5.

INTERNATIONAL HR STRATEGIES

USED

Strategic Management refers to the

process of Formulating,

implementation and evaluating

business strategies to achieve

organizational objectives. At the

core strategic management

process is a team comprising the CEO

aided by top executives. For example,

the core team that

formulated and executed the recent

strategic takeover of Corus by Tata

Steel considered of Ratan

Tata, the CEO, and Muthuraman, MD.

Tata Steel, Arunkumar Gandhi, Head of

the M&A cell if

the Tata Group and Koushik

Chatterjee, VP Finance, Tata Steel

I n t e r n a t i o n a l H u m a n Re s o u r c e

Strategy refers to the process

of developing practices,

programmes and policies that help

achieve organizational objectives.

What is essential is that

these programmes, policies and

practices need to be aligned with

organizational strategies.

Elaborating further, strategic human

resource management considers the

implications of business

strategy for all hr systems within the

firm by translating company objectives

into specific people

management systems. The specific

approach and process utilized will vary

from organization to

organization, but the key

concept is consistent, that is,

essentially all HR programmes

and

policies are integrated within a larger

framework helping achieve the firms

objectives.

HR role in strategic management

seems to be merely latitudinal but

little in practice. Rarely in

HR executive consulted in vital

decisions, such as mergers or

acquisitions. This popular

perception, invites your attention

towards a reality check

It is not that the HR manager

himself/Herself formulates strategies.

He or she will be the member

of a core team which formulates

company strategies and ensures

their implementation. To be

full-fledged strategic partners with

senior management, HR executives

should impel and guide

serious discussion of how the

company should be organized to carry

out its strategy. Four roles

of HR executives are relevant in this

context.

First, HR should define an

organizations architecture. In other

words, it should identify the

underlying model of the companys

way of doing business. More

specifically, the architecture is

a judicious mix of structure, systems,

rewards, processes, people, styles,

skills and shared values.

After the architecture is defi ned

it needs to be articulated

explicitly. Without such clarity,

managers tend to become more

myopic about how the company runs

Second, HR needs to be accountable

for conducting an organizational audit.

Audit helps identify

which components of the architecture

should be changed in order to

facilitate strategy execution

The third role of HR as a strategic

partner is to identify methods for

renovating the parts of the

organizational architecture that need

it. In other words, HR manager should

be assignees to take

the lead in proposing, creating, and

debating best practice that can help

implementing strategies.

Fourth and finally, HR must take

stock of its own work and set clear

priorities. At any given

time, the HR staff might have several

initiatives in its sights, such as pay-for-

performance, global

team work, and action-learning

development experiences. But to be

truly to business outcomes,

HR needs to join forces with line

managers to continuously assess the

impact and importance of

each one of these initiatives.