Strategic Human Resource Management free essay sample

In chapter one they describe the models of human resource management. There are five major HRM models. First, is The Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna model, which use four key components to increase organizational performance. The components are selection, appraisal, development, and rewards. The next model is The Harvard model, which is offered by Beer et al. It has six basic components which are: situational factors, stakeholder interests, HRM policy choices, HR outcomes, Long-term consequences, and a feedback loop where the outputs go to the organization and the stakeholders. The third model is The Guest model. David Guest demonstrates in his model that HRM differs from personal management. The key components in his model are: an HR strategy, a set of HR policies, a set of HR outcomes, behavioral outcomes, a number of performance outcomes, and financial outcomes. The next model is the Warwick model is similar to the Harvard model but it goes more in depth by focusing on its key characteristics. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Human Resource Management or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The main elements of this model are: outer context, inner context, business strategy content, HRM context and HRM content. The last model is the Storey model. It has four main elements, which are: beliefs and assumptions, strategic aspects, the role of line managers, and key levers. In this model, Storey believes that there are differences between â€Å"personnel and industrials† and the HRM model by making an â€Å"ideal type†. Strategic Management is a process used by corporations to help them determine the long term productivity with managerial decisions and actions. Both these models and Strategic Management are made to help improve the productivity of businesses. The model that best represents a strategic approach is the integrative model of human resource strategy. It is the most strategic because it takes the strengths of the control-based model and the strengths of the resource-based model and combines them. The control-based model is used to supervise and control employee role performance. This means that managers have to come up with a system to ensure their workers are working to the best of their capabilities and are satisfied at the same time. It is more focused on managerial control. The resource-based model is more focused on the reward-effort aspect. They see their employees as an asset instead of thinking of them as a variable cost. The integrative model uses both of these ideologies and uses them in one model. This model has two main dimensions. It uses acquisition and development and locus of control. Acquisition and development means the company can either develop their employees or go our and acquire them from other companies. Locus of control focuses on monitoring employees. The main reason the integrative model is more strategic is because of its four ideal types of dominant HR strategy. They are: commitment, collaborative, paternalistic, and traditional. These four ideals break down the main points of the first two models. Commitment is focused on the outcome control and developing employees internally. Traditional is used for more process based controls and external recruiting of ability. Collaborative is basically outsourcing work. It is based on subcontracting work to people outside the company and evaluates the outcome. Paternalistic takes care of their employees. It offers opportunities for their employees to learn and be promoted by complying to the process-based control. c) There are three HRM approaches to organizations operating internationally. They are: adaptive, exportive, and integrative. The First, an adaptive IHRM orientation is where each affiliate of the parent has its own HRM system. This is to help the firms be more aware of the local culture. This orientation is more focused on differentiation rather than integration because it needs to know the local environment and each environment is different. A lot of the top manangers of corporations will hire local HR practitioners who know the surroundings well and are knowledgeable. The second, an exportive IHRM orientation is where the parent’s system is replicated to its different affiliates in overseas countries and emphasizes that the partners integrate and don’t differentiate. The negative side of exportive is that the IHRM approach can be viewed as inflexible. The inflexibility may lead firms away from the imposed practice HQ would want. The third approach is integrative. This is where the orientation combines both exportive and adaptive. Which means it uses the characteristics of the parent companys HRM system along with those of its international affiliates. By using the integrative approach it tries to use the best HRM approaches and exercise them throughout the whole organization (local and global). HRM policies and practices can transfer throughout the organization. It can go in any direction, from affiliate to affiliate, or from affiliate to the parent firm or from the parent firm to an affiliate. d) When running a business internationally there are a few limitations companies must be aware of to be fair and ethical. Companies should know what the cultures and beliefs are of the countries when taking their business internationally so that they do not offend people, which could hurt their expansion into these countries. It is important for companies to fulfill the customer’s likes and preferences in various locations. This means a company might have to produce a product or service that meets the needs and wants of the local people and is sensitive to their culture. Companies should be aware of differences in each country’s infrastructure. For example in certain countries they drive on the other side of the road and the driver is on the other side of the car. Car companies would have to be aware of this when they are designing products or services for these countries. A MNC should watch over â€Å"employment relations, consumer products, ecological controls and local testing†. They should be regulating all of the above as well as the exogenous factors so that they don’t harm the hoist countries employees, impede on their beliefs, produce products that won’t benefit the locals, and don’t destroy the local environment. Some companies have operated internationally because it is cheaper to hire workers and because the operating regulations aren’t as strict. In the past this has caused big controversies and disasters such as the one in Bhopal, India. Some countries have different beliefs about women working than others so companies would have to be careful when hiring women in certain positions so that they don’t offend the foreign country’s values. Companies should be careful when hiring women bosses. Especially exporting women bosses because not only is this taking jobs away from local people but it could cause an uproar in the community. This could be viewed as discrimination but unfortunately it is the way it goes in some countries. 2. The organization I am very familiar with is McDonald’s. McDonald’s is one of the biggest fast food chains in the world so it is important to have a good Human Resource Management system in place. Human Resources role in McDonald’s is to promote a high performance culture that is backed up by talented people and organizational resources necessary for maintaining greater business performance. They plan to achieve this by making processes, providing tools and passing on knowledge to leaders needed for developing and continuously improving its company’s culture. The HR practices that McDonald’s implements into its business are as follows. They deal with recruiting and hiring of employees, performance management, wages and salaries, organizational development, development and training of employees, safety, communication, employee motivation and benefits. Most of these practices are used in a strategic approach to Human Resource Management. They appear to have different branches of HR working on different things to zone in on certain aspects of the company to maximize their company’s output. For instance they have branches of HR working specifically on development and training of employees and within that branch there is a team working on a program called McMasters which entails the training and recruiting of workers that are older than 55 years of age. They also have another program that helps train physically handicapped people to work at McDonald’s. These two areas are specialized for certain people where as the rest of the McDonald’s workforce would normally train on the job and learn through something called â€Å"Welcome Meeting† which is mandatory and during this they would learn their job role, food, hygiene, safety training, policies and procedures, administration, benefits, and training and development. If you wanted to become a manager one would go to HU (Hamburger University) for their training and education. This is one example on how they are using a strategic approach because they are grooming and training their employees for possibly a long career rather than a short one. They are putting effort into educating their employees so that they help better McDonald’s future. Another way they are using a strategic approach is they are educating and training their managers at each branch to handle certain HR problems that would normally go to the HR department but instead can be handled on site. Another important task of HR is to make sure that they are fair and hire based on ability and not on race, religion, or sex. McDonald’s has made it a point to have a diverse workforce for which they are known for being one of the best companies for hiring minorities. They have their own branch dedicated to recruiting and hiring employees. Some examples of how they accomplish this is through job fairs at a university or in a community, advertising in a McDonald’s restaurant, or through their website. When dealing with the performance of their employees they use rewards and awards to show their accomplishments. An example of this would be their employee of the week or employee of the month plaques, which are shown on a wall in the office. Since they are such a big company they need a separate sector of HR dedicated to wages and salaries of the employees. The wages and salaries are based on experience and level of employee. Some ways McDonald’s are motivating their employees are through performance rewards and benefits such as health and insurance, compensation, rewards (money or promotion), and a recognition program. McDonald’s has applied a K/3 HR system into their company, which allows managers observe and keep updated their employee’s information of past and present. This system allows the manager to record personnel management, payroll management, and performance management. For example if an old McDonald’s employee decided to return to McDonald’s to work the manager could use the K/3 system to look up their old information and get a better understanding of where this person should be placed within the organization, what kind of salary they should earn, and what kind of benefits they should receive. These are the reasons why I think McDonald’s has done an excellent job at implementing a Strategic approach to Human Resource Management. They have taken the old HR and branched off making areas more specific and therefore more informative and beneficial. They have focused more on the long-term goals of the company rather than short-term goals. They have given more power and information to managers at franchises to be able to deal with HR problems when they arise. They have job division in their company but they try to have each employee experience each job so that they broaden their abilities, which is a form of SHRM.