Human Resource Management Report: Strategies and Challenges in HRM

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of human resource management (HRM), focusing on the strategic importance of HRM in the modern business landscape. It delves into the advantages and disadvantages of the "best fit" and "best practice" models, offering real-life examples to illustrate their application. The report critically assesses key HRM practices, such as recruitment, selection, and employee training and development, highlighting their impact on organizational sustainability. Furthermore, it identifies challenges faced by HR practitioners and proposes effective strategies for managing these challenges. The report emphasizes the importance of aligning HRM practices with corporate strategy and the role of employee engagement in improving organizational performance. The report also discusses the significance of performance improvement and the link between performance and best practices. The significance of training and development is also highlighted, along with the importance of proactively initiating employee engagement activities.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
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Introduction:
The significance of the strategic human resource management in the modern business
world is increasing in a notable manner and that is pretty evident with the enhanced urge of
the multinational organizations in incorporating the scientific management inside the
organizations. The dynamics of the modern business world is observed to be changing in
such manner that it is increasing the business competition and with the cases of increasing
number of new entries in various industries, the intensity of the business rivalry is
experiencing a massive increment. Under such situation, the established companies and the
giants of the market are facing considerable amount of difficulty in maintaining their growth
and survival. Hence, the senior management of majority of the companies operating in the
modern world of business, are facing the necessity of managing their resources in an effective
manner. In addition to this, the main objective for the companies is seen to be the effective
management of their resources and the primary focus for the managers is to gain the
maximum amount of profit with the consumption of the least amount of resources (Cascio
2015).
The efficient management of the resources of the company has the potential to place
the organizations in perfect position for managing their business operations and neutralize the
threats of the new entries and the other competitor organizations. Hence the importance of the
human resource management is pretty prominent. In addition to this, the human resource
managers are observed to follow two different approaches such as the best fit and best
practices for managing the operational activities. The paper provides an important analysis
regarding the advantages and disadvantages of both the mentioned theories and along with
that, the paper provides real life examples for portraying the application of the both theories.
Other than this, the paper provides a critical assessment of the human resources practices that
have the potential to improve the sustainability of the business operations of the organizations

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and along with that, the paper identifies the fundamental challenges that the human resources
practitioners are expected to face at each stages of their business operations. In addition to
this, the paper provides some crucial strategies for managing the identified challenges in an
effective manner.
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Bet Fit and Best Practices Model:
The concept of the performance improvement elaborates the necessity of the
companies for managing the continuous changes and maintaining their sustainability.
Considering the changing dynamics of the market environment and the increasing business
competition, it becomes necessary for the companies to improve their performances. Under
such situation, Noe et al. (2017) claimed that it is important for the organizations to improve
their performance in the aspect of the quality and quantity. The improvement of the
organizations’ overall performances has the potential to increase the financial stability of the
companies as it will contribute in the increment of the profit of the companies and at the same
time, it will be crucial in improving the service quality of the companies. Bratton and Gold
(2017) forwarded an important argument for portraying the link between performance
improvement and best practice with the claim that the organizations will be able to improve
their business performances with the effective implementation of the best practice model of
human resource management. The depth of the statement is pretty evident with a survey
developed by Department of Trade and Industry, United Kingdom in the year 1998 where it
was found that the high commitment management practices are linked with the better
economic performances along with better working environment and better workplace well –
being (GOV.UK. 2019). However, the study also found considerably limited number of
companies, actively conducting these practices for the improvement of their performances.

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(Information Courtesy: GOV.UK. 2019)
On the other hand, the best fit model plays a crucial role in improving the
customization aspect of the business strategies. Bratton and Gold (2017) claimed that the
efficiency of the human resource strategies improve when it is effective linked or designed in
accordance to the surrounding environment or the surrounding context. Jackson, Schuler and
Jiang (2014) stated that the best fit model has significant amount of appropriateness for the
companies of the modern business world as it provides the scope to the managers to
formulate the strategies that are effectively designed for the external environment of the
companies.
Considering the best practice model, the method covers the identification of the best
practices along with the designation of a high profile human resources. In addition to this, it
enables the senior management of the company to acquire the top level commitment from the
part of the employees for the continuous performance improvement. Along with this, the best
practice human resource model also provides the scope for rewarding the good performers.
On the contrary, the best fit human resource model is divided into two different elements

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where the first one is the external fit and the other one is the internal fit. The external fit is
effectively associated with the external stakeholder strategies of the company such as the
operations strategy or the marketing strategy. The external fit plays a significant role in
connecting the human resource practices with the employer behaviours and the competitive
advantages. On the other hand, the internal fit approach considers that the human resource
policies and practices must be coherent. For the best fit model, the consistency of the
performances and the application of the human resources strategy will be key
(Nscpolteksby.ac.id. 2019).
With a precise focus on the advantages and disadvantages of both the forms of the
human resource management, the best practice model provides the much required scope to
the decision makers of the companies for the improvement of the ability of the employees
along with the knowledge of the employees regarding their business operations. Along with
the training and development of the employees, the best practice model provides the much
required scope to the managers of the organization for recruiting efficient employees. Other
than this, one of the prime advantage for the companies with the best practice model is seen
to be the ability of the managers in motivating the employees for the continuous improvement
of their performances in the aspect of the quality and production with the introduction of the
rewarding plan which includes the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.
Considering the advantages of the best fit model, the model has the potential to inject
the much required flexibility and agility in the business performances of the companies. As
the consistency is considered to be the main factor for the companies operating with the
application of the best fit model, the managers face the necessity of maintaining the balance
between the strategies. For an example, if the managers of a company are using the expensive
selection procedures then that particular manager is expected to invest in the training and
developmental activities of the new recruitments as well. Other than this, the best fit model of

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the human resource enables the companies to make sure that they manage their human
resources with a precise focus on their business strategy. Let us consider an example of a
company with the application of the product development business strategy and under such
situation, the human resource managers of the company has the possibility to improve the
skills and competencies of the employees and that will certainly benefit the organization
through the improvement of the service excellence of the company.
Other than this, the alignment of the human resources activities with the product
development strategy of the company will require infrastructural development and under such
situation, the effective utilization of the infrastructure has the capability to enable the
company in the increment of their sales and in the increment of the profit as well. Apart from
this, the human resource managers of a company with the effective implementation of the
cost leadership strategy will be inclined towards short term appraisals and that will certainly
be crucial in motivating the employees of the company for the further performance
improvements. Other than this, the best fit approach enables the companies to introduce the
aspect of innovation and at the same time, encourages the employees of the company for the
creative thinking.
Considering the disadvantages, the best practice model have the potential has the
potential to force the organizations to move away from the uniformity and it is also affected
by the conflict between the benefit to company and benefit to the employees. Bratton and
Gold (2017) had considerable amount of doubts regarding the loss of voice for the employees
with the application of the model and at the same time, the appropriateness of the model at
different situation is a significant concern for the human resource managers as well. On the
other hand, the best fit model of the human resource management is considered to be time
consuming for a majority of the business researchers.

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Critical assessment of the Human Resource Management practices:
The importance of the human resources management is pretty prominent in the
modern world of business and impact of it on the organizational progress is influencing the
human resource managers for practicing their operational activities in an efficient manner.
Considering the operational activities of the human resource managers, the recruitment and
the selection of the efficient employees is seen to be an important part of the operations of the
human resource managers. Considering the dynamics of the modern labour and employment
market, it is understandable that the experienced and the efficient employees are getting
significant amount of preferences in getting recruited in the companies. It is pretty evident
that the success of the companies is significantly dependent on the business reputation of the
companies and under such situation, it becomes important for the managers to recruit such
individuals that have the capability to provide the much required skills in improving the
corporate image of the company and increases the client satisfaction. Hence, the recruitment
of the skilled individuals is an important responsibility of the human resource managers of
the companies. Armstrong and Taylor (2014) highlighted that the ability of the human
resource managers in the identification of the vacancy inside the companies and the
formulation of the job description in accordance to the vacancy becomes crucial for the
success of the human resource managers in conducting the procedures related to the
recruitment. Other than this, the human resource managers of the companies have the
necessity to make sure that they test the skills and competencies of the candidates along with
their educational qualifications in recruiting the candidates.

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Other than this, Cascio (2015) highlighted one of the important responsibilities of the
human resources managers with the claim that the human resource managers have the
responsibility of identifying the developmental and training needs of the employees which
will be much required for them in developing the training and developmental activities for the
employees of the companies. The importance of the training and developmental activities is
significantly high for the employees as it increases their skills and competencies in
effectively managing their operational activities. It is pretty obvious that the increment in the
number of the faults committed by the employees has a notably detrimental impact on the
overall performances of the company and at the same time, it reduces the efficiency and the
services excellence of the company. Hence, it becomes important for the companies to
identify the training needs of the employees and provide specific training activities for the
employees. Budhwar and Debrah (2013) claimed that one of the crucial responsibility of the
human resource managers in the modern world of business is the proactive initiation of the
employee engagement activities. According to the Herzberg two factor theory, the training
and developmental activities plays the role of the motivator for the employees in improving
their quality of business operations and that signifies the necessity of proactive initiation of
the training activities from the part of the human resource managers of the companies
(Alshmemri, Shahwan-Akl and Maude 2017).Sparrow Brewster and Chung (2016) stated that
the ability of the human resource managers in providing the much required freedom to the
employees of the company regarding the formulation of their operational activities.
According to Renwick, Redman and Maguire (2013) the importance of empowering
the employees is increasing in a significant manner and considering the fact that the
employees are on of the important resources of the company, it becomes necessary to reward
a certain amount of freedom to the employees. Perry Jr, Karney and Spencer (2013) also
raised the concept of the self- managed teams with the comment that majority of the

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successful organizations provide a detailed idea of the business or the strategic objectives of
the company to their employees. Along with this, the senior management of those
organizations allow the employees to formulate their operational activities in accordance to
the strategic objectives of the company and that becomes helpful for the managers of the
company in the effective management of the job stress and job dissatisfaction of the
employees. Other than this, Jackson, Schuler and Jiang (2014) highlighted an important
benefit for the company with the claim that the freedom regarding the formulation of the
operational activity rewarded to the employees of the company plays an important role in
increasing the involvement of the employees with the company. Hence, it has the potential to
act as a motivator for the companies as well. Along with this, the ability of the human
resource managers in conducting the employee engagement activities such as fun session or
the team dinners becomes important in increasing the bond between the employees of the
company and at the same time, it increases the quality of the team performances as well.
Apart from this, the one of the major responsibilities of the human resource managers
of the modern world of business is observed to be the formulation of the work time
characteristics and the wage characteristics of the employees. With a precise focus on the
emergence of the employee unions and the increment in the strictness of the legislations
regarding the labour and employment from the part of the governmental agencies, it becomes
important for the companies to manage the wage and work time characteristics as any sort of
deviation from the industry standards in these aspects, will certainly decrease the reputation
of the company in being an efficient employer. Considering a real life example, global retail
giant Walmart is observed to face the detrimental impact of the inappropriate wage and work
time characteristics and that is evident with the repetitive strikes in the American workforces
(Hrw.org 2019). Other than this, Amazon is also accused of paying considerably less than
that of the industry standards to their employees (Sainato 2019).

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Apart from this, the human resource managers are also responsible for motivating the
employees for the improvement of their performances in the aspect of production and quality.
Considering the increasing demands of the business industries, it is visible that the employees
of the majority of the modern organizations are subjected to an increased work pressure and
under such situation, it becomes important for the human resource managers of the
companies to come up with an attractive rewarding plan that have the potential to reward the
employees and their additional efforts. Shields et al. (2015) claimed that the importance of
the motivation is significant in the modern trade and labour market and the motivated
workforces are observed to provide extra support to the company in improving the overall
efficiency and the service excellence of the companies. Hence, it becomes important for the
human resource managers to come up with an efficient rewarding plan that includes the
intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and has the capability to influence the employees to strive for
further success. Along with this, it is important for the human resource managers to
successfully identify the needs of the employees in formulating the rewarding plans as the
effective link up between the needs of the employees and the rewards is considered to be an
important success factor for the human resource managers in motivating the employees.
According to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the effective management of the physiological
needs of the employees plays a crucial role in motivating the employees for the much
required improvement in their performances (Taormina and Gao 2013). In addition to this,
Purce (2014) claimed that the performance evaluation of the employees of the company is
one of the important responsibilities of the human resource managers which is effectively
linked with the progress of the companies. The rewards and recognition of the employees is
largely dependent on the transparent performance evaluation of the employees and under
such situation, the unbiased assessment of the performances of the employees has the
potential to contribute in the development of a stable working environment.

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Challenges:
The impact of the rater bias such as the leniency bias, central tendency bias, strictness
bias, halo and horns effect provides considerable amount of challenges to the human resource
practitioners in effectively evaluating the performances of the employees (John Bernardin et
al. 2016).
The internal politics, application of power and the unethical business practices is a
major concern for majority of the human resource managers in effectively conducting their
business operations.
Other than this, some of the human resource practitioners are also see to have certain
limitations in identifying the developmental needs and that effectively restricts them in
formulating the training and developmental activities for the employees of their companies.
Along with this, the inappropriate identification of the needs of the employees has the
potential to reduce the effectiveness of the work of the human resource managers.
Considering the initiation of the training activities, the human resource managers of
majority of the organizations are observed to face the necessity of effectively developing the
required infrastructure for the improvement of the skills and competencies of the employees
and under such situation, the human resource managers have the necessity of getting approval
from the shareholders of the company regarding the monetary investment for the
development of the infrastructure. However, in many cases, the shareholders disagrees with
the proposal and that increases the difficulty of the human resource managers in meeting the
developmental needs of the employees.
Conclusion:

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On a concluding note, it is visible that majority of the companies have the necessity of
incorporating the scientific resource management inside the companies and under such
situation, the importance of the operations of the human resource managers is facing a
significant increment. Along with that, the success of the human resource managers in
effective management of the training and developmental needs of the employees, employee
relations, rewards and recognition and performance evaluation of the employees, has the
potential to contribute in the improvement of the efficiency of the companies. However, the
practitioners face considerable amount of problems in identifying the needs of the employee,
training needs of the employees along with the impact of the bias in rating the performances
of the employees which need to be neutralized for improving the effectiveness of the human
resource operations.