Strategic Human Resources Management

Strategic Human Resources Management



Strategic Human Resources Management

Introduction

Human Resources (HR) Management is a multifaceted function. This entity has an important place within companies in helping key personnel decide on the best staff for their needs, among other things. Sometimes, the employees chosen are full-time employees already working for the company or they could be contractors. Regardless, the goal of HR Management is to choose the most qualified person for the job (Clark, Grant & Heijltjes, 2000). Again, HR Management is a group of professionals that wear many hats, some of which include employee benefits and compensation, hiring and terminating employees, and managing personnel policies and employee records. While smaller companies will often perform the tasks of HR Management on their own, most, larger corporations choose to hire professionals to oversee the entire HR department so we can say that the key to effective human resource management is human resource planning, as it is stated by Mark and Cynthia, it involves strategic plans, then devising ways to meet these objectives. In this essay I will try to focus on strategic planning which is a major factor of planning.

Discussion

Strategic human resource management is the process of linking the human resource function with the strategic objectives of the organization in order to improve performance. Strategic management is considered to be a continuous activity that requires a constant adjustment of three major interdependent poles: the values of senior management, the environment, and the resources available (Scullion, 2001).

Aims of strategic plans

At the corporate level, the strategic management process includes activities that range from appraising the organization's current mission and goals to strategic evaluation. The first step in the strategic management model begins with senior managers evaluating their position in relation to the organization's current mission and goals. The mission describes the organization's values and aspirations; it is the organization's indicates the direction in which senior management is going (Purcell, 2001). Goals are the desired ends sought through the actual operating procedures of the organization and typically describe short-term measurable outcomes. The history of strategic planning begins in the military (Brewster, 2001). Strategy is the science of planning and directing large-scale military operations, of manoeuvring forces into the most advantageous position prior to actual engagement with the enemy. They must be capable of producing rules, procedures, norms, frameworks, standards, draw common plans and goals which will enhance co-ordination. They require people who are experienced and somewhat capacitated and not junior entry level officers (Monks & McMackin, 2001).

As organizations vary in size, aims, functions, complexity, construction, the physical nature of their product, and appeal as employers, so do the contributions of human resource management. But, in most the ultimate aim of the function is to: "ensure that at all times the business is correctly staffed by the right number of people with the skills relevant to the business needs” that is, neither overstaffed (Kamoche, 1996).

The second area should be about identifying which of these plans and strategies are so fundamental that there ...