Critical Review: Armstrong's Handbook of Strategic HRM

This paper provides a review of Michael Armstrong's "Armstrong's Handbook of Strategic Human Resources Management," highlighting its focus on contemporary issues like strategic human resource management (SHRM), employee engagement, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The review emphasizes the book's strength in integrating human resource strategies with overall business strategies and bridging the gap between HRM theory and practice. It also underscores the book's insightful information on utilizing CSR and employee engagement to enhance individual job productivity and organizational effectiveness. The reviewer appreciates the book's innovative concepts, such as aligning HRM strategies with corporate strategies and the benefits of employee engagement, and expresses the intention to apply these concepts in their future career as an HR professional. The document is available on Desklib, a platform offering diverse study resources for students.

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

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Introduction
The policy of human resource management (HRM) which is being used by the
various business enterprises of the modern-era is drastically different from the ones used by
the enterprises of the earlier times (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow 2016). The HRM of the
present day organizations is no longer only concerned with the recruitment, selection, training
and other traditional aspects of the organization rather they are playing a much important in
the various organizations (Bratton and Gold 2017). The HRM teams of the present day
organizations are not only imbued with the job roles of the recruitment and training but at the
same time they need to strategically align the different employees of the organization with the
objectives of the organization (Marchington et al. 2016). In this regard, the notion of strategic
human resource management (SHRM) becomes an important one. The changes in the job
roles of the HRM teams can be explained be explained on the basis of the changing needs of
the business enterprises and also the need of these enterprises to effectively manage the
human resource that these enterprises have at their disposal (Collings, Wood and Szamosi
2018). The book “Armstrong's Handbook of Strategic Human Resources Management”
written by Michael Armstrong becomes an important one in this regard. The paper aspires to
provide a review of the book “Armstrong's Handbook of Strategic Human Resources
Management” of Michael Armstrong and its various aspects.
Summary of the book
The book “Armstrong's Handbook of Strategic Human Resources Management” of
Michael Armstrong discusses about the various aspects of the process HRM. The strength of
the book lies in the fact that unlike the other books based on the topic of HRM the book
rather than just discussing about the traditional role of recruitment and selection performed
by the HRM discusses about the contemporary issues of SHRM, employee engagement and

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others. Furthermore, Armstrong (2011) shows the manner in which the strategies that the
various organizations use for the management of their human resources can be integrated
with the other corporate as well as business strategies followed by the entire organization
itself. In addition to this, the book not only tries to overcome the limitations of the
conventional mechanisms of the HRM system used by the various organizations but also tries
to overcome the gulf between theory and the actual practice which is being followed within
the various organizations of the world (Armstrong 2011). Furthermore, the author at the same
time discusses about the important aspects of the business world of the present times like
corporate social responsibility (CSR), employee engagement, talent management, reward
management, organizational development, human resource development and others
(Armstrong 2011). The book also discusses about the manner in which these aspects of the
business world can be utilized in an effective manner by the HRM teams to not only analyze
the effectiveness of the organization but also to improve the individual job productivity
(Armstrong 2011). This is important from the viewpoint of the organizations since it is seen
that the major focus of the diverse organizations of the present times is on the aspect of the
employee performance.
Armstrong (2011) also argues for the effective use of SHRM mechanism within the
framework of the modern organizations. He is of the viewpoint that the effective utilization
of this mechanism along with CSR and others are likely to offer the HRs and the entire
organization itself at getting better results. Furthermore, he is also of the opinion that the use
of these processes would help the organizations to manage the different employees who are
associated with them in a much better manner. The specifically discusses about the
importance of the two concept, namely, CSR and employee engagement. For example,
Armstrong (2011) has opined that the effective usage of the concept of CSR would not help
the various business enterprises to improve their market or brand image in a positive manner

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but it would also enable the HRM team of the organization to manage the different people of
the organization in a much better manner. The process of employee engagement, on the other
hand, not only provides the opportunity to the various employees of a particular workplace to
engage with other employees of the work place in a meaningful manner but also improves
their performance as well (Armstrong 2011). The author, thus, recommends the use of these
concepts along with the other ones which he propounds in his book for the effective
management of the human resources that are a part of an organization.
Insight
The book under discussion here was a landmark at the time of its publication in the
year 2011. This book is one of the very few ones which actually state that there is a gulp
between the theories as well as the models related to HRM which are being taught to the
student in the educational institutions and the ones that are being followed by the various
organizations. The most important insight that a student can get from the book is the manner
in which he or she can gulp the bridge between the theories or the models taught to them in
the educational institutions and the ones that are actually being followed in the professional
world. In addition to this, the book also provides insightful information regarding the
concepts of SHRM, the manner in which the concepts of CSR, employee engagement,
strategies and others can be used by the HRM team not only for the enhancement of the
individual job productivity of the employees but also of the organization itself (Armstrong
2011). The usage of these concepts for the management of the employees is a new one and
thus it is seen that the majority of the other books related to the concept of HRM fail to
discuss about these ways of the management of the employees. Thus, it can be said that the
book reveals insightful information regarding the various aspects of the process of HRM and
also the effective manner in which the human resources of an organization can be managed.

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Impressive concepts
Some of the section as well as the views that the author Armstrong propounds in the
book are not only innovative but at the same time impressive as well. For example, in the
second chapter of the book “The Concept of Strategy” the author articulates the need of the
HRM team of an organization to align the strategies used by them with the overall corporate
or business strategies used by the organization (Armstrong 2011). This is not only like to help
the HRM team of the organization to synchronize the objectives of the employees with that of
the organization but would also help them to perform better. Furthermore, I believe that this
is important from the perspective of the growth of the organization since the growth of an
organization is directly related with the concept of employee productivity. Another
impressive section of the book is the chapter 14 of the book “Employee Engagement”
wherein the author discusses about the various benefits that the effective usage of this process
is likely to provide to the various organizations (Armstrong 2011). The author argues that the
effective usage of the process of employee engagement will not only help the organizations to
help the employees to build effective working relationships with their colleagues but would
also improve their performance as well (Armstrong 2011).
Future use of the book
I personally believe that the book is one of the most important ones for the various
management students who are aspiring to work in the professional business world in the
future. I want to work as an HR in the professional business world after the completion of this
course and thus the contents as well as the views articulated by the author in the book under
discussion here are very insightful for me. I would like to use the concepts that the author
propounds in the book related to the effective usage of CSR, SHRM, HRM, employee
engagement, the various theories of HRM and others during the course of my professional

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career as an HR. Furthermore, the book also provides insightful information regarding the
manner in which the gulf between the theories and the practice of these theories in the
professional world can be bridged which will be really helpful for me in the future
(Armstrong 2011). In addition to these, the various strategies as well as the measures
proposed by the author in the book for the effective management of the employees would
also be used by me during my professional career as an HR in the business world.
Conclusion
To sum up the discussion it can be said that the process of the management of the
human resources who are a part of an organization has undergone a substantial amount of
change in the present times. These changes are in synchronicity with the needs and also the
expectations of the business world. Thus, it is seen that the conventional mechanisms for the
management of the human resources are no longer effective and the organizations had to take
the help of various kinds of innovative measures for the management of the employees. In
this regard, processes of SHRM, CSR, employee engagement and others have become
important ones which are being used by the different organizations for the effective
management of the employees.

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References
Armstrong, M., 2011. Armstrong's handbook of strategic human resource management.
Kogan Page Publishers.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016. Globalizing human resource management.
Routledge.
Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T., 2018. Human resource management: A
critical approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource
management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.