Best Fit vs Best Practice
creativity, and be rewarded based on success in product innovation. Schein (1977) suggested a more helpful model for practice in which human resource management integrates organizational strategy with employee interests, a simultaneous flexibility that allows for both the desired human resource strategy and cooperative employee behavior. Despite the advantages of the ‘best fit’ model which appear to help the organization become more competitive by meeting the business needs, there are disadvantages for the approach as well. One significant criticism of the model includes overlooking employee interests. This is to say that by aligning the desired competitive strategy with the required employee behaviors, the organizations fails to recognize the interests of the employee in terms of motivation, commitment, and productivity. For example, should the management of an organization pursue a competitive strategy of cost leadership, employees would be forced to perform repetitive tasks, which of course would demotivate the workforce due to its unappealing nature. In addition, training would involve development of only very minimally practical skills, the number of staff would be reduced to a minimum, and pay would be distributed based on high output. Additionally, the ‘best fit’ model lacks sophistication to its strategy. The practices of ‘best fit’ call for an approach that strictly work towards achieving...
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