1. Meeting Present and Emerging Strategic Human Resource Challenges
Chapter 1
Meeting Present and Emerging Strategic Human Resource Challenges
Human Resource Management is a dynamic field. In this first chapter, we will address the present and emerging challenges in the field of HR and begin to address what needs to be done to address these issues. Chapter one will set the stage for the remainder of our time together as we explore the area of human resource management.

2. Chapter Outcomes
Explain how a firm’s human resources influence its performance
Identify HR strategies that fit corporate and business unit strategies
Distinguish the roles of a firm’s HR department and its managers in utilizing human resources effectively
In Chapter One we will learn how to explain the importance of HR departments and how they can influence the performance of their organization. We will also begin to address how firms can use HR initiatives to deal with the constantly changing working environment. The role of the HR department and the role of the manager are connected, but different. We will discuss that dynamic and look at how managers can effectively utilize their human resource departments. This is an essential partnership and we will look at how that works.

3. Human Resource Strategy
“Human Resource Strategy” refers to a firm’s deployment of human capital to help it achieve and sustain a an edge against its competitors.
A good firm will strategically utilize its workforce to gain an edge over its competitors. By doing so it can gain in the marketplace and have a competitive advantage in the industry. The importance of a reliable, effective and loyal workforce is a great advantage to any firm.
How can a firm match their hiring practices with their human resource strategies to ensure that their employees will be a good fit for their organization?

4. Key HR Challenges for Managers
There are numerous challenges that face managers today. Most challenges fall into three main categories, environmental, organizational, individual. Environmental are forces that are external to the firm such as industry changes, legislation and natural disasters. Organizational factors are those concerns or problems that are internal to the firm. These could include decentralization, downsizing or outsourcing. The final category is individual which are forces that deal with decisions pertinent to specific employees. This could include job match, job security/ insecurity, and empowerment.

5. Strategic HR: Choices Work Flows Staffing Employee Separations
Performance Appraisal
Training and Career Development
Compensation
Employee Rights
Employee and Labor Relations
International Management
There are many strategic HR choices that can help facilitate the strategy of the organization. Areas such as work flows, staffing and compensation are good examples of how this could be done. Many other ideas can help address this so we will explore a few of these.
Work Flows can help manage the balance of efficiency & control vs. innovation & flexibility. Staffing works both internally with supervisors making hiring decisions and externally with the HR department makes hiring decisions. Coordinating these two efforts with strategic goals can assist in making the right hire.
Employee Separations look at voluntary inducements & preferential hiring policy vs. as layoffs & no preferential treatment.
Performance Appraisal can be customized & developmental vs. uniform & control-oriented.
Training & Career Development can shift to be individual, OTJ & job-specific vs. team-based, external & generic .
Compensation can use either fixed or job- based pay vs. variable or individual- based pay depending on the strategic goals of the organization.
Employee Rights can shift from an emphasis on discipline & informal ethical standards vs. emphasis on prevention & explicit ethical standards.
Employee & Labor Relations can move from top down communication & union suppression to the use of feedback & union acceptance.
International Management can work from creating a global company culture with universal company policies towards adapting to local cultures and country-specific policies.

6. Selecting HR Strategies
To increase firm performance
HR strategies should fit with other aspects of the organization
A firm’s strategic choices are the options they have available to them when designing its human resource system. When an organization fits their system with the organizational strategies, characteristics, capabilities and the outside environment it should lead to improved firm performance.

7. HR Strategies: Fit with Organizational Strategies
Corporate Strategies
Evolutionary
Steady State
Porter’s Business Unit Strategies
Cost leadership
Differentiation
Focus
The strategies employed by human resources need to fit with organizational strategies. A few strategies available are noted on this slide.
Some Corporate strategies include evolutionary and steady state. Evolutionary is the aggressive acquisitions of new businesses, even if unrelated. HR emphasis on flexibility, quick response, entrepreneurship, risk sharing, and decentralization. Steady state is a strategy to avoid acquiring firms outside their industry or companies that are very different from them. The HR emphasis is on efficiency, control, centralization and long-term career development of employees.
Porter’s Business Unit strategies include cost leadership, differentiation and focus. The Cost leadership approach gains competitive advantage through lower costs. The HR emphasis is on efficient, low-cost production, highly structured procedures, and discourages creativity and innovation. Differentiation works to create a product or service that is perceived as being unique. HR will emphasize innovation, flexibility, and renewal of the workforce by attracting new talent from other firms. Focus combines low cost and differentiation to serve narrow target market better than other firms. HR will need to emphasize a cross between those described for low-cost producers and differentiators.
Miles and Snow’s business strategies include the defender and prospector approach. The Defender has conservative business units that prefer to maintain a secure position in relatively stable product or service areas. With the HR emphasis on control and structure, and policies designed to foster long-term employee attachment. Prospector approach is interested in growth and innovation, development of new products, and an eagerness to be the first in new-product or market areas. The HR emphasis is on policies that foster creativity and adaptability, staffing and
employee separation policies that focus on the external labor market; customized, participative employee appraisals used for multiple purposes (including employee development);training strategies targeting broad skills; and a decentralized compensation system that
rewards risk taking and performance.
Miles and Snow’s Business Strategies
Defender
Prospector

8. HR and Managers: A Partnership
Role of HR Department is to support the manager’s HR responsibilities
HR Audit:
Conduct periodically
Evaluates how effective firm is at using human resources
Often is an opportunity to evaluate the human resource department as well
The role of the HR department is to support the manager’s HR responsibilities. Periodically the HR department will audit the organization to evaluate how effective the firm is utilizing its human resources. This often becomes an evaluation of the HR department as well.

9. Summary and Conclusions
Plan and Implement HR in a strategic manner
Policies and procedures should be congruent
Select strategies that increase performance
HR department and management share an important partnership
Sands case [text at p. 41]
In summary, there are many challenges present in HR management and management needs to be aware of how these challenges impact the organization. The HR department needs to plan and implement strategic and procedures that are congruent with organizational strategies and increase performance. The partnership between the HR department and management is extremely important and one that needs to be carefully managed.