2. The Idea of Strategic HRMNo definitive, robust theory.
No agreement on meaning, factors, outcomes.
how is SHRM linked with organisational performance? difficult to establish firm relationships given intervening factors: structure, culture & wider environment
various typologies of business and associated HR strategies
Empirical studies tend to use
large-scale questionnaire surveys (Storey)
case-studies on SHRM.
Theoretical &empirical gaps between rhetoric and real experience - downsizing and redundancies etc.
3. Stages in a Corporate Strategy ProcessOrganisation
Mission and Goals
(Define the business)Strategic Analysis
(current situation, programmes and performance)Strategic Choice
(bounded rationality, shaping the environment)Strategy Implementation
(programmes, resources & responsibilities)Rational, logical
versus
interpreted & political
4. Planning LevelsCEOCorporate
LevelCorporate HQBusiness
LevelAviationHeatingTrucksPlasticsConsultancyFunctional
LevelManufacturingMarketingAccountingR & D
5. Strategy FormulationManagers analyse the situation & develop strategies to achieve the mission.
SWOT analysis: planning to identify
Organizational
Strengths: manufacturing ability, marketing skills
Weaknesses: high labor turnover, weak financials.
Environmental
Opportunities: new markets
Threats: economic recession, competitorsLong-term - 5+ yrs
Intermediate-term 1- 5 yrs.
Corporate & business plans
Short-term - less than 1 yr.
Functional plans?
Rolling cycle - amend plans constantly?
6. Corporate strategy
develop a plan of
policies, allocations,
programmes to maximise
long-run valueSWOT + STEEPLE
Internal & external
analysisGrow
Stabilize
Retrench
React/Panic
Concentrate
Diversify
Globalize
Vertically Integrate
Down-size
Flexible firmStandard Corporate Planning Picture
7. Manifestation of Strategy and PolicyMaintenance
Standing plans (programmed decisions)
policies, rules, and standard operating procedures (SOP).
general and specific guides to action.
Programme arrangements and allocations.
Innovations
New initiatives, programmes and projectsWhat are these for HRM?
8. Schools of StrategyPrescriptive
Design School
Strategy (formation as a process of conception)
Planning (formal process)
Positioning (analytical process and techniques)
Descriptive Schools (metaphors)
Enterpreneurial (visionary)
Cognitive (mental)
Learning (emergent, adaptation, incremental)
Power (a process of negotiation between interests)
Cultural (collective values, beliefs and behaviours)
Environmental (reactive, contingent)
Configuration (process of transformation from one state to another - management of change)Source: Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, Lampel, 1998, Strategy Safari, Prentice Hall
9. Michael Porter -- Value-Added Chain AnalysisTechnology developmentProcurementEmployee managementFirm’s infrastructureInbound
logisticsOperationsOutbound
logisticsMarketing
and salesAfter
sales
serviceSupport
ActivitiesPrimary
ActivitiesSupport
Activities
10. Mintzberg on StrategyPlan (intended)
direction, guide, a course of action.
Pattern (realised)
consistency in behaviour over time e.g. high end, low risk, patterns evolved out of the past. What plan have we actually pursued over the last 5 years?
Position
Locating our HRM in a position, unique and valuable, involving a set of activities, X marks the spot.
Perspective
look inwards and upwards to a grand vision of the enterprise. The “theory” (mind-set) of the business. Less easy to change than position e.g. from bureaucracy to innovation.
Ploy (specific manoeuvres)
12. Form and FormationStrategies have a form and they are formulated
So what is the form of HRM strategy of organisation X?
Steerage and Umbrellas
Deliberate broad outlines with details emerging en-routeSet direction
but unknown waters, move quickly or slowly?
Focuses effort
unity vs group-think & peripheral vision
Defines the organisation
a shorthand but slogans may override complexity & distort reality
Provides consistency
Provide order, a cognitive structure to simplify, explain & facilitate action but creativity thrives on “loose” order
13. CEO and HR Director as strategists
Conceive the big idea?
Let everyone else get on with the details?
But the job is not like this
Mintzberg on managerial roles
Interpersonal
figurehead
leader
Information Processing
liaison
monitor
disseminator
Spokesperson
Decision-making
initiator/changer
resource allocator
disturbance handler
negotiator
(after H Mintzberg)
14. Corporate-Level StrategiesStick to the knitting - focus on core business
Diversification
Related : similar areas - build upon existing divisions
synergy & core competencies
Unrelated - portfolio business in new areas
No declared strategy?
Corporate failure? Implicit strategy?
Avoid resource-consuming activity
Disdain for formal planning but reliance on consistency of behaviour at all levels.
No frills, non-bureaucratic organisation
No recipe to decrease flexibility, block learning & adaptation
Tension between control and discretionary freedom.
15. International HRM StrategyGlobal: HRM diversity for different conditions
single, standard scheme across all countries?
adaptation &acceptance of national differences?
values, ethics in decision-making
Domestic:
Common national schemes?
public sector institutions?
Common professions/occupations
personnel system discretion for semi-autonomous divisions to take advantage of local circumstances?
16. HRM Services and the Product Life Cycle£/volumeImplications for
Recruitment?
Rewards?
Training & Development?
Employee Relations?
Organisational development?ProfitLossStart-upGrowthMaturityDevelop or declineTime
17. Analysis of HR ServicesDeliverables: capacity and capability
Can we deliver? What do we deliver and how well?
Efficiency
How well is the process offered, managed and controlled?
What are the transformation indicators and service quality ratios?
cost/unit, cost/recruit, performance/employee, cost/HR intervention?
Adaptability
short + long term responses to pressure and change
Benchmarking
efficiencies, processes & outputs
investment - £, technical and human
quality, systems, research and intelligence
18. Common-sense propositions on qualityNo focus on quality - lose market share and reputation.
Good reputation is easier to lose than regain.
People trust and become accustomed to favourites
They remember the bad. "I'll never go there again".
New loyalties with substitute suppliers.
Complacency breeds neglect.
It takes a major operational and psychological effort to
maintain quality vigilance (entropy).
regain a lost reputation.
Common-sense either forgotten or only realised post hoc
19. What is Quality?....... a perception of class, excellence, a type of "referential" standard or (in definition) reflecting needs and expectations of customer.
Guru definitions :
product or service, nature or features reflecting capacity to satisfy express or implied statements of need (Deming)
conformance to requirements (Crosby)
fitness for purpose or use (Juran)
product/service characteristics as offered by design, marketing, manufacture, maintenance and service that meet customer expectations (Feigenbaum)
Oakland (1995) - perceivable, measurable move from mere satisfaction to "delight and reputation for excellence".
Reliability. “Next door swears by her 8-year old Zanussi!”
20. Elements of a Quality Policyorganisation structure for quality: roles, responsibilities
how client/customer needs and perceptions will be identified
technical/economic resource allocation
QMS scheme & operation
how suppliers & supplies will be required to meet standards
prevention & zero defects/CQI approach vs. "inspect-out"
communication, knowledge, information & staff development
audit of QMS in operation
Partnership with staff, customers and suppliers.
Physical manifestation not just conceptual
21. TQM - a Strategy and Discoursean approach to improving the competitiveness, effectiveness and flexibility of a whole organisation..... a way of planning, organising and understanding each activity and it depends on each individual at each level. TQM is a way of ...... bringing everyone into the processes of improvement
Oakland 1995
a TQM programme requires re-evaluation of how organisational members address the quality of their work and the service processes.
22. TQM underpinned by policy commitmentA culture and practice change strategy
Organisational renewal
Injection of energy
Staff encouraged in positive, initiative taking behaviours
Adopt a prevention and CQI ethic
Quality improvement teams/circles
Use of a variety of methods and techniques (tools)
23. Kaizen: Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)critical view of organisational performance standards
continuously challenge & incrementally upgrade performance levels
contribution and role of HR team
attitude (ownership), involvement and team effort as the key to improvement
HR team - line manager relationships
24. Classical functional, problem analysis cycle Situation analysis
Problem definition
Objectives and resourcing
Solution development - options and best fit from DO NOTHING to DO EVERYTHING. Min/Max, optimistic/pessimistic, high/low budget etc.). Test models against objectives and constraints
Implementation analysis
detailed planning for operational implementation.
analysis for potential problems
scheduling, work allocation, capacity management, communicating, monitoring systems & overall coordination.
25. Questions for Quality StrategyWho are our direct and indirect clients
Define characteristics, needs, requirements?
Design features of services?
How do clients perceive these?
Bench-mark comparisons
Which features do not compete?
How can we delight beyond the basic specification?
Design improvement projects?
Who, by when & at what cost?
Operational ability to bridge the gaps?
Information & monitoring systems?
Supply chain analysis - performance & communication?
26. Specifying HR QualityEssential contract for supply
ensuring delivered quality in a contract of service.
Implications of failure to draw up a clear specification?
Design quality dimensions include:
Features, performance, delivery, cost, reliability, durability, serviceability, response, aesthetics, reputation.
Conformance measurement: Degree to which service design specification is met
27. The parties & organisational level?
Detailed specification
what best practice will be (product & process definition)
contract volume, milestones, stage deliverables?
CSFs/CQFs for inputs, processes, outputs?
work done to plan, in the defined ways?
QA/QC methods? inspection, testing and monitoring
staged prices and conditions? variation orders vs. extras
penalties?
audit trail
client liaison ISO 9000 Certification for HR Services?
28. Clauses of ISO 90004.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
4.11
4.12
4.13
4.14
4.15
4.16
4.17
4.18
4.19
4.20
Management
Quality Plans
Contracts
Controlling design - not ISO 9002
Controls using documents and data
Purchasing and supply
Customer-supplied equipment
Product identification and tracing
Process controls
Inspection/testing
Measuring and test equipment
Identify status of inspected goods
Control over non-conforming products
Corrective and preventative action
Handling, storage, packaging, preserving and delivery
Records for quality
Internal audits
Training
Servicing
Using Statistics
Costs of initiating and maintaining the system?
29. Leadership (weighting 125 points)
Strategic Planning (85)
Customer & Market Focus (85)
Information and Analysis (85)
Human Resource Focus (85)
Process Management (85)
Business Results (450)USA Baldrige National Quality Award (1999) Criteria for
Performance
Excellence
30. ReferencesGratton L, Hope-Hailey V, Stiles P. and Truss C, (1999) Strategic HRM: Corporate Rhetoric and Human Reality, OUP.
Huselid M, (1995) The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity and Corporate Financial Performance . Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 635-672.
Kamoche K. (1994) A Critique and a Proposed Reformulation of Strategic HRM . HRM Journal, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp.29-43.
Miles R and Snow C. (1984) Designing Strategic Human Resources Systems, Organizational Dynamics, Summer: 36-52.
Swiercz P. (1995) Strategic HRM, Human Resource Planning, 18,3, p.53-.
Truss C. (2001 — forthcoming) Complexities and Controversies in Linking HRM with Organisational Outcomes . Journal of Management Studies.
Truss C. and Gratton L. (1994) Strategic HRM: A Conceptual Approach . International Journal of HRM, 5,3, pp.663-686.
Truss C, Gratton L, Hope-Hailey V, McGovern P, & Stiles P. (1997) Soft & Hard Models of HRM: A Reappraisal . Journal of Management Studies, 34,1, pp.53-73.
Wright, P. and McMahan, G. (1992) Theoretical Perspectives for Strategic HRM , Journal of Management, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 295-320.