The Importance of HRM and SHRM

This assignment delves into the critical role of Human Resource Management (HRM) and Strategic HRM (SHRM) in organizational success. It highlights Australia's HRM policies, emphasizing equal pay, gender discrimination prevention, and opportunities for all employees. The document underscores the importance of employee satisfaction and retention through initiatives that address their needs. Additionally, it references key academic works on HRM and SHRM, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the subject.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction
Human resource management is one of the most essential activities of any business
organization. The most important resource of any business organization is the work force and its
effective management is essential for the success of the business organization. The management
of the human resource is a challenging task for the business organization and has to be taken up
diligently by the management of the organization. This assignment is a reflective essay
highlighting the human resource management in Australia, along with the roles and
responsibilities that are to be carried out by the human resource management department, in
order to ensure that the employees are happy and satisfied while working and their needs are
fulfilled, along with the fulfilment of the needs of the organization. The strategic human resource
management is also highlighted in this assignment.
Human resource management in Australia
The human resource management highlights the effective management of the personnel
and ensure that the employment relationship are fulfilled successfully by both the employer as
well as the employee (Akingbola 2013). The human resource management has a significant role
to play in enhancing the working environment of any organization. The human resource
management and its needs are described below.
1. The HRM department needs to utilise the workforce of the recruited employees effectively,
such that the organizational goals are fulfilled (Armstrong and Taylor 2014).
2. This department creates opportunities for the present employees, to be promoted to the next
level in the hierarchy (Beardwell and Thompson 2014).
3. HR manager carries out the entire process of recruitment and selection of the personnel.

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4. The selection of the employees have to be done effectively, such that the best suitable
personnel are selected for the fulfilment of the goals of the organization (Akingbola 2013).
5. To ensure that the sense of belongingness as well as team-spirit is experienced by the
employees.
6. The HRM department ensures that the needs of the employees such as wages and salaries,
need for leaves and holidays as well as the deserved compensations are given to the employees
(Armstrong and Taylor 2014).
7. The HRM also ensures that the mutual benefits of the company as well as the employees are
met.
8. It is important that the HR department ensures that no discrimination among the employees or
disrespect among each other are taking place.
9. It is essential that the employees are motivated enough, such that they are able to work
diligently to fulfil the goals set by the organization (Kramar 2014).
The core functions of the human resource management department include the selection of the
most appropriate personnel for the business organization, with conduction of rigorous selection
procedure. Moreover, the selected employees have to be given the essential training, to align
them with organizational goals (Akingbola 2013). Thus, the efficiency, with which the selected
personnel are aligned to work for the fulfilment of the organization depends on the efficiency of
the HRM department. The benefits of the HRM department are highlighted as follows:
1. Monitoring the performance of the employees: The performance of the employees have to
be monitored effectively, such that the employees with high performance could be effectively

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awarded and the employees not performing effectively are imposed with penalty (Beardwell and
Thompson 2014).
2. Ensuring the appropriate remuneration: The HRM has to ensure that the employees are
given the most appropriate remuneration according to the skills they have (Akingbola 2013).
Ensuring the most appropriate remuneration motivates the employees to work diligently and
remain focussed.
3. Performance appraisal: The performances have to be reviewed and performance appraisal
interviews have to be conducted by the HRM department (Purce 2014). The performance
appraisal gives the employees the opportunities to get better career scope and stay back in the
organization for a longer time (Storey 2014).
4. Identify the training needs: The training needs of the employees have to be identified
(Sparrow et al. 2016). The training needs of each employee are different, hence the HRM
department has to be efficient enough to identify the training needs of the employees and give
the essential training needed (Chelladurai and Kerwin 2017). With the training needs being
fulfilled, the employees will find themselves competent enough to face the new challenges.
5. Maintain the working atmosphere: A positive working atmosphere has to be ensured by the
HRM department (Reiche et al. 2016). The working atmosphere in the office has to be positive
and cooperation among the employees has to be ensured by the HRM so that the employees are
able to support each other to fulfil the organizational goals (Armstrong and Taylor 2014).
6. Management of the disputes effectively: Disputes are common in any business organization.
However, it is important that the disputes are mitigated as soon as it occurs. The HRM

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department has to ensure that the disputes are solved effectively and the employees work
together in harmony.
7. Development of public relations effectively: The public relations development is also
enhanced by the effectiveness of the HRM department.
The overall human resource management of Australia is effective and ensures that the
employees are satisfied and stay motivated to work diligently, such that the organizational goals
are met successfully. I have learned about the various roles of the HRM department, along with
the effectiveness of an efficient HRM department. Adequate importance is given to the
employees as well as to the organization such that they experience mutual benefit. The
experience, which I have regarding the HRM in Australia, is positive. The HRM department
ensures that the employees are motivated enough, such that they work diligently (Brewster and
Hegewisch 2017). Moreover, the compensation and the leave policies that are provided by the
department are justified and has a positive effect on the employees.
While working in a business organization in Australia, I was asked to work in a new
technology. However, I was not competent enough and was not confident to work in the
mentioned technology. However, the HR manager successfully identified my need for training
and gave me a week long training session, where I got the opportunity to learn the new
technology and make myself comfortable. Thus, my needs as well as the needs of the
organization was identified and fulfilled successfully.
Strategic human resource management
Strategic human resource management refers to the human resource management
activities, along with the policies of employee retention and employee satisfaction. The main

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goals of the SHRM are to enhance the employee productivity, along with employee satisfaction
and employee retention (Jackson et al. 2013). The SHRM also includes the strategies to achieve
the long –term goals of the business organization. The focus of the SHRM is as follows:
1. The integration of the international business market with the work force of the business
organization (Akingbola 2013).
2. Ensures that the workforce adopts to rapid technology change (Budhwar and Debrah 2013)
3. Ensures that the employees are satisfied and motivated
4. Employee retention policies are adopted by the HR department
5. Establishes cross-cultural working
The SHRM attempts to provide a direction to the employees, such that they all are aligned to a
common goal. It also provides unified framework, which are based on contingency and
integration (Beardwell and Thompson 2014). The SHRM models include the high performance
management model, high commitment management model and high involvement management
model. In the high competitive world, the SHRM is much more effective than the HRM
(Armstrong and Taylor 2014). I have seen that the HRM policies fail to meet the requirements of
the modern world organizations. Ensuring the effective selection and recruitment process, along
with the identification of the training needs of the employees is not only enough (Paillé et al.
2014). It is important to ensure that the skilled employees are successfully retained (Lengnick et
al. 2013). In order to ensure employee retention, employee satisfaction is essential. Work-life
balance along with various developmental activities in the business organization is essential for
the employee satisfaction and retention, along with the appropriate remuneration (Marchington et

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al. 2016). The recognition of the good work and high performance is also essential for the
employee retention. Thus, the SHRM should ensure that these are fulfilled.
In my work-place, I have seen that extreme work pressure and lack of work-life balance
is one of the main causes of the lack of employee retention. Even thought sufficient wages are
paid, yet the positivity in the workplace and cooperation among the employees are essential.
Thus, the SHRM has to ensure that these are fulfilled. Thus, along the effective HRM policies,
the SHRM have to be implemented, such that the success of the organization and the retention of
the employees are done (Paillé et al. 2014). There have been various incidents where the
dissatisfaction of the employees has not been given adequate importance by the company, and
hence it resulted in the loss of a skilled employee to a strong competitor. The top management
often fail to realise the importance of the HRM and the SHRM (Marchington et al. 2016).
However, both these are essential and has to be taken up successfully, such that the employees of
the organization are able to work together in harmony. The safety and security of the employees
have to be ensured as well. The workplace safety has to be ensured by the business organization
(Armstrong and Taylor 2014). Lack of organizational safety will result in accidents, thus making
the workplace unsafe. The safety assurance to the employees is essential and has to be given by
the SHRM department. In my organization, the HRM and the SHRM policies are followed
diligently. The satisfaction of the employees and their retention is done effectively (Armstrong
and Taylor 2014). Identification of the training needs of the employees, and imparting adequate
training is done, so that the employees are able to develop new skills and ensure self-
development and learning. Various cultural programs and cross-cultural activities take place in
my workplace, which are SHRM initiatives. We get to know the culture and customs of each
other and respect individuality. Social gatherings and charitable programs are also arranged, thus

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ensuring CSR activities. Engaging ourselves in various developmental activities is positive and
helps us to take active part in team-building. In order to ensure that work-life balance is
maintained, long working hours or extended stay at the office are prohibited (Armstrong and
Taylor 2014). Thus, the employees’ works, take part in social gatherings, engage themselves in
self-development activities, along with spending quality time with their families. All these
activities are effective SHRM initiatives and a positive step towards achievement of employee
retention and employee satisfaction.
Conclusion
Human resource management and strategic human resource management are the most
essential activities that need to be taken up by any business organization. Human workforce are
the most important resource and its effective management is important and inevitable. Mere
recruitment of the employees and conducting the selection procedures are not enough to ensure
positive HRM and SHRM. Identification of the needs of the employees, along with the assurance
of the safety of the employees, ensuing work-life balance, identification of the training needs of
the employees, imparting adequate training and development of new skills, self-development has
to be given importance. Various cultural programs along with cross-cultural activities are to be
ensured, to impart a positive workplace environment. Efficient HRM and SHRM are essential for
the success of the business organization. The HRM policies of Australia ensure equal pay and are
against the gender discrimination. Equal opportunity is given to all employees and discrimination
on the basis of sex, cast, creed and gender is strictly prohibited. This assignment successfully
highlights the importance of the HRM and the SHRM, along with own experience. The
importance of the management of human resources are realised and implemented successfully in
Australia, thus making it a better place to work. Initiatives are taken to ensure that the employees

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are happy and satisfied while working and their needs are fulfilled. This ensures employees
retention and satisfaction thus making the HRM and SHRM initiatives a major success.

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References
Akingbola, K., 2013. A model of strategic nonprofit human resource management. Voluntas:
International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 24(1), pp.214-240.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Beardwell, J. and Thompson, A., 2014. Human resource management: a contemporary
approach. Pearson Education.
Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and Practice in European Human Resource
Management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield Survey. Taylor & Francis.
Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. eds., 2013. Human resource management in developing
countries. Routledge.
Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2017. Human resource management in sport and recreation.
Human Kinetics.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human
resource management. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.1-56.
Kramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource
management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 25(8), pp.1069-1089.
Lengnick-Hall, M.L., Lengnick-Hall, C.A. and Rigsbee, C.M., 2013. Strategic human resource
management and supply chain orientation. Human Resource Management Review, 23(4), pp.366-
377.

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Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource
management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
Paillé, P., Chen, Y., Boiral, O. and Jin, J., 2014. The impact of human resource management on
environmental performance: An employee-level study. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(3),
pp.451-466.
Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New
Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.
Reiche, B.S., Mendenhall, M.E. and Stahl, G.K. eds., 2016. Readings and cases in international
human resource management. Taylor & Francis.
Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016. Globalizing human resource management.
Routledge.
Storey, J., 2014. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals).
Routledge.