Strategic Human Resource Management

This article discusses the importance of employee engagement, organizational learning, employee well-being, innovation, and customer service in strategic human resource management. It also highlights the benefits of having engaged employees in the organization and the methodological problems in researching the link between strategic human resource management and organizational performance.

Running head: STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Strategic human resource management
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Organizational commitment
Employee engagement is one of the major factors to be considered by the contemporary
business organizations in order to enhance their performance and effectiveness. According to
Alfes, Shantz, Truss and Soane (2013), engagement of the employees and the performance of
them are directly related to each other. This is due to the reason that the more will be the level of
the engagement of the employees, the more they will have organizational commitment to show
in their workplace. The authors have also stated that engaged employees will be more motivated
in their workplace and this will reflect in their performance. Thus, according to the authors, it is
the responsibility of the business organizations to initiate different activities in order to enhance
the level of engagement among the employees and increase their organizational performance and
effectiveness.
Organizations such as Apple are known for their employee management techniques. They
are having engaged and motivated employees in place due to their engagement policies.
Moreover, the innovative approach of Apple is also because of the innovative thinking of the
employees. This is helping them to gain competitive advantages in the market.
Organizational learning process
Apart from enhancing the organizational performance, there are some other business
aspects also being enhanced with the help of the high level of employee engagement. According
to Mishra, Boynton and Mishra (2014), having engaged employees in the organization will also
ensure effective communication process among the internal stakeholders. This is due to the
reason that engaged employees will be more motivated to share their issues, opinions and
grievances with their peers or with the upper level management. On the other hand, engaged

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employees will also be motivated and open to learn new knowledge in their workplace. Apple is
one of the prime examples where employees are always motivated to come up with new and
innovative ideas. Moreover, Apple follows flat organizational structure that further helps in
having effective process of organizational learning. Employees are having the access of their
upper level management, which helps them in learning from the sharing of ideas. Thus,
according to the authors, having engaged employees in place will make sure that learning
process in the organization is effective and efficient and the entire workforce will be involved in
the learning process. With having efficient learning process in the internal management, business
organizations will be able to increase their productivity.
Employee well being
Initiation of the employee engagement activities in the organization will help in well
being of the internal stakeholders. As stated by Shuck and Reio Jr (2014), activities that are
involved in enhancing the engagement of the employees also cover the well being of them. The
core objective of including the employee well being in the employee engagement activities is to
ensure their mental and physical health. Employees of Apple are having the opportunity of
personal well being. They are provided with the facilities such as gymnasium in their workplace
to keep them mentally and physically fit. According to the authors, if the employees can remain
healthy, then their productivity will also be more in the organization. This is also reflecting in the
business performance of Apple, which is one of the leading tech giants in the world. Thus, the
accumulation of the enhanced productivity of the employees will ensure that the organizational
performance is getting increased.

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Generation of innovative ideas
High level of employee engagement also helps in generating innovative ideas in the
organization. This is due to the reason that the more engaged will be the employees, the more
will be the probability of generating innovative ideas from them. According to Albrecht, Bakkar,
Gruman, Macey and Saks (2015), having high level of employee engagement in the organization
will the business organizations to gain competitive advantages by means of generating
innovative ideas from the employees. If the employees are highly engaged in their workplace,
then they will be motivated enough to think out of the box and innovative ideas will be
generated. The innovative products of Apple, which are creating distinctive image of them in the
market, are the outcome of innovative thinking of the employees. Thus, Apple is maintaining the
effective employee management mechanism in order to gain competitive advantages. Thus, the
more will be the innovation in the organization, the more will be their competitive advantages
and it will in turn enhance their organizational performance.
Effective customer service
Another key benefit that is being gained by the business organizations from having high
level of employee engagement is effectiveness in their customer service. According to Kumar
and Pansari (2015), the more engaged and motivated will be the employees in their workplace,
the more will be positive towards providing effective customer service. This is due to the fact
that motivated employees will deal with the customer queries more effectively and positively.
This will enhance the level of satisfaction of the customers and revenue generation will get
enhanced. Thus, with the increase in the generation of revenue, organizational performance will
also get enhanced. Customer related issue in Apple is much less compared to some of their

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competitors. One of the major reasons for this is having motivated employees in place. The
effective service provided by the employees of Apple is further motivating the customers to opt
for Apple products.
Methodological problems
However, there are some methodological problems being identified in researching the
link between the strategic human resource management and organizational performance. One of
the major problems identified is the lack of practical illustrations about the positive impact of the
high level employee engagement in organizational performance. All the authors in the above
discussed articles have stated about the probable positive impact of having high level of
employee engagement but they have not stated about the organizations, which have already
benefited from the initiation of the employee engagement activities. Moreover, the impact of
employee engagement is difficult to measure due to the reason that there are various factors that
determine the productivity and performance of the organizations. Thus, it is also a major
methodological problem in determining the exact impact of the employee engagement.

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Reference
Albrecht, S. L., Bakker, A. B., Gruman, J. A., Macey, W. H., & Saks, A. M. (2015). Employee
engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An
integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and
Performance, 2(1), 7-35.
Alfes, K., Shantz, A. D., Truss, C., & Soane, E. C. (2013). The link between perceived human
resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated
mediation model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), 330-
351.
Kumar, V., & Pansari, A. (2015). Measuring the benefits of employee engagement. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 56(4), 67.
Mishra, K., Boynton, L., & Mishra, A. (2014). Driving employee engagement: The expanded
role of internal communications. International Journal of Business
Communication, 51(2), 183-202.
Shuck, B., & Reio Jr, T. G. (2014). Employee engagement and well-being: A moderation model
and implications for practice. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 21(1), 43-
58.