to organize tasks, space, the moment of time within which the employees works. The choice of a strategic human resource is governed by the following principles; variations in organization forms, the pressure by management to perform, and stability of labor markets (Valentine, Mathis Jackson, 2013). Human resource strategy consists of five factors, philosophy, policies, programs, practices and processes. Policies and of an organization's human resource management ought to be adaptable to the changing environment. Internalization is a vital human resource in the part of the line of managers. The workforce is able to foster a commitment to strategic goals. Organizations that value their employees as their tactical and competitive gain are the most efficacious. These organizations set a tradition of innovation aimed at developing and connecting employees with professional skills and knowledge aimed and achieving the priorities of the organization (Scarpello, 2008). It also helps individuals to represent their expertise at a personal level. Organizations showing full commitment to human resource management manifest high productivity levels. Employees in these organizations are highly motivated and show a high performance in their areas of specialization. There is also a strong relationship between the human resource management and the employees attitude towards workplace performance (Redman Wilkinson, 2002). Tactical human capital management helps an organization achieve its objectives through the following ways; it trains management on the best way to relate with subordinates staff. It looks into a fair rewarding system that boosts the morale of the workforce. It nurtures the employees goals to match those of the organization. It looks to develop an effective method of communication to allow passage of information either horizontally or vertically within the organization. It carries out a quantity analysis on each employees contribution to the company and takes steps to optimize them. In addition, it helps the organization to develop knowledge critical to differentiate an organization from other players in the market. It develops an overall talent in an organization, a strategic action that has a positive sway on the performance. The talent management strategy not only impacts employees but also raises the standards of leadership at different levels. Generally, it identifies the strategic needs of an organization and the most efficient methods of achieving the best results (Ehnert, 2009). There are two major variations in the human resource management. These are the soft and the hard models that are divergent to a number of scopes. The hard model proponents are seen as the major business resource. Employees are viewed as the human element of an organizations capital in which the organization spends to gain a competitive gain in the current market. At McDonalds, the efficiency of the human resource approach used means that much of the hard approach is never employed in dealing with human capital issues. The soft model, on the other hand, stresses on human resource. Employees are valued as resources and a foundation for competitive advantage to the organization. They are seen as being adept and earnest replacements of direct forms of supervision, pressure, and control. The chosen tactic at McDonalds towards employee acknowledgement may be applied to many establishments. The structure aims to recognizing staff who have exceeded expectations in their time of employment. I strongly believe that the same model would work at Spastic Center which is a non-profit entity but would need a few alterations or modifications in order to fit with the business model in the non-profit sector. To begin with, the recognition should not only be from the peers. The clienteles should also be endorsed to rate personnel who attend to them. The effort of employees should be highly considered for the recognition scheme. Secondly, the monetary or financial recognition may not work due to funding limitations and requirements on utilization of monies. To resolve this, the path taken may be to recompense employees in a different style. The employees may be presented with an opportunity for short training courses that increase their job expertise and put them in good stead for advancements. Alternatively, employees may be given favorable shifts or rewarded with time off to spend time with their family as well The Harvard model focuses on a multiple stakeholders theory. It views staff as resources, however; they cannot be viewed in the same way as other resources as their management is different. Human resource is different from other resources since it can be motivated or de-motivated, they can choose to cooperate or differ with the management (Billsberry, Salaman Storey, 2005). People can perform different tasks such as think, plan, create or learn. The model emphasizes that human resource management on employees is critical to an organization for the achievement of its objectives. The New York model sees human resource management as a list of tactical choices to be made by the human resource executives to promote effective behavior that is consistent with the organization's plan (Sparrow and Hilltop 1994). The choices to be made by the human resource executives are such as planning choices, staffing selections, compensation sets and training developmental alternatives. Staffing selections are essential as the selected employees need to fit within the organizational culture (Lugonja, 2010). The case of McDonalds Australia is an ideal case study for human resource practitioners across the globe. Where there is smoke, there is fire. At McDonalds, you need to read this positively. The company has been in its recent past voted as the best company to work for in Australia. This means that the company must be doing something right when it comes to organization its human resource function and how the elements of human capital captured in the overall plan of the company trickle down to the individuals in the organization. It is imperative to take into account that the company has in its books, an estimated 75,000 employees. It is difficult to keep an employee happy but ay McDonalds, they are able to do that to such a significant number. The majority of the workforce in the outlets spread out across Australia is aged between 15 and 20 years and this means that they fall into a category of employees who are traditionally hard to please. It is a big onus to the management yet they have done it to impressive standards. The main secret that can be attributed to making the organization the employer of choice is the fact that there have been concerted efforts towards creating an organization culture where the employees at all levels of hierarchy feel valued. The aspect of feeling valued extends beyond the pay package. The average employee spends the majority of their time within the employers premises or engages with issues pertaining to the employer and thus they always have the need to feel they belong over and above the remuneration they receive. This has made the organization an enviable place to work in. The element of growth from within the ranks helps a lot towards creating a happy workforce (Martin, 2010). Employees will be content when they have the knowledge that if they meet and exceed the expectations set for them, then they are in with a chance of growing within the organization. At McDonalds, an impressive 80% of the managers have their history within lower ranks in the hierarchy at McDo nalds. The brand has understood for a long time that a strong brand is not what it offers to its customer but its human capital. The human capital element ensures that the product or service once developed is delivered with excellence to the customers. Often times, there are always commodities that can meet the same need and bear the same attributes in terms of price and quality. The difference between such products comes in when the product is offered to the market and the customers have to interact with the organization through its employees. The sensitivity is heightened at McDonalds being that it operates in the service industry. The value attributed or apportioned to the employee can also be seen through the training program in place at McDonalds. The annual budget allocation towards training is $40 million. The amount is equivalent to annual profits for some respectable mid-sized companies operating in the same market and in the same area geographically. It is testament to the fact that the business does indeed value its people. This is further emboldened in the fact that in its overall strategy or approach to the market, people come first. The focal points for the organization are people, products, place, price and promotion. People are placed as the foremost pillar upon which the success of the organization is placed. The aspect of remuneration is not left out of this discourse however. To begin with, the organization has set out a remuneration policy that is clear and concise. All employees are okay without an iota of doubt of what they stand to gain for the output they give while in the employment of McDonalds. Secondly, there is a CREW Recognition Program in place. The program is responsible for rewarding employees stationed at the various outlets. It has two distinctive awards, the employee of the month and employee of the quarter. This means that it creates a sense of competition and with a just reward at the end. Thirdly, the policies set out by the HR function are clear with regard to pay decisions that the organization takes at any time. This also extends to an equitable pay structure where pay is distributed according to the assigned roles for an individual and the responsibilities that they take up in their line of duty. The sum total of all this is the belief that the employees currentl y hold, 92% of the staff working presently with the organization believe that they have been well equipped to work and meet their expectations. They also believe this has put them in good stead to grow within the ranks. In conclusion, delegation, human resource management has led to both positive and negative factors. In the case of McDonalds, the effects are more positive than negative. It is discernible that any study or survey done to measure any elements of worth of work life for the employees as well as their general contentment will bear a positive feedback. The strategy has embraced the people as a central pillar and this has helped strengthen the influence of the human capital management of the organization. Heads of organization charged with the mandate of organizing the human capital of the organization need to always take this well. The life and success of any organization is tied ultimately to how it treats its people and McDonalds is testament to this. References Armstrong, M. (2007).A handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page. Armstrong, M., Armstrong, M. (2011).Armstrong's handbook of strategic human resource management. London: Kogan Page. Aswathappa, K. (2013).Human resource management: Text and cases. New Delhi: McGraw Hill Education. Baron, J. N., Kreps, D. M. (1999).Strategic human resources: Frameworks for general managers. New York: John Wiley. Billsberry, J., Salaman, G., Storey, J. (2005).Strategic human resource management: Theory and practice. London: SAGE. Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W. 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