SHRM 3 - Grade: b PDF

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FORMAL LITERATURE REVIEW

Formal Literature Review- What do high performing organizations do differently? Gurbani Bindra 7466725 Strategic Human Resources Planning HRM 8050 Elodie Jordens March 14, 2016

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FORMAL LITERATURE REVIEW

Executive Summary This paper states the findings of the research conducted regarding some specific aspects of strategic human resource planning. The research is based on peer reviewed scholarly articles pertaining to the topic 'What do high-performing organizations do differently?' The specific aspects of Strategic Human Resource Planning discussed in this paper are the significance of HR strategy, the global trends effecting HR, the high-performing employees, effective management and leadership practices in connection with Strategic Human Resources Planning, and the key drivers of employee engagement along with discussion about the contribution of HR professionals in achievement of positive outcomes regarding employee engagement. HR strategy is very significant for the organization as well as for the employees of the organization in various ways. The upcoming trends around the world have a huge impact on HR. The highperformance of an organization directly relates to high-performing employees. Highperformance of employees, up to a great extent, is a result of Strategic HR. Strategic management also has a vital role in effectiveness of management and the leadership styles being followed by an organization.

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Introduction Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM) is the proactive management of the employees of a company or an organization. SHRM includes typical human resource components such as hiring, discipline, and payroll, and also involves working with employees in a collaborative manner to boost retention, improve the quality of work experience, and maximize the mutual benefit of employment for both the employee and the employer [Bus16]. SHRM involves harnessing the potential of humans. HR strategy is very significant for efficient and smooth running of an organization in long run because an HR strategy is a decision-making rule. It helps the employees to make common decisions of daily functions in the organization. The upcoming trends of global market have a huge impact on the human resources of an organization. Strategic Human Resources Management has resulted in creation of highperforming workforce. The HR professionals have a significant contribution in achievement of positive outcomes regarding employee engagement. All this will be discussed in this assignment.

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As per the research conducted by Mitushi Jain (2014), HRM consists of processes that bring people and organizations together in order to ensure that the individual and the organizational goals are met. Whereas, Strategic HRM determines the direction in which an organization is moving in connection with its environment. The significance of SHRM is highlighted by Mitushi Jain in the article ‘|Organizational Effectiveness and Strategic HR’ (2014). The prime significance is SHRM’s nature of defining the strategic intent. SHRM plays a vital role in connecting the resources to the opportunities or requirements. This leads to a strategic fit between the resources and the opportunities. Secondly, SHRM is also important in the sense that it leads the organization to achieve competitive advantage in the industry. This is done by aligning all the levels of an organization with the goals of the organization. According Porter (1985) an organization is said to have sustained competitive advantage when the strategies applied by the organization are not applied by any of its competitors [str10]. SHRM helps an organization to achieve that particular level where none of the organization’s competitors stand. SHRM also benefits in attracting and retaining talented workforce, developing the right skills among the employees through Strategic HR policies, using the human resources effectively and efficiently, motivating the employees, engaging them in organizational tasks, and SHRM also offers the benefit of ensuring competent decision-making [Mit14]. The global trends impacting HR, as represented in the article ‘The Future at Work-Trends and Implications’ are shifting demographic patterns, pace of change in technology and the path of economic globalization. These are the global trends that have a huge impact on HR. As per the trends of population and labour force participation rates, the workforce in US will keep on escalating. Whereas for the workforce composition, the trend is to have a shift towards a more

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balanced composition of workforce, that is a balanced workforce in terms of age, sex, and race [Ran04]. Mitchell, Obeidat and Bray (2013) found that the high performance human resource practices mediate the connection the HR strategic role and performance. The HR professional facilitates the enhancement of the legitimacy of HR initiatives and the resourcing and support for the implementation of strategies. [Mit13]. The role of HR strategy has direct relationship with performance of the workforce. The resource-based view of a firm has strong focus on influencing the workforce of the organization in a manner that it drives the organization towards achievement of organizational goals. According to the findings of the research, the SHRM practices lead to better productivity as a result of high-performance workforce. The HR strategies enhance the abilities of workforce in terms of the knowledge, skills, abilities and other attributes (KSAOs) at the workplace. The HR strategies that aim at enhancing motivation among employees result in productivity through high-performance of workforce due to High Performance Human Resource Practices. This link was developed by Guest (1997). Batt (2002) gave suggestion of motivational aspect of HR strategy in terms of job security. The performance of highly skilled and motivated employees will be limited if jobs are not structured properly (Tsai, 2006). Boxall and Purcell (2003) opine that the employee performance will be better if when employees are given such a work environment that the necessary support and growth opportunities are offered. Substantial research on the link between HPHRPs and organizational performance has occurred worldwide since pioneering work was published in the mid-1990s (Becker & Gerhart, 1996; Huselid, 1995). The key drivers of employee engagement are very well understood through the research conducted by Bedarkar and Pandita (2014). Employee engagement is a property of the 5

FORMAL LITERATURE REVIEW

relationship between an organization and its employees. An engaged employee is one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about one’s own work and so takes positive action to further the organization’s reputation and interests [Dew16]. This concept has been explained by Bedarkar and Pandita (2013) in an article named ‘A Study on the Drivers of Employee Engagement Impacting Employee Performance’. In the present competitive era, an organization needs to focus on the human resources of the organization in order to survive in the industry because only human resources possessed by an organization are key assets that a company can have separate from other firms in the industry, all the other resources are available to similarly to the whole industry. Employee engagement determines the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. The major drivers of employee engagement as mentioned in the article are career opportunities, brand alignment, recognition, HR practices, reputation of the organization, managing the performance, pay, and valuing the people [Bed14]. The three driving forces focussed more are leadership, communication and work life balance. Xu and Thomas Cooper (2010) state that leadership is a key antecedent of engagement. Research makes it vivid that leadership style has direct effect on employee engagement. The leadership style results in motivation among employees, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and citizenship behaviour [Bed14]. Behaviour of leadership or the leadership qualities are associated with the level of employee engagement. Xu and Thomas Cooper (2010) state that leadership is a key antecedent of engagement [Bed14]. Atwater and Brett (2006) have identified three leadership behaviours that are employee development, consideration and performance-orientation. Employee engagement has also been linked to the financial outcomes of the organization. Studies show that employee engagement results in employee performance, as a consequence of which the organizational performance gets improved. Engaging the employees give them

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chances to indulge themselves into the work assigned to them. This also gives rise to selfefficacy. Employee engagement also results in better health and positive emotions among employees. Outcomes would include customer loyalty, employee retention, low rate of employee turnover, advocacy of the company, productivity of employees, and overall business success [Bed14]. The findings of the article also relate communication to the employee engagement. According to the findings, communication ensures employee engagement. It states that the employees need clear, concise and easy to understand communication in order to connect their work to the organizational vision. A poor communication system is a disturbance in the way of employee engagement. A good communication will in turn lead to employee engagement in a better way. Internal communication is to be emphasised for having a positive impact on the employee engagement. Internal communication refers to the communication structure within an organization. Clear communication effectively conveys the values of an organization to the target audience and this results in directing the organization towards the achievement of organizational goals. This is the reason why the internal communication is significant for possessing employee engagement. Welch (2011) specifies the effect of communication on employee engagement through a three-component construct. These three components are emotional, physical and cognitive dimensions. These are connected with three other dimensions which are dedication, absorption and vigour. Link of the senior management leadership communication is also developed with employee engagement. Presently, organizations do efforts to fulfil the expectations of the employees of the organization so as to achieve the benefit employee engagement in terms of the productivity of employees and organizational productivity too.

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Researchers Sahoo, Das and Sundaray (2011) have determined that Strategic Human Resource Management leads the organization towards achievement of a win-win situation by assisting in achievement of organizational goals. In the article ‘STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: EXPLORING THE KEY DRIVERS’, researchers Sahoo, Das and Sundaray shed light on the direct relationship between Strategic HRM and effectiveness of management. They studied various factors that have impact on HRM and found that Strategic HRM adopts an overall resource-based philosophy that includes the approaches which are a key to effective management in an organization [Sah11].

The three approaches

leading to effective management are high-performance management, high-involvement management and high-commitment management. The high-performance Management approach includes forming a set of procedures that integrate to effect organization’s performance through the employees of the organization. Along with resulting in effective management, this approach also represents high-performing workforce. High-involvement Management approach involves creating a feeling of belongingness among the employees of the organization. Employees are treated as partners and they have a voice on organizational aspects concerning them. Working in teams, job rotations, quality circles etcetera are common examples of high-involvement work practices. High-commitment Management approach involves reflection of commitments so that the organizational behaviour is directly based on aim of creating a high-performing culture in the organization. Such culture comprises of a clear line of sight, specific leadership style, possessing positive attitudes, giving rewards and having a fair compensation system. HR systems and line managers’ leadership styles each have the potential to influence employee behaviours and attitudes, through their impact on ability, motivation, and opportunity for employees to perform (McDermott, Conway, Rousseau,& Flood,2013). As per the findings 8

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of the research, it is clear that regular communication with the managers facilitates passing of strategic information among employees. Any slippages in the implementation of strategy can be managed by a competent and efficient manager. The leadership style of line managers has the capacity to mould behaviour and attitudes of employees. The leadership style has effect on the ability, level of motivation and growth chances of employees’ performance. The impact of leadership on behaviour of employees is not tangible and hence, mostly neglected.

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Conclusion Employees are the most significant key resources for an organization. It is very essential to manage the human resources very effectively and efficiently. Strategic HRM is very useful for an organization to assist in dealing with employees. After the research conducted, it is apt to conclude that HR strategy is very significant for an organization and the organization's workforce. Organizations need to offer liberty to the employees in order to add excitement in their work for generating the aspect of employee engagement. Employee engagement leads to better productivity. Global trends have a great impact on HR. Various trends effect HR differently. Strategic HR results in motivating employees and boosting the morale of employees. Consequently, organization is able to attain high-performing workforce. It is also concluded that SHRP results in high-commitment management, high-involvement management and high-performance management. These three elements together result in effective management.

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References Bedarkar, M., & Pandita, D. (2014, may 15). a study on the drivers of employee engagement. Retrieved from science direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814030845 Bedarkar, M., & Pandita, D. (2014). Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. A Study on the Drivers of Employee Engagement Impacting Employee Performance, 106-115. Business dictionary.com. (2016). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from What is strategic human resources management: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/strategic-humanresource-management.html Dewritech. (2016). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from Employee engagement: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_engagement Jain, M. (2014). Organizational Effectiveness and Strategic HR. Jorrnal of Social Welfare and Management, 10. McDermott, A. M., Conway, E., Rousseau, D. M., & Flood, P. C. (n.d.). Promoting effective psychological contracts through leadership. Human Resource Management DOI, 23. Mitchell, R., Obeidat, S., & Bray, M. (2013). The effect of strategic human resource management on organizational performance-the mediating role of high-performance human resource practices. Human Resource Management, 24. Rand. (2004). The Future at Work — Trends and Implications. 2. Sahoo, C. K., Das, S., & Sundaray, B. k. (2011). Strategic Human Resource Management: Exploring the Key Drivers. 22-23. strategic approach to HRM gives competitive advantage. (2010). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from scribd: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35516247/Strategic-approach-to-HRM-givescompetitive-advantage#scribd

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