Please follow all these instructions:
� Read the Required Learning Resources which have been uploaded.
� Reflect on the ideas presented in the Week 7 Key Concept Overview and the assigned journal articles
in the light of your own practical experiences in the workplace.( ALL THESE FILES HAVE BEEN
UPLOADED)
� Recent changes in the business environment have not been accompanied by similar changes in
human resource management processes.
� It is the HR department�s responsibility to correct this failing.
� This responsibility requires the HR department staff to develop a range of new skills that will support a
unitary perspective on employment relationships.
� HR department staff needs to develop a broader understanding of the firm, its markets and its
business model.
� The most effective response to those demands, for any firm, is to implement the principles of strategic
human resource management (SHRM).
� The character of the individual firm, its markets and its business model will influence the applicability of
a strategic HRM approach.
Business 2
� Use those six propositions as the basis for an assessment of the organisational culture in place at your
own employing firm, or another firm with which you are familiar. The post should include:
(1) an identification of areas in which the firm is especially effective,
(2) areas in which an improvement would be desirable and
(3) a brief comment on specific actions that the firm could take that would assist in improving its alignment
with the six propositions above.
(1) An identification of areas in which the firm is especially effective,
The firm should be effective on the requirements for modern human resource department.
In this case, the firm’s HR should constantly work to develop human ability. This is in line with
related requirements to not just facilitate but also initiate change, which allows individuals to
interpret their roles as organisational workers. Another area that the firm is effect is leadership,
which is done through the adoption of strategic human resource management (SHRM). This has
helped the firm to pursue a culture to take advantage of the gap in the market. This advantage
also allows the firm to benefit from underutilised opportunities and in turn achieve competitive
edge. The firm is also effect in the management of culture. In fact, culture management is a
continuous process within the organisation, an important aspect in fulfilling clients’ demands and
remains competitive (Naude, Dickie & Butler 2012).
Areas for improvement
Business 3
Change presents important insights for HRM. Experts believe that competitiveness in
technology-driven era is effectively accepted by implementing strategically concentrating on
individuals working for the firm (Malik & Aminu 2011). Therefore, the organisation should
improve some of its major processes including change the way of selecting and recruiting its
workers; the procedure of inducting employees in the company; and acculturation. Additionally,
the organisation should adjust to ensure there is a balance between technological as well as
human solutions to issues of development.
(3) A brief comment on specific actions that the firm could take that would assist in
improving its alignment with the six propositions above.
Based on research, improved alignment requires not just the integration of the role of
change agents as a controlling factor that is embedded between a need for enhanced corporate
performance and a resultant need for enhanced staff competence (Malik & Aminu, 2011). The
HRM plays an integral role in facilitating corporate change on many fronts, hence the need for a
proximal alignment with employee development to undertake these responsibilities. At that
point, it becomes imperative that the HR in such a firm should be fully competent when it comes
to employee-oriented competences that the HRM has always highlighted but also that there is
need for creating high-level expertise in different areas that are interpreted as the general
management competences (Naude, Dickie & Butler 2012).
To enhance the firm’s alignment appropriately, it is imperative to incorporate a set of
skills and competences that demarcates the obligations of the HRM professional. This is to say
that while acting a transformational agent, the HRM is expected to exhibit high levels of
competences in both of those skill sets. When firms are restructured to underpin the development
of a unitarist culture, important modifications with regards to the way people think, act and react
Business 4
is paramount if the expected culture is to be attained and continued. However, this would be the
single most challenge that faces the 21 st century transformational facilitators, and this may also
be a challenge that is usually designated to the HRM professionals that populate these particular
firms (Marchington, Waddington & Timming 2011).
In a nutshell, the HR professional can only be effective change players if they have a
deep comprehension of the business or industry of the firm they serve. Dobson, 2013) contends
that critical areas of knowledge consist of applied understanding of how the firm integrates
horizontally. Moreover, they should also understand business processes in terms of the firm’s
strategy, how the firm makes money or attains its main purposes, its technological processes,
corporate capabilities and so forth. In this respect, the HR professional have the obligation to
enhance their information base in areas to do with finance, marketing, operations and general
management (Long, Ismail & Amin 2013). The HR professional should also be able to manage
corporate culture with the clientele focus; they have a significant effect on their firm’s fiscal
performance. It is equally pertinent for the HR experts to deliver not just results but demonstrate
a track record. So, relationship skills are necessary. In the end, to ensure effective change, human
resource development is required to help employees enhance not just individual and corporate
knowledge but skills and competences as well.
Business 5
Bibliography
Dobson, John R. “The theory and practice of people management: A critical review of the British
experience.” Journal of Business Management 7 (2013): 152-164.
Long, C.S., Wan Ismail, W.K. and Amin, S.M., 2013. The role of change agent as mediator in
the relationship between HR competencies and organizational performance. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(10), pp.2019-2033.
Marchington, M., Waddington, J., & Timming, A. 2011. ‘Employment Relations in Britiain’, ch
2 in G. Bamber, R.D. Lansbury and N. Wailes, International and Comparative
Employment Relations, 5 th Edition, London: Sage.
Malik, N. & Aminu, M. 2011.‘The role of human resources in new globalised world’,
Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 2 (11), pp.318-330.
Naude, M., Dickie, C. & Butler, B. 2012. ‘Global Economic Crisis: employee responses and
practical implications for organizations’ Organizational Development Journal, 30 (4),
pp.9-24.
