Aligning Strategy with Hr
The Human Resources (HR) profession is broad and includes various areas of activity, from the transactional and routine activity like payroll, to the more influential, decision making responsibility. Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM) falls into this second category. What exactly is SHRM? Who is it important to? Why is it so important? What are the characteristics of an effective HR strategy? In this paper, we will attempt to answer these four questions. In addition, we will describe the approaches used to link strategy and HR, and will look at the steps required to become a strategic partner.
HRM is an emerging and specialized part of HR that is gaining recognition and importance. According to McLean & Company, a research and advisory firm based in London ON, and providing practical solutions to human resources challenges, HRM is reserved for managers who show “maturity in the full range of functional areas like recruitment, performance management, and employee development”. Based on McLean & Company’s 2012 HR Trends Survey, “HR strategy is among the top priorities for HR leaders and business executives”. Fifty percent of HR leaders viewed it as the second priority (leadership being the first). Seventy five percent of Business Executives deemed it the third priority, (workforce planning and leadership taking first and second places, respectively).
HR leaders and business executives alike recognize that a business needs an HR strategic plan in the same way it needs a sales and technology strategic plan. As Soberg, CHRP indicates, “all organizations, no matter how large or small, have three critical resources that must be used effectively for the organization to be successful. These critical resources are: * the technology that is used to create the product or deliver the service; * the finances the organization uses to pay for whatever it requires; and, * the people whose skills and talents are utilized to do the work
HRM is an emerging and specialized part of HR that is gaining recognition and importance. According to McLean & Company, a research and advisory firm based in London ON, and providing practical solutions to human resources challenges, HRM is reserved for managers who show “maturity in the full range of functional areas like recruitment, performance management, and employee development”. Based on McLean & Company’s 2012 HR Trends Survey, “HR strategy is among the top priorities for HR leaders and business executives”. Fifty percent of HR leaders viewed it as the second priority (leadership being the first). Seventy five percent of Business Executives deemed it the third priority, (workforce planning and leadership taking first and second places, respectively).
HR leaders and business executives alike recognize that a business needs an HR strategic plan in the same way it needs a sales and technology strategic plan. As Soberg, CHRP indicates, “all organizations, no matter how large or small, have three critical resources that must be used effectively for the organization to be successful. These critical resources are: * the technology that is used to create the product or deliver the service; * the finances the organization uses to pay for whatever it requires; and, * the people whose skills and talents are utilized to do the work