Strategic Human Resource Management: Challenges and Future Trends

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), beginning with its core definition and importance in organizations. It explores the significant changes impacting HRM, including workforce diversity, technological advancements, and globalization. ...Read More

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Strategic Human Resource Management
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Introduction
Strategic human resource management refers to that act of employing and developing
individuals such that they become valuable to the firm (Martín Alcázar, Miguel Romero
Fernández, and Sánchez Gardey, 2013, pp.46). It involves conducting an analysis on jobs,
planning the needs of the personnel, hiring competent and skillful individuals for a task, training
and developing the workers, controlling the wages and the salaries, ensuring that they avail
benefits and incentives, conducting cross- evaluation on performance, solving disagreements, as
well as regularly coming into contact with employees from all levels.
Understanding of Human Resource Management.
Throughout the learning session, my understanding on the HRM has dramtically
changed. This has enabled me to deduce the changes that have occurred and still occurring in the
Human Resource Management has stipulated below (Marchington, Wilkinson, Donnelly, and
Kynighou, 2016, pp.341). The Huma Resource Management has changed adversely with key
factors that are involved in the changes being; the diversity of the work-force, the changes in
technology and the economic changes, regarding globalization, the structure of the organization,

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and the nature of work which keeps changing. The environment in which businesses are being
conducted is changing, and the same applies to the setting of the Human Resource Management.
Human resource management was considered to be more straightforward in the past since
its work-force created a strong impression of being homogeneous. Currently, the HRM
workforce is made up of individuals who are of different sex, age, with separate social classes,
different personal characteristics, tribes, marital status, and from different religions. Diversity in
the workforce is thus linked to the strategic direction of the organization. The difference has
enhanced creativity and improved on means of making even better decisions, thus boosting the
competitiveness of the firm. With many women being incorporated in the workforce, this has
necessitated preparations of flexible working schedules.
The changes in the economy and technology have to a large extent altered employment
and the patterns of occupation. With changes in technology, the current organizations have
adapted the technology-driven slogan where men have taken the place of machines for example
in manufacturing technology where has resulted to automation and robotics (Paillé, Chen, Boiral,
and Jin, 2014, pp.460). These advancements have curbed many jobs. Additionally, computers
and the management information system have resulted in changes in nature which office work
operates.
Globalization as well has raised the levels of competition in the business sector
internationally. Firms that formerly competed locally today they need to have the ability to
compete with overseas firms. As a result of the following conditions, Human Resource
Management is faced with a major challenge of selecting, training, and coming up policies to
compensate exiled employees, to tap the world labor force.

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Restructuring of the organization enables it to gain competitive advantage. From this,
firms have continuously merged and acquisitions as a restructuring method so that they remain
competitive (Brewster, Houldsworth, Sparrow, and Vernon, 2016, pp.220). Some organizations
have put measures to flatten their firms such as eliminating the several layers of management.
All these methods of restructuring lead to redesigning of jobs and employees are affected. HRM
is thus posed with difficulties in dealing with consequences of human due to organizations
restructuring. This among many include the human cost which results from downsizing.
As globalization and technology have greatly changed, changes have also taken like jobs.
The work-force has greatly improved from the usual manual work to work that is mental or
requiring a lot of knowledge (Kehoe, and Wright, 2013, pp.384). The organizations are then
tasked with giving priority to their human capital including training methods, acquiring the
necessary skills, and knowledge among others. The high attention to education and the priority
on human capital have led to the economy to be service-oriented.
Limitations of Human Resource Practices
There is uncertainty in the future. At present, there many factors that affect employment
which includes political, cultural, and even the changes in technology. Thus, organizations only
rely on Human Resource as a factor for offering guidelines but cannot entirely rely on it.
There is excess regarding to workforce (Alfes, Shantz, Truss, and Soane 2013, pp.327).
Thus, firms try by every means to eliminate the imbalance by terminating, lying off, and even
through the removal of existing employees. As a result, this builds a sense of insecurity among
employees, resulting in loss faith of an organization by the employees.

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Human resource management is usually an expensive process. This is because it takes up
the right responsibility from when the need for manpower arises, looking for employees, training
the employees, choosing the most qualified workers, up to the final placement of the workers
(Sparrow, Brewster, and Chung, 2016, pp. 72). This process is tedious and usually, time-
consuming since it researches on the personnel required for each department then takes up the
duty of looking for suitable sources that will satisfy this need.
Future transformation of Human Resource Management
Every organization needs to transform the way their HR functions due to the business
landscape which is changing. This will help them gain a competitive advantage over other
companies in this changing environment. With the evolvement in organizations, those who head
the Human Resource should be keen to shape the strategic capabilities of individuals. The future
transformation of the strategic human resource management is as below;
The focus is to create a compelling experience for the employees. The employee
experience should be made to account for the physical environment which the employees
conduct their daily duties. This includes adopting tools, and any other technology that enables
them to achieve the goal more productively. There should be continuous training and learning by
the employees to ensure that they acquire the necessary skills required in the business
environment which they operate. The focus should be as well be on rewarding of employees
wherever they perform extemporary in their duties (Kavanagh, and Johnson, 2017, pp.361).
Thus, if the workplace is converted into an experience, the firms will be able to embed their

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culture and values in the same workplace, using this as a tool to recruit and even retain top
talents in the company.
Partnering with the real estate to enhance culture will as well transform the future
environment of HRM. The aim is to incorporate both the introverts (persona who are highly
talented with distinct characteristics) and the extroverts in the workspace (Markoulli, Lee,
Byington, and Felps, 2017, pp.394). The workers have control over their place of work and have
the duty of selecting the best workspace that best suits their task. Transformation here is giving
employees opportunity to choose where to work. Thus Human Resource is mandated to extend
the culture of the company and efficiently engage the employees.
The future of Human Resource Management can be transformed by applying a consumer
marketing lenses to the Human Resource (Armstrong, and Taylor, 2014, pp.30). The department
should make use of consumer marketing tools which include thinking about design and analysis
of sentiments thus creating compelling employee experience.
The organization culture also has a great effect in defining the future for HR. a firm’s
culture refers to the personality of a firm. This includes the type of employees who work in that
firm, the experience that is acquired when a person works in the firm, how the employees are
treated, and the relation of employees and management (Benschop, Holgersson, Van den Brink,
and Wahl, 2015, pp.557). All this put together, a positive review of an organization’s culture will
shape the future of Human Resource Management whereby the task of managing employees will
be effective since there are cooperation and trust. Additionally, a culture that takes up the
feedback of the workers and device considerations to let them grow would as well determine the
future of HRM.

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Training of the workforce will increase the skills and knowledge of the employees.
Hence, competition will be key in hiring the most experienced and skilled individuals by the
Human Resource so that they deliver to their best ability the tasks which have been assigned to
them. These will create a shift in the future where a large investment has to be made to educate
the employees through training, promotions when duties are well performed, and even rewarding
the employees.
Conclusion
Strategic human resource management is crucial and important to any organization as an
organization is made up employees and not buildings. Hence, the employees are to be managed
and guided throughout their duties (Jackson, Schuler, and Jiang, 2014, pp. 24). However, with
the changing environment, HRM is basically to be affected in the future due to changes in
technology, the workforce, changes in culture, and even new means of management. As a result,
Human Resource Management has the duty of taking up their task, ensuring that they change and
keep up with the new changes.

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Bibliography
Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C., 2013. The link between perceived human
resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation
model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), pp.330-351.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Benschop, Y., Holgersson, C., Van den Brink, M. and Wahl, A., 2015. Future challenges for
practices of diversity management in organizations. Handbook for Diversity in Organizations,
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Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P. and Vernon, G., 2016. International human resource
management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human
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Kavanagh, M.J. and Johnson, R.D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics,
applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.
Kehoe, R.R. and Wright, P.M., 2013. The impact of high-performance human resource practices
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Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource
management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.

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Markoulli, M., Lee, C.I., Byington, E. and Felps, W.A., 2017. Mapping Human Resource
Management: Reviewing the field and charting future directions. Human Resource Management
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Martín Alcázar, F., Miguel Romero Fernández, P. and Sánchez Gardey, G., 2013. Workforce
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Paillé, P., Chen, Y., Boiral, O. and Jin, J., 2014. The impact of human resource management on
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Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016. Globalizing human resource management.
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