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Business Strategy and Human Resource Management: Setting the Scene

In: Business and Management

Submitted By yun4haha
Words 10708
Pages 43
m w e a n

B usiness S trategy a nd H uman R esource
Management: S etting t he S cene

Ed van Sluijs & Frits Kluytmans
MERIT

Open University

This article is based on a journey through the wilderness of strategic human resource management. Part 1 gives an overview of the recent literature on this topic, particularly pertaining to the two issues which received have most attention until now: the relational aspects and the content aspects. In part 2, we go deeper into the wilderness and explore the least known aspect of strategic human resource management, namely the process aspects. This exploration is based on the simultaneous study of the (scarce) literature and four cases. Finally, the connection between the three aspects is investigated.

INTRODUCTION
Increased integration between human resource management and business strategy is one of the most important demands that are placed upon modern strategic human resource management. In both the management and the academic literature, it is generally acknowledged that the strategic deployment and management of personnel can contribute to the success and continuity of the firm. Some go even further by stating that a firm’s human resources form the basis of the firm’s competitive advantage. In this view, the human resources are the most important assets of an organisation. At the same time, in addition to the importance of the human resources as such, it is believed to be important that the management of the human resources should be in perfect fit with the management of the organisation as a whole and its strategic plans.
However, despite these optimistic accounts, it is clear that the implementation of strategic human resource management is difficult and to date, has diffused only to a limited extent (Rowland &
Summers, 1981; Lorange & Murphy, 1984; Nkomo, 1984; Golden & Ramanujam, 1985;

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