Strategic Human Resource Management

Strategic Human Resource Management

Final exam

1. Reflection on HRM

Throughout the course, my perception on HRM has drastically changed. I have recognized HRM as only not a process of recruiting and managing staff, but also a means of understanding the immediate environment surrounding staff right from management, peers, economic climate among others. I have gained precise knowledge on the importance of well-articulated organizational culture as employees understand the corporate purpose and their roles in achieving the organizational goals.  The need for a transparent and equal recruitment process, training and development and employee performance system have been well understood in this topic. I have realized that it is ethically wrong to discriminate any employee or candidate on any social injustice such as gender, race, religion, political affiliation or disability when selecting and awarding any employment or training opportunity to any employee or candidate. Also, I have learned on the need for the management to set a transparent transitional system that allows full mentorship of new employees by the aging employees so that organizational values are not lost during staff separation. The future of SHRM has been understood, and roles of HR managers identified in transforming SHRM. Overall, the course has been fruitful and educative.

2. Limitations of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Social injustices at work

The current SHRM systems are not ethically and sustainably designed to enable equal treatment of human workforce in every organization. There has been reported humanization crisis in organizations as the workforce is discriminated by social injustices such as gender and race. In most organizations, the number of male employees exceeds their female counterparts. This phenomenon is as a result of brainwashed minds of male chauvinism that men perform better in the workplace than female. This has not been the case as female leaders have risen the corridors to be rated as the best CEO, CFO, and manager. There has also been a general tendency that women are paid poorly compared to male workers. According to a report published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, women in Australia earn 87 cents to every dollar earned by men (Khadem 2017). This indication demonstrates that there still exists wage and salary discrepancies between men and women in Australia and across the globe in general. There has also been an extended generic unconscious bias training that has sidelined female in preparation for future or immediate leadership roles. This has seen few female rising the ranks to take leadership positions due to lack of leadership training. The effort of female leadership has also been curtailed by the enormous women responsibilities related to family compared to male counterparts. Further, racial biases have been affecting workers in organizations over the years. The white race supremacy has seen black workers undermined, demeaned, exploited and discriminated in the organization. Recruitment, promotion, and rewards have all been favored against the black race. The workers suffer from discrimination have kept silent in reporting racial cases due to fear of retaliation from the race perpetrators and losing their jobs. Race discrimination has led to lower labor productivity by the affected race due to low esteem and lack of self-motivation. Other forms of social injustices rampant in the organizations have been discrimination of employees based on their religion, physical disabilities and political affiliations (Hooks 2012; Burris 2012).

Training and development inadequacies

The current training systems as developed by the SHRM are not sufficient and adequate considering the rate of organizational changes today. There has been a reluctance by the management on the need and implication of staff training. The administration thinks training as an unnecessary cost forgets the role of exercise in talent development and growth. Most organizations have poorly implemented training programs that are critical in educating staff on significant global and business events, change in organizational culture, and technological changes. There has also been training bias as permanent employees are more favored for training compared to employees on contract. This difference has thwarted the spirit of unity of purpose and shared level play in the organization. The left out employees feel victimized and thus less motivated leading to lower productivity. Finally, training programs have not been consistent to the ever changes in the business environment. Few organizations have continuous or ad hoc training programs based on the dynamism of the business world (Burke & Ng 2006).

Challenges in performance measurement systems

 Performance measurement standards have yet to be achieved by the current SHRM systems. The measurement systems in place in the organizations today are not accurate and scientific. The policies purport to be scientific, rational and deductive yet they lack a single iota of scientific verifiability and rationality. They are subjective, persuasive and biased. The standards of performance as set by the management are not based on particular merit that measures specific employee performance accurately to reflect with objectivity each employee’s contribution to the overall organizational achievement and success. Performance system is ignored as rewards for organizational success are more skewed to top corporate executives as opposed to the junior staff. Less recognition is given to the middle and intermediate employees in the organization.  The poor implementation of the performance systems may be attributed to management resistance to efficient performance system as they regard the process too complicated and lengthy, and attach no significant implication of the system on the overall organizational productivity (Sullivan & Mainiero 2007).

Problems associated with staff separation

The SHRM systems have also not devised proper methods that can prevent the cross-organizational job switching and migration. Best employees are head-hunted across organizations thus leading to some of the organizations become destabilized as a result of losing key performing employees. Besides, most firms have not remained abreast to the changing business and economic environments. Organizations have failed to cope with financial downturns, and as a result, they have retrenched the number of vital performing employees. This measure affects the organizational performance in the long run and its overall productivity. Lastly, some organizations have failed to devise systems that allow a smooth transition between the retiring and new employees. This has led to the loss of important organizational culture, gained experience and mentorship (Thomas et al. 2014; Riach & Kelly 2015).