Strategic human resource management: a balanced approach
Paul Boselie
Hoofdstuk 1: Introduction: Strategic Human Resource Management in the Twenty-
first Century
Employees the organizations most valuable assets. However as soon as an
organizational crisis emerges, the employee emphasis is often downgraded
through downsizing and mass layoffs.
Employees matter and […] the management of employees – HRM – is a
potentioal source for achieving organizational goals.
SHRM ± 25 years old wordt steeds belangrijker in een samenleving die
continu verandert.
Oude economie nieuwe economie
Massaproductie service industrie
Fysiek werk
Competitive advantage the relevance of optimal coping with change. Important
for organizations to survive and is at least partly manageable by HRM
Represents an organizations position in comparison to its direct competitors.
Hoe goed de organisatie het doet in vergelijking tot concurrenten.
Bijv. thuis werken, pas na 10.00 beginnen zodat verpleegsters hun kinderen naar
school kunnen brengen.
The new flexible work arrangements characterize modern organizations with
benefits for both the employer (e.g. improved personal planning in the case of the
nurses in surgery) and the employee (e.g. better work-life balance).
HRM involves management decisions related to policies and practices that together
shape the employement relationship and are aimed at achieving individual,
organizational and societal goals.
Laat zien hoe belangrijk de verschillen tussen stakeholders zijn.
MHRM: micro human resource management
Persooneelsbeleid op individueel niveau
IHRM: international human resource management
Personeelsbeleid op internationaal niveau
SHRM: strategic human resource management
Focuses on issues of linking HRM to the business strategy etc. blz. 5
Internal stakeholders: employees, line managers, top management and employee
representatives
External stakeholders: shareholders, financiers, trade unions, national government,
local government and other interest groups (bijv. greenpeace).
, 1. Multi-actor perspective: verschillende belanghebbenden
2. A broad societal view: bijv. kijken naar branches, sectoren
3. A multi-level approach: personeelsmanagement op verschillende niveaus:
topmanagement, middenkader, werkvloer.
HRM focuses on the exchange relationship between the employee and the
organization.
This employment relationship containts different contract types:
1. Legal contract: rechten en plichten van de medewerker en werknemer.
Contract van de medewerker.
2. Economic or transactional contract: de werknemer en werkgever spreken af
hoeveel moeite de werknemer in het werk stopt (hoeveel dagen/uur) en
hoeveel de werknemer hiervoor krijgt.
3. Psychological contract: alle dingen die niet opgeschreven zijn maar die de
werknemer en de werkgever allebei verwachten.
4. Sociological contract: alle sociale aspecten die verbonden zijn met het werk.
De band met collega’s in een team.
The added value represents the economic side of organizing work and mainly
represents the role of HRM in creating economic value and increasing financial
performance of an organization.
The moral values reflect the notion of employees as human beings with feelings,
emotions, opinions, norms and values.
Hard HRM: focuses on the economics. Human resource management
Soft HRM: focuses on the human side of organizing. Human resource management
In the strategic balance model, organizational success can only be achieved when
financial performance and societal performace of an organization are above
average in the particular population in which the organization is operating.
Large MNCs have learned their lessons in the last decade not to ignore societal
issues that affect other stakeholders than the traditional shareholders of the
organization.
Hoofdstuk 2 Strategic Human Resource Management and Context
HR practices can fit together and HRM can fit with other factors including the
strategy and the production system.
Better fit between HRM + context more success for an organization
The more HR fit, the better.
Business model: the way an organization manages its business to make money
An optimal fit between HRM and the context can be positively affect the business
model and the organization’s success.
, Strategy: generally defined by an organization’s intention to achieve certain goals
through planned alignment (or fit) between the organization and its environment.
Intention + planned: the organization has some kind of strategic plan for current
and future actions.
An optimal strategy includes a fit between HRM and the context.
Figure 2.1 The Harvard approach
Alignment or fit between the organization and its environment (/context).
SHRM is focused on the alignment or fit between the strategy of an organization
and the HR strategy of the organization.
Business strategy: the system of the firm’s important choices, a system that
could be well integrated around common concerns or which might have various
links and foul-ups’.
HR strategy: one of the functional silos and the linkage between the business
strategy.
The ‘best-fit’ school: argues that HRM is more effective when it is aligned with
its internal and external context.
The ‘best-practice’ school: advocates a universalistic perspective. It argues that
all firms will be better off if they identify and adopt “best practice” in the way they
manage people: seven HR practices for ‘building profits by putting people first’
(Pfeffer, 1998)
Pfeffer’s seven best practices:
1. Selective recruitment and selection: trying to recruit and select the best
person for the job and the organization
2. Extensive training may involve employee development: training
programmes etc.
3. Performance-related pay (PRP)
4. Teamworking. Is a way to break through the hierarchical model and
decentralize responsibility
5. Information sharing and communication
6. Reduction of status differences
7. Employment security
Best-practice proposition: one size fits all in HRM
Best-fit proposition: HRM’s success depends on the alignment of it with the
organizational context
Context: represents the set of facts or circumstances that surrounds the
organization.
Internal context: represents the organization’s unique history, the administrative
heritage and organization culture
Paul Boselie
Hoofdstuk 1: Introduction: Strategic Human Resource Management in the Twenty-
first Century
Employees the organizations most valuable assets. However as soon as an
organizational crisis emerges, the employee emphasis is often downgraded
through downsizing and mass layoffs.
Employees matter and […] the management of employees – HRM – is a
potentioal source for achieving organizational goals.
SHRM ± 25 years old wordt steeds belangrijker in een samenleving die
continu verandert.
Oude economie nieuwe economie
Massaproductie service industrie
Fysiek werk
Competitive advantage the relevance of optimal coping with change. Important
for organizations to survive and is at least partly manageable by HRM
Represents an organizations position in comparison to its direct competitors.
Hoe goed de organisatie het doet in vergelijking tot concurrenten.
Bijv. thuis werken, pas na 10.00 beginnen zodat verpleegsters hun kinderen naar
school kunnen brengen.
The new flexible work arrangements characterize modern organizations with
benefits for both the employer (e.g. improved personal planning in the case of the
nurses in surgery) and the employee (e.g. better work-life balance).
HRM involves management decisions related to policies and practices that together
shape the employement relationship and are aimed at achieving individual,
organizational and societal goals.
Laat zien hoe belangrijk de verschillen tussen stakeholders zijn.
MHRM: micro human resource management
Persooneelsbeleid op individueel niveau
IHRM: international human resource management
Personeelsbeleid op internationaal niveau
SHRM: strategic human resource management
Focuses on issues of linking HRM to the business strategy etc. blz. 5
Internal stakeholders: employees, line managers, top management and employee
representatives
External stakeholders: shareholders, financiers, trade unions, national government,
local government and other interest groups (bijv. greenpeace).
, 1. Multi-actor perspective: verschillende belanghebbenden
2. A broad societal view: bijv. kijken naar branches, sectoren
3. A multi-level approach: personeelsmanagement op verschillende niveaus:
topmanagement, middenkader, werkvloer.
HRM focuses on the exchange relationship between the employee and the
organization.
This employment relationship containts different contract types:
1. Legal contract: rechten en plichten van de medewerker en werknemer.
Contract van de medewerker.
2. Economic or transactional contract: de werknemer en werkgever spreken af
hoeveel moeite de werknemer in het werk stopt (hoeveel dagen/uur) en
hoeveel de werknemer hiervoor krijgt.
3. Psychological contract: alle dingen die niet opgeschreven zijn maar die de
werknemer en de werkgever allebei verwachten.
4. Sociological contract: alle sociale aspecten die verbonden zijn met het werk.
De band met collega’s in een team.
The added value represents the economic side of organizing work and mainly
represents the role of HRM in creating economic value and increasing financial
performance of an organization.
The moral values reflect the notion of employees as human beings with feelings,
emotions, opinions, norms and values.
Hard HRM: focuses on the economics. Human resource management
Soft HRM: focuses on the human side of organizing. Human resource management
In the strategic balance model, organizational success can only be achieved when
financial performance and societal performace of an organization are above
average in the particular population in which the organization is operating.
Large MNCs have learned their lessons in the last decade not to ignore societal
issues that affect other stakeholders than the traditional shareholders of the
organization.
Hoofdstuk 2 Strategic Human Resource Management and Context
HR practices can fit together and HRM can fit with other factors including the
strategy and the production system.
Better fit between HRM + context more success for an organization
The more HR fit, the better.
Business model: the way an organization manages its business to make money
An optimal fit between HRM and the context can be positively affect the business
model and the organization’s success.
, Strategy: generally defined by an organization’s intention to achieve certain goals
through planned alignment (or fit) between the organization and its environment.
Intention + planned: the organization has some kind of strategic plan for current
and future actions.
An optimal strategy includes a fit between HRM and the context.
Figure 2.1 The Harvard approach
Alignment or fit between the organization and its environment (/context).
SHRM is focused on the alignment or fit between the strategy of an organization
and the HR strategy of the organization.
Business strategy: the system of the firm’s important choices, a system that
could be well integrated around common concerns or which might have various
links and foul-ups’.
HR strategy: one of the functional silos and the linkage between the business
strategy.
The ‘best-fit’ school: argues that HRM is more effective when it is aligned with
its internal and external context.
The ‘best-practice’ school: advocates a universalistic perspective. It argues that
all firms will be better off if they identify and adopt “best practice” in the way they
manage people: seven HR practices for ‘building profits by putting people first’
(Pfeffer, 1998)
Pfeffer’s seven best practices:
1. Selective recruitment and selection: trying to recruit and select the best
person for the job and the organization
2. Extensive training may involve employee development: training
programmes etc.
3. Performance-related pay (PRP)
4. Teamworking. Is a way to break through the hierarchical model and
decentralize responsibility
5. Information sharing and communication
6. Reduction of status differences
7. Employment security
Best-practice proposition: one size fits all in HRM
Best-fit proposition: HRM’s success depends on the alignment of it with the
organizational context
Context: represents the set of facts or circumstances that surrounds the
organization.
Internal context: represents the organization’s unique history, the administrative
heritage and organization culture
