Strategic Human Resource Management: Functions and Limitations

This report discusses the functions and limitations of strategic human resource management in organizations. It covers the impact of strategic recruiting, training, and development on organizational efficiency, as well as the barriers to implementing SHRM in the present age.

0Running head: STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Strategic Human Resource Management
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Executive Summary
The primary purpose of this report is to discuss about the different functions pertaining to
strategic human resource management in an organization. It also elaborates on the limitations
in relation to strategic human resource management in the present age.

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Task 1
During my course, I learnt how strategic recruiting can help in managing a diverse
workforce and how it can contribute to the overall organisational efficiency. The selection of
an employee has a significant impact on that of the organisational culture. I think that
strategic recruiting can prove to be crucial for augmenting the performance pertaining to an
organisation. Strategic staffing lays more importance on the aspects pertaining to corporate
social responsibility and its importance within that of multi-cultural society (Brewster 2017).
I learnt that it was important for a human resources professional to have a clear understanding
of the purpose of the organization for the efficient working of an organization. I learnt that
the managers use the rhetorical obfuscation so that they can retain talent in an organization. It
is however opposed to my personal style of leadership. I think that the readings of the course
helped in the aspect of frame-switching that can help in the acceptance of diverse views. I
think that diversity management is an important factor for the success of a company and
people from different culture bring with them their distinctive qualities and viewpoints that
can have a positive effect on the growth of an organization. I think that the HR practices
being able to recognise the systematic nature of power can be critical for the success of an
organization. I think that the human resources of an organization should be able to provide
training keeping in mind the objectives of an organization that can prove to be a crucial factor
for the success of an organization. I think that training can help in increasing the knowledge
along with the skills of the employees of an organization. The human resources in an
organization should create such kind of strategies that aligns with the goals of an
organization. I think that employees in an organization being allowed to participate in the
critical decisions can serve as an effective step in bolstering the organization. According to
me, it is of crucial importance that the HR team engages in talk with the reviewing authorities
that can help in ensuring the fact that the deserving candidates are provided with benefits.

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The managers along with supervisors in an organisation should ensure that the appraisal is
fair. This should be carried out with the help of human resources team that can be of great
benefit for the organisation in reaching the strategic goals (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014).
Task 2
The process of performance management often proves to be very complicated that
becomes a barrier for the implementation of strategic human resource management (SHRM).
It has been found that negative qualities of employees in an organisation are considered and
on the basis of this appraisal is carried out (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). This can give rise to
erroneous results on the part of the human resource management and appraisals hence does
not reveal true picture in relation to the employees.
Globalization has evolved to become an important issue in relation to strategic human
resource management and organizations in the present age find it difficult to neglect the
outside force. Changes have been brought about in the structure of the organization and role
of the HR professionals have evolved in the present age (Cascio 2018). The organizations can
no longer continue with their old HR practice and it have become necessary of devising new
strategies. Adjustments have to be made pertaining to the HRM plans of an organization and
this acts like a barrier in the path of strategic human resource management in the current age.
Organizational capability can help the Human Resources in implementing the
strategic initiatives in an organization. It proves to be difficult for many people to grasp the
concept of organizational capability. It is the duty of the human resources in an organization
to create capability pertaining to the organization. The human resources in an organization do
not think about the process of deliverable which makes it difficult for the employees to
understand the concept of outcome in the effective manner (Taylor, Doherty and McGraw
2015). There are many human resource professionals who struggles with abstraction and does

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not understand it in complete terms. The resource base theory pertaining to human resources
lays stress on the fact that possessing valuable resources can prove to be a reason for
competitive advantage pertaining to an organization. Organizations should have a look at
their company so that they can find the resources that can provide them with competitive
advantage that can help them in the arena of strategic human resource management. An
organization should take all the necessary steps so that all kinds of resources are provided to
the employees that can help in improving the organizational efficiency (Daley 2015). It has
however been found that the management in an organization does not provide the necessary
resources to the employees that becomes a limitation in the path of strategic human resource
management.
The human resources practices in the future should identify the knowledge along with
skills of the employees that can prove to be of great advantage for the success of the
organization. The capturing of the information of the employees can help in the process of
tracking the talents of the employees. The future SHRM should create succession plan that
can help in minimizing disruption by the identification of critical roles within the business.
The performance of gap analysis can prove to be useful for SHRM which can help in the
identification of the resources of a company in the future.
Benchmarking can prove to be a helpful process pertaining to the human resources.
Benchmarking helps in breaking a service into different sub-process and one can search for
the ‘best practices’ in relation to the processes. Most of the human resources does not indulge
in internal benchmarking that can help in leveraging the factor of success in an organization
(Hollenbeck and Jamieson 2015). The HR not being able to identify that of the internal
benchmark capability can prove to be a hindrance in the path of strategic human resource
management.

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The training and development is conducted by the human resources in an organization
that can help in fostering learning among that of the members. It can help in broadening the
competencies pertaining to an individual that can help in the arena of future responsibilities
of the employees. For the effective delivering of online professional training the employees
should be self-motivated (Kramar 2014). It has been found that the employees often do not
want to learn anything new that proves to be a barrier in the path of strategic human resource
management. The cost pertaining to producing the materials online can prove to be a
significant investment and this poses a challenge to the field of strategic human resource
management. The lack of adequate amount of interaction can work against the needs of
human resources in an organization (Bratton and Gold 2017).
Ageing workforce is becoming a critical issue in relation to human resource
management. The desires and needs of the older employees are different from the new
employees who have been just soaked in the organization. The generational differences exist
that makes it difficult for the human resources to frame policies and procedures that can suit
the needs of all kinds of workers in the organization (Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley 2016).
The older employees perceive themselves in a negative light within the organization and this
acts as a limitation in relation to realizing the objectives of strategic human resource
management in an organization.
Power dynamics exist in the organisation that acts as a limitation for that of strategic
human resource management. The biases that are prevalent in the organization acts as a
barrier for the implementation of strategic human resource management practice. The people
who are in power are resistant to the changes taking place in the organization that acts as a
hindrance in the path of strategic human resource management (Brewster et al. 2016). Status
quo approach can prove to be a hindrance in the path of implementation of strategic
management in the present age. There are people in the high position of an organization who

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do not prefer organizational changes and this poses to be a limitation for strategic human
resource management. The higher authority in an organisation may conceive of the factor of
diverse workforce as a barrier that acts as a limitation for that of strategic human resource
management (Barrick et al. 2015). It has been found that gender oppression is supported by
the people belonging to the higher hierarchy and this acts as a limitation for the vision
pertaining to strategic human resource management. The strategic human resources
management in an organization should cast aside all kinds of oppression prevailing within the
organization so that it can act for the betterment of the organization.
Recommendations
 Concept pertaining to human resources should be explained in concrete terms which
focuses on that of the actual deliverable (Banfield, Kay and Royles 2018).
 The organization should develop multi-year integrated business along with human
resource plan that can help in the reflection of the priorities of the current year
 HR leaders should be instrumental in examining demographics pertaining to the
workforce that can help in determination of the gaps that exist between that of current
skills and need of skills in the future

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References:
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Banfield, P., Kay, R. and Royles, D., 2018. Introduction to human resource management.
Oxford University Press.
Barrick, M.R., Thurgood, G.R., Smith, T.A. and Courtright, S.H., 2015. Collective
organizational engagement: Linking motivational antecedents, strategic implementation, and
firm performance. Academy of Management journal, 58(1), pp.111-135.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C., 2017. The integration of human resource management and corporate strategy.
In Policy and practice in European human resource management (pp. 22-35). Routledge.
Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P. and Vernon, G., 2016. International human
resource management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W. and Morley, M. eds., 2016. New challenges for European
resource management. Springer.
Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Daley, D.M., 2015. Strategic human resource management. In Public Personnel
Management (pp. 128-142). Routledge.
Hollenbeck, J.R. and Jamieson, B.B., 2015. Human capital, social capital, and social network
analysis: Implications for strategic human resource management. The Academy of
Management Perspectives, 29(3), pp.370-385.

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Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic
human resource management. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.1-56.
Kramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human
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Taylor, T., Doherty, A. and McGraw, P., 2015. Managing people in sport organizations: A
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