Custom «Strategic Human Resource Management» Essay Paper Sample

Boxall, Purcell and wright (2007), argue that human resource management is divided into three major subfields namely; Micro-HRM, Strategic HRM (SHRM) and international HRM. SHRM tries to measure the impacts of the HR strategies adopted by a business on performance. It examines both the domain and execution issues and its roots can be traced back to the 1920s.

Wright and McMahan (1992) defined SHRM as activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals and those patterns of planned human resource deployments. They also identified six theoretical models of SHRM, the behavioral perspective, cybernetic models, transaction cost theory, resource based view of the firm, power dependence models and institutional theory.

It was noted that the SHRM effectiveness reduces turnover significantly which in turn increases overall assessment of market performance. Effectiveness of SHRM affects firm productivity and return on equity. Some employment practices that promote stable relationships include, strong norms, and specified roles, they create organizational social capital, which yields both benefits and costs. Benefits include: commitment justification, work flexibility, collective organization, and intellectual capital. Costs include: maintenance costs, foregone innovation, and institutionalized power (Salaman, 2005).

One of the articles focuses on the effect of High performance work practices (HPWPs) on the organizational performance. It focuses estimation of the effect size and test whether effects are larger for HPWP systems versus individual practices, operational versus financial performance measures and manufacturing versus service organization on the use of meta-analysis. A research carried out revealed that the relationship is stronger when the researchers examination of systems of HPWPs and manufacturers, though this appears invariant across measures of performance. Many organizations find Human resources as expenses that can be most difficult to control but it can also be the most important ingredient to an organization’s performance thus it is vital to understand how to manage human resources so that  productivity can be maximized and enhance creativity and at the same time control costs (Salaman, 1998).

Rising to this challenge is what is labeled as strategic human resource management (SHRM). Strategic human resource management aims at enhancing high performance work practices. These work practices may include the following; incentive compensation, training, participation of employees, selectivity and work arrangements that are flexible. According to SHRM, these HPWPs increase the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) of the employees; empowerment of employees to leverage their KSAs for the benefit of the organization and to increase their motivation to do so. In so doing, there will be greater job satisfaction, lower employee turnover, better decision making, and higher productivity all these help in the improvement of organizational performance. HPWPs also operate through the internal social structures of an organization so as to increase flexibility and efficiency. This article focuses on understanding organizational performance relationship and how much it is affected by the HPWPs. Understanding this relationship and the conditions that moderate it will help researchers build contingencies into SHRM theory and will be of much help to practitioners seeking to justify investments in HPWPs (Millmore, 2007).

Black box articulation is the greatest challenge facing SHRM. It basically describes the strategic logic between the HR architecture and the subsequent performance of a firm. SHRM focuses on organizational performance rather than individual performance. It also highlights the role of HR management systems as solutions to the problems encountered in any business rather than individual HR management practices in isolation.

This articles bear similarity in that, they agree that to achieve a higher performance level, contingent factors should be considered. They suggest that the SHRM department plays a major role in improving an organization’s performance. Effective Strategic Human Resource Strategies require effective human resource management.

Professional experience

As an accountant, I have noted that the combination of all human practices with a focus of achieving organizational goals has substantial effects on the ultimate success of an organization. Accountants play a major role in the provision of information necessary for the planning process for SHRM. As an accountant, am required to provide HR managers with a lot of information that may be necessary to them for decision making. The accounting and human resource departments are very vital to a firm and may determine its success or failure. Evidently, these two have to work together so as to improve a firm’s organizational performance, through formulation of annual budgets, and to develop strategic plans.