Managing Human Resources: Hard vs Soft HRM Practices

This article explores the concepts of hard and soft human resource management (HRM) practices and their impact on organizations. It provides a definition and explanation of both approaches, highlighting their characteristics and leadership styles. The article also includes a case study of Tesco and Marks and Spencer, discussing how each organization implements either a hard or soft HRM approach. It examines the effects of these practices on employee satisfaction, productivity, and overall organizational performance.

MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Definition and explanation of Hard and Soft human resource management. .............................1
Organization using Hard HRM approach....................................................................................3
Organization using Soft HRM approach......................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is an strategic approach for effective management of
employees in an company. HRM is designed for maximizing the staff performance so that the
objectives of the business can be achieved. Hard HRM is the system of staff management in
which workers are seems as valuable resource which requires to be controlled so that highest
profit can be achieved by the business. In soft HRM is an workers management system in which
the employees are treated as an valuable asset for the firm, leaders used to look for the needs of
the employees and makes practices for their satisfaction. Tesco is an British multinational
groceries and retailer with the headquarters in Welwyn garden city, hertfordshire, England UK.
Tesco is the third largest retailer around the globe measured by gross revenues (Bourgeault and
Merritt, 2015). Marks and Spencer is an British retailer which have its headquarters in
Westminster, London and the brand is specialized in selling premium quality clothes, food and
home products. The study will highlight the definition and explanation of hard and soft HRM
practices. Further the study will highlight the Hard and Soft HRM practices within the
organization context.
Definition and explanation of Hard and Soft human resource management.
Hard HRM
Hard human resource management is the staff management system in this approach
employees are seen as important resources which are needed to be controlled to obtain the
highest profit and a great competitive advantage. In the concept of hard HRM resources are nit
viewed as different to another resources in the organization like, money, machines and other
facilities. The main focus of hard HRM is on process that needed to be done like cost control and
obtaining of organizational goals. There are some characteristics which defines the hard HRM
practice. First is the short term changes among employees in organization or urgently recruiting
new people for the purpose of sales or quickly decreasing employee a downturn (Bourgeault and
Merritt, 2015). In Hard HRM no financial incentives are given to the employees for the good
work done, there is no difference in the pay in the staff. The minimum wage rate is provided to
the staff.
The leadership style used in this approach is autocratic as in this style all the decisions are
taken by the high level authority without consulting the employee, employee has to obey the
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decisions made by the higher level authorities. In this approach there is an strong linkage with
corporate organization planning ie, what types of resources organization needs and how
company will acquire them and how much it will cost. In HRM various practices are made by
leader to control the cost of the organization (Brewster and Söderström, 2017). In Hard HRM
the recruitment of the employee is done on the basis of ability of the candidate ore capability to
perform the job roles with training. Highly qualified, skilled and experience candidates are only
hire by the business.
The organization which follows hard HRM have bigger organizational structures. As the
operations done are of high level (Carson and Davies, 2019). As autocratic leadership style is
followed so there is very less communication between people of top authority and the
employees. Due to lack of effective communication the relations among the staff members in
organization are not so very good. Thus this also impacts the productivity of the business. In this
approach the lower level staff not enjoy their job roles as they have very less involvement in
what and how the business operations are carried out (Brewster and Söderström, 2017). Due to
autocratic leadership style there is lot of burden on the employees which results in higher
absenteeism. Thus affecting the day to day business operations and productivity of the business.
Soft HRM
Soft human resource management is an practice to human resources management which
involves treating workers as one of the most important assets of the organization. In this
approach employees care not treated as the machines. In the soft HRM organization very well
take care of the employee, different practices are adopted by the organization for fulfill g the
needs and requirement of the employees (Carson and Davies, 2019). Human resource department
integrates workers needs into the long term strategy of organization. In this approach employees
are rewarded for their performance, according to the needs monetary and non monetary rewards
are provided to the employees. Rewards are provided so that they feel motivated and actively
engage themselves in achieving the objectives and goals of the organization.
In soft HRM employees are encouraged to take responsibility for their job roles, there is
open communication between the employees and management and awards and recognition are
given according to the performance. In soft HRM Organization sometimes also employ
competitive pay procedure, like sharing of profits or organization bonuses (Chugan and Panchal,
2016). In soft HRM different types of training and development programs are provided by
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organization to employees so that they can very well understand their job roles and perform
according to that. They main focuses on full filling the needs iof the employees, as for this
various types of benefits are provided like, health and safety benefits, bonuses and PF facilities.
The leadership style followed in soft HRM is democratic leadership style, this is the best style as
in this suggestions and opinions of the employees are encouraged. Before making any decisions
suggestions are taken from the employees (Dangmei, 2017).
Democratic leadership style is followed so there is very good communication between the
management and the employees which results in good employee relations. Employees feel more
valued as they are involved in the decision making process. Effective participation of employee
is there ie, they are included in all the activities of the organization. The disadvantages of using
soft HRM as the main focus is given on employee needs, thus this results in lack of focus on
organizational goals and business strategies. In soft HRM long term workforce planning is done,
Plans and procedures are made for obtaining long term organizational goals. In this approach
recruitment t of the candidate is based on the attitude and integration with group (Kadri, 2017).
Organization using Hard HRM approach.
Hard HRM practices does not focus on fulfilling the needs of the workers they are just
treated like machines, which results in this way that workers are nor satisfied by working in the
TESCO. In this approach main focus is done on controlling the cost of the organization, different
policies and frameworks are adopted by TESCO so that the cost can be controlled. Main focus is
on achieving the objectives of the organization, so for this different measures are taken by the
leaders of TESCO. As TESCO follows the hard HRM approach so no financial benefits are
provided to employees for good performance thus this results in this way that workers feel less
valued and they no longer willing to work in organization (Lam and et.al., 2019). Minimum
wage rates are provided to employees which results in this way that workers not work fully with
heart and not last for longer duration. As there is no deference in salaries staff so the workers
who is making more efforts feel bad and don't work with great potential resulting in loss of
productivity. In this approach no rewards are given to the employee for their performance ie, no
financial incentives, health and safety benefits, etc nothing is given to the workers by Tesco.
The leadership style used by Tesco is autocratic as in this style the decisions are taken by
the people at top levels. This style is very rigid as employees are not included in decision making
(Mann and Gaddy, 2016). This style is less beneficial for TESCO as suggestion and opinions of
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the employees are not considered so desired decision is not taken. The benefit of this leadership
style is that the decision making becomes very fast as immediate decisions can be taken
according to the current situation in the organization. In hard approach their is strong link
between the corporate strategic planning, different types of policies are made by Tesco for
gathering the resources and achieving the objectives (Mann and Gaddy, 2016). Plans are made
the organization so that the needs and requirement can be full filled. In this approach recruitment
is done basis of ability of the individual or capability to perform task with training. The
candidates mus be Highly qualified, skilled and experienced so that they can full fill the
objectives of Tesco. Tesco has taller organizational structure. All the plans and procedures are
made for long term purpose.
There is very less communication among the top level authorities and employees which
results in this way that the relations among employees in Tesco are not so good. As the relations
among employees are not so good this impacts the over all productivity of Tesco. Tesco follows
autocratic leadership style which results in this way that employees feel less valued and rate of
employee absenteeism increased (Pandit and Verma, 2015). Thus affecting the overall growth of
organization. Hard HRM practice is not good the very much good for organization as they main
focus on organizations productivity rather than taking care of the employees. The employees of
Tesco less less valued as they are not involved in the decision making process, they are unaware
about the their inputs and overall operations of the business. By following Hard HRM approach
Tesco is very well managing the staffs as costs are minimized, organization can increase or
decrease the output according to the requirement. All the process are controlled by managers,
there is equality among the employees in Tesco. By following Hard HRM approach their is more
diversity among the staff members with competition, as competition keeps the organization
healthy(Pandit and Verma, 2015).
By following this HRM practice efficiency can be achieved by Tesco but it not
permanent, as because the employees feels tired. More measures should be made by Tesco for
employees benefits so that they feel more valued and last for longer time in organization. Thus
this will help in reducing the labour turnover ratio in Tesco. Employees of Tesco are not so
happy by working in the organization as they are provided minimum wage rates. No benefits are
provided to them, this results in this way that the morale of the employee gets low and they feel
less important. The benefit of following this practice is that quick decisions are taken by the
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management thus this helps in performing day to day operations in an desired manner (Pitt and
et.al., 2018). Tesco focus on controlling the cost of the organization as for this new financial
policies are made by the organization, proper analysis is made by the leaders and according to
that various measures are made. The recruitment done by Tesco is not so good as they recruit
new people for the purpose of sales which results in less beneficial as new workers has not very
much knowledge so that can not perform the assigned role in desired manner. Recruitment is
done on urgent basis as by this the right candidate for the position is not selected (Pitt and et.al.,
2018).
Organization using Soft HRM approach.
Soft HRM practices focuses on full filling the needs of the employees in organization In
this approach employees are treated as an important asset to the business. Soft HRM approach is
been Followed By Marks and Spencer as according to this they give special attention for the
benefit of the workers. Different practices are adopted by Marks and Spencer for full filling the
needs of employees. The company used to give rewards to the employees for the good work
done, different types of monetary and non monetary rewards are given to the workers according
to their preference,. The benefit of offering the rewards is that employee feels valued and
motivated (Rahn, 2016).
Rewards keep the workers happy and encourage them to perform more better on their job
roles. Health and security benefits, PF facilities are provided by Marks and Spencer to the
workers so that they feel satisfied by working in the organization and this assist them in retaining
for the longer duration. Marks and Spencer encouraged their employees to take higher
responsibility. There is open communication in the organization, as by having good
communication the relations among the employees are very good. As when the employees
relations are good all the task are carried out in an smooth way, thus leading organization to
success (Sadki, Bengourram and Mabrouki, 2015). According to Soft HRM Marks and Spencer
provided different types of training and development programs for the benefit of the employee,
as by giving proper training to the employees their skills gets enhanced and they get to know
what are their duties and how to perform them. Thus giving training to workers indirectly assist
in increasing the productivity of Marks and Spencer.
The organization does not treat the employees like machines and keeping the workers
happy awards and recognition are provided for good performance. As the preference of the
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employee is also different some get motivated by monetary rewards and some prefers awards and
recognition, so Marks and Spencer rewards the works according to their requirements of the
staff (Sadki, Bengourram and Mabrouki, 2015). The leadership stylke used in the soft HRM is
democratic leadership style, in this leadership style suggestions and opinions of the workers are
considered by leaders before making final decision. The leader of Marks and Spencer take
suggestion from the employee and includes them in decision making, this is results in this way
that good results are carried out by the leaders and and employees also feels more valued and
happy by working in the organization. There is good relation among the management and staff in
Marks and Spencer and effective participation of employee is there in the organizational
activities (Singh, Burgess and Heap, 2016).
Two way communication is there which results in this way that more solutions can be
gathered by the organization for a particular problem. The drawback of using soft HRM in
Marks and Spencer is that the main focus is given on fulfilling the needs of the employees, thus
this results in lack of concentration on goals and objectives of business. According to soft HRM
long term workforce planning is done by the business, Plans and procedures are made by Marks
and Spencer for obtaining long term business goals. Marks and Spencer used to give appraisal to
their employees according to their performance, this helps sin raising the morale of employee
and keeps committed towards the job roles (Singh, Burgess and Heap, 2016). Various incentives
and benefits are provided to staff, this assist in controlling the labour turnover ratio in the
organization. By giving the rewards and benefits the employee's loyalty towards the staff gets
increased, thus this is beneficial for Marks and Spencer.
According to this approach recruitment is done on the basis of attitude of candidate and
integration within the teams. Recruitment power gets increased when the reviews of the workers
are very good. The staff of Marks and Spencer is always motivated and performs the work with
whole heart, as the organization used to reward them from time to time. Motivated staff better
performs the job roles and takes responsibility for the tasks assign to them, thus assist in
increasing the productivity of the business (Tasie, 2015). Marks and Spencer used to share the
profit which arises from business operations to the employees who makes more effort for
attaining the objectives. Bonuses are offered to the workers so that they work with more
dedication for achieving the goals of the business.
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As democratic leadership style is followed in Marks and Spencer which results in slow
decision making. Leaders involves employees in decision making process which results in this
way that immediate decisions can not be taken by the leaders. By following soft HRM in Marks
and Spencer the cost of the organization gets increased as they used to pay higher salaries to
employees and performance related incentives. High commitment of employee is their towards
the job roles which helps Marks and Spencer in achieving the goals and objectives (Verboncu,
Zeininger and Mihai, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above study it is concluded that Human resource plays an very important role in
the smooth functioning of the business. The role of HR is to recruit the best candidates which can
assist the organization in achieving the objectives. The study concluded the hard and soft HRM
practices, as in hard HRM practices organization works for their bene3fit only rather than taking
care of the employees. No benefits are provided to the employee which results in this way that
workers feel less valued. In soft HRM employees are treated as an valuable assets for the
company, monetary and non monetary rewards are provided for motivating the employees.
Further, the study concludes about the leadership style followed in Soft and Hard HRM.
Autocratic leadership style is used in Hard HRM in which all the decisions are taken by the
leaders without involvement of the staff. In Soft HRM democratic leadership style is followed is
which suggestions and opinions of the workers are encouraged.
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