Human Resource Management: Best Practice and Best Fit Approaches

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic human resource management (SHRM) approaches, focusing on the best practice and best fit models. It explores how these approaches are utilized to manage employees effectively and enhance organizational performance. The report examines the application of these models in organizations like FedEx, AMX, and Lincoln’s Electronics, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. It also discusses the various HRM practices implemented across different organizational life cycle stages, along with the challenges faced by HR practitioners. The report emphasizes the importance of aligning HRM practices with organizational strategies to achieve competitive advantage, offering insights into employee motivation, productivity, and the impact of SHRM on overall business success. This report is a valuable resource for understanding the complexities of SHRM and its practical implications.

RUNNING HEAD: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

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Human resource management
Human resource management is the planned procedures for managing people efficiently, who are
working in the organization by adopting procedures, practices and policies to help the business to
get the competitive advantage. It is formulated to increase the performance of the employees and
to achieve the organizational objectives (Syed & Kramar, 2017).
In this essay the best practice and best fit approaches of strategic human resource management
are discussed for managing the employees. The various organizations adopt these approaches to
motivate the employees and to increase the productivity in the organization, which are FedEx
corporation, AMX, Lincoln’s Electronics were also analyzed. The disadvantages of both SHRM
approaches are discussed. Further, the various practices of human source management
organization might use in the various life cycle stages is also examined. The challenges faced by
the human resource practitioners in each stage is discussed in this essay like recruitment and
selection of the employees, training, retaining the existing employees, manage compensation,
maintain the interest of the trade union and the organization.
The best practices approaches is been developed by the organization which further explains the
activities and outcomes of firm. This approach shows the association between the sets of
excellent practices of human resource and performance of the organization. This approach is
generally defined to satisfy the employees and the main aspect of this approach is to make
harmony between the policies. Various researches define that best practice approach is
appropriate for increasing the performance irrespective of producing strategies for the product
and the marketplace (Martin & Whiting, 2016). This approach is adopted by using various
human resource techniques and procedures and the applications of the approach are performed
because of benchmarking. Where benchmarking, refers to the organized method of evaluating
the performance of the organization and compares it with the performance of the top
organizations in the particular area (Cascio, 2015).
The 7 practices of the Human resource for taking the advantage of the prevailing competition are
security of the employment, selective hiring, teams which is self-managed, high compensate
contingent on the performance of the company, training of extensive, decrease of the differences
and share all the information (Bratton & Gold, 2017).

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The best practice approach benefited the organization in many ways like by applying this best
practices model, it increases the high levels of the personnel efficiency and increases the
motivation level so that through this approach the employees works efficiently and effectively
which increase the productivity of the organization (Bailey et al., 2018). As through this
approach the employee feel committed and satisfied which leads the organization to work with
the superior quality and deals with low rates of turnover, the expenditure and the allocation of
resources efficiently which helps the organization to decrease the wastage (Boxall & Purcell,
2015). The best practice approach facilitates the organization to execute quicker with the
superior quality as well as helps in making the best possible use of the accessible information of
the market and the skill. It fit smoothly with the theory of Service Now and deals with the
maximum regulated movement in the unusual circumstances (Paauwe & Farndale, 2017).
The various corporations have applied this approach, which helps them to increase the
productivity. FedEx Corporation: The Company formed into the legal corporation in the year
1971 at US. The federal Express Corporation incorporated with the investment of $ 84 mn. In the
year 1973 the company begins operation of full-fledged around the twenty five cities in the
country. As the company undergone losses during the beginning of the years but afterward
performed so well started creating revenues in the year 1976. Today the company gives the
direction of strategic to the working companies that compete jointly under the name of FedEx
globally like FedEx Express, FedEx Freight. Each of the company offers adaptable, expertise
services on behalf of the best chain of supply, shipping, business and associated information
services (Kumar & Sharma, 2017).
The HR practices is adopted by the FedEx that leads the efficiency, productivity and success like
philosophy of the people-service-profit, review feedback program of action, program of the
communication among the employees, system of job transforms application tracing, assessment
of the leadership, procedure of awareness, progression planning administrative education,
programs related to rewards and recognition. This approach benefits the organization and
increase the commitment of the employees. As the employees working in the company was
ready to put up for sale their private possessions and make use of their personal cards of credit
yet when the staff didn’t received the remuneration on timely manner, they still continued work
with the FedEx (Mohamed, 2016). It also leads the communication in two-way and it also results

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in very small rate of turnover. As in the year 2000, estimation shows that the rate of turnover was
under 6% while the standard of the industry was 20% (Kerzner, 2018). The approach also helps
the company in improving the status of the corporation as the service-orientation and employee-
responsive organization. Over the years, FedEx increases the number of talented and capable
human resources and therefore helps in increasing the satisfaction among the employees.
The other example is AMX, which is an American producer of video switching and manage
devices. In the cutthroat and variable electronic field, the company encourages the open
communication, belief among the employees and open- room area of work. It pleasures
themselves on conscientious recruiting and practices of discharge of employees. The company
also adopts the practices to interview and discuss with prospective employees and encouraged
them to study about the corporation in detail before appointment. The company proposes a more
packages of severance and helps place workers in new companies in the occurrence of discharge.
This helps the organization in larger commitment of the employees and increasing productivity
because employees are satisfied and capable to works efficiently and effectively.
The best practice approach also has various limitations, which include that while implementing
the best practices the companies has the threat to begin the mutual grouping and also payment is
based on the performance of the person, this result in declining of teamwork due to the extreme
competition (Armstrong & Taylor, 2017). It is usually considered the composite and complex
because it needs huge efforts of preparation and commitment of top administration. For example
in the organization, which has system of high commitment, system needs large preparation. This
approach makes the organizations strategy differentiation weaker because it needs decision for
the investment. For example in the industry of the banking, it is usual to charge usage amount for
the services of the customer to increase the profits for this if all the companies follow similar
best practices the strategies made by institutes become weaker. More study attached with larger
support for best practice theory, which is essential for making the approach effective. This
approach is not suitable in all the circumstances or yet in the divisions of the similar
organizations (Crawshaw et al., 2017).
The other approach is best-fit approach, which is also called the “corresponding approach” of the
HRM. It is based on making the procedure and policies of the human resource management
according to the strategies of the business (Rees & Smith, 2017). The strategies involved the

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preparation the actions for the future, goal of the performance, and the procedure towards
accomplishing the company objective. This type of strategies is intended and functions to
support the strategy of the company. It consider the nature of vertical integration and the
influence is added through the close association policies of the Human resource to the business
objectives and hence the exterior situation is considered the crucial subject of the strategic
human resource management (Bauer et al., 2019).
The advantages of best fit, deals with building the link between the activities of HR and
organizational development. As due to the alignment, it helps the organization to take the
possible competitive advantage (Croonen et al., 2016). For this, approach the policy of the
organization arrives first and it follow all the methods and practices of the organization. This
approach shows the large scope of confidence because of pay, which considered as the
motivator. As the employee will work efficiently once, they believe that their hard work will
rewarded (Sridhar, 2015).
The example of the company, who applied the approach of best fit include The Lincoln’s
Electronics, which is an American multinational company manufactures the products of the arc
welding globally. The strategy for applying the approach of best fit leads to tie the best workers
and rewards them for the long-term accomplishments. This leads the company to maintain the
capital of intellectual and take the sustainable competitive benefit in the terms of performance,
skills knowledge and the quality. This approach also helps in enhancing the capabilities of the
employees. The Lincoln’s Electronics for the field of the employee participation also utilizes it.
For this, the company focuses on the policy of the open- door where the employees can make
contact with the management openly and directly.
The approach has certain disadvantage, which includes that in the altering business environment
organization the focus of the company is to meet several irregular contingences. So it is difficult
to adjust whole system of human resource to new challenges regularly (Shields et al., 2015). For
example The Company Lincoln cannot move the approach to its subsidiaries because the
environmental factors like the legal and diversity in the culture create impossible to use a method
which is based on the performance of the individual. The company is partial in linking its
approach of HR and reinforcement to take the competitive advantage of the quality and
efficiency. As in the international situation, company is influenced by several unforeseen events.

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This approach is also considered the demotivating tool for the employees because throughout
their series of life human resources practices is aligned which results in changing management of
the employees.
Human Resource practices
Human resource management practices is defined as the method that draw, increase, maintain
employees to ensure the successful execution and the existence of the organization and its
employees. It is also the set of consistent procedure and practices, which is formulated internally
and executed to ensure that organizational human resources contribute to the attainment of the
business goals (Mika & Paavo, 2016).
The various Human resource practices organization can adopt at various stages of life cycle. The
first stage is the beginning stage, which is considered the beginning of the business in this the
incomes are negative. In this phase of life cycle, the members of the organization spend the time
and funds in planning. The objective is to get the company into the constant basis, make profits
and consistent flow of cash. In this stage, more sophisticated and dignified human resources
management practices must be accepted (Media, 2018). Some of the startup companies faces
challenges like Revolut Ltd, which is UK financial company of technology facing difficulty in
making profits and expands globally. For this organization can employ someone else and
provides that person an important power. The various human resources management practices
organization can also adopt are flexible method of work, staffing of the extremely satisfied and
the dedicated staff, small procedure or formality in the organization and no amalgamation.
However, for adopting these practices, several challenges faced by the Human resource
practitioners which involve the inviting and finding of the appropriate candidate from the huge
number of the candidate. The manager changes the selection process from time to time to check
that the employee is capable and fit according to the requirements of the job. As in this stage, the
flexible method of working is considered best but for this, it is also considered difficult for the
manager to maintain discipline in the organization. In this, stage manager also find challenging
to sustain the balance among the interest of organization and the employees. It is a significant
aspect because if it is balance employees will feel motivated (Sims & Bias, 2019).

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After beginning stage the organization is in the stage of expansion, in this stage the business is
continually gaining regular customers. The sales are increasing and organization is earning the
profits according to the needs. The flow of cash is almost positive. In this stage, the organization
has to give the managers of lower level more authority and the top-level managers can provides
direction to the employees and hand over the authority (Sonnemann & Margni, 2015). The
TransferWise Company, which provides funds transfer services in UK. After the start-up
company is in the stage of growth with increase in sales up to 140%, the company focus is to
handle the sales and funds to stay in the phase of growth (Burns, 2016). For this, the organization
can employ sufficient amount and mix of competent as well as the capable employees. The other
various human resource practices organization can use which are more involvement on the
recruitment and selection of the employees, Training and development, process of the
management of performance, method of rewards and recognition. The organization can also
focuses on the high commitment of the employees. It can also build up stable relations with the
employees in this stage and manage salaries and compensation. In this stage, the challenges,
which are faced by the human resource practitioners in managing the employees, are selection,
plan and implementation of the program of training and executive expansion program, which is
essential to undertake to improve the skills and to increase the knowledge of the staff members.
The compensation paid to the employees in the form of remuneration, additional benefit,
incentive and the rewards, recognition provided to the employees based on the performance, so
that they feel motivated. As in the growth stage, it is significant to motivate the employees so
that the profits remain stable and employees work efficiently. The other challenges, which the
manager faced, are recruitment and selection of the highly capable and competent employees to
fit the extreme competitive environment focus on the trade union. As the manager has to see that,
the requests of the trade unions in the organization and interest of the organization should be
coordinated properly (Nankervis et al., 2016).
The next stage is the maturity stage; in this, the organization is flourishing with an excellent
consumer base and regular flow of cash. Approach that is more comprehensive is used and plans
are made. The time of change is slow and more in depth plans for the long term is prepared by
the employees to sustain the profits (Stilwell, 2016). Many big and small organization undergo
with this stage, In this organization can use several human resource management practices to
manage the employees working in the organization it includes the attention is given to control

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the costs of the labor, the organization can make the strategies and plans to increase the
productivity. It can also strained employee relations and manage the salaries and compensation.
The problems faced by the human resource managers at the maturity stage of the organization
include maintaining the physical and psychological stability of the staff members. To
understands the feelings, necessities, behavior of the employees so that they undertake to
motivate and inspire them every time and wherever essential. In this stage the managers has to
retain the employees, which is already working in the organization to make the long-term plans
for the organization. The performance appraisal method is used at this stage to manage the
compensation of the employees and motivate them by providing them the proper feedback. As
for this human resource managers has to select the scientific appraisal technique according to the
changing needs which is the major challenge for them.
In this last stage, profits begin to drop because of the bad management. The result shows the
declining of the sales and increases the expenses of the organization. In this stage employee
working in the organization is demotivated and less energetic, decrease in the members working
in the organization (Farnham, 2015). The American company of automotive, which is Tesla.Inc,
undergoes from huge loss because the company fights with the rates of production and enforced
to increases the prices of cars. The human resource practices organization might adopt includes
emphasizing on the action of the personnel and downsizing. The organization can adopt various
longstanding practices to cut the labor costs. The organization can also provide training to the
employees to increase the skills so that they can adapt the technological advances. It can also
give the services of the career consulting to employees. In this declining stage the challenges
faced by the human resource managers includes providing the training to the employees so make
them capable to deal with the competition or to adopt the technological advances to make the
organization stable again. In this stage, the HR has to make various planning to decrease the
labor cost that is not to make the recruitment and selection from the outsiders and try to retain the
existing employees by providing them counseling. The challenges were also faced to make the
strategies so that the employees feel motivated in the declining stage of the organization and
work efficiently.

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Conclusion
Human resource management is the effective approach in managing the employees working in
the organization to increase the productivity. As both the approaches of the strategic human
resource management considered the influential techniques for shaping the process of human
resource management. Best practice deals with the relationship between the sets of outstanding
practices of the human resource and performance of the company and the best fit considered on
making the strategies of managing the human resource according to the strategies of the
organization. Both of them accomplish the high performance and increase the productivity. It
also shows that outwardly cutthroat packages of rewards are significant for attracting, motivating
and retaining the competent employees. The various organizations have adopted these
approaches to take the competitive advantage and to increase the profits. As the approaches also
have several disadvantages for the organization like impossible to make frequent changes to deal
with changing environment, needs to do in depth research. In this essay various human resources
practices is showed which organization can adopt in the various life cycle stages like in the
growth stage the organization can go for the recruitment and selection, techniques of the rewards
and the recognition. From the above essay, it can also conclude that the human resource
managers face the several challenges in each life cycle to maintain the employees working in the
organization. To make them work efficiently and accomplish the objectives of the organization.
The challenges include balancing between the interest of the individual and the organization,
motivate them, so that commitment of the employees increases in the organization and various
other challenges faced in managing the employees.
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