University of Sunderland Dissertation: SHRM and Employee Performance

This dissertation investigates the impact of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) on employee performance within the UK Information Technology (IT) industry, using The Saga Group Plc as a case study. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, including a literature review, qualitative research, and a questionnaire survey to gather data. The study examines the relationship between SHRM practices and employee outcomes, such as productivity and overall organizational performance. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between SHRM and employee performance, highlighting the importance of strategic HR practices in enhancing employee engagement and organizational success. The dissertation also provides recommendations for implementing effective SHRM strategies within the IT sector.

DISSERTATION

ABSTRACT
The report was aimed to drill deeply in order to reflect deeper understanding about the
role of Strategic Human Resource Management and its impact on the performance of employees
in UK. For fulfilment of the research requirement a fully planned structure has been followed.
Which was substantiated with both primary and secondary research. In the very first stage the
literature review process has given great understanding that the role of SHRM was quite affluent
when it comes to employee performance. It also narrated that there are range of notions are kept
into focus while dealing with employee performance. Also, some key strategies were evaluated
to perceive the role of SHRM specifically in the IT filed where the nation is grabbing drastic
contribution of economy. Then as a matter of secondary research the qualitative research
approach was followed and the report has clearly stated entire methodology undertaken for this
project. Since it was aimed to bring greater understanding of SHRM so the most appropriate sets
of practises in term of Research methodologies were practised. It covered research philosophies,
research type, data collection, sampling method, analysis method etc.
The research findings were presented using thematic presentation. Where a questionnaire
was prepared articulating all the necessary questions to make strong understanding of the role
SHRM plays in the performance of employees. It has revealed that there is greater influence
SHRM brings when it comes to the performance of employees. As it is known that the impact of
Strategic human resource management can only be perceived with taking views of employees so
the dissertation has used questionnaire method to collect data. The outcomes of research justified
that strategic human resource management is having its comprehensive role in augmentation of
the employee performance. At the same time it was also found that the majority has accepted the
fact that SHRM is not only affecting their productivity but also behind overall performance of an
organization as a whole. So altogether it can be summarized that SHRM is the most essential part
of employee performance it brings sense of superiority to them.

DECLRATION
Statement of Originality and Authenticity
I confirm that the dissertation I am submitting is an original and authentic piece of work
written by myself that satisfies the University rules and regulations with respect to Plagiarism
and Collusion. I further confirm that I have fully referenced and acknowledged all material
incorporated as secondary resources in accordance with the Harvard system.
I also certify that I have taken a copy of the dissertation, which I will retain until after the
Board of Examiners has published the results, and which I will make available on request in
pursuance of any appropriate aspect of the marking and moderation of the work within the
University Regulations.
Name: ……………………………………………………………………….
Registration Number: [Sunderland number]
Programme:
Study Centre: University of Sunderland London Campus
Date:

ACKNOLWDGEMENTS
I would like to thank following people without whom I would not have been able to
complete this research and without whom I would not have made it through my degree! Along
with this, my senior gratitude towards University of Sunderland London Campus for providing
me with an opportunity to make use of innovative ideas and knowledge. Moreover, I will like to thanks
professors of university as their insights and knowledge into the subject matter steered me through this
research. And Special thanks to Dean of college for motivating students to go the extra miles in
studies. I will also thank candidates of the research for sharing their honest opinion and follow up
surveys, without whom I would have no content for my dissertation. Although my colleagues and
friends who have supported me in finding the data and keep check of my health. I will like to express
my gratitude to my batch mates for helping me with the structure of thesis and solving my silly issues.
Without their help it would be impossible to complete this dissertation in effective manner. My biggest
thanks is to my family for all the support they have shown me throughout the research. Without their
support and understanding it will be very hard for me to complete this research on time. Last but not
the least I will love to thank God for providing me this opportunity and keeping me healthy so that I
can complete the project in limited set of time and put my all efforts in it.

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................2
DECLRATION................................................................................................................................3
ACKNOLWDGEMENTS...............................................................................................................4
Topic:...........................................................................................................................................7
Chapter:1..........................................................................................................................................7
1.1 Introduction of the chapter.....................................................................................................7
1.2 Background to the problem....................................................................................................7
1.3 Aims/ 3-4 objectives / research questions..............................................................................8
1.4 Rationale of the research........................................................................................................9
1.5 Significance of the research.................................................................................................10
1.6 Limitations of research overall............................................................................................11
1.7 Summary of the chapter.......................................................................................................12
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................13
2.1 Introduction of chapter.........................................................................................................13
2.2 Broad literature review on research topic ...........................................................................14
2.3 Theoretical framework.........................................................................................................18
2.4 Gap in literature review ......................................................................................................20
2.5 Summary of chapter.............................................................................................................20
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY............................................................................21
CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND FINDINGS ..................................................................................27
Findings and discussion of results.............................................................................................40
Summary of the chapter ...........................................................................................................43
CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................................43
Recommendations......................................................................................................................45
CHAPTER 6: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, REFLECTION, AND ACTION PLAN............46
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................2
APPENDIX 1...................................................................................................................................7
Glossary-......................................................................................................................................7
APPENDIX 2...................................................................................................................................8

Questionnaire ..............................................................................................................................8

Topic:
To investigate the impact of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) upon the
performance of employees within UK Information Technology industry: A study on The Saga
Group Plc.
Chapter:1
1.1 Introduction of the chapter
The chapter is intended to discuss different aspects of the research. The undertaken
research is about impact of strategic HRM on the performance of an organization. With this
respect, this chapter has articulated range of notions supporting the study. Since before moving
forward, there is need to have clarity of thought pertaining to the undertaken research so it
becomes essential to have great understanding of research aim, objectives etc. pertaining to the
needs this chapter has clarified all these relevant dimensions (Kaufman, 2020)
Firstly this chapter has discussed different aspects in the form of background. Where
context of the undertaken issue was articulated. Then aim and objectives were also set in order to
present better outcomes of the research. Rationale and significance have been covered in this
chapter so can present the logical reason behind taking this research area into consideration and
the irrefutable logic was used so can make this research more effective and highly productive.
This research is based on both secondary and primary data sources. It covered the
conviction that how the strategic human resource management had relationship with
performance of employees. The chapter pays attention to all the notions pertained to the
undertaken research aim and objectives. This chapter is covering range of associated aspects
which are having potential to fetch deeper understanding of the research topic.
At the end of this chapter the scope of this study was reviewed. Which jots down that
what area has to be covered by this study (Collins, 2021) As it was made clear form the
beginning that this research is aimed to evaluate the relationship between strategic human
resource management and performance of employees. Along with it, some limitations which
were found in this research and the way they might have affected to the final outcomes was
presented in order to make the study outcomes more realistic and reliable.
1.2 Background to the problem
With the progress of time the market dynamics are getting variate. In such predicaments,
it becomes essential for an organization to perceive the role which is being played by Strategic

human resource management. In the cut-throat competition the fact can not be rejected that the
organizational performance is becoming more inclined to practise SHRM.
The research is aimed to articulate the impacts strategic human resource management
brings to the organizational performance. With this respect a study has been conducted on Saga
group UK. This organization is engaged in information technology sector and having great
market diaspora. Over the time, this sector is facing some severe issues and the only way to
come out of the perilous situation is to have strong long term human resource strategy
(Hamadamin and Atan, 2019)
It was felt that the organizations are more likely to just accentuate on their short term
human resource policy which is hugely supported by the view of transactional philosophy but
with the changing business environment it becomes inevitable to have strategic human resource
management. It would be in benefit to bring hyper productive practises to the organization and
can revert best quality performance form employees. The inclination of organizations engaged in
IT-sector is seen getting intensive in the field of human resource management. The usefulness of
SHRM is quite comprehensive due to the wider scope it offers and the way it fetches drastic
shifts in the organizational performance (Storey, Ulrich and Wright, 2019)
The usefulness of strategic human resource management is getting up but it is seen that
the organizations are not much inclined to this practise. There are number of reasons such as lack
of intention, lack of proper rational base of practising etc. This is found one of the biggest
challenge since the productivity of employees ensures performance of an organization as a
whole. In such cases the role and significance of strategic human resource management become
highly essential.
1.3 Aims/ 3-4 objectives / research questions
Aim:
“The aim of the study is to determine impacts of Strategic Human Resource Management on the
performance of employees working in The Saga Group UK”.
Objectives:
To understand the concept of Strategic human resource management and the models it
undertakes.
To identify different strategies taken into consideration to abide with Strategic Human Resource
Management in IT sector.

To assess the relationship between Strategic Human Resource Management and employee
performance engaged in IT sector.
To recommend some ways to install better Strategic Human resource management practise
within the organization.
Research Questions:
What is the concept of strategic human resource management and what are some models used for
it?
What are some strategies used in order to abide with strategic human resource management?
What is the relationship between strategic human resource management and employee
performance?
What should be some suggestions in attempt to make the organizational performance better using
strategic human resource management?
Some issues were traced which were intended to be discussed to the fullest length so can
bring better understanding of the topic and can also recommend some best sets of practises in
order to make employee performance more aligning with the organizational needs. Employee
performance is supposed to have severe impacts in position direction when it comes to strategic
human resource management so the issue which was identified to know the relationship between
strategic human resource management and employee performance which was disucussed.
The research questions had been answered by the participants who were picked up on the
basis of the sampling a constellation of respondents was selected and they were extended a well
structured questionnaire in order to collect their responses (McClean and Collins, 2019) So it
would be fair enough to articulate that the answers were collected using survey method.
1.4 Rationale of the research
This study is highly rational since with the progress of time, the organizational dynamics
are getting changed with hyper rate. In these predicaments the only way to be sustained in the
market is to have good and long term strategy. Keeping these circumstances in mind, it becomes
essential for organizations to have a well structured strategic human resource policy in order to
be remained competitive in the market.
This study has aimed to articulate the relationship between strategic human resource
management and its impact on the overall performance of employees. With this regard, IT-sector

has been taken into consideration and Saga Group which is engaged in IT sector of UK was
made part of the study. It can be sited highly prominence since at this point of time when the
world is experiencing great revolutions and market is becoming more efficiency centric. So
keeping the prevailing market circumstances in mind it becomes highly significant to elaborate
the relationship between Strategic human resource management and performance of the
organization (Greer, 2021)
It has been seen that the organizations are very much hasty pertaining to their human
resource management, and it is so often to see organizations are more likely to abide with human
resource management which can be sited as transactional and faster to revert outcomes. It is
prohibiting them to work for longer vision. With this respect, with the help of this research this
gape in the thought process and priorities would be met.
One of the biggest reason or the most promising reason behind selection of this topic for
research is directing best practises to the organizations which are engaged in IT sector (Tuytens,
Vekeman and Devos, 2021) The sector is experiencing great boom form last couple of decades
and now in the age of globalization it is inevitably the most competent realm to work upon. In
these situations the research study becomes comprehensive due to areas it addresses and presents
better outcomes for taking further actions for betterment.
1.5 Significance of the research
This research is having its great benefits to different stakeholders. Since the main aim of
the research is to bring better understanding pertaining to the relationship between strategic
human resource management and the way it impacts performance of employees. The success of
an organization utterly depends on the efficiency of their employees. How intensively they are
working, what quality they are reverting to the organization is highly essential (Adiguzel, et. al.
2020).
This research has strived to the greatest extent to help users understanding relationship
between strategic human resource management and they way it augment employee performance.
This research would be very much helpful for specifically the organizations engaged in
Information Technology sector (Widyanty et. al. 2020) Since with the help of outcomes they
would be able to subscribe with the idea of Strategic human resource management. As it has
been experienced that the organizations are less likely to pay attention on such conviction to the

fullest attention but if they are aware that how impactful it is for performance augmentation of
employees then it will be quite simpler to fabricate sort of favourable plans.
As it has been experienced that with the progress of time the organizations specifically
who are engaged in IT-sector are more likely to cope up a tough level of market competition. In
such predicaments, it is necessary for them to have a clear and long lactic approach to confront
with the market dynamics in order to be remained lucrative and profit making. With this regard,
the role of SHRM can be sited very much important. It not only works on long vision but also
change the way human being are being dealt in the organization. With the help of this research
the outcomes of employees and they way they revert their performance could be enhanced
(Ranabahu and Almeida, 2019)
With the help of outcomes reverted by this research will help users to understand the
relationship of SHRM and employee performance to the deeper extent and they will be able to
impart this understanding in augmentation of the organizational performance as a whole. This
would be proven a great research since in this research a fully fledged study was carried out on
the organization engaged in IT sector. The aim was kept in centre that the way strategic human
resource management adopted by the organization was pouring on sort of betterment to the
performance of the employees.
1.6 Limitations of research overall
This research has covered up IT sector and they way undertaken organization was
following Strategic human resource management in practise and to the extent it was observed to
impact the performance of employees. This research is having great scope but the main area was
IT sector. At the same time, the other industries which are also engaged in almost same type of
dynamism could be appropriate to use these outcomes but any industry except IT has not been
paid attention in this report. The organization was only taken into focus for this research so the
entire study had paid attention to that only (Bouaziz and Hachicha, 2018)
In this research as it is known that the entire study was conducted on the Saga group
which was working there in UK. It would be a fair statement saying that this can be taken as a
limitation. The research is intended to revert best set of outcomes, which are supposed to be
generalized in order to help the users deciphering impact SHRM brings to the performance of
employees. Here, it was ensured that a good size of sample must be taken so can get deeper

insights of the topics. So to minimize the impacts of this limitation a sample of 30 participants
has been taken.
This chapter just covers IT industry and research was only conducted on Saga group of
UK. So the scope is limited to IT companies with almost equal size as Saga group of UK. But the
secondary research was conducted using number of authentic sources such as journals, articles,
papers, research papers etc. so these all sources were covering some other fragmentations of the
industry too. Keeping this notion in mind it would be fair to articulate that the research is
covering wider range of industries in its scope.
It was experienced that in the limited time frame it was not simpler to understand the
market dynamics and the way SHRM practises were impacting employee performance. So to
address this issue a well-articulated research methodology was taken into contemplation and with
better research philosophy, research methodology, sampling etc. in attempt to deal with the
jeopardies this limitation reflects to the outcomes of research. All these factors had been looked
up therefore dealing with the perilous situations and reverting useful outcomes to the
stakeholders (Zeller, 2019)
On the other hands, some other perils such as time and cost limitations had also been
there. The research was conducted using limited resources and limited funds so it could have
fabricated sort of deformities. But in order to make it highly effective and lucrative in nature
some key actions were taken such as the best set of methods and practises were accentuated so
can minimize the impact of funds factor. At the same time, to eradicate the perils take place due
to lack of time were whipped out utilizing the available time in its best form.
1.7 Summary of the chapter
In this chapter some key areas were discussed. In the beginning the background of the
research study and the context which was imparted in order to move forward was deciphered.
Then fabrication of aim, objectives, research questions was articulated, which had been kept at
centre while going thought different phases of the research. Then some key areas such as
rationale and significance of the study was undertaken in attempt to present proper justification
of the research.
After clearing up the background of the research in next stage keeping the feasibility, rationality
and contextual factors in mind aim, objectives were articulated. At the same time the key
research questions were also fabricated in order to bring deeper understanding of the issues.