Human resources management strategic approach #mba #management #marketing #business_adminstration

The Strategic approach
The best HR departments not only support strategic objectives, but also actively pursue an ongoing, integrated plan for furthering the organization’s performance.9 Research has found that effective HRM and the alignment of HR strategies with the organization’s strategic direction have a positive impact on performance, including higher employee productivity and stronger financial results.
When Anglo American PLC adopted a strategy to begin digging for iron ore in a remote area of Brazil, the HR department worked to create a pool of well-trained local employees to work the mines for years to come. Hiring and keeping high-quality employees with the right set of skills is one of the most urgent concerns for today’s organizations. By training young people who otherwise would have few options for employment, Anglo is ensuring that it will have a stable, well-trained workforce for years to come.
The strategic approach to HRM recognizes three key elements. First, all managers are involved in managing HR. Second, employees are viewed as assets. No strategy can be implemented effectively without the right people to put it into action. Employees, not buildings and machinery, give a company its competitive edge. Third, HRM is a matching process, integrating the organization’s strategy and goals with the correct approach to managing human capital. Some current strategic issues of particular concern to managers include the following:
● Hiring the right people to become more competitive on a global basis
● Hiring the right people for improving quality, innovation, and customer service
● Knowing the right people to retain after mergers, acquisitions, or downsizing
● Hiring the right people to apply new information technology (IT) for e-business
All of these strategic decisions determine a company’s need for skills and employees.
This chapter examines the three primary goals of HRM, as illustrated in Exhibit 12.2. HRM activities and goals do not take place inside a vacuum, but within the context of issues and factors affecting the entire organization, such as globalization, changing technology, the need for rapid innovation, quick shifts in markets and the external environment, societal trends, government regulations, and changes in the organization’s culture, structure, strategy, and goals.
The three broad HRM activities outlined in Exhibit 12.2 are to find the right people, manage talent so that people achieve their potential, and maintain the workforce over the long term.