...Competitive Advantage and HRM 11/04/2013 Chrysovalantis Markoyiannakis No 62529 For years HRM hadn’t the recognition that it deserved being thought of in many cases as a ‘necessary evil’ for a lot of firms. This point of view has changed mostly at the last 15 years and as the time passes it becomes more and more clear that HRM plays a strategic role among organizations. More than that HRM can be a decisive factor for a firm to gain a competitive advantage among the other firms that exist in a particular industry. And at these times of crisis even the smallest possible advantage must be taken into consideration. As the article ‘triumph of the wage slaves’ (Lucy Kellaway the ECONOMIST) refers, companies are forced to search for new radical measures in order to avoid heavy consequences from affection of the crisis. HRM can be really helpful in that direction. First of all the choice of the right person for the right place is crucial. Choosing the right person means that efficiency in that particular job will meet and probably exceed the average expectations. Additionally it means that the costs for further training within the company are limited. Of course training is always necessary and it is one of the HRM department’s tools for achieving a competitive advantage , but having the right person from the beginning means that less training is needed and it can be focused on making the right person even better, and not making someone else just suitable for the job. This helps the firm...
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... Human resource management (HRM) is concerned with the personnel policies and managerial practices and systems that influence the workforce. In broader terms, all decisions that affect the workforce of the organization concern the HRM function. The activities involved in HRM function are pervasive throughout the organization. Line managers, typically spend more than 50 percent of their time for human resource activities such hiring, evaluating, disciplining, and scheduling employees. Human resource management specialists in the HRM department help organizations with all activities related to staffing and maintaining an effective workforce. Major HRM responsibilities include work design and job analysis, training and development, recruiting, compensation, team-building, performance management and appraisal, worker health and safety issues, as well as identifying or developing valid methods for selecting staff. HRM department provides the tools, data and processes that are used by line managers in their human resource management component of their job. What is the focus of HRM department? “The HRM focus should always be maintaining and, ideally, expanding the customer base while maintaining, and ideally, maximizing profit. HRM has a whole lot to do with this focus regardless of the size of the business, or the products or services you are trying to sell.” (Dr. James Spina, former head of Executive Development at the Tribune Company). HRM is involved in managing the...
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...Human resource management (HRM) is concerned with the personnel policies and managerial practices and systems that influence the workforce. In broader terms, all decisions that affect the workforce of the organization concern the HRM function. The activities involved in HRM function are pervasive throughout the organization. Line managers, typically spend more than 50 percent of their time for human resource activities such hiring, evaluating, disciplining, and scheduling employees. Human resource management specialists in the HRM department help organizations with all activities related to staffing and maintaining an effective workforce. Major HRM responsibilities include work design and job analysis, training and development, recruiting, compensation, team-building, performance management and appraisal, worker health and safety issues, as well as identifying or developing valid methods for selecting staff. HRM department provides the tools, data and processes that are used by line managers in their human resource management component of their job. What is the focus of HRM department? “The HRM focus should always be maintaining and, ideally, expanding the customer base while maintaining, and ideally, maximizing profit. HRM has a whole lot to do with this focus regardless of the size of the business, or the products or services you are trying to sell.” (Dr. James Spina, former head of Executive Development at the Tribune Company). HRM is involved in managing the...
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...Human Resources Management What is meant by a strategic approach to HRM? How can a strategic approach to HRM be a source of competitive advantage to an enterprise? Illustrate your view by reference to relevant literature and case studies drawn from GSN406 course materials. “The most powerful of the strategic configurations of power remains people... you must work on developing an organizational espirit de corp that aligns the hearts and minds of your staff with the aims of the business”. (Boar 1997, p. 196) Acronyms used in this paper: HR Human resources HRM Human Resources Management SCA Sustainable Competitive Advantage SHRM Strategic Human Resources Management Student: Jason D Bingham Student no.: Unit: GSN406 HR Management Issues Assessment: 1 (15% weighting) Word limit (( 1000) 1047 (excl. list of references etc.) Lecturer: Due date: Friday 25 May 2001 Table of contents 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Definitions 1 2.1 Human Resource Management 1 2.2 Strategic management 1 2.3 Competitive advantage 1 3.0 Strategic approaches to HRM 1 4.0 How SHRM can provide competitive advantage 2 5.0 Validation of SHRM: Case studies of successful firms 3 5.1 SAP...
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...Britni Davis January 21, 2013 HRM 530 Ethical Issues in HRM Strategy Dr. Daniel C. Frost Introduction As a Human Resource Management Consultant you are there to solve the problems of the company that has hired you. Also not only is that the key objective of your job you have to be ethical due to not messing up business relationships with other clients you may have. This paper will focus on different objectives that a HRM Consultant may have while doing his or her job. Identify the areas of overlap in the new client organization with others that you have had as clients. An Area that may overlap in a new client organization with others that you have had as clients would be giving a completive edge to another client. An overlap could be when a HR consultant departs one client and joins another. The knowledge acquired at the previous company can be sensitive and valuable to the new client. This can cause ethical problems for me as the new HRM consultant. Ethical Dilemmas: There are many ethical issues that can come about in the case of HRM consulting. When you have knowledge of the company and previous assignments that can be useful in your new position. As a consultant you can encounter many obstacles some can be being Fair, Competitive Edge and not being biased. Fairness: The wisdom of a consultant improves with experience. An old client‘s project experience has helped the consultant in providing a more wise consultation to future clients. Therefore, whether or not...
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...have a competitive edge is through HRM. What is HRM then? Human resource management (HRM, or simply HR) is a function in organizations designed to maximize employee performance in service of an employer's strategic objectives.1 French Wendell, defines HRM as “the recruitment, selection, development, utilization, compensation and motivation of human resources by the organization”. The first definition emphasizes the purpose of HRM while the second one emphasizes the component of HRM. From the first definition, we can say that HRM is designed to make a competitive edge for a company. The company can achieve its goal more efficiently if HRM is well used. The second definition shows us the exact aspect of HRM that we can work on in order to have a competitive edge. This article will mainly talk about the competitive edge gained by using HRM. II. Content I’m very glad that there is a chance for me to study HRM, because human resource has become one of the most important elements to the success of a company. Nowadays, companies are not only focusing on the product or the service but also the human resource. That means HRM has become to a vital importance to the survival of the business. So if I want to set up my own business, HRM is a necessary quality that I must have. Generally speaking, HRM is playing an important role in commercial field. However, how does the HRM be implemented to have a competitive edge? To know this, we must know what is a competitive edge for...
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...Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland 2010 Human Resource Management A competitive advantage Jennifer O’ Hagan Table of Contents How can good HRM practice become a source of competitive advantage for organisations in the retail sector? 3 Introduction: 3 Definitions: 3 Main functions of a HRM system: 4 Key functions of a HRM system: 6 Learning and development and performance management: 6 Induction: 6 Staff appraisals/review systems: 7 Hertzberg Two factor theory 8 Motivational factors 8 Hygeine factors 8 HRM eveloution 9 Why is HRM such an important tool in organisations today? 10 References 11 How can good HRM practice become a source of competitive advantage for organisations in the retail sector? Introduction: The purpose of this study is to discuss how good HRM (human resource management) practice can become a source of competitive advantage for organisations in the retail sector. To help me examine this, I will explain what defines HRM and the main functions of a HRM system. I will also examine why it is such an important tool for many organisations today. Definitions: Human Resourse Management has been defined as ‘a strategic approach to managing employment relations between employee and employers, which emphasises that leveraging peoples capabilities is critical to achieving competitive advantage, acheived through a distinctive set of integrated employment practices.’ ‘Strategy denotes an activity that organisations perform...
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...Assignment #1 Ethical Issues in HRM Strategies You have just been hired to consult with a new client organization. This organization is similar to others for whom you have served in an HRM consulting role and experiences many of the same problems and situations that the other organizations have had. You have a wealth of knowledge about other organizations’ HRM strategies. Describe your approach to this new client in terms of relying upon knowledge you have gained working with other similar situation. 1. Identify the issues of overlap in the new client organization with others that you have had as client. 2. Explain the ethical dilemma(s) that may arise if you use your expert knowledge of other organizational HRM strategies with the new client. 3. Discuss your approach to customizing HRM strategy to business strategies. 4. Emphasize the importance of establishing HRM strategies to improve a competitive advantage. Issues of overlap in a new client organization. According to Stewart & Brown (2012) good human resource management practices help successful organizations meet the needs of their employees, customers owners and society. .A company must have a strategic plan to for dealing with important changes that are likely to occur both in the marketplace and among its workforce. Employee productivity increases when organizations hire and motivate employees effectively. Good human resource practices create more satisfied employees who in turn...
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...Resource Management’ (a very popular course) was: Does, and should, competitive strategy determine the design of a firm’s HR system? Give illustrations to support your answer. One of the great advantages in working in a university which has top students is that you can ask them questions you are not quite sure how to answer yourself! The best students gave clear examples of such a link and then got stuck in to the ‘should’ part of the question often noting the critical difference between competitive strategy and business strategy. Some even went further into corporate strategy, the resource based, and knowledge based view as well as ethics, culture and institutional setting. Surprisingly none of them questioned what was meant by a firm’s HR system. I will follow the same line of argument in this paper with thanks to the students, very few of whom have any intention of becoming HR professionals. We start with some of the classics in strategy and HRM, go on to look briefly at some major studies, or the ones that have influenced my thinking. Thereafter the paper notes the problems with the assumed link with competitive strategy as a dominant, or the dominant, force in determining an HR system. Once the focus is widened to cover business strategy two very interesting, and linked, phenomena can be observed. First, what we thought strategy was all about has changed hugely. Second, our definition of what constitutes HRM (or the management of employment relations) has broadened beyond recognition...
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...decides to change directions in it strategy the HRM practices needs to change to support the new strategy. In order to effectively gain competitive advantages though HRM practices; the HRM practices needs to change in three major areas: knowledge workers, employee empowerment, and teamwork. Knowledge workers are employees whose main contribution to the organization is specialized knowledge, such as knowledge of customers, a process, pr a profession (Noe et al, 2009). Employee empowerment means giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions regarding all aspects of product development and customer service (Noe et al, 2009). Teamwork is the assignment of work to groups of employees with various skills who interact to assemble a product or provide a service (Noe et al, 2009). Redmond Minerals gained a great competitive advantage by utilizing their understandings of how important the HRM practices are to it company. The company’s HRM practices allowed his company to maximize its productivity of the organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its employees. Technology/Internet Advances in computer-related technology have had a major impact on the use of information for managing human resources (Noe et al, 2009). Internal working of Redmond Minerals HR department can be optimized far beyond the owner’s initial vision with the use of technology. The three ways the use of the internet can improve Redmond’s HRM functions are human resource information system...
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...organization by linking HRM to the strategic aims of a firm, helps to assess HR policies, will bring competitive advantage, brings team-building, helps direct and supervise the performances of the employees and keeps the firm legal. Strategic HRM is based to the principles of HRM which is basically a management process that is carried out by the existing workforce in an organization. It includes functions such as attracting, selecting, and training, assessing and rewarding the employees and at the same time managing organizational leadership and making sure there are fulfillment labor and employment laws. Strategic HRM a key to enhanced business performance as it aims to plan the implementation of all the above mentioned functions due to which it has gained a lot of popularity over the few years (Boselie, 2001). Strategic HRM planning helps the firm to map out where they currently are; where they need to reach and how will they reach there. Improvement in the performances is achieved by coalition of business and HR strategies. HR functions and business performances have become ‘the dominant research issue’ (Guest, 1997, p. 264). According to the theorists the HRM strategy has the goal to manage people which will help in the success of business objectives and the senior management thinks that with the formation of strategy; the policies, practices and viewpoints will bring in improved business performances (Tyson, 1997, p. 277). Good performance is possible as HRM practices increase...
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...in support of them. This study investigates the relationships between HR practices, human resources management (HRM) - firm strategy fit and the firm performance of 63 small and medium sized firms located around Kocaeli and Gebze from both theoretical and empirical perspective. The findings indicate a strong relationship between different HR practices and HRM-firm strategy fit and firm performance. Further, the results provide support for the assertion that HR-firm strategy fit can significantly assist a firm in improving performance. Therefore, empirical support is obtained for the efforts at aligning HRM practices with firm strategy and firm performance. (recruitment, development, etc.) share the same basic character and play a similar kind of role in relation to strategic management (Luoma, 2000: 771). Effective HRM strategy systematically organizes all individual HRM measures to directly influence employee attitude and behavior in a way that leads business to achieve its competitive strategy. (Huang, 2001: 134). In view of the fact that the goals and necessities of each of the competitive strategy types are different, the management of the human resources of the firm should be in line with the firm's overall strategy. This means that HRM carries the promise that if people are regarded and managed as strategic resources, the firm can obtain a competitive advantage and thus achieve superior performance (Heijltjesa and Witteloostuijn, 2003: 33). Accordingly, there has been a...
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...Human Resource Management Overview HRM/300 January 12, 2016 Marina Viner HRM is an essential and vital function for organizational success.While HRM focuses on the potential and actual productive value of HR to an organizations’ success, strategic HRM takes a more long term focus by emphasizing the need of HR plans and strategies of overall organization. The emphasis of strategic HRM is on strategic integration which is matching HRM strategies to business strategies. In this paper, we will discuss two models of Strategic HRM: The matching model and the resource-based model. Comparing these models, while listing their similarities and differences, will help us understand Strategic HRM on a better level. In the second part of this paper, I will address which features of the Resource-based view my current workplace: the Treasury Board Secretariat (Federal Government) uses and how it relates to Human Resources Management. Matching model First off, the matching model also known as “best fit”, requires that an organizations’ HRM policies and practices be configured and managed in a way that is congruent with the particular strategy. This model concentrates on fit between an external strategy and internal strategy. HRM strategies are all about making business strategies work and so emphasis is placed on how to best match and develop appropriate systems. This model concentrates on the following issues to address success: • Selection (Most suitable people for the business...
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...the organization achieve its competitive advantage. Changes in the environment such as widespread globalization, rapid technology and other such factors have led to organizations realizing the significance of controlling human resources in a firm. Since organizations have also become more dynamic and complex, the need to manage human resources has become more essential. In recent years, many individuals demanded for a more strategic approach to managing people in a firm, rather than the traditional methods, and thus the idea of strategic human resource management (SHRM) was adopted. Strategic human resource management is a branch of human resource management, and it can be defined as ‘ the linking of human resources with strategic goals and objectives in order to improve business performance and develop organizational culture that foster innovation, flexibility and competitive advantage.’ (Sinha, R 2007). This essay is going to focus on how strategic human resource management helps organizations achieve a sustained competitive advantage. Sustainable competitive advantage is the position a firm develops in relation to its competitors that are not duplicable an unsurpassable than its competitors. Recently scholars have come to the basis of HR skills and competences as sources of competitive advantage. Human resource practices as well as competitive strategies are based on the assumption that employee behaviors are needed for each type of competitive strategy and that these behaviors...
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...RESULTS/FINDINGS Competitive advantage arises when a firm creates value for its customers by emphasizing the importance of differentiation, which consists of offering a product considered as being unique, seeing a particular product market as more effective or efficient than its competitions, and cost leadership. By utilizing these generic strategies against industry’s external environmental determinants, management can affect a firm’s performance. On the contrary, a resource-based view suggests that a firm can sustain its competitive advantage through the alignment of internally consistent bundles of HRM strategies/implementation to its overall business strategy and desired performance, to develop critical resources or competencies. This...
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