Universalism in Human Resource Management Is Dead - Coursework Example

Human Resource Management Discussion Name Institution Date MODELS OF “BEST PRACTICE” IN HRM. Universalism in HRM is dead.’ Human Resource Management persists to be the focal point of every business operation. It deals with management of organizational human resource where HRM managers are assigned the duty of determining the best people to fit in specific organizational gaps, plan on how to enhance their performance and to strategically correlate employees’ attitudes and behaviors with organizational goals and culture (Chuang, Jackson & Jiang, 2016). Human resource activities must, therefore, have direct link with organizational goals and expectations. Some proponents have developed human resource management models for best practice which, according to them, assist in aligning human resource to organizational performance. However, some other proponents stand firm in criticizing such notions on HRM “best practice” pointing out that human resource management unit has no role in determining organizational performance where, according to them, human resource management work dependently to the organization’s definite strategy and competitive context. The mystical nature of this topic raises concern and to that effect, the analysis presented in this paper attempts to undertake a thorough debate on the prevailing concern with an intention of unraveling the incongruence. It is evident in the paper that human resource management has no specific role in determining organizational performance but rather should act on the basis of every policy contingent to the exact strategies and competitive contexts set by the firm. According to Armstrong (2016), human resource management is an approach of managing organizational human capital by aligning them to organizational strategic goals and as a means of using human resource in meeting organizational HR strategies, policies and practices. Thus, organizations have the primary objective of setting organizational goals, policies and practices and imposing such roles to the human resource management section as an intermediary between human resource and organizational culture (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The HRM uses the organization’s set strategies to determine the specific human resource necessary to meet the organization’s strategy. The HRM in this case therefore works contingently to the set policies and strategies and in their own ability have no authority to operate according to their own expectations. Hence, HRM works through its micro and macro aspects to determine and meet the organizational expectations (Jiang et al., 2012). The micro aspects of organizational HRM consist of recruiting workforce, selecting the skilled persons, training them and performing performance appraisal on them. These micro aspects are indeed necessary in assisting HRM in meeting organizational contingencies. Aligning HRM with business strategy, talent management and employees’ management as some of the macro strategies are faultlessly necessary in boosting employees’ performance and the general organizational performance (Wheelen, & Hunger, 2011). The HRM is an agent of the organization aimed towards achieving “Unitarianism” where the employees’ interest are completely and precisely aligned to the organization’s goals and that both parties work in unitary towards achieving a solitary goal. In this scenario therefore, pluralism is a dividing factor which is indeed unnecessary dead factor to organization orientation (Boxall & Purcell, 2011). Hence, it is certain that HRM is a perfect agent for meeting organization strategies and in its own capability it has no authority to set individualistic goals. Additionally, it is certain that pluralism is a deadly factor to organizational health and hence HRM as the agent must work towards achieving a unitary workplace. Human resource management has the main purpose of linking human resource operations with organizational goals and performance expectations. In creating such a linkage, the HRM has the obligation of organizing work and employing people to assist in meeting organizational performance standards and devising strategies of enhancing the quality of the workforce as a mode of augmenting performance (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). In a succinct manner, it can be said that the chief obligation of HRM is to create an explicit work system. Work system approach aims at determining what duties to be undertaken, how the work will be done, who to do the work and where the work will be done. With respect to Boxall and Purcell (2016) declarations, work systems is certainly the driver to work organization which plays a significant role in determining and expressing personal abilities. In this regard therefore, the human resource management system is destined to determine people’s capabilities, assigning them the right jobs and assessing performance as ways to assigning the right jobs to the rights persons skilled and capable to do them. The organization in general has a mandate of achieving its set goals which in accordance to a common wit must be assigned to capable persons who have the explicit capacity to assist the organization achieve such goals (Gatewood, Feild & Barrick, 2015). Since an organization is a conglomeration of numerous activities, the organization is thus necessitated to segregate operations to various sections which HRM is part of. The HRM is capacitated to direct human related capital and make sure that the work system designed by the organization is achieved accordingly (Bamberger, Biron & Meshoulam, 2014). Mechanistic approach is indeed a catalyst to achieving such set goals since it assists the HRM in job specialization. The approach maintains that people work at their best when assigned jobs they have interest for and are highly skilled to perform in. Limiting people’s skills to where they are best at is indeed necessary in boosting individualistic performance and organizational performance in the long-ran (Truss et al 2013). HRM has the primary obligation of meeting such conditions but not setting them. The HRM assists the organization in meeting the goals by motivating the workforce through job enrichment, job rotation and employees’ empowerment. With mechanistic approach to work and motivation, organizations are in a position to enhance employees’ concert and creative approach to work. Such factors are necessary in enhancing the correlation between employees and the organization concurrently employees’ performance and general organizational result-orientation (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). It is therefore deductible that organizations have the obligation of creating a unifying work system and having human resource management meet the set obligations. To exemplify further on the unrealistic correlation between HRM functionalities and organizational performance, it is vital to consider the theories underpinning the relationship. Contingency theory considers the coherent relationship between HRM and relationship where it explains that workplace performance is majorly conditioned by external factors and in minor cases by internal factors. According to the theory the HRM has an insignificant role in shaping organization (Chuang, Jackson & Jiang, 2016). Organizations’ performance is majorly shaped by macroeconomic factors such as technology, politics, public laws and regulations, economic factors, social factors and natural environment. Organizations recognize the external factors and plans towards responding to them accordingly. For instance, when the economy is experiencing commodity shortage, the companies within the industry must adjust to meet the prevailing conditions. Determining and strategizing the workforce is certainly crucial in adjusting the organization to meet such conditions resulting in increased performance (Bos‐Nehles, Van & Looise, 2013). The HRM only assist the organization in realigning the human resource to meet the external demands. Internal environmental factors such as competitors, employees, suppliers and organizational strategies are as well drivers to performance augmentation. For instance, when the level of competition increases, the organization also needs to adjust accordingly never to lose competitive advantage. Hence, the scenario compels the organization to boost its performance which can only be achieved through serious and complete involvement of the organizational workforce (Rees, Alfes & Gatenby, 2013). The organization might need to redefine its workforce strategies to encounter market forces. The HRM therefore plays an imperative role as organizational agents in meeting such market demands but never does so because of its own will. When the internal and external environmental factors confer an organization unfit, it is the duty of the organization through its HRM to adjust its working environment towards ‘fitness’ (Anitha, 2014). It is additionally vital to consider that people’s capability to perform is impelled by their personal abilities, motivation and opportunities (AMO theory) not force from the HRM. To boost performance, organizations need to consider people’s abilities such as skills, attitudes and experience, their internal and external motivational factors and opportunities available to them in place of imposing influence and will on them just like HRM would do (Armstrong, 2011). Finally, creating a competitive advantage is dependent on the unique resources at an organization’s disposal. Organizations with valuable resources which are rare among other competitors and non-sustainable are most probable to have higher competitive advantage (Patel, Messersmith & Lepak, 2013). Organizations therefore strive to recruit and retain valuable human resources which are comparatively unique hence shall perform without HRM. Organizations apply contract employment, knowledge-based employment, job-based employment and alliance as strategies for gaining competitive advantage and to be unique in their own setting hence the HRM has no congruent role in determining the organization’s performance (Storey, 2014). In conclusion, therefore, it is ascertainable that human resource management has no congruent or significant role in boosting organizational performance. An organization as a whole has the obligation of determining and setting its goals and outlining how, when and who to perform the duties related to the set goals rather than assigning the whole duty to its HRM. However, the HRM assist the organization in achieving such set goals though constrained by the organizational policies and expectations. The paper has critically shown that HRM is just an agent to achievement of organizational goals and has no significance in determining such goals or enhancing performance. It is apparent that an organization works best when workforce is unitary and that pluralism has no place in organizations. References Anitha, J. (2014). Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee performance. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJPPM-01-2013-0008 Armstrong, M. (2011). Armstrong's handbook of strategic human resource management. Kogan Page Publishers. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJPPM-01-2013-0008 Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. https://Armstrongs-Handbook-Strategic-Resource-Management/dp/0749463945 Bamberger, P. A., Biron, M., & Meshoulam, I. (2014). Human resource strategy: Formulation, implementation, and impact. Routledge. https://he.palgrave.com/page/detail/Strategy-and-Human-Resource-Management/?K=9781137407634 Bos‐Nehles, A. C., Van Riemsdijk, M. J., & Kees Looise, J. (2013). Employee perceptions of line management performance: applying the AMO theory to explain the effectiveness of line managers' HRM implementation. Human resource management, 52(6), 861-877. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hrm.21578/abstract Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2011). Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/hr/strategic-hrm-factsheet Chuang, C. H., Jackson, S. E., & Jiang, Y. (2016). Can knowledge-intensive teamwork be managed? Examining the roles of HRM systems, leadership, and tacit knowledge. Journal of management, 42(2), 524-554. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0149206313478189 Gatewood, R., Feild, H. S., & Barrick, M. (2015). Human resource selection. Nelson Education. https://Human-Resource-Selection-Robert-Gatewood/dp/0538469943 Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. https://www.pearsonhighered.com/Goetsch-Quality-Management-for-Organizational-Excellence-Introduction-to-Total-Quality-7th-Edition/9780132558983.html Jiang, K., Lepak, D. P., Hu, J., & Baer, J. C. (2012). How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of management Journal, 55(6), 1264-1294. http://amj.aom.org/content/55/6/1264.abstract Patel, P. C., Messersmith, J. G., & Lepak, D. P. (2013). Walking the tightrope: An assessment of the relationship between high-performance work systems and organizational ambidexterity. Academy of Management Journal, 56(5), 1420-1442. http://amj.aom.org/content/56/5/1420.abstract Rees, C., Alfes, K., & Gatenby, M. (2013). Employee voice and engagement: connections and consequences. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(14), 2780-2798 Research (JABR), 23(1). http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2013.763843 Storey, J. (2014). New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). Routledge. https://New-Perspectives-Human-Resource-Management/dp/1861525087 Truss, C., Shantz, A., Soane, E., Alfes, K., & Delbridge, R. (2013). Employee engagement, organisational performance and individual well-being: exploring the evidence, developing the theory. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/50911/1/__lse.ac.uk_storage_LIBRARY_Secondary_libfile_shared_repository_Content_Soane,%20E_Soane_Employee_engagement_organisational_2013_Soane_Employee_engagement_%20organisational_2013_author.pdf Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2011). Concepts in strategic management and business policy. 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