Strategic HRM Solution Assignment

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT -
HUMAN RESOURCES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Relationship between Business as well as HR Strategy.........................................................1
Vertical as well as horizontal integration of M&S.................................................................3
Theoretical basis and models of SHRM.................................................................................3
HR practices of Performance Management and Reward.......................................................4
Design/re-design a performance management system...........................................................6
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
Perspectives of Employment relations...................................................................................7
Roles of the actors within the Employment Relationship......................................................8
Changing nature of employment relations.............................................................................8
Mechanisms of employee participation and employee voice.................................................9
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Strategic HRM can be referred to as the link between the human resources of corporation
and associated strategies. Its aim is to facilitate innovation and flexibility across the
organisational premises in order to gain a competitive edge over rivals in market place (Pawlak,
2017). HR department is responsible for undertaking measures with a view to instil a sense of
loyalty and trust among employees so that they can be easily retained for a long period of time.
Strategic HRM is responsible for making the workforce so competent that they can effectively
give desired output within hyper competitive environment. This report is carried out on Marks &
Spencer which has been running for a long time in the retail industry as a company dealing in
daily merchandising, home and clothing products.
TASK 1
Business strategy serves as the basis in alignment with which the activities and
procedures of organisation take place. It shares a strong relation with HR strategy as without an
effective HR course of action, business strategy cannot be executed well. In this regard, the
following task comprises of relationship between HR and Business Strategy. Further, it
constitutes assessment of HR practices in relation to performance reward and management.
Relationship between Business as well as HR Strategy
HR plays a key role in the growth and success of company. This is the reason why each
and every entity operating as an active part of corporate world is desired and expected to have a
capable HR team which has the potential to take effectual decisions regarding the enterprise and
devise strategies for aligning the behavioural characteristics of personnel with the long term
business goal. This department has the command over all the employees working within the
enterprise and works towards their overall welfare and development (enkins and Williamson,
2015). In this regard, Marks & Spencer is a globally recognised organisation having high
goodwill and market positioning. Thus, it is also required to possess a strong HR management to
select, recruit and hire capable as well as potential candidates and keeping them motivated to
give their best performance.
Strategic HRM can be referred to as the course of action aimed at improvement of
workforce performance by imparting those training, recognitions, rewards, compensation and
other lucrative benefits on a regular basis. Thus, it can be said to be an essential and significant
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approach to develop the staff of company and make them capable of performing the business
activities and processes in an optimum manner. SHRM is basically associated with human
capital development and business strategy.
Business strategy can be defined as the course of plan and decision that is undertaken
with an aim to attain a desired position in market place. This helps in attainment of stipulated
objectives and goals. A large scale and reputed company like Marks & Spencer can exist in
marketplace for long term only when it possesses a skilled and competent workforce who has the
potential to devise strategies that can direct the human resources of company to execute the
business activities effectively (Pawlak, 2017). Besides this, HR strategy can be stated as the
planned course of action that is aimed at performance improvement of personnel.
Thus, it can be said that there is a greater link between HR and business strategy as both
of them are devised by top authorities for a common motive, i.e., accomplishment of
organisational objectives. In addition to this, below mentioned are some other essential aspects
which demonstrate the relationship between both the kinds of strategies:-
Implement policies: The top management of M&S devise effective strategies which are
then defined to HR department as it is the business unit which enforces such strategies within the
organisational premises. This helps in earning profits and sets a linking pin between HR and
business strategy (Noe and et. al., 2017).
Management and control: Through the implementation of an effective business strategy,
HR department within the respective organisation controls as well as manages the processes and
activities of M&S effectively.
HR strategy within Business strategy: The HR strategy also forms an essential and
important part of business strategy as without the former, the latter cannot be effectively
executed without the former, in the organisational premises to derive desired results in the
stipulated course of time.
HR Strategy and Business productivity: Every business has the primary goals of earning
maximum profits in order to attain success and growth which is achieved with the help of
business strategy. In this regard, the main resource needed for accomplishment of goals and
increment of profits is human resource. HR strategy aims at recruitment as well as selection of
competent and potential candidates, imparting those training opportunities and making them
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capable of carrying out the tasks of Marks & Spencer. This sets a relation between both the types
of strategies as both of them strive to attain goals in a timely manner.
Vertical as well as horizontal integration of M&S
Horizontal integration can be referred to as the merger of two organisations pertaining to
same business sector. With the help of this, the respective company can enhance its market
positioning and attain a competitive edge over rival firms. For instance: If Marks & Spencer
carries out a merger with any other entity belonging to retail industry, then it will be termed as
horizontal integration (Noe and et. al., 2017).
In contrast to above mentioned information, vertical integration can be defined as the
merger of organisation pertaining to different business sectors. This is usually carried out by a
company with an aim to facilitate expansion of business activities. Further, this fosters enhanced
sales and profits as well as a larger customer base.
Theoretical basis and models of SHRM
SHRM can be defined as the strategic course of action that is undertaken by HR team in
order to carry out overall development of personnel working within an organisation. This aims to
attain a better fit between corporate strategy and HRM policies in order to ensure effectiveness
and efficiency within the organisational premises. This can be executed by way of recruitment
and selection of competent candidates as well as provision of recognition, performance
appraisals and rewards to outperforming employees. In a number of ways, HR can play a
strategic role within an organisation. HR gains knowledge of the extent of contentment that
customers derive from the offerings of company (Peppard and Ward, 2016). Further, it carries
out performance measurement with the aim of rewarding as well as recognising those individuals
who have performed by utilising their skills and potential throughout the year. For this, strategic
HRM makes use of an effective tool named Balanced Scorecard. Further, there is a model of
strategic HRM that is widely used by many of the organisations operating within the market
place. In this regard, Marks & Spencer also makes use of this model of SHRM to strategically
carry out the HRM activities, thereby ensuring the attainment of goal and objectives of entity by
establishing a linking pin between HR and business strategy.
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Figure 1: Model of Strategic Human Resource Management
(Source: 13 Models of Strategic Human Resource Management, 2019)
The above model of SHRM strives to maintain healthy labour-management relationship
(13 Models of Strategic Human Resource Management, 2019). For this, it makes use of a number
of elements such as training, staffing and compensation. Further, the HR Information System
aims at determination of workforce performance by setting a comparison between actual and
desired standards. This provides HR department with the information regarding those employees
who are in need of training for improvement of their future performance. Also, it assists in
gaining knowledge about requirement of more employees so that recruitment can be carried out
to maintain adequate staffing. Thus, with the help of some key elements, this SHRM model is
applied within Marks & Spencer to ensure effective execution of HR activities in a strategic
manner.
HR practices of Performance Management and Reward
There are numerous of Human resource practices which are required to be adopted by
human resource department of every organisation for improving their satisfaction level of
employees which ultimately improves their performance as well (Slack and Brandon-Jones,
2018). It can be said that HR practices are also helpful in developing positive environment at
workplace that directly contributes in retaining employees in the company for longer period of
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time. With reference to Marks and Spencer there are certain common HRM practices which are
required to be followed by its Human resource department. Some common among them are
performance appraisal, compensations, training and development and rewards. All of these
practices contribute in the improvement of satisfaction level of employees. Descriptions of these
practices are stated as below:-
Performance appraisal: It is a motivating initiative done by human resource department
in order to realise employees that company values their work. In this, they simply gives
promotion to employees according to their performance and also increase their salaries for
satisfying their monetary needs (Pawlak, 2017). This activity directly influences employees to
stay loyal with Marks and Spencer and also place best efforts to organisational work so that its
long term goals can be attained in quick manner.
Reward: Rewards are seen one of the effective HRM activity that influences employees
to feel self motivated. In this, human resource department gives extra payment to employees on
the basis of their performance. This improves performance of employees as they feel that their
higher efforts in organisational works will make them eligible to attain rewards. These reward
packages are mainly of two types, that are, financial or non financial. Both of them are stated as
below:-
Financial reward package
Compensation: It is the monetary benefit that is given to employees in the exchange of
their efforts which are placed for organisational work. It covers salary, bonus, wages and many
other which are given to employees at regular basis (Karadag, 2015).
Incentives: Incentives are mainly given to employees for their limit less work or
achievement of targets.
Non-Financial rewards
Work life balance: HR department of Marks and Spencer provides healthy environment
to employees so that they manage both of their personal as well as professional environment in
positive manner.
Performance recognition: It is the kind of reward which is placed in terms of kind form
to the employees. In this, human resource department firstly focuses on finding out best
deserving person in the company and also helps them out in attaining higher position in the
company.
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On the basis of above stated practices, it can be said that all of them contributes in improving
employee’s relationship with one another. Along with this, it also improves their relationship of
employer and employee at workplace in positive manner. The main benefit of these for
employees is that it helps them in growing faster along with the monetary benefits (enkins and
Williamson, 2015). For employer these practices help them in achieving their business objectives
in quick manner. It ultimately improves their profitability in effective manner.
Design/re-design a performance management system
Performance management system can be referred to as a systematic and effective
approach for measuring the performance of workforce. This can be said to be the procedure used
by Marks & Spencer by way of which the company aligns its resources and systems with
organisational goals, mission, vision and objectives. Designing or re-designing PMS is a
complex task which cannot be carried out without devising an effective strategy. This strategy
consists of the process through which PMS can be optimally designed within Marks & Spencer.
The process for re-designing of performance management system is explained as follows:-
Keep it simple: To feasibly bring changes within PMS, it is required to encourage
workforce to get involved in the newly introduced process. The top management team of M&S
should take review from employees regarding ways in which re-designing of performance
management system can be done (Chen, Delmas and Lieberman, 2015).
Define purpose: The management team ascertains the purpose underlying beneath
devising a new Performance Management System. This purpose is clearly explained to
workforce in order to gain support and facilitation from them.
360 Degree Feedback: Here, management of Marks & Spencer collects 360 degree
feedback from individuals for determination of their views, perceptions, opinions and interests
(Redesigning Your Performance Management Process for Success, 2019).
Introduction of upward feedbacks: Feedback is not just collected via employees but also
through managers whose point of view is essential to take into account for effectively re-
designing PMS.
Stipulating goals: Here, manager motivates the staff to emphasize upon goals in order to
timely achieve them by delivering their best performance.
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Conclusion
The above analysis concludes that HR strategy is a part of business strategy and sets the
pace for effective formulation of the latter. Further, it has been acknowledged that reward and
recognition, performance appraisal, compensation and incentives are some of the effective HRM
practices. Further, the strategic HRM model when applied within the organisation aims at
fostering healthy labour-management relations.
TASK 2
Employment relations play a significant role in the success and growth of business
organisation. This task illustrates the theoretical perspectives pertaining to employment relation.
Also, it constitutes changing nature of employment relation.
Perspectives of Employment relations
Employment relationship refers to the relations shared between employer and employees.
Having strong and effective employment relations is fruitful for entity and assists the enterprise
in attaining the goals and objectives in a timely manner. Further, it gives a boost to the exiting
level of workforce performance. There are three perspectives of employment relationship,
namely, Unitary, Marxist and Pluralist. These are briefly explained below:-
Unitary: This perspective emphasizes upon integration of working efforts of manager
and employees for attainment of common goal. Employees share their opinions and problems
with each other so as to come up with effective solutions. Communication as well as
coordination has a prime role to play here (Decramer, Smolders and Vanderstraeten, 2013). This
perspective has two implications. The first one is emergence of conflicts due to contrasting views
of employer and employees. Secondly, it leads to the emergence of trade union that ensures that
none of the rights of employee is violated within the premises of Marks & Spencer.
Pluralist: As Marks & Spencer consists of a number of departments working towards a
common objective, communication among them should be effective so as to find out best
solutions. There are two primary groups pertaining to this perspective, namely, trade union and
top management team. Here, management team controls activities of business and builds
effective communication to facilitate interaction within the organisational premises. On the
contrary, trade union serves as the representative of staff (Meyer, Neck and Meeks, 2017). With
the help of collective bargaining, disputes are relevantly dealt with in this approach.
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Marxist: In accordance with this, organisation aims at maintenance of effective industrial
relations from societal perspective. It is also referred to as a radical perspective (Kavanagh and
Johnson, 2017). This provides assistance in evaluation of socio-economic dimensions which
acknowledge the particular social dispute and the class relationship by way of social alteration as
well as chronological development.
Roles of the actors within the Employment Relationship
There are mainly three parties who contribute in maintaining good relationship between
the management and employees:
Employer: They are responsible for making plans for accomplishment of goals. They
have the responsibility to create healthy environment to adequately motivate the workers so that
they can deliver the best performance. Furthermore, the timely provision of bonuses, rewards,
compensation, incentives etc. may also help in maintenance of good employment relationship.
Employees: They are the one on whom the success of an organisation depends. In order make
better relation with management, employees need to give their maximum efforts in performing
allotted activities so that profitable outcomes should be received by company. They also required
to work according to the plans, rules and strategies implemented by top authorities which build
good employment relationship (Goetsch and Davis, 2014).
Government: Numerous laws and legislation are made by government for ensuring
maintenance of healthy relations between employer and employee. A few of these are Equality
act, Worker’s Discrimination Act, Minimum Wage Act, Health and Safety act etc. that protect
the interests of workforce. Formulation of such laws leads to development of healthy
employment relations within Marks & Spencer.
Changing nature of employment relations
The business environment in which corporations operate is turbulent and rapidly keeps on
changing in a drastic manner. Owing to this, the workforce as well as the management faces
problems while executing the business processes in a desired manner. Having diverse set of
cultural and national backgrounds, personnel face difficulties in communicating and
collaborating with each other (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2012). In past, issues used to arise
due to machinery, systems and equipments but with advancement of time, problems are faced
with respect to aspects such as communication, personnel management, cross-functional
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coordination and training. Further, the employment relations are also influenced by aspects such
as alterations in working atmosphere, performance appraisals, compensation systems, needs and
expectations of workforce.
Mechanisms of employee participation and employee voice
It is often seen that success of an organisation is dependent upon the active involvement
of employees in the operations of entity. Companies in the modern era focus upon engaging
workforce in business operations as well as decision making so as to instil a feeling of
empowerment among them. In this regard, the management of Marks & Spencer conduct
brainstorming sessions at regular intervals so as to take views and ideas regarding a number of
matters from employees (Keupp, Palmié, and Gassmann, 2012). With this, a sense of loyalty and
dedications is instilled in the staff as they consider themselves as an important part of company.
Further, feedback is taken by the employees of M&S by maintaining their anonymity so that the
workforce can freely share their views without any kind of fear. In an instance where employee
voice and participation is facilitated, it results in development of healthy employment relations
which further encourages the workforce to deliver their best performance for the attainment of
goals and objectives.
Conclusion
The assessment of above discussion arrives at the conclusion that a company can attain
success in market by satisfying the needs of employees and fostering healthy employment
relations. This helps in aligning the behavioural characteristics of workforce towards the
attainment of company’s goal.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Keupp, M. M., Palmié, M. and Gassmann, O., 2012. The strategic management of innovation: A
systematic review and paths for future research. International Journal of Management
Reviews. 14(4). pp.367-390.
Kavanagh, M. J. and Johnson, R. D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics,
applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.
Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D. and Hoskisson, R. E., 2012. Strategic management cases:
competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning.
Goetsch, D. L. and Davis, S. B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Decramer, A., Smolders, C. and Vanderstraeten, A., 2013. Employee performance management
culture and system features in higher education: relationship with employee
performance management satisfaction. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management. 24(2). pp.352-371.
Meyer, G. D., Neck, H. M. and Meeks, M. D., 2017. The entrepreneurship‐strategic
management interface. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, pp.17-44.
Jenkins, W. and Williamson, D., 2015. Strategic management and business analysis. Routledge.
Karadag, H., 2015. Financial management challenges in small and medium-sized enterprises: A
strategic management approach. EMAJ: Emerging Markets Journal, 5(1), pp.26-40.
Chen, C. M., Delmas, M. A. and Lieberman, M. B., 2015. Production frontier methodologies and
efficiency as a performance measure in strategic management research. Strategic
Management Journal, 36(1), pp.19-36.
Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a
digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A., 2018. Operations and process management: principles and
practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK.
Pawlak, J.A., 2017. Establishing employment relations with local government employees in the
City Hall of Warsaw(Doctoral dissertation, Wydział Administracji i Nauk
Społecznych).
Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2017. Human resource management:
Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Online
13 Models of Strategic Human Resource Management. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<http://bankofinfo.com/13-models-of-strategic-human-resource-management/>.
Redesigning Your Performance Management Process for Success. 2019. Available
Through:<https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/redesigning-
performance-management-process-success/>.
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