Sustainable HRM Concepts: Enhancing HR's Role in Sustainability

This essay critically analyzes how sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM) concepts can enhance the involvement of HR and management professionals in realizing an organization's sustainability outcomes. It discusses the importance of stakeholder management in understanding expectations and planning sustainable HRM practices to achieve corporate sustainability. The essay explores the tensions HR professionals encounter through a paradox perspective, including the synthesis effect of sustainable HRM. It highlights the values of sustainable HRM for corporate sustainability, emphasizing the role of HRM in transforming business models and fostering transparency. Furthermore, the essay examines specific sustainable HRM practices, such as establishing a value-defined corporate culture, building a change-oriented flexible culture, and ensuring transparent communication, all contributing to integrated sustainability outcomes and improved organizational performance. The conclusion emphasizes the positive impact of sustainable HRM on corporate sustainability and organizational reputation.

Running head: SUSTAINABILITY IN HUMANRESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Sustainability in Human Resource Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1SUSTAINABILITY IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The sustainable human resource management has been recently introduced as
response to the changes in the societal level, labour market and the relationship in
employment. The approach of sustainable human resource management is to focus on long-
term human resource development, regeneration and renewal of human resource. The main
characteristics of sustainable human resource management are long-term orientation.
Employee benefits care of environment, profitability, fairness and equality.
Management of the stakeholders
The management of the stakeholders enables the human resource of the company to
understand the requirements of the stakeholders properly, and to act accordingly for the
sustainable growth of the organisation. The main objective of the sustainable human resource
management is to provide an details of the relationship between organisation and the
environment. As the human resource is a part of the organisation, it is also become the
responsibility of them to serve the environment along with serving the organisation. The
sustainable human resource system enables the employees to learn how to serve both the
organisation as well as the environment (Jabbour and de Sousa Jabbour 2016).
Perspective on the tension of HR departments
When tensions are rendered from different factors, it affects the emotions experience
and the actions of the human resource of the company. The paradoxes of performance in
facing a small organisation is very different in facing the problems of a large organisation.
The main source of tension that the HR faces is from the trade unions. From the paradox
perspective, HRM systems are inherently tenuous. Regardless of the factor, that hoe the
management has framed the policies and the practices for the employees it can never resolve

2SUSTAINABILITY IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
the HRM tensions as the contradictory elements inherent to the paradoxical relationship
between the employees and employers will stay for ever (Martin et al 2016).
The synthesis effect of sustainable human resource management states that strategic
human resource systems have the potential to create social harm on the employees while
improving the performance of the organisation. The organisation should try to reduce the
damage imposed on the employees to improve the sustainability of the human resource base.
The organisation s should try to create a healthy relationship with the human resource to
improve the work life balance of the employees as well as to reduce the social harm of work
among the employees (Hecklau et al 2016).
Sustainable HRM values for corporate sustainability
Sustainability significantly effects the organisations model of business the
sustainability sets mission and vision of the organisation. The sustainability HRM system
contributes to the transformation of the business so that it can achieve greater sustainability.
The skills of the human resource management takes a leading role in changing the strategy of
the management and cultural environment of the organisation so that it can develop and
implement the sustainable business model. In the modern days every organisation wants to
create a sustainable business model to attract more customers and thereby improve the
reputation of the organisation in the community. The sustainable human resource
management system helps the organisation to achieve the sustainable growth of the company.
Therefore it will be justified to say that the sustainable human resource management helps to
create value for the corporate sustainability (Guerci et al 2015).
The sustainability HRM system affects the corporate practices and bring more
transparency in the activities of the corporate bodies (Voegtlin. and Greenwood 2016).

3SUSTAINABILITY IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Sustainable HRM practices for achieving integrated sustainability outcomes
Organisations takes systematic action to ensure that they have a right mix of human
resource capability with human resource practices for sustainability. Sustainable organisation
is one, which generates profit for its stakeholders while protecting the environment and
improving the lives of the people who interacts with the organisation (Lloret 2016). The
culture of sustainability can be created in an organisation by building strong human resource
function. The positive outcomes from the sustainability human resource management
initiative are stated below
 Improve the moral of the employees
 Efficient business processes
 Stronger public images
 Increase the loyalty of the employees
 Increased brand recognition
The human resource officials play a vital role in supporting the sustainability. It is the
role of the human resource to ensure that the strategy of the organisation should be based on a
sustainable approach to manage its employees. The sustainable approach includes the
wellbeing of the employees, health and safety, work life balance, diversity management,
gender equality fair rewards, managements of talents, development of skills of employees,
positive internal communication and employee improvement in the society (Jacobs et al
2016).
Organisations overall strategy would be to encourage the employees to improve their
skills and to improve the environment within which the employee lives (Rauschmayer Bauler
and Schäpke 2015). The core initiatives that are associated with highly improved
sustainability strategies are stated below:

4SUSTAINABILITY IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
 Role of the HR mangers to help their organisation to implement the sustainability
strategies.
 Identifying the human resource practices, which are critical to support successful
sustainability strategies.
 Setting a benchmark for the company’s sustainability policies with other best
organisations in the market.
 linking of the sustainability enhances the human resource management practices to
get financial success.
Some of the best sustainability HRM practices that contributes to the corporate sustainability
are stated below
 Establishing value defined corporate culture
 Building a change oriented flexible culture
 Setting up a transparent and effective communication system
 Ensure that the plans policies and guidelines are available to all staffs
 Building up a performance based reward system
 Engagement with work groups and union representatives
 Monitoring staff satisfaction
 Management of the major change procedures
 The human resource management system encourages the leadership and competencies
among the employees
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion it can be concluded that the sustainable human
resource management system has bring a positive change in the corporate world. The
organisations have realised the need of sustainable growth and started to give more emphasis

5SUSTAINABILITY IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
on the improvement of its employees along with the growth of the society. The concept of
sustainable human resource management system has enabled the corporate bodies to achieve
sustainability and to improve the reputation of the organisation in the society.

6SUSTAINABILITY IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
References
Guerci, M., Radaelli, G., Siletti, E., Cirella, S. and Shani, A.R., 2015. The impact of human
resource management practices and corporate sustainability on organizational ethical
climates: An employee perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(2), pp.325-342.
Hecklau, F., Galeitzke, M., Flachs, S. and Kohl, H., 2016. Holistic approach for human
resource management in Industry 4.0. Procedia Cirp, 54, pp.1-6.
Jabbour, C.J.C. and de Sousa Jabbour, A.B.L., 2016. Green human resource management and
green supply chain management: Linking two emerging agendas. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 112, pp.1824-1833.
Jacobs, K., Lebel, L., Buizer, J., Addams, L., Matson, P., McCullough, E., Garden, P., Saliba,
G. and Finan, T., 2016. Linking knowledge with action in the pursuit of sustainable water-
resources management. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(17), pp.4591-
4596.
Lloret, A., 2016. Modeling corporate sustainability strategy. Journal of Business
Research, 69(2), pp.418-425.
Martin, G., Farndale, E., Paauwe, J. and Stiles, P.G., 2016. Corporate governance and
strategic human resource management: Four archetypes and proposals for a new approach to
corporate sustainability. European Management Journal, 34(1), pp.22-35.
Rauschmayer, F., Bauler, T. and Schäpke, N., 2015. Towards a thick understanding of
sustainability transitions—Linking transition management, capabilities and social
practices. Ecological economics, 109, pp.211-221.

7SUSTAINABILITY IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Voegtlin, C. and Greenwood, M., 2016. Corporate social responsibility and human resource
management: A systematic review and conceptual analysis. Human Resource Management
Review, 26(3), pp.181-197.