This chapter explores a range of contextual factors that have implications for the strategies adopted by organizations in managing human resources. First, it examines population and demographic trends, changes in attitudes to work, and how people see work in the context of their lives. Second, it focuses on where people work and what that work entails. Third, it considers the growing phenomenon of flexibility, both from the point of view of organizations, which seek flexibility and greater agility with which to respond to their environments and improve their competitive position, and from the view of employees, who seek flexibility to help them to balance their work and non-work activities more effectively. Finally, it analyses the trend towards greater individualism and the concern for greater productivity in the ways in which human resources are managed.
Chapter
The changing context for strategic human resource management
Chapter
The foundations of strategic human resource management
This chapter tackles the question that lies at the heart of this book: what is strategic human resource management (SHRM)? It reviews the historical development of the SHRM field and provides the definitions to commonly used terms. It also examines the three major approaches to the topic: universalist theories, which are predicated on the assumption that there is ‘one best way’ in which to manage people; contingency theories, which assume that approaches to SHRM will vary in different contexts; and configurational approaches, which argue that coherent bundles of practices are more likely to impact positively on performance than individual practices alone.
Chapter
The global context of strategic human resource management
This chapter provides an overview of important global trends and their impact on organizations, the nature of work, and SHRM. It begins with a discussion of the concept of globalization and how emotive and contentious it has become. The chapter also evaluates different perspectives and levels of globalization and considers both positive and negative attitudes towards globalization. The last part discusses the implications of globalization for organizations, the nature of work, and SHRM. Attention is likewise given to important SHRM issues including employer branding, global talent management, managing an international workforce, and the use of technology to deliver SHRM.
Chapter
Human resource strategy
This chapter examines the HR strategy from the perspectives of content, process, and implementation. From a content perspective, it considers the range of choices available to HR professionals when developing an HR strategy. It also introduces the construct of the HR architecture. Second, from the process perspective, it analyses some of the propositions that have been put forward to explain the process by which HR strategies can be developed and the critical role that line managers play. Finally, it explores issues of implementation.
Chapter
New forms of strategic human resource management
This chapter considers some of the more general changes that organizations will need to contend with in the future. It examines what the implications of these would be for strategic human resource management (SHRM) and for the role of the human resource (HR) function. Moreover, it analyses how these might influence the professional competencies required by those concerned with the HRM role and how these might change in the future. Lastly, it presents a number of more specific developments that may have consequences for strategic approaches to managing people in the future.
Chapter
Resource-based and institutional perspectives on strategic human resource management
This chapter examines how the application of one theoretical framework in particular, the resource-based view (RBV), led to a shift in research and thinking in the SHRM domain. It also considers how debates have moved on beyond the RBV to incorporate ideas drawn from new institutionalism and resource-dependence theory to shed more detailed and nuanced light on how SHRM ‘works’. First, it presents the origins of the RBV and its underlying propositions. Second, it looks at the usefulness and limitations of the RBV as a framework for theorizing in strategic human resource management (SHRM). Finally, it considers the contributions made by new institutionalist and resource-dependence perspectives to extending the RBV.
Chapter
Strategic human resource development
This chapter considers important debates and issues within SHRD. First, it evaluates different theoretical approaches to understand the contribution of HRD to individuals and organizations. Second, it examines the claim that investment in HRD can impact organizational performance. Third, it discusses the characteristics and challenges inherent in different models of SHRD. Finally, it considers the different approaches that organizations can take to implement SHRD, including career development, organizational development, and informal approaches to SHRD. It also looks at the prescriptive model, the explanatory model, and the practical model.
Book
Catherine Bailey, David Mankin, Clare Kelliher, and Thomas Garavan
Strategic Human Resource Management is made up of four parts. The first part looks at the context of strategic human resources management (SHRM). It considers the global context. The second part looks at strategic SHRM in terms of the role of the human resources (HR) function, HR strategy, resources-based and institutional perspectives on SHRM, and performance. The third part looks at strategic imperatives which includes examinations of talent management, employment relations, employee engagement, and business ethics. The last part is about new forms of SHRM.
Chapter
Strategic human resource management and change management
This chapter explores the nature and meaning of ‘change management’ focusing on ‘planned’ approaches to change. It examines several change management models and frameworks to give an overview of the main approaches to managing change. Then it explains the principal stages of planned change programs, as well as the impact of change on individuals. It then moves on to analyse aspects of change management in which HR departments have the most involvement. Finally, it considers managing individual-level change, communication, and designing human resource management (HRM) practices in support of change.
Chapter
Strategic human resource management and employee engagement
This chapter examines the concept of employee engagement. It presents William Kahn's definition of ‘engagement’ in more detail, alongside definitions proposed by other researchers. It then explores the factors that have been described as the drivers of high levels of employee engagement and those that have been referred to as the outcomes, or consequences, of engagement. Finally, it considers some of the tensions and unresolved questions that persist around engagement, as well as the potential importance of work engagement for HR professionals.
Chapter
Strategic human resource management and employment relations
This chapter focuses on employment relations. It starts with an introduction to the field of employment relations and discusses how this field relates to strategic human resource management (SHRM). It presents definitions and key concepts. The chapter also examines the choices open to managers for their approach to employment relations and evaluates the type of factors likely to influence these choices. The legal regulation of the employment relationship is then considered. In addition, it tackles the sources of regulation (national and supranational). Finally, the chapter examines the notion of employee voice, analysing the different means by which it may be expressed and the challenges associated with its implementation.
Chapter
Strategic human resource management and knowledge management
This chapter examines knowledge management concepts and the role of HRM within knowledge management. It first defines and explains the concepts of ‘knowledge’ and ‘knowledge management’. Second, the chapter evaluates theoretical perspectives that can be used to explain the nature of knowledge and its contribution to organizations. The chapter critically explores the contribution of knowledge management to organizational performance, followed by a discussion of the contribution of HRM to knowledge management. It considers the role of HRM practices in enhancing knowledge sharing and seeking, as well as their role in preventing knowledge hiding. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the facilitators and barriers to knowledge management in organizations.
Chapter
Strategic human resource management and performance
This chapter discusses the circumstances in which HRM might be associated with improved performance outcomes. First, it considers some of the key findings arising out of research on the topic, differentiating between outcomes at the individual, unit, and organizational levels. Second, it evaluates the theoretical frameworks that have been used to explain the mechanisms underpinning the HRM–performance linkage and explain the process by which interventions in the-HRM arena are expected to give rise to outcomes. It then explores some of the critiques relating to this body of research, before considering recent calls for sustainable approaches to HRM that go beyond narrow considerations of firm performance. Finally, the chapter examines some of the methodologies used by human resource practitioners to evaluate and measure the contribution of the HR department to organizational performance.
Chapter
Strategic human resource management and talent management
This chapter looks into talent management and evaluates the issues and debates that surround the concept. It analyses the concepts of ‘talent’ and ‘talent management’ and highlights the lack of conceptual clarity that exists in how they are defined. The chapter also considers key debates within talent management, including the concept of ‘talent mindset’, ‘employee value proposition’, inclusive or exclusive approaches to talent management, and debates about differentiation of talent. Then, it examines the talent management process, focusing on the acquisition, development, retention, and evaluation of talent. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the place of talent management within HRM.
Chapter
Strategic human resource management, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability
This chapter discusses the concepts of business ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and sustainability. First, it defines these concepts and discusses the key global trends driving these issues in organizations. Then, it critically evaluates organizational approaches to business ethics, CSR, and sustainability. The chapter examines both sustainable and green HRM and explores the role of HRM in embedding business ethics, CSR, and sustainability in organizations. It concludes with a discussion of the barriers to embedding these approaches in organizations.
Chapter
Strategic management and strategic human resource management
This chapter evaluates some of the debates that surround the concepts of strategy and strategic management, and their relationship with human resource management (HRM). It examines the concepts of strategy and strategic management and explains their origins. It looks at how perspectives of strategy have changed over time. Then, it considers issues associated with strategy, indicating levels of strategy and different perspectives on the strategic process. Lastly, it addresses the question on how strategy is related to HRM and the concept of strategic alignment.
Chapter
The strategic role of the human resource function
This chapter focuses on the role, structure, and contribution of the HR department. It charts the scope and evolution of the modern HR function. It also examines the various models of HR functional roles that have been developed by theorists. Moreover, it considers the structural choices open to HR departments in terms of organizing their activities. Finally, it introduces the use of electronic human resource management (e-HRM).
