Human Resource Strategies teacher copy

Human Resource (HR) Objectives and Strategies HRM (Human Resource Management) means making best use of employees HR objectives support the achievement of corporate objectives – HR strategies are the actions taken by HR management to achieve the HR objectives teacher copy

HR Objectives HR objectives include: – Matching workforce skills, size and location to business needs – Minimising labour costs – Making best use of employees (productivity etc) – Maintaining good relations with the workforce teacher copy

Matching workforce attributes to business needs Skills – Skill requirements may change as a business changes. HR has to recruit, train and promote the right staff for future needs. (Exam question: remember a company embarking on innovation needs appropriate staff) Size – Expansion or retrenchment, HR has to manage the size of the workforce Hiring, redeploying, natural wastage (not replacing staff), redundancy, flexible hours all used to change size of the workforce Location – Global businesses, or those that expand (see previously location) need to transfer and/or hire locally teacher copy

Other objectives Minimise labour costs – From AS, labour costs are a significant proportion of total costs. Firms may Move to cheaper locations (eg offshoring) Become more capital intensive where possible if labour costs are high (remember resource mix) Reduce management overheads Develop good employer-employee relations – A happy worker is a productive worker – Important for firms to maintain good communications – Management style also important (Unit 4) teacher copy

Influences on HR objectives As with the other business functions there are internal and external influences Internal influences include: – What the corporate objectives are Growth in revenues/market share etc. All will impact on what is required from the workforce – Marketing strategies Think Ansoff – new products and/or new markets may require new staff and/or training for existing – Operation strategies Innovation, change in resource mix, relocation, lean production all have an impact on HR – Financial strategies Introducing profit centres, cost minimisation all affect how much can be spent on the workforce, ie training teacher copy

External influences include: – Economic developments Strong or weak demand will affect the demand for a firm’s products, and thus the required size of its workforce A strong economy means low unemployment, and therefore possible skills shortages, making it hard for firms to find the right workers and to retain their existing ones – Technology Changes in technology will influence a firm’s corporate objectives, and have a big impact on the skills required – Regulations/laws Particularly as a result of EU directives, employment law has changed – basically protecting the rights of workers Influences on HR objectives teacher copy

Hard and Soft HR Popular topic in exams Hard and soft HR describe2 ends of a spectrum, whilst most firms employ at least a little of both (though more soft now) Hard HR treats workers as a resource like any other (eg machine) to be used for the benefit of the firm. – Tall hierarchical structure, external recruitment, strict appraisal system, low wages, limited training – Positive is keeps costs including training costs down and may be linked to cost minimisation (Porter generic strategy). Link pay to performance to increase output – Negatives may include lower motivation so high staff turnover, low productivity (both learned at AS) and absenteeism, and recruitment can be hard. Who wants to work there? teacher copy

Hard and Soft HR Soft HR manages staff as the most important asset of the firm, investing in them to ensure they are productive and loyal to the firm. Features include – Flat structure, internal promotion, democratic management (sometimes), softer appraisal system, training and development – Positive is employees are motivated and well trained, turnover is low, recruitment costs are low. – Disadvantage is cost of training and development, and the need for an appropriate supportive culture (including delegation and democratic management style) Mr Monks prefers this approach! teacher copy