Strategic Human Resource Management - Current Trends, Factors, Theories, Change Model and Outcome Measurement

This report discusses the current trends, internal and external factors, theories, change model and outcome measurement of Strategic Human Resource Management. It includes a case study of Hays Travel, the largest independent travel retailer in the UK. The report sheds light on the impact of employees' expectations, technology, health and safety, and family work-life balance on HR strategy. It also discusses the theories related to the growth and development of HRM, the change management model of HRM, and the measurement of HR outcomes. Subject: Human Resource Management, Course Code: HRM101, College/University: Not mentioned.

Strategic Human Resource Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
P1. Current trends and development that influence HR strategy.................................................3
P2. Internal and external factors that influence HR strategy.......................................................4
P3. Theories related to the growth and development of HRM....................................................6
P4. Change management model of HRM....................................................................................6
P5. Measurement of HR outcomes..............................................................................................7
P6. Support to sustainable Performance .....................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Strategic human resource management refers to the planning, monitoring and controlling
the human activity in the organisation to get efficiency in the workplace and increase the growth
of the business. It helps the company to develop employee engagement and positivity in the
environment of the business (Paauwe and Boon, 2018). Hays travel is the largest independent
travel retailer in the United Kingdom. Company provides services related to the charter and
scheduled passenger airlines, package holidays, cruise lines, hotels and resorts (Hays Travel Ltd.,
2021). This report will discuss about the current trends, internal and external factors that are
influencing the Human resource strategy. Theories related to the growth of the human resource
management will also be discussed. This report will also shed light on the change model,
outcomes and human resource practises that support the sustainable performance of the business.
MAIN BODY
P1. Current trends and development that influence HR strategy
Trend refers to the change in the taste and preference of the people that impact the growth
of the business. Various changes are made in the trends related to the tour and travel sector.
Human resource strategy has been Hays travels has been influenced from the following current
trends.
Employees expectations: Workers have become more educated and demanding these
days (Oh and Ma, 2018). Financial and non-financials expectations of the employees are
increasing that is impacting the strategy of the human resource management in the Hay travels.
Turnover rations are increasing fast in the tours and travels sectors and if human resource
managers do not respond positively to employee expectations, the development and acquisition
cost of recruits is going to mount up steadily. Hays travel is required to anticipate and manage
turnover through human resource planning, training methods that are followed by appropriate
compensation packages. However, it can be critically evaluated that the expectation of the
employees never ends and fulfilling every expectation will lead to the loss of the business.
Technology: Tthe advancement of the technology is bringing a major changes in the
people. The trend of adopting the technology changes is influencing the Human resource
management strategies to adopt the technology in order to get effective work and to simplify the
operations in the business (Pagani and Pardo, 2017). A number of computerized system has been
invented to help in the human resource management that decrease the work burden of the

managers in the company. Technology changes also increase the demand of the employees as
people are now aware of the many things that can be changed with the help of internet. It is
majorly influencing the HR strategy of the Hays travel. However, it can be critically evaluate
that the adoption of the technological change is risky as it may lead to the loss of data.
Health and Safety: After the impact of COVID-19, people are more aware of their health
and safety. Employees are motivated when there is a feeling of safety. People are more likely to
work in an environment where there are low chances of spread of the virus or any other
infections (Sevinc and Korkut, 2020). Human resource management need to adopt the health
protocols and provide services that keeps the employees healthy and safe. Services include health
insurance, availability of sanitizer, mask and maintaining the distance between the employees
and customers. Health and safety requirement of the employees lead to the adoption of the
changes in the human resource strategy of the company.
Family Work life Balance: Balance between the work life and the family of the
employees has become a major priority of the business as every employee are now educated and
wants to spend time with their belongings (Taşdelen-Karçkay and Bakalım, 2017). It has
influence the strategy of the Human resource management to balance the working hours of the
employees so that the motivation of the employees increase. An effective balance develops the
loyalty of the employees towards the company. A happy family is equal to the happy workforce.
With the current trend human resource management of Hays travels have to work out that every
employee's family to some extent is a happy one. In a critical evaluation human resource
management cannot create the perfect balance during the work load in the organisation.
P2. Internal and external factors that influence HR strategy
Human resource strategy is greatly impacted by the internal and external factors of the
business environment. These factors are analysed to develop the approach of the business to
increase the efficiency in the human resource management and to reduce the barriers that may
lead to the wast of the HR. Following are the internal and external factors that influence the
human resource strategy of the Hay travels.
Internal Factors Organisational Objective: It refers to the goal of the business. Objective of the company
need to be the objective of the employee in order to get the effective operational activity
(Youssef, 2020). Changes in the goals of the business impact the strategy of the Human

resource management as they need to develop plan according to the objective of the
business. Changes in the small goals or to achieve the shorty term objective human
resource management should prepare strategy to achieve the goal in the business and
changes are also made in the human activity to achieve the strategy.
 Culture: It plays an important role in the human resource management. Culture diversity
of the Hay travel influence the human resource strategy in various ways. Workplace
diversity creates challenges such as communication gap, cultural conflicts (Erlangga, Sos
and Erlangga, 2021). Such challenges are very common in the tour and travel industries.
In order to avoid the challenges Human resource management to prepare an effective
strategy for the business. Training and development of the employee lead to the decreases
the cultural barriers. HR strategies have to do a lot more for preparing the task that reduce
the cultural barriers and increase opportunities of the cultural diversity in the workplace
environment.
External Factors Political position: Political position of the country has a huge impact of the business and
the human resource management. It includes government regulations. Currently political
situation of the UK is recovering from the impact of the COVID-19. Human resource
management of the Hay travels are preparing strategy accordingly as people were not
ready to travel after the pandemic as government banned the travel of the citizens in order
to decrease the spread of COVID-19. Human resource management of the business
utilized that time on the training and development of the employees such changes are
made according to the growth rate of the economy of the country.
 Social factor: This factor of the external environment include cultural norms,
expectations, population growth rates and career attitudes. Change in the social factor of
the customer also influence the human resource management strategy. Managers prepare
strategy according top the needs and preference of the customers increase the reach of the
business. Strategy of the human resource management influence the customer and
employee engagement that lead to the development of the company.

P3. Theories related to the growth and development of HRM
Theory of Reinforcement: Skinner suggest that the theory of learning emphasizes on the
learning behaviour of a person. Development program in the business are aligned with the
organisational objectives and positive outcomes are expected with such training and
development programs (Skinner and et.al., 2019). Different types of rewards such as bonus, raise
of salary, promotion can be associated with the training program to generate positive outcomes.
The advantage of this theory is that it provides rewards to those employees who exhibit positive
behaviour. However, in a critical analysis of the theory it reduces the creativity in the workplace
of the business. Employee feels that it is a forced motivation by the management. Human
resource managers of British Airlines apply this theory in the learning and development of their
employees
Theory of learning types: according to the Gane, Intellectual skills are rare among the
people. External and internal conditions highly influence the person in the learning. The five
categories of learning has been defined in the theory that include intellectual skills, verbal
information, motor skills, cognitive strategies and attitude (Giroux, 2018). This theory helps the
business in better understanding of the learning types but it lakes the other factors of knowledge
that affect the learning and development of the employee. This technique of learning has been
adopted by the human resource management of the Blue roads touring.
Theory of Social Learning: Social learning plays an important role in development of
the employee. Albert Bandura suggest that direct reinforcement cannot address all types learning.
Social element are also affected in the learning that include learned from surrounding,
observational learning (Bandura and Hall, 2018). Organisational training programs should create
positive mental state of the employee by associating rewards in the training programs. The major
advantage of his theory is that social life of the employees has given priority in the learning and
the behaviour of the employee. However, this theory does not fulfil all the requirement such as
social learning can be changed. Theory of social learning has been adopted by the EASE easyJet
to train and develop the employees of the business.
P4. Change management model of HRM
Change management refers to the process of adoption of the change in the workplace
environment. There is a great relation between the human resource management and the change
management model. The link between human resource strategy and the change management is

that both are preprepared to enhance the skills and knowledge of the employees in the
organization. The change management strategy is prepared by Human resource managers in
order to bring the change ibn the organisation. Changer management is a process of continuous
commination and training and development in the process of change management is directly link
with the responsibility of the Human resource management. It is the duty of human reoure
management to aware the employees about the change. Model developed by the Kurt Lewin is
considered of the 3 stages. Following are the stages of the change model of the human resource
management. Hays travel realized that there is a need of change in the business.
Unfreezing: It refers to the understanding of the change in the company. It is one of the
most critical stage in the entire process of change management. It involves willingness of the
people to change by understanding the realization for moving from the comfort zone (Hussain
and et.al., 2018). This step is the most essential for the adoption of the change as every employee
needs to be ready for the change before going to the second step otherwise it will lead to the
demotivation of the employees. Adoption of the technology became necessary in the Hays
travels. Managers aware all the employee the need for change. Employees made themselves
prepared for the change, the process of unfreezing creates the awareness if the need and scope of
the adoption of the digital tools in the organisation.
Changing: This stage involve the acceptance of the new ways of doing work. At this
stage people are unfrozen, and actual changes are made. Planning, effective communication and
encouraging the employees are essential in the changing process. Company started to train the
employees to improve the learning of the digital tools. Guidance were developed to adopt the
change in the business. Employees learn the use of the digital tools. Thus, the changes were
made in the Hays travels.
Refreezing: After the change is successfully adopted. It is converted into the new normal.
At this stage people accept the change and accept it as a part of their new working behaviour and
establish new relationship (Memon, 2021). Managers develop strategies and made the adoption
of the changes as a regular practise. Step of refreezing lead to the complete adoption of the
changes that started to utilized on daily basis. The practise helps the employees to adopt and
bring the new normal in the business.
Lewin's model of change management is simple and easy to adopt. However, this model
is not detailed enough. Another benefit of this model is that it focuses on the behaviour of the

human that lead to the inner developing of the employees. But in a critical analysis this model
too rigid and it does not reflect the modern times.
P5. Measurement of HR outcomes
Human resource management uses data to get measurement of efficiency and
effectiveness of the company's human resource program. Outcome of the HR strategies can be
measured in various ways. Measurement and monitoring the outcomes of human resource in the
Hays travel are as follows:1. Overall workforce productivity: Dr. John Sullivan stated that the best approach to
measure the effectiveness of the human resource management is the workforce
productivity. It is measured with the calculation revenue or profit generated from the total
cost spent on employees. Percentage of improvement in workforce productivity can also
be used to measure the overall workforce productivity (Frändemark and et.al., 2018). The
measurement of workforce productivity is done in Hays travels as the total output is
divide by the total working hours of the employees. The advantage of overall workforce
productivity measurement is that it includes all the inputs and it provides both firm and
organisational level productivity, however, in a critical evaluation data is difficult to
compare and it does not consider intangible factors of input and output.2. Revenue: Monitoring the revenue is a simple and easy way to measure the outcomes of
the human resource management practises. Increase in the revenue after the training and
development lead the measurement of the human resource productivity and efficiency of
the work. Hays travels also use the data of the revenue in the business to monitor the
effectiveness of the human resource practises in the company. It helps the business to
have an idea if the human resource and the operations are working according to the plan
or not. It also helps the managers to understand the need of changes in the training and
development of the business. However, it can be critically evaluated that the revenue do
not provide accurate details of the human resource measurement.
3. Training ROI: it is an effective traditional way of measurement of the performance of
the company. Human resource management of the Hays travels apply this method to
observe the effectiveness in the change adoption in the business. It is calculated as the
program benefits as net profit minus the training cost and then divided by the program
cost (Andrews and Laing, 2018). It shows the benefit from the training and the

development of the employees in the business. It help the business in better measure the
profitability of the program and achieve the goal congruence. But satisfactory definition
of the profit and investment are very hard to find.
P6. Support to sustainable Performance
Sustainable work performance means the coordination of environmental, social and
financial objectives in the delivery of core work activities to increase the value. Human resource
management are very helpful in the sustainability development of the business and the
employees. Following is the contribution of the human resource management in the sustainable
performance to achieve the organisational objectives.
Social growth of the employees: employees learn various things from the business.
Training and development is done by the human resource management that lead to the increase
the knowledge of the employees. Development of the employees create a positive impact in the
society. Human resource practises in the Hays travels developed the knowledge of digital tools
and bring the technological change in the environment of the business.
Diversity in the workplace: workplace environment of the company has a huge impact on
the employees. The development in the workplace lead to the development of the employees.
Diversity in the business environment develops the creativity in the employees and employees of
the business gets opportunity to learn the various cultures from the diversified workplace
environment (Dale-Olsen and Finseraas, 2020). Human resource management also motivate the
employees to achieve the organisational goal of the business that creates the positivity in the
employees. A positive person also motivates the people of surrounding. Creating diversity in the
workplace environment by the HR practises lead to the increase in the sustainable performance.
Better communication: human resource management plays an effective role in the
development of the communication skills of the employees. Managers develop various practises
to reduce the communication gap in the business environment. It helps the employees to an
effective communication outside the business environment. It also affects the personal life of the
employees (Abdullayev, 2020). Effective communication of the employees inspire the friends
and family of the employees and it leads to the sustainable development. Human resource
management of the Hays travel also focus in the communication skills of the employees as it is a
very important factor in the tours and travel industries.

Motivation: human resource management development various practises to motivate the
employees of the company such as rewards are given on the basis of the employee performance.
Motivation of the employee is necessary in order to achieve the organisational goal of the
business. A motivated employee provide 100% to the work of the business and lead to the
effective workplace environment. Human resource management put various efforts to motivate
the employees such as HR fulfil the basic and social needs of the employee that increase the
motivation. It also improves the loyalty of the employees towards the company. This sustainable
progress has many advantages to the organisation such as increase employee engagement,
customer engagement, productivity, innovative idea are developed and effective operational
activities.
CONCLUSION
From the discussion in the report, it can be concluded that the Human resource strategy of
the Hays travels has been influenced from various trends, internal and external factors that
included employee expectation, technology, health and safety and family work balance. Internal
and external factors include organisational goal, Culture, Political position and Social factor.
Different theories were discussed relate to the Human resource management that were Theory of
Reinforcement, Theory of learning types and Theory of Social Learning. Kurt Lewin is
considered of the 3 stages of the change management that were applied by the Hays travels.
Measurement of the outcomes of the Human resource management were done by Overall
workforce productivity, Revenue, Training ROI. These measurements were also critically
evaluated. Report also discussed how effective HR management and development supported
sustainable performance and growth to meet organisational objectives.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Paauwe, J. and Boon, C., 2018. Strategic HRM: A critical review. Human resource
management. pp.49-73.
Oh, J.H. and Ma, J., 2018. Multi-stage expectation-confirmation framework for salespeople
expectation management. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.
Pagani, M. and Pardo, C., 2017. The impact of digital technology on relationships in a business
network. Industrial Marketing Management. 67, pp.185-192.
Sevinc, N. and Korkut, B., 2020. Relationship of occupational health and safety training with
health literacy among employees working in the various lines of business. Universa
Medicina. 39(3), pp.171-177.
Taşdelen-Karçkay, A. and Bakalım, O., 2017. The mediating effect of work–life balance on the
relationship between work–family conflict and life satisfaction. Australian Journal of
Career Development. 26(1). pp.3-13.
Youssef, A.E., 2020. A framework for cloud security risk management based on the business
objectives of organizations. arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.08993.
Erlangga, H., Sos, S. and Erlangga, H., 2021. The Influence of Motivation, Ability,
Organizational Culture, Work Environment on Teachers Performance. Turkish Journal
of Computer and Mathematics Education. 12(4). pp.99-108.
Skinner, J.L., and et.al., 2019. Machine learning for vibrational spectroscopic maps. Journal of
chemical theory and computation. 15(12). pp.6850-6858.
Giroux, H.A., 2018. Teachers as transformative intellectuals. In Thinking about schools (pp.
183-189). Routledge.
Bandura, A. and Hall, P., 2018. Albert bandura and social learning theory. Learning Theories
For Early Years Practice. 63.
Hussain, S.T., and et.al., 2018. Kurt Lewin's change model: A critical review of the role of
leadership and employee involvement in organizational change. Journal of Innovation
& Knowledge. 3(3). pp.123-127.
Memon, F.A., 2021. Improving Employee’s Engagement in Change: Reassessing Kurt Lewin’s
Model. City University Research Journal. 11(1).
Frändemark, Å., and et.al., 2018. Work productivity and activity impairment in irritable bowel
syndrome (IBS): a multifaceted problem. Official journal of the American College of
Gastroenterology| ACG. 113(10). pp.1540-1549.
Andrews, P. and Laing, G., 2018. Evaluating the outcomes of a training program through an ROI
evaluation: A case study. e-Journal of Social & Behavioural Research in Business, 9(3),
pp.1-9.
Dale-Olsen, H. and Finseraas, H., 2020. Linguistic diversity and workplace productivity. Labour
Economics. 64. p.101813.
Abdullayev, A.A., 2020. System of information and communication technologies in the
education. Science and world International scientific journal. 2. pp.19-21.
Online
Hays Travel Ltd., 2021. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/hays-travel-ltd>
1

2