Strategic Human Resource Management: Business Strategy Alignment ASDA

This report provides an analysis of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) within the context of business strategy, using ASDA as a case study. It examines the relationship between business strategy and human resource strategy, with a focus on vertical alignment and horizontal integration across the organization. The report discusses theoretical perspectives and characteristics of employment relations, including the Best Fit Approach, Holistic Model, and Driven Model. It also delves into various theoretical models of SHRM, such as the Best Practices Theory, David Guest Model, and Resource-Based View, including the VRIO framework. The analysis covers HR practices in performance management and rewards, and concludes with recommendations for enhancing business capabilities and activities. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and study resources for students.

BUSINESS STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Relationship between business strategy and the human resource strategy with further explanation
of vertical alignment and horizontal integration across the organisation:.......................................5
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................10
Theoretical Perspectives and Characteristics of Employment Relations......................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15
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Executive Summary
As the business condition changes quickly, workers have understood that a dynamic reaction is
basic to meet the necessities in this regularly evolving situation. An effective recruitment policy
can be executed in a successful way should fulfilling all the criteria. SHRM should, in this way
investigate the manners by which the growth of the association can be boosted in the most
impactful way. Hypothetical points of view should likewise be connected to this system to
extricate the most measure of productivity. This report in this manner takes a gander at the
manners by which all the above criteria can be met to enhance business capacities and resulting
activities.
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Introduction
Human Resource Management is considered to be one of the most important parts of aan
organisation. It keeps the balance and communication between the leaders of the organisation
and the working members of the company. Human Resource sector is believed to be responsible
for maintaining employee management, employee motivation, and work structure and operation
management (Cascio, 2018). The relationship between business strategy and human resource
management can be understood better if they are considered to be the integral parts of each The
main goal of this project is to provide the reader with a proper description Human resource
management and different business strategies and help the owners of organisations to implement
different strategies related to the Strategic Human Resource management to help them manage
the organisations with better efficiency.
Primarily, the Human Resource Management sector is one of the chief parts of the business
strategies (Bratton and Gold 2017). The project is an attempt to understand and to evaluate the
efficiency of the Human resource sector and the prospects of the proper utilization of the tool in
the relationship between the employee and the employer. ASDA, one of the most famous
customer service organisations is taken as an example to show how the Human Resource sector
of the organization can effect the development of the company by using the proper methods of
management and also keep a healthy relationship between the employees and the leaders of the
company.
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Task 1
Relationship between business strategy and the human resource strategy with further
explanation of vertical alignment and horizontal integration across the organisation:
To understand the relationship between Business strategies and human resource strategies can be
better understood with proper knowledge of the two.
Business Strategy: Business strategies can be understood as a set of plans or steps that an
organisation takes in order to incorporate a flow and a vision in its work ethics and work culture.
This helps the company to acquire a clear goal and move forward with a vision of success that
can be clearly passed down to the workers of every strata of the company (Bratton and Gold
2017). This way, the leaders of the workers and the management heads of the company along
with the human resource sector will have a target in front of them and they will be able to in
perfect synchronisation with each other leading to a greater success for the company and build a
proper relationship with its clients.
Human Resource Strategy: HR strategy is designated to certain plan that helps the company
reach the objectives set by the organisation in the fields of Human Capital Management and
Human Resource Management (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). This helps the workers of the
company work in an unified manner and with the help of proper leadership so that the plans and
goals of the company can be achieved with distinctive success.
Relation between Business Strategy and Human Resource Management Strategy
As mentioned earlier, the Human Resource Strategy is one of the integral parts of the Business
strategies. Certain aspects of the business strategies like employee relation model and leadership
and management structure converge with business strategies when they are discussed. Although
repeated claims according to the Separation Model state that the human resource strategy and
business strategy are two different entities, it is in the Best Fit Approach of human resource
management where we can find harmonious correlation between the two (Brewster, 2017).
Best Fit Approach: The Best-fit approach is one of the most successful approaches that the
organisations follow during most of the recruitment strategies. This approach suggests that the
HR manager should recruit according to the needs and approaches of the company keeping in
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mind the goals and targets as applied and set by the leaders of the organisation (Jackson et al.,
2014). This way the company is able to recruit the most efficient professionals who will fit the
needs of the company and work with optimum efficiency. The business strategy of the company
is an essential part of the recruitment according to this model.
To consider the other models available, the Holistic model also emphasizes on the impression of
Human Resource sector on the workers of the company as the ideas and the strategies of the
organisation is best applied if the human resource sector can hand down the goals of the
organisation to the workers and the leaders of the workers. This model of business strategy again
converges with the human resource department as the Driven Model of Human resource suggests
that skills of the employees are enhanced and upgraded when the business strategy is properly
handed down by the human resource managers (Banker et al 2013). In ASDA, the human
resource sector is considered to be the driving factor that formulates the strategies of the
organisation.
Vertical alignment and horizontal integration:
The discussion of the Human Relation Management and Business Strategy needs to be
understood in the light of two very famous models. To evaluate the effectiveness of the two
models, the definition and relation is given below.
Vertical Alignment: Vertical alignment is one of the most effective models of human resource
management. In this process, all the members of an organisation understand the company’s goals
and targets. They, not only know the targets of the company, they also understand the impacts of
their posts in the company. They understands what the company stands for what does the leaders
need the workers of the company to do (Beer et al., 2015). They can also understand the
efficiency that is needed from them to bring the projected success.
Horizontal Integration: The horizontal Integration of business strategies emphasizes on the fact
that a company can undertake different branches of the sector to reach its goal of being a
successful organisation (Buller and McEvoy, 2016.). ASDA has spread their business wings in
the form of ASDA mobiles and also ASDA Financial Services and Power4All Limited. These
are the best examples of the horizontal integration as a business strategy in a company.
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Theoretical basis and models of SHRM:
There are different theoretical models and approaches in the human resources management
sector which are strategically applied by different companies and organizations in order to attain
success in their business. Primarily, there are three main models of human resource management
(De Prins et al., 2015). The business management is dependent on the human resource
management as the performance of the workers and their productivity and efficiency is the main
pillars of the success of a business organisation. The different approaches of the business
organisation strategies are evaluated below.
Best practices Theory or Universal Model:
This theory of human resource management focuses chiefly on the efficient and skilled
employees. The company expects strong commitments from these workers and emphasizes on
efficient performance of the workers to keep the company in a profitable and forward moving
state (De Prins et al., 2015). The company uses different models for management of labour and
their workers. They may use a high commitment model where the workers are made to commit
to company about the completion of particular work in a matter of time; there can also be high
performance models or high involvements where the company tries to bring out the best of their
workers. The company recruits the best employees with good training methods and good
knowledge about the work. Then they try to enhance their commitment by issuing incentives to
increase their interest in the work and finally, the company looks to enhance their contribution by
motivating them.
David Guest Model
David Guest model was proposed by the famous theorist David Guest in the year of 1987. This
model primarily resembles the hard and soft approach (Longoni, and Cagliano, 2015). This
model consists of four thematic factors in order to be successfully applied in the organisations
for best results
 Strategic integration
 Flexibility of the organisation
 Increased commitment
 Quality
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Universal Approach: David Guest’s approach to human resource management is used in the
universal approach to ensure optimum innovation, better performance, effective methods of
solving problems, efficiency of cost, better employee turnout (De Prins et al., 2015).
Best fit or contingency base
The Best-fit model, in contrast to the best practice model, speaks about the recruitment of the
members and workers according to the need of the company. The Human Resource section of the
best fit model should be aware of the needs and requirements of the company to the very core so
that that can recruit the best possible workers that bring provide the company with greater
efficiency and performance in a shorter amount of time (Buller and McEvoy, 2016). In this style
of management, the manager needs to be both hard and soft in order to bring the best out of the
members and need to have the flexibility in order to make them perform better in the
organisation. The management needs to understand the proper time to use the approaches.
Michigan Model
Proposed by Tichy and Devanna in 1984, this model is also known as the matching model of
Human Resource Management. The Michigan model emphasizes chiefly on the harder side of
the human resources management. This is because the model believes in the tight fit between the
Human Resource strategy and the Business strategy (Peters et al., 2014).
Resource Based View
The resource-based view is noted as a paradigm shift in the study of strategies of hotel
management (Beer et al., 2015). The view primarily emphasizes on the relationship among the
internal sources of the organisations and tries to stay in the competitive market with the
formulation of different strategies. This strategy emphasizes that the Human Resource section
can be seen as one of the most important and unique aspect of an organisation and the source of
the competitiveness of the business. This projection also sees the employees as the most
important figure of the company.
VRIO Framework
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The VRIO framework is an abbreviation of the four most important aspect of the Human
Resource under the Resource Based View (Banker et al 2013). The process emphasizes on the
following points.
 Value of the human resource sector that contribute most to the competitiveness of an
organisation.
 The rarity of the Human Resource sector that gives the organisation an edge in the
competitive market.
 Inimitability of the HR section that keeps it rare among all the other companies.
 Organisation of the previous points that add the additional value to the organisation.
By applying these methods, the company, ASDA can acquire the goals they have set and have an
edge in the market competition against other competitors.
HR practice of performance management and rewards
The three models that are mentioned in the project can be equally competent in a company or
firm if they are implemented in the proper manner and in proper situations (Peters et al., 2014).
These models can also develop important HR strategies if the objectives of the organisation can
be understood in the proper manner. When implemented properly, the models are bound to
increase the profitability and the efficiency of the company. The process of rewarding the HRs
for their positive approach can also bring enthusiasm among them to look closely into the
company strategies and other requirements of the internal systems that will lead to a delivery of
better performance in the company. By placing more importance on the performance
management, the organisation can develop the skill sets of their employees. Performance
management approach can also improve the employee involvement, employee motivation and
skill improvement of the HR sector. This approach will help the company overcome the
shortcomings and hindrances that the company has been facing in its road to success.
Specific HRM performance and reward: The approach of rewarding the employees through
the HRM brings in an added goodwill and bond in the company (Jackson et al., 2014). The
workers get rewarded for their performance for the company, and this makes them eager to serve
company in a better way and since the rewards are distributed by the human resource sections,
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the relationship between the workers and the HRM also grows stronger with time adding value to
the employees.
Evaluation of the HR practices, Performance management, Reward Management
The HR practices add value to the workers and praise the employees for their performance for
the company. Rewards like Direct pay and other financial rewards fall under the category of
financial rewards and the employment related security and other promises are examples of non-
financial rewards.
Recommendation
Design and redesign Performance Management: Performance Management is an apparatus of
management of workforce through which the performance execution of workers is assessed
legitimately. In this manner, Performance Management framework the execution of the workers
is produced and it helps the workers to accomplish their objectives for the company (Saridakis et
al., 2017). Examination and reward system are the different parts of performance management.
Designing of Performance Management: it is imperative for every organisation to design their
Performance Management according to their organisational culture (Jackson et al., 2014). The
planning of their performance Management will comprise of goals of the association, checking,
scope, conspire type, appraisal criteria, and recurrence of meeting, survey, claims organization of
documentation, duties and others.
 Coaching of performances among the important parts of the organisation.
 Setting clear and transparent goals in the company.
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Task 2:
Theoretical Perspectives and Characteristics of Employment Relations
Relationship with the workers characterizes an organization's capacity to deal with the
connection between the employing body and the employees. Once kept up in a reasonable way,
worker relations guarantee that the association can build a plan on employee retention viably.
Relationship with the workers is customarily investigated based on different speculations in
regards to work relations (Van et al., 2012). The alternate points of view that are much of the
time referenced are:
 Pluralist Point of View: A pluralist point of view considers the different relations inside
an industry and the contention that exists inside the partners in this industry. The pluralist
point of view centres around the demonstration that contention can be a natural piece of
society and that can be made do with the assistance of the different courses of action in
the establishment (Peters et al., 2014). Pluralism acknowledges that in excess of one
decision rule can exist in the meantime and varying points of view from businesses and
representatives can be settled through strategies, for example, collaboration, trade off and
concessions. The pluralist approach underlines compromise and choice procedures
through haggling and achieving agreements between the trade unions and administration.
 Unitarian Point of view: The Unitarian Point of view believes in having different goals
and purposes within the organisation, which can lead to conflicts but can be managed by
the institution. Different perspectives among the workers and the employers can be
resolved with proper initiatives. This way a mutual ground can be created keeping the
bigger picture of organisational success in mind. Truthfulness and reasonability of the
institution is also an important part of the argument.
 Marxist Point of view: From a Marxist perspective, capital is thought to be homogenous
and restricts the activities and procedures of work. The Marxist viewpoint, regularly
called the Radical Perspective expresses that the class contrasts between various social
gatherings coming about because of the distinctions in financial power can be settled with
the with the assistance of class strife (Van et al., 2012). This point of view centres on the
view that labourers need to shield themselves from exceedingly compelling industrialist
organizations that are not worried about the prosperity of its workforce and distract from
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what they are legitimately required to do. The influence awkwardness that exists between
the purchaser and merchant of work in light of the monstrous contrasts of abundance of
the two socioeconomics is viewed as an unceasing characteristic of private enterprise.
2. Employee Relationships and the Role of the Actors
The relationship with employees inside a specific association can be differentiated into a diverse
viewpoints and fields, the most imperative of which is the connection between the administration
and management heads of the business (Longoni and Cagliano, 2015). A proficient and powerful
administration guarantees that the representatives are content with the organization and that they
are content with the current administrative choices and parts. This guarantees the communication
in the organization is efficient and the organization stays effective and stable.
Association of employees are companies where the working members can work to attain a
common goal. These organisations in the company make sure the security of the workers in both
legislative and administrative sectors.
Trade Unions are in a way similar to the employee associations as they attempt to improve the
condition of the employees too by increasing their ability to bargain.
Employers are one of the primary actors of an organisation as they are the ones providing the
employment.
Government is one of the other actors that can be found in an organisation.
Employee associations, employers, trade unions and the government make sure that the rights of
the employees are properly reserved and also the efficiency of the workers is also maintained.
The stakeholders must work in harmony is order to make the organisation successful. This way
the company will reach the goals more effectively and quickly (Longoni and Cagliano, 2015).
Government, as a stakeholder in also another important factor as the rules and regulations set by
them improve the quality and the productivity in the organisation.
3. Changing Nature of Relationship between the Employers and the Employees.
The relation between the employers and the workers is multidimensional and is basic to the
working of the association. An assortment of variables can influence the relationship among the
workers. The factors, like the way of life, charge rates, current condition of the economy,
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