Strategic Management
Approaches to the strategic management of people
There are a number of models of SHRM and in this unit we will look at three: • The best practice view.
• The best fit view.
• The resourcebased approach.
The best practice view
This view starts from the premise that a single set or ‘bundle’ of HR policies and practices will lead to better organisational performance, sustained over a lengthy period, whatever the prevailing business circumstances. What are these socalled best practices? Various ‘bundles’ have been suggested in research studies (Huselid, 1995; Becker & Gerhart, 1996), and we would like you to consider one example, the list of eighteen key practices referred to in the next activity.
CASE STUDY
Read the following article which represents a contemporary view of the best practice model.
Piece by Piece by David Guest and Angela Baron, (People Management 20 July 2000)
Evidence showing that it pays to pursue progressive people management practices continues to mount. After US research findings to this effect came convincing UK evidence of the link, provided by a University of Sheffield study of manufacturing companies.
Now, management perceptions of this link are being confirmed by initial evidence emerging from the first phase of research being carried out for the
CIPD at Birkbeck College, London. The programme is exploring HR management, workplace reorganisation and performance as part of the ESRC’s
Future of Work programme. It has the advantages of being based on a large cross-section of companies of varying sizes in the UK, and of presenting the views of both the chief executives and those responsible for HR.
The Birkbeck research comprises three phases. The first, a survey of 462 chief executives and 610 managers responsible for HR in private-sector
13
Strategic Management of Human Resources
Unit 1 – Definition and Purpose of SHRM
University of
Sunderland
organisations,
There are a number of models of SHRM and in this unit we will look at three: • The best practice view.
• The best fit view.
• The resourcebased approach.
The best practice view
This view starts from the premise that a single set or ‘bundle’ of HR policies and practices will lead to better organisational performance, sustained over a lengthy period, whatever the prevailing business circumstances. What are these socalled best practices? Various ‘bundles’ have been suggested in research studies (Huselid, 1995; Becker & Gerhart, 1996), and we would like you to consider one example, the list of eighteen key practices referred to in the next activity.
CASE STUDY
Read the following article which represents a contemporary view of the best practice model.
Piece by Piece by David Guest and Angela Baron, (People Management 20 July 2000)
Evidence showing that it pays to pursue progressive people management practices continues to mount. After US research findings to this effect came convincing UK evidence of the link, provided by a University of Sheffield study of manufacturing companies.
Now, management perceptions of this link are being confirmed by initial evidence emerging from the first phase of research being carried out for the
CIPD at Birkbeck College, London. The programme is exploring HR management, workplace reorganisation and performance as part of the ESRC’s
Future of Work programme. It has the advantages of being based on a large cross-section of companies of varying sizes in the UK, and of presenting the views of both the chief executives and those responsible for HR.
The Birkbeck research comprises three phases. The first, a survey of 462 chief executives and 610 managers responsible for HR in private-sector
13
Strategic Management of Human Resources
Unit 1 – Definition and Purpose of SHRM
University of
Sunderland
organisations,