IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIC HRM

The implementation of strategic HRM is carried out within the framework of the approaches described above. The overarching imperative will be to achieve human resource advantage. Ahigh-performance approach will emphasize the importance of creating and maintaining a performance culture, and both high-commitment and high-involvement management will contribute to the development of a committed and engaged workforce. Strategic HRM involves the formulation and implementation of specific strategies in each area of HRM as described in the next two chapters.

HR STRATEGIES DEFINED

HR strategies set out what the organization intends to do about the different aspects of its human resource management policies and practices. They will be integrated with the business strategy and each other. HR strategies are described by Dyer and Reeves (1995) as ‘internally consistent bundles of human resource practices’, and in the words of Boxall (1996), they provide ‘a framework of critical ends and means’. Richardson and Thompson (1999) suggest that:

A strategy, whether it is an HR strategy or any other kind of management strategy must have two key elements: there must be strategic objectives (ie things the strategy is supposed to achieve), and there must be a plan of action (ie the means by which it is proposed that the objectives will be met.

PURPOSE

The purpose of HR strategies is to guide HRM development and implementation programmes. They provide a means of communicating to all concerned the intentions of the organization about how its human resources will be managed. They provide the basis for strategic plans and enable the organization to measure progress and evaluate outcomes against objectives. HR strategies provide visions for the future but they are also vehicles that define the actions required and how the vision should be realized. As Gratton (2000) commented: ‘There is no great strategy, only great execution.’