MT-531 Strategic Human Resource Management

Swapnarun Banerjee
MBA/10001/20

Question 1

People are, without a doubt, an organization's most valuable asset as they define the goal, mission, and
vision for any business or industry, and then carry out that vision to make it a reality. All other assets
must be allocated to or managed by people, and as we all know, human resources are the most crucial
and valuable resource for achieving an organization's aim and objective.

This is why employees are nowadays are also referred as human capital, assets, and the resources. We
all know that an asset is something that has worth, and human resources are regarded assets in today's
world since they employ their knowledge, skills, and experience on the job, and their value is dynamic.

For example, an organisation may invest money and capital in the hiring and recruitment of potential
employees, or people, and pay them for their knowledge, time, skill, intelligence, and competency in
order to reap the benefits of their investment in people in terms of profit, visibility, and turnover.

There are numerous reasons why should view people as the most important assets. They are as follows
-:

- Skilled people with knowledge of how a company operates are difficult to find and may be even more
difficult to replace. Their skills include formal training, experience in related fields, and an understanding
of different companies’ cultures, processes, and systems.

- The knowledge, talents, ability, and capacity of employees in an organisation are the most important
aspect in the organization's success.

- The labour is required to provide the company's goods or services. As a result, increasing employee
productivity and efficiency is a top priority.

- All planning, job design, and communication methods must be carried out by personnel who are
qualified and capable of performing such tasks.
- Employees must operate technologies and equipment according to proper procedures in order for the
organisation to be effective.

- By bringing in new orders, satisfying customer wants, producing new goods, and making heroic
attempts to achieve operational, financial, or other corporate goals, a motivated employee can make a
major difference to the bottom line.

- Employees in the organisation tackle and overcome competition and problems through their
performance and duties.

Hence, we can say that people are always organization most valuable assets.

Question 2

It takes more than a healthy profit margin and strong products to run a successful firm. HR rules that are
effective establish the groundwork for a well-run business. They handle employees' requirements,
establish behaviour norms, and respond to all of the large and minor questions, such as how long should
they take for lunch and how many days off do they get for personal reasons. They establish disciplinary
procedures to ensure that each employee receives consistent, fair treatment based on history and
reasoning rather than office politics. Great HR policies survive the test of time, ensuring that order is
maintained even when leadership changes.

Every business is increasingly concerned with determining which techniques are most suited to their
needs. Fit in terms of external context or HR method to ensuring that an organization's internal practices
respond to external. Every business is increasingly concerned with determining which techniques are
most suited to their needs. Fit in terms of external context or HR method to ensuring that an
organization's internal practices respond to external.

The best fit perspective claims that HR strategy become more and more efficient when it is linked to its
environment of the business. It explores the close link between strategic management and HRM by
assessing the extent to which there is a vertical integration between an organization business strategy
and its HR policies and practices.

- If we talk about getting to grips with an organization's HR policies while keeping strategic fit in mind,
it's critical because if an organization tries to implement new strategies with outdated and ineffective HR
policies, it can cause problems, so it's critical to keep a tight grip on these to ensure that HRM is fully
integrated into strategic planning, policies, and procedures.

- The strategic fit underlines the importance of aligning HR and organizational strategies. To put it
another way, it's critical to ensure that HR initiatives, as well as the culture and operational procedure,
are appropriate in a variety of situations. HR Policies and Procedures are an important element of
today's businesses. Their significance is recognized when dealing with human resources in the
organization, so that the most ideal, appropriate, and current decision-making may be used, reducing
the odds of a difficulty occurring later.

- From now till the future, the organization develops fair HR policies and strategies with the backing of
business initiative. They use the performance management system to help their team improve and
evaluate their capacity to build positive working relationships.

- The organization creates enough turnover to avoid layoffs and promote restructuring, after which it
plans and implements personnel reductions and reallocates HR processes and policies to match. As a
result, it's critical to grasp HR policies while keeping strategic fit in mind.

Question 3

Goals are an important part of every aspect of business and life because they provide direction,
motivation, a clear focus, and a sense of importance. You provide yourself with an objective to shoot for
by making goals. A SMART goal is a type of goal that is used to facilitate goal setting. Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. As a result, a SMART goal combines all of these factors to help you
focus your efforts and boost your chances of success.

Yes, because the goal statement serves as the foundation for the entire process, it is critical to craft a
clear and precise goal statement.

1) Specific SMART Objectives

Specific goals have a much better likelihood of being achieved. The five "W" questions must be
examined while making a goal specific -:

Who: Who is involved in this goal?

What: What do I want to accomplish?

Where: Where is this goal to be achieved?

When: When do I want to achieve this goal?

Why: Why do I want to achieve this goal?

"I want to get in shape," for example, is a broad goal. "I want to get a gym membership at my local
community center and work out four days a week to get healthier," is a more specific goal.
2) Measurable SMART goals

A SMART goal must have criteria for tracking progress. You won't be able to measure your progress or
decide if you're on pace to meet your goal if there are no criteria. To make a goal measurable, consider
the following questions:

How many/much do I have?

How will I know when I've accomplished my goal?

What is my metric for success?

For example, building on the specific goal above: I want to obtain a gym membership at my local
community center and work out four days a week to be healthier. Every week, I will aim to lose one
pound of body fat.

3) SMART Goals That Can Be Attained

A SMART goal must be realistic and feasible. This will assist in determining how to achieve and work
toward that objective. The goal's achievability should be stretched enough to make one feel pushed, yet
defined enough that they can actually accomplish it. Examine resources and capabilities to see if one has
what it takes to attain the goal.

What am I missing if not?

Is it something that others have done successfully before?

4) SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, and Timely) Objectives

A SMART objective must be realistic in the sense that it can be accomplished with the resources and
time available. If you believe you can achieve a SMART objective, it is most likely realistic. Consider the
following questions:

Is the goal realistic and within reach?

Is the goal reachable, given the time and resources?

Am I able to commit to achieving the goal?

5) Timely SMART Goals

A SMART goal must be time- bound in that it has a start and finish date. If the goal is not time-
constrained, there will be no sense of urgency and, therefore, less motivation to achieve the goal. Ask
yourself:

Does my goal have a deadline?

By when do you want to achieve your goal?

For example, building on the goal above: On August 1, I will obtain a gym membership at my local
community center. In order to be healthier, I will work out four days a week. Every week, I will aim to
lose one pound of body fat. By the end of August, I will have realized my goal if I lose four pounds of fat
over the course of the month.

Question 4

Employees that are enthusiastic about their jobs and dedicated to their employers provide significant
competitive advantages, such as increased productivity and fewer employee turnover. As a result, it's no
surprise that businesses of all sizes and types have made significant investments in policies and
procedures that encourage employee engagement and dedication. Goal planning that is effective
increases employee engagement, improves performance, and benefits the entire organization. Clear
collaborative goals not only boost employee engagement, but they also boost productivity and
profitability.

- Commitment to the work and the company- Some experts define commitment as both a readiness to
stick with a plan and a reluctance to change it, frequently due to a sense of obligation to stick with it.
People are committed to a variety of entities at the same time, including economic, educational, familial,
political, and religious institutions. They also pledge their allegiance to specific people, such as their
spouses, children, parents, and siblings, as well as their employers, coworkers, bosses, and customers.
Commitment manifests itself in a variety of ways. For example, people devote time and energy to fulfil
their on-the-job responsibilities as well as their family, personal, community and spiritual obligations.

Commitment also has an emotional component: People usually experience and express positive feelings
toward an entity or individual to whom they have made a commitment.

- Connecting Employee Engagement to the Employee Experience

The employee experience of a company depicts the whole journey that an employee experiences with
the company. It covers everything from pre-hire interactions through post-exit contacts, as well as
components of a job such as an employee's role, workspace, well-being, and relationships with their
manager and coworkers. The employee life cycle is divided into seven stages, each of which captures the
most important employee-employer interactions that link employees to the company. During the
engage stage of the employee life cycle, each employee's engagement naturally influences their
employee experience. Employee involvement, on the other hand, influences (and is influenced by)
components of each stage.

- Making the Connection - Many companies have engagement programmes that are unrelated to
different areas of the employee experience. They may view engagement solely as a means of retaining
employees rather than as an important component of a successful recruitment strategy. Alternatively,
they may recognize the need of developing an engaging onboarding process but fail to see how a focus
on engagement may impact performance discussions.

Organizations that prioritize employee engagement as a strategic priority adopt a different approach.
They infuse components of employee engagement into every part of their work experience, so that each
one feeds into and amplifies the others.

- Link personal goals to companywide objectives - Every employee, at every level, should be able to
articulate how their activities fit into the overall plan of the organization. The firm strategy must be
converted into clear organizational goals expressed in employee-friendly language for this to work. Clear
collaborative goals not only boost employee engagement, but they also boost productivity and
profitability.

Question 5

HR benchmarking compares and contrasts businesses, sectors, industries, roles, procedures, and
processes using both quantitative and qualitative data. It is used to provide feedback to firms in order to
improve their people practices and question existing systems, such as in the case of an Indian bank. As a
financial institution, it may compare its recruiting, retention, employee engagement, and net promoter
scores to those of other similar institutions across the country. This would be a measure of how well the
company is performing in comparison to its competitors.

Purposes served by benchmarking of HR practices -

1. Increasing business impact — Benchmarking ensures that HR directors are linking employees' actions
to business outcomes. If your staff engagement score is lower than the industry average, for example,
you should investigate how this affects overall business success.

2. Recognizing trends - Knowing what standards are assists you to remain on top of changes in your
sector. It gives you the information you need to make informed decisions as an employer and assists you
in developing efficient HR programmes. It would be a good idea to implement a wellness programme if
benchmarks show that similar firms with a wellness programme have higher productivity.
3. Enhance current procedures - You'll be able to objectively examine your recruitment, retention, pay,
talent, and leadership development processes and pinpoint opportunities for improvement.

4. Evaluating and improving employee experience and engagement - This has a broader impact on your
employer brand, as employees spread the word about their positive experiences.

Question 6

Balanced scorecard ensures that a firm properly utilities it's manpower and processes to improve the
business performance as well as the customer performance.

A balanced scorecard is a performance metric used to identify, improve, and control a business's various
functions and resulting outcomes.

Learning and growth, business processes, customers, and finance are all measured using the balanced
scorecard.

BSCs enable businesses to consolidate data into a single report, providing insight into service and quality
in addition to financial performance, and assisting in the improvement of efficiencies.

In a balanced scorecard, there are 3 stakeholders - Investors, Customers and Employees.

This approach, in my opinion, is preferable because it assesses the satisfaction levels of all three
stakeholders. A company can only be successful if these three stakeholders are more satisfied than
projected. Dissatisfaction would inevitably lead to a decline in morale, a lack of trust, and internal strife.

As a result, this strategy aids in the overall evaluation of a company's success.

This approach also effectively reflects the company's strategy as a collection of objectives. These
objectives are quantifiable in nature. These objectives include all three stakeholders in the company,
which aids in focusing on the objectives so that they may be met. The three stakeholders are also
assumed to be interconnected in the balanced scorecard approach. As a result, employee conduct drives
consumer behaviour, and customer behaviour influences stakeholder behaviour. As a result, it follows
the procedures and activities while considering all of the challenges that may occur as a result of this
interdependence.

Thus, I believe that this approach to be a well-rounded and we'll balanced approach of HR
measurement. It doesn't focus on one particular part or person. It encompasses all 3 hugely important
stakeholders and whatever approach or steps are taken, take into account every benefit without huge
or severe drawbacks.
Corporations, for example, can create their own internal versions of BSCs. For example, banks frequently
contact clients and perform surveys to assess their customer service. Recent banking visits are rated in
these surveys, with items ranging from wait times to contacts with bank employees to overall
satisfaction. Customers may also be asked to offer comments for improvement. This information can be
used by bank managers to help retrain personnel if there are service issues or to detect any complaints
consumers have with products, procedures, or services.

Question 7

Approaches to compensation and rewards-

1)Traditional compensation approach-

Job based pay

Based on job evaluation

Employees are compensated using a job-based pay structure under this method. This technique employs
job evaluation to establish the job's relative worth, which aids in setting the job's wage. The traditional
compensation strategy has the advantage of being more legally defensible because compensable
characteristics of the job are largely determined. Employees are paid just for the performance of a
certain job, which is a constraint of the traditional compensation strategy. This tends to limit the
flexibility of the workforce. Base pay, merit pay, market-based income, incentives, and perks are all part
of the traditional compensation method.

2. Compensatory compensation approach-

This strategy aims to place a higher value on the individual than on the work. In this approach,
compensation is determined by skill or competency. Employees have a say in how much they are paid
based on their performance. Compensation is viewed as less of an entitlement in this manner.
Compensation has become less difficult and more uniform in this method. It is necessary to compensate
knowledge workers for their potential and capabilities rather than what they are now accomplishing.
This method connects reward methods to performance.

Total compensation is an important part of HRM since it keeps employees motivated. It assists in
providing advantages to employees depending on their performance and activities, as well as bringing
out the best in individuals at work. Individuals are hired by organizations to help them achieve their
organizational goals, and people join firms to make money and advance their careers. One of the most
important reasons why people join firms is because of the salary and benefits, such as salaries, perks,
and incentives.
When it comes to senior management, abilities such as team management, communication
management, leadership, and time management are all taken into account when deciding on a
remuneration package.

Whereas Total Rewards is important because total rewards program is an effective method for showing
you value your employees and are vested in their job satisfaction and growth. Total rewards programs
have been linked to increases in overall employee performance and satisfaction. They contribute to a
more loyal, productive, and engaged workforce.

The importance of total compensation and Reward strategy are as follows-

1) It has the ability to hire and retain high-performing employees.

2) It improves employees' levels of satisfaction.

3) incentive and recognition programmes to motivate employees to achieve at their best.

4) It aids in the attainment of both internal and external equity.

5) It reduces turnover and increases employee loyalty.

6) It adopts the clear payment policy practice.

Question 8

The first and foremost function of HR is Recruitment and Selection of employees as and when required.
It can arise due to expansion, strategic alliances like merger and acquisitions, delaying the need of
reducing management due to downsizing or reduction of cost of the organization and promotion or
someone leaving or temporary requirement.

Recruitment is the process of identifying, screening, shortlisting, and employing qualified candidates to
fill open jobs in a company. Human Resource Management considers it to be a core function.

The process of selecting the right individual for the right job at the right time is known as recruitment.
The process of attracting, selecting, and appointing potential applicants to meet the organization's
resource requirements is also known as recruitment.

The process of selecting or choosing the best candidate for a vacant employment position in a company
is known as selection. In other terms, selection can be defined as the process of interviewing candidates
and evaluating their qualifications for a certain job, followed by the selection of the best candidate for
the job.
The selection of the best candidate for a vacant position will be a valuable asset to the business,
assisting it in achieving its goals.

- Linkage between business strategy and effectiveness of recruitment and selection -:

Business strategies involve the use of selective and precise processes across all parts of a company's
operations in order to assist it achieve maximum profit and success. For a small firm, the recruitment
and selection of the proper individual for each role can result in lower costs and a better bottom line.

Business strategies also consider various cost-cutting measures while ensuring that sufficient personnel
are in place to accomplish all job functions and obligations. For example, by merging job functions and
rearranging your internal personnel, we can remove duplication of job duties and save expenditures.
Other concerns include those related to replacing an aging workforce.

This requires the need to plan ahead for the loss of essential employees to retirement. Strategic
management begins with identifying the needs of our organization as they relate to current and future
labor demands. Once these roles are identified, clear and concise job descriptions and duties can help
ensure that recruitment remains streamlined and aimed at efficient recruitment and hiring.

Question 9

Stage 1: Establishment

The establishment stage occurs when a person joins an organization, which usually happens when they
are young adults. The majority of people are dealing with a variety of personal and work-related issues
at this time. Many employees leave home for the first time or marry during these years on a personal
level. During this time, the shift from school to job is equally significant. At work, the new employee's
primary goal is to "blend in" and learn the ropes. Organizational socialization is the method via which a
person learns this.

Stage 2: Advancement

Employees are well-established in the firm by the time they reach the promotion stage. Their efforts at
work have shown that they have successfully assimilated to the organization's ideals and culture. Most
employees at this point have mastered their job obligations and are looking for additional ways to
further their careers. This could entail relocating within the company, learning new skills in the same
work, or transferring to a different company. Although the majority will earn promotions, their careers
are likely to include different sorts of movement both inside and outside the company. The three types
of careers move an employee can make are vertical moves, horizontal moves, and moves toward the
core of the organization.

Stage 3 -: Maintenance
Between the ages of 40 and 60, the maintenance stage occurs, which is characterized by physical and
psychological changes. Most employees have acquired a very solid set of attitudes and expectations at
this point in their careers. Any employee who is in this stage does not desire to move jobs.

Stage 4 -: Withdrawal

The reality that the employee's career is coming to an end is the focus of the withdrawal stage. Before
we get into this life transition, there are a few other difficulties that the employee must deal with at this
point.

The withdrawal stage corresponds to the start of the late adulthood life stage on a personal level. As the
death of friends and family members escalates throughout this phase, you become more aware of your
own mortality. You attempt to find significance and value in life in terms of psychological development.

Because of his or her age, the employee may suffer discrimination and stereotyping from coworkers.
Younger workers may assume that older colleagues are less productive, less adaptable, and less
motivated. This is sad, because many senior employees have extensive expertise and a great work ethic.
In many firms, elder employees create a sense of stability during times of organizational transition.

They may also offer valuable assistance as mentors to younger employees. Furthermore, older workers
have lower rates of absenteeism and tend to be more safety-conscious and more satisfied with their
jobs than younger workers. With our increasingly aging population, a key challenge now facing
managers is to create a work culture that values older employees.

Question 10

Work-life integration isn't about separating "work" and "life" or temporarily turning off one element of
your life to concentrate on another. Instead, there should be a synergistic relationship between the two
realms. Work and life are blended together in a way that resonates with the individual's interests and
meets their specific demands through work-life integration.
It is critical to recognize that work and family are independent entities with permeable boundaries,
rather than two distinct domains. The integration of two or more areas is known as work-life
integration. Individuals may switch roles multiple times throughout the day. These role transitions
involve crossing role boundaries, switching back and forth among once currently held roles.

For example - On work days, employees may play the role of a parent and spouse at home, transitioning
to employee after reaching the workplace, and transitioning back to the role of spouse and parent on
reaching home after work. Telecommuting employees may need to switch roles more frequently.

Work-life integration projects could also include flexible scheduling and wellness programmes. So, if the
company already provides these options to its employees, they are ahead of the game. However, just
renaming work-life balance programmes will not solve the problem. While work-life integration is
difficult to define, it differs significantly from the traditional concept of work-life balance.

It provides you a new perspective on work- Combining work and personal life might make your daily
routine less monotonous.

For example- Instead of counting down the hours until one is able to spend time with their family, one
could be working from home and enjoying their company simultaneously.

It's a terrific approach to prioritize effectively—by combining our '9-to-5' with both work and home-
based responsibilities, we can better manage our tasks.

Working in the morning, then going to the gym, cooking supper, and/or bringing up the kids, then
compensating by completing work-related duties in the evening.

As a result, work-life integration is a terrific method to offer equal time and attention to all aspects of
your life without having to trade one for the other, and it helps to keep the two entities in sync.