Strategic HRM Report: Business Strategy, HR Practices, and Performance

This report, prepared as a strategic human resource management (SHRM) analysis, explores the critical relationship between business strategy and human resource strategy, emphasizing vertical and horizontal integration within organizations. The report begins with an introduction highlighting the increasing importance of aligning business strategies with HR practices to gain a competitive advantage in a competitive business environment. A comprehensive literature review examines the frameworks and theoretical resources used by managers to maintain business operations, emphasizing the shift from separation to HR-driven models, including fit and dialogue models. The report also delves into HR practices, such as training, development, and performance management, emphasizing the importance of employee motivation through appropriate rewards and recognition. Recommendations are provided for strategic human resource managers to improve business operations. The paper underscores the significance of understanding employee needs and fostering a diverse and motivated workforce for sustainable business success. It highlights the importance of aligning individual employee needs with rewarding policies and the use of training and development to improve employee skills and competencies.

Running head: STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Strategic Human Resource Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Task 1:
Introduction:
The increasing business rivalry is becoming one of the main factors that are
influencing the organizations towards the application of the various different strategies for the
improvement of the sustainability of their business. It is pretty visible that a series of business
industries are experiencing an intense level of competition and the main trigger that is
increasing the intensity of the competition is seen to be the increasing entry of the new
organizations. Under such situation, it becomes important for the companies to employ the
scientific management of their business operations. Hence it is crucial for the management of
the modern business organizations to make sure that the business strategies are well aligned
with the human resource strategies of their companies. Here lies the importance of the
strategic human resource management. The paper is focused in the elaboration of the linkage
between the business strategy and the human resource strategy with a precise focus on the
vertical and horizontal integration inside the organizations. Other than this, the paper
provides important information regarding the various aspects of the strategic human resource
management. Along with that, the paper assesses the importance of the effective human
resource strategies for gaining the much required competitive advantage in the modern
business context. In addition to this, the paper provides a significant analysis regarding the
impact of the performance management and rewards in the improvement of the business
operations of the modern organizations.
Literature Review:
With a precise focus on the literature related to the strategic human resource
management, it is evident that the importance of the formulation of the effective strategies
regarding the management of the human resources with a precise focus on the business

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strategies is increasing in a significant manner. Considering the intense level of competition
in the modern business, Noe et al. (2017) highlighted that the main objective of the managers
of the modern organizations is to gain the maximum amount of profit with the consumption
of the least possible resources. Under such situation, a strong alignment of the business
strategies with the human resource strategies becomes significantly important for the
managers. Oyewobi, Windapo and Rotimi (2015) stated that, with a precise focus on the
strategic objectives of the companies, the formulation of the operational activities has the
potential of improving the condition of the organizations in case of achieving the desired
growth rate. At the same time, it becomes important for the managers to evaluate whether the
employees are able to manage the operational activities in an efficient manner or not.
Salih and Doll (2013) commented that the establishment of the participative
management from the part of the senior management of the organizations have the potential
to place the organizations in a better in executing the operational activities in a smooth
fashion for the achievement of the desired success in accomplishing the strategic aim of the
organizations. Tourish (2014) stated that the communication plays a significant role in the
improved business operations and under such situation, the establishment of the effective
communication has the potential to enable the companies in efficient management of the
conflicts inside the organizations. Salih and Doll (2013) highlighted that the establishment of
the effective communication is capable of increasing the smooth flow of communication
inside the organizations and that becomes essential for the managers in urgent decision
making. Along with that, Tourish (2014) claimed that the smooth flow of communication in
modern organizational context, has the potential to improve the integration of the employees
with each other. With a precise focus on the impact of the human resources strategies on the
horizontal integration, it is evident that the SHRM managers have the necessity of creating a
smooth flow of the communication inside the organizations as that helps in the improvement

3STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
of the team performances. With improved team performances, the companies have the ability
to enhance the quality and quantity of their operations.
Considering the link between the business strategy and the human resource strategy, it
is visible that there are considerable number of frameworks and theoretical resources that are
used by the managers for maintaining the business operations of the companies in an
appropriate manner. The improvement in the linkage between both the forms of the strategy
is pretty prominent with the transformation from the separation model to the HR driven
model and in doing so, the application of the horizontal and vertical integration is pretty
prominent. The separation model incorporated no link between both the strategies whereas
the Fit model has the capability of linking both the forms of the strategy through the response
of the HR functions towards the organizational strategy by defining the organizational
strategies that are capable to meet the organizational demands. On the other hand, the
dialogue model incorporates a more precise application of horizontal integration where two
way communication between the managers and in many cases, the employees takes place for
the effective management of the link between the business strategy and the HR strategy.
Considering the holistic model, the employees or the people of the companies are expected to
be considered as the resources that have the capability to provide the much required
competitive advantage to the company and under such situation, it becomes important for the
managers of the companies to make sure that the grievances and happiness of the employees
are managed well. The vertical integration for the efficient communication amongst the
managers and the employees becomes much needed in that case.
HR practices:
The human resource practices in the modern business world have the potential to gain
the much required competitive advantage to the organizations. The increasingly strong focus

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of the human resource managers of the modern business organizations in the identification of
the training and the developmental needs of the employees is becoming a key aspect of the
strategic human resource management. With precise focus on the increasingly changing
business environment, Noe et al. (2017) highlighted the fact that the managers are facing the
need of conducting increased number of training and developmental activities. Noe et al.
(2017) further added that it is important for the modern managers to make sure that they be
able to retain the customers for a longer period of time and under such situation, it is crucial
for them to provide the customers an optimum quality of services. Cohen (2017) claimed that
the success of the managers in making sure that they be able to provide the much required
quality in their business activities depends on the capability of the managers in making sure
that they are meeting the developmental needs of the employees in an efficient manner.
Tahir et al. (2017) stated that, many of the companies of the modern business world
have the capability to convert the skills and competencies of their employees as their
competitive advantage over the competitor organizations and that adds value to their intention
of becoming an improved organization in providing the much required quality in the
operations. Other than this, Cohen (2017) commented that, it becomes important for the
managers to appropriately manage the resources that their companies have as it enables them
to achieve their objective of generating larger amount of profit from the consumption of the
least amount of resources. The effective management of the resources enables the company in
being placed in a better position in terms of the using the resources for gaining the much
required competitive advantage in an intensely competitive market.
Considering the aspect of the performance management, Tahir et al. (2017)
highlighted an important factor with the claim that it is important for the managers to
motivate the employees as that have the possibility of improving the approach of the
employees towards their operational activities. Reeve (2014) claimed that a motivated

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workforce has the possibility of providing better operations in terms of the quality and
quantity in comparison to normal workforce and that reflects from the body language of each
and every motivated individuals. Hence it becomes important for the managers of the modern
organizations to identify the tactics that can be undertaken in motivating the employees.
According to Saqib et al. (2015) an important way of motivating the employees is
recognizing the performances of the employees with attractive rewarding policy that includes
both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Reeve (2014) commented that the recognition of the
good performances of the employees requires to be ethical as well as that ensures that the
employees are experiencing a healthy competition amongst them and the organizational
culture keeps improving. Van Dooren, Bouckaert and Halligan (2015) stated that, one of the
important aspect associated with the performance management in the modern business world
is the benchmarking. Van Dooren, Bouckaert and Halligan (2015) further claimed that it is
important for the managers to make sure that the employees have the idea of the performance
related requirements that they need to achieve for the accomplishment of the rewards as that
will provide them a suitable chance for the achievement of the rewards.
Saqib et al. (2015) highlighted a crucial factor with the claim that the importance of
the managers in motivating the employees is significantly increasing and that is evident with
the increment in the urgency of the managers of the modern business organizations regarding
the identification of the needs of the employees. Tahir et al. (2017) showed that the
employees of different backgrounds will be subjected to different sorts of physiological needs
from the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and under such situation, the success of the modern
managers depends on their ability to identify and align the needs of the employees with the
benefits of the rewarding policy. It is evident that the modern organizations have significant
amount of diversification in their workforces and that is becoming an important aspect of the
human resource management of the companies. As the objective for the modern

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organizations is to recruit the individuals on the basis of the skills and the competencies
instead of the race, culture and the nationalities, it is understandable that the workforces will
include significant amount of diversity. Under such situation, the managers needs to gain the
required competency to identify the different physiological or the esteem needs of the
employees on the basis of their diversification for efficiently motivating the employees. Other
than this, the performance of the employees has the possibility to be improved with the
application of the motivator of the Herzberg two factor theory in the form of the appropriate
training and developmental activities and that is seen to be one of the prime focus for the
strategic human resource managers of the modern organizations.
Recommendations:
Considering the varying aspects of the current business environment and the
importance of the strategic human resource management, an important list of
recommendations is provided below for the improvement of the business operations of the
modern organizations:
The strategic human resource managers of the modern organizations have the
necessity to make sure that the employees are motivated as that becomes important for the
organizations in increasing their business performances in terms of the quality and quantity.
The managers are required to identify the basic needs of different employees for the
formulation of the rewarding policy. Along with that, the inclusion of the intrinsic and
extrinsic rewards in the rewarding policy will be crucial for the managers in improving the
sustainability of the business activities of the modern organizations.
The strategic human resource managers of the modern organizations have the
necessity to make sure that they be able to identify the training and developmental needs of

7STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
the employees for formulating appropriate training and developmental activities which will
be crucial for increasing the skills and the competencies of the employees.
Other than this, it is important for the strategic human resource managers to conduct
the relevant employee engagement activities for strengthening the bond between the
employees. With a precise focus on the increasing importance of the team performances in
the modern business world, it becomes important for the managers to make sure that they
provide the perfect scope to the employees for increasing the engagement between the
employees.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it is evident that the strategic human resource managers of the
modern organizations have the necessity of appropriately formulating the rewards or the
developmental activities for achieving the desired success in managing the organizations in
an efficient manner. Other than this, the promotion of the diversification inside the
organizations and the establishment of the effective communication inside the workforces are
seen to be the top most priorities for the modern SHRM managers.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Task 2:
Nature of the employment relationship:
One of the important factors that have the potential to influence the employees of the
modern business world is seen to be the nature of the employment relationships. It is pretty
evident that the nature of the employment relationships is influenced by the style of
leadership inside the organizations. Van Wanrooy et al. (2013) commented that there exist
two types of companies where one supresses the employment rights and the other one
promotes a better environment for the employees. Schaufeli and Taris (2014) stated that there
are few companies that have the tendency of controlling the behaviour of the employees with
the application of the strict supervision or the provisions of the penalizations. Christensen et
al. (2014) highlighted that the role of the rules and the regulation in these sorts of the
organizations is pretty significant and the style of leading is seen to be influenced by the
legislation in a significant manner. Agnew and Duncan (2014) claimed that many of these
sorts of organizations face a prominent power culture and a sense of autocratic leadership is
also felt by the employees.
On the other hand, Van Wanrooy et al. (2013) claimed that the incorporation of the
participative management has the potential to provide the employees a better working
environment and that is pretty evident with many of the organizations undertaking the
mentioned form of leadership. Schaufeli and Taris (2014) highlighted that majority of the
organizations are seen to face the issues in managing the operational activities with a precise
focus on the business demands and considering the excessive demands of the industry, it
becomes difficult for many of the organizations to manage their schedules. Under such
situation, Agnew and Duncan (2014) claimed that the shift of power to the employees
regarding the decision making in case of the formulation of the operational activities has the

1HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
possibility of nullifying the existing issues related to the working schedules. Along with that,
it enables the managers to improve the involvement of the employees towards the
organizations. Considering the autocratic leadership and the organizations which face a
significantly formal way of management, the excessive work pressure has the potential of
creating the` job dissatisfaction amongst the employees of those organizations. The increased
job dissatisfaction or the frustration has the potential to influence the employee turnover rate
and the managers are required to intercept as that will create a chaos inside the organizations
and has the tendency of hampering the overall performances of the companies in terms of
quality and production as well. Hence it becomes important for the managers to make sure
that they provide the much required freedom to the employees regarding the decision making
related to the operational activities of the employees.
However, it is essential for the managers of the organizations to make sure that the
strategic objectives and the business requirements are well communicated to the employees
of the organizations. Marsden (2013) provided an important information with the claim that
the nature of the employment relationships depends on the pay structures and the work time
characteristic of the organizations in a significant manner. An organization with a good pay
structure along with the provisions for the attractive rewards for the overtime operations will
be motivating for the employees of the organizations. On the other hand, the organizations
that have the tendency of underpaying the employees in comparison to the industry standards
will create a context of conflict inside the organizations. Hence, it becomes important for the
managers of the modern organizations to make sure that they have the capability to provide
the compensation to the employees of the organizations as per the industry standards.
Alvesson and Sveningsson (2015) highlighted an important aspect of the organizational
culture with the comments that the application of the power has a major role for the
employees of the modern organizations. Majority of the employees have a general tendency

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of acquiring the higher payments and appropriate training for effectively managing their
operations. Considering the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, each of the individuals have a
general tendency of achieving the much required job security and a suitable career
progression for themselves which will be helpful for them in the achievement of much
required financial stability in their life. Marsden (2013) stated that the main factor that is
responsible for the declining quality of the relationship between an employee and employer is
because of the formation of the conflicts.
The formation of the conflict amongst the employees and the employers of the
organizations can be dependent on the factors such as the pay structure, work time
characteristics or the working environment. Wallensteen (2018) showed that many of the
companies of the modern business world use different strategies for the effective
management of the conflicts between them and the employees and the most crucial set of the
processes for the management of these sorts of the conflicts are the employees voices,
grievance management procedures and the collective bargaining processes. Considering the
employee voices, it is important for the managers of the organizations to make sure that they
provide the scope to the employees for the participation in the processes such as the “whistle
blowing”. With a precise focus on the increasing intensity of the competition of the modern
business market, it is visible that the business reputation of the companies have a significant
impact of the purchase intention of the customers. Floyd et al. (2013) claimed that the ethical
business practices from the part of the organizations has the potential to influence the
customers which becomes essential for the companies in creating the customer loyalty. Under
such situation, the strategic human resource managers of the organizations have the necessity
of formulating the suitable provisions for the protection of the whistle blowers as that is
essential for the organizations in designing the sketch for ethical and sustainable business
practices. Christensen et al. (2014) claimed that the trade unions have a significant role in the

3HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
improvement of the relationship of the employees with the organizations. Christensen et al.
(2014) further claimed that the trade unions increases the unity amongst the employees and
generally takes the central role in the fight against the authority in occasions such as
inappropriate pay hikes along with the undertaking of the illegal business decisions over the
employees.
Recommendations:
Considering the importance of the employment relations in the modern business
context, a set of recommendations is provided for the strategic human resource managers for
the improvement of the employment relations:
The managers need to include strong provisions for the protection of the whistle
blowers inside the organizations.
The managers have the necessity of promoting the ethical business practices inside the
organization and to manage that, the formation of the code of the conduct will play a crucial
role for the managers of the organizations.
The establishment of the participative management style inside the organizations will
be crucial for the managers of the organizations in improving the business environment inside
the organizations.
The formation of a wage and work time characteristics in accordance to the industry
standards will be an important tactics for the managers in improving the employment
relations.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it is evident that the importance of an effective employment
relationship in the modern business context is increasing in a significant manner. In order to