http://www.scribd.

com/doc/28835692/Assignment-of-Strategic-Rolesof-HRM

Rajendra singh Ifim b-school

strategic role of HRM

Abstract
Strategic Roles of Human Resources Management is to planned human resources development and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goal. The strategic roles of human resource management to formulate company strategic and implement those activities through HR activities. HR metrics is about measuring and managing the linkages between the initiatives and key challenges that are strategic to the business. In this report we will see how strategic roles of human resource management effect entire strategic decisions of an organization. By a strategic approach to HRM, we are referring to a managerial process requiring human Resource (HR) policies and practices to be linked with the strategic objectives of the Organization. Here we will discuss different models of human resources strategic roles played by human resource mangers to achieve organization goals efficiently and effectively. We will see the relationship between different cluster of HR practices and organizational performance HRM helps in acquiring, developing, stimulating & retaining the outstanding employees as it gives both effectiveness & efficiency to the working of the organization, it has been started being used strategically.

Introduction
The human resource management that aims to improve the productive contribution of individuals while simultaneously attempting to attain other societal and individual employee objectives has undergone drastic change with the passing of years. We all know that HRM is concerned with the "people" & keeping the fact in mind that HRM helps in acquiring, developing, stimulating & retaining the outstanding employees as it gives both effectiveness & efficiency to the working of the organization, it has been started being used strategically & is now termed as Strategic human resource

management. Defining SHRM: o Organizational use of employees to gain or keep a competitive advantage against competitors. o Involves aligning initiatives involving how people are managed with organizational mission and objectives. In today's flattened, downsized & high-performing organizations, highly trained & Committed employees - not machines - are often the firm's competitive key. Perhaps the most drastic change in H.R.'s role today is its growing involvement in developing & implementing the company's strategy. In order to understand the modern aspect of HR i.e. SHRM, lets discuss the terms which would help us in understanding the concept: o Core Competency can be defined as - A unique capability in the organization that creates high value and that differentiates the organization from its competition. o Mission Statement explains purpose and reason for existence; it is usually very broad, but not more than a couple of sentences & it serves as foundation for everything organization does. o Strategy: the company's plan of how it will balance its internal strengths & weaknesses with external opportunities & threats in order to maintain a competitive advantage, earlier this role was performed by the line managers, but now it is carried by the HR manager. Strategies increasingly depend on strengthening organizational competitiveness & on building committed work teams, & these put HR in a central role. In the fast changing, globally competitive & quality oriented industrial environment, it's often the firm's employees - its human resources - who provide the competitive key. And so now it is a demand of the time to involve HR in the earlier stages of development & implementing the firm's strategic plan, rather than to let HR react to it. That means now the role of HR is not just to implement the things out but also to plan out in such a manner that the employees can be strategically used to get edge over the competitors, keeping in mind the fact that this is the only resource (HUMANS), which cannot be duplicated by the competitors. The changing role of HRM:

The role of human resource management is changing & is changing very fast, to help companies achieve their goals. HRM has gone through many phases - from hiring & firing to relationship building, from there to legislation role, & now its role is shifting from protector & screener to strategic partner & as a change agent.

Model of strategic management In the descriptive and prescriptive management texts, strategic management appears as a cycle in which several activities follow and feed upon one another. The strategic management process is typically broken down into five steps: 1. Mission and goals 2. Environmental analysis 3. Strategic formulation 4. Strategy implementation 5. Strategy evaluation. The first step in the strategic management model begins with senior managers evaluating their position in relation to the organizations current mission and goals. The mission describes the organizations values and aspirations; it is the organizations raison dtre and indicates the direction in which senior management is going. Goals are the desired ends sought through the actual operating procedures of the organization and typically describe short-term measurable outcomes (Daft, 2001). Environmental analysis looks at the internal organizational strengths and weaknesses and the external environment for opportunities and threats. The factors that are most important to the organizations future are referred to as strategic factors and can be summarized by the acronym SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Objective
The Strategic Management Process includes: - Determining what needs to be done to achieve corporate objectives, often over 3 - 5 years - Examining organization and competitive environment - Establishing optimal fit between organization and its environment - Reviewing and revising strategic plan Strategy is a multi-dimensional concept going well beyond traditional competitive strategy concepts. Strategies are broad statements that set a

direction. Strategies are a specific, measurable, obtainable set of plans carefully developed with involvement by an institution's stakeholders. These action statements are linked to an individual or individuals who are accountable and empowered to achieve the stated result in a specific desired timeframe. They are patterns of action, decisions, and policies that guide a group toward a vision or goals. The Stage in the Process of Strategic Management: Mission statement - Business definition and future plan for success. Environmental analysis O.T. analysis and preparing to meet environmental pressures. Organizational self-assessment- S.W. analysis and chalking road map for attaining goals. Establishing goals and objectives- Laying concrete figures that will help in benchmarking the performance. These benchmarks will lead to the development of strategy that will decide how the company intends to meets its environmental challenges with given environmental and resource constraints in the time to come.

Benefits of a Strategic Approach to HR: * Facilitates development of high-quality workforce through focus on types of people and skills needed * Facilitates cost-effective utilization of labor, particularly in service industries where labor is generally greatest cost

* Facilitates planning and assessment of environmental uncertainty, and adaptation of organization to external forces * Successful SHRM efforts begin with identification of strategic needs * Employee participation is critical to linking strategy and HR practices * Strategic HR depends on systematic and analytical mindset * Corporate HR departments can have impact on organization's efforts to launch strategic initiatives.
. Factor Linkages of HR Plans and Strategies:

Given diagram presents various factors that have an impact on HR plans and Strategy and how are they interlinked with each other. Their interactions and impact on each element and the resulting change in HR Plan and policy is also indicated clearly. There are so many benefits from Strategic roles of human resource management to the organization it can help the organization to achieve their goals more effectively and more efficiently.

Example:HR Managers in the IT industry must stop thinking of transactional issues like vacations, handling routine queries on relocation, compliance, time sheets, spending quality time on ones compensation, discussions based on billing, and bench issues. Instead they need to start thinking of efficient assessment systems to create employee value resulting in profitability and enhancing shareholder value.

At L&T InfoTech we are engaged with Fortune Hundred clients wherein our HR gets involved in an evaluation process at regular intervals with the client to meet mutual expectations. To discuss a few of those: 1) Staffing 2) Lessons Learnt 3) Learning and development efforts to acclimate and keep in tune with technology and domain knowledge. 4) How has the competition fared at the client location? 5) Any new HR initiative undertaken by L&T InfoTech. 6) How does L&T InfoTech integrate onsite hires with their offshore associates? 7) Areas of improvement. 8) Time Lines for implementing the feedback given at the time of review. In effect the above is a clear-cut example of how we manage our intangible assets, along with managing client expectations. Therefore HR functions require a totally different set of skills than managing people in a traditional factory environment.

Research Methodology
Recently, Maxxim Consulting interviewed 20 CEOs of FTSE350 companies in the UK and found that only four knew exactly how many people worked in their respective head offices. Also, just four CEOs knew how much their head offices cost to run each year. According to Claire Arnold, a Partner at Maxxim Consulting: "Our study shows that at most UK corporate headquarters, unnecessary layers of complexity and bureaucracy often accumulate over time. This is an area that many of the FTSE350 are set to review in 2008 with a view to finding cost-savings. The fact that so few of the Chief Execs we interviewed for our study were sure exactly how many people worked at head office is a clear indication that there's some serious housekeeping to be done." Granted this was an extremely small study and must be regarded as illustrative rather than definitive. But, nevertheless, what part should HR managers play in such 'housekeeping' exercises? It seems that finally senior managers - some of them, at least - are willing to give HR managers a significant role in strategic decisions. But how many human resource managers know how to fulfill that role? Paul Kearns (2003: 4) tells the tale of a workshop exercise for senior human resource managers when participants were given a

military scenario. Briefly, they were asked to envisage that they, and a thousand soldiers under their command, had been dropped behind enemy lines - with no information about their opposition. What would they do? The first response he received was 'I'd retreat'. Kearns comments: 'Why does this response from an HR person not surprise me?' It doesn't surprise me either because so many HR managers are used to operating someone else's strategy, rather than participating vigorously in their organizations' strategic decisions. Noting that 'business partner' and 'strategic thinker' have featured as the most important roles in some recent surveys of human resource management, Jamroq and Overhot (2004) observe that 'there's something elusive and ambiguous about this widely touted goal of becoming a strategic business partner'. They cite a recent conference on the future of HR where a panel of human resource experts came out with the statement that 'I can't define it, but I know it when I see it' when asked to define the term 'strategic business partner.' Measuring the effectiveness of HRM Is measurement at the root of the problem? Are HR managers measuring the wrong things? One common approach is to use a 'Balanced Scorecard' which includes a range of HR measures as well as the more traditional financial and other metrics. Gubman (2004) feels that 'Too many HR scorecards focused on operational metrics: Time to hire, cost per hire, percentage of appraisals completed, etc. While important to track, these kinds of measures will not get HR to the strategic partner role. They only reinforce the view of HR as an administrative function. Key HR measures needed to be central to business success.' More beneficially, according to Gubman, HR managers should focus instead on the same two major issues as their financial colleagues: return and growth. 'HR-things' can only create economic value from three sources: Employee turnover and retention Productivity - revenue against employee costs Expenditure on the HR function and related activities

Providing measures for these three elements does not require any 'rocket science' because they relate to three familiar HR goals:

1. Attracting, developing and retaining staff 2. Aligning, engaging, measuring and rewarding performance 3. Controlling or reducing HR costs HR-relevant measures for growth are trickier and need to be tailored to the organizations' individual situation. Grubman believes that HR measures can be devised that, like market share, can indicate trends and forecasts for improved revenue in the future. He argues that the following are the most significant growth-related human resource measures at present: Leadership development, to be measured in terms of unique candidates Engagement - levels of employees' intellectual and emotional commitment Diversity, particularly the number of women and ethnic minority employees

ready to assume executive and other major roles. to their work. coming through the system or 'talent pipeline'. Tamkin et al (2008) used a set of criteria described as the '4A model' (Access, Ability, Attitudes, Application) in their study of almost 3000 British organizations and found that the use of 'bundles' of HR practices produced improved performance and profitability. They suggest a number of issues that HR managers should focus on: Behaving proactively Weiss (2000) argues that HR managers must demonstrate the ability to provide stimulating ideas and challenge decisions that do not have business value. To do this, they need to perform at the same intellectual level as their colleagues in an executive meeting. Most importantly, they need to wear a 'business hat' rather than a 'HR hat' otherwise they will be relegated to the traditional administrative or tactical (second-level) role that has bedeviled the human resource function for decades. Weiss considers that HR managers need to demonstrate the following to show their ability to add value: Broad understanding of the business, thus helping the human resource Knowledge of how all activities need to align, enabling the company to Professionalism in investing in human capital and HR processes, allowing function to contribute to the overall direction of the company. maximize the success of its strategic initiatives. HR to help guide employees and the organization's decision making.

A unique perspective, allowing the HR function to become an 'ideas merchant' so that people and the outcomes of organizational processes can be made into strategic advantages.

Suggestion
"HR needs to keep moving itself forward, toward the strategic partner role, by becoming better profit-and-loss business leaders. Be the ones to lead companies back into thinking externally, about customers and markets, and how to create unique value for them. What a surprising and powerful role that would be for HR leaders! Start measuring HR impacts on real business results, not HR activities. Instead of measuring time to hire, measure the people aspects of opening up a new market and the returns they generate."

Conclusion
Ideally HR & top management work together to formulate the company's overall business strategy; that strategy then provides the framework within which HR activities such as recruiting & appraising must be crafted. If it is done successfully, it should result out in the employee competencies & behavior that in turn should help the business implement its strategies & realize its goals. According to an expert "the human resources management system must be tailored to the demands of business strategy". In order to be successful the employees should be developed in such a manner that they can be the competitive advantage, & for this the human resource management must be an equal partner in both the formulation & the implementation of the corporate & competitive strategies.

Reference:1) Supreet Ahluwalia Senior Lecturer Department of Business Manipal University Dubai Campus 2) Prof. Dileep Kumar M. Ex-Professor Symbiosis (SCMHRD, SCDL), IIIT, SCMLD, SBS 3) Strategic Human resource management John Bratton. 4) Strategic Human Resource management Jeffrey A. Mello. 5) Gubman, E. (2004) 'HR Strategy and Planning: From Birth to Business Results', HR. Human Resource Planning, Vol. 27, Iss.1, pp 13-24. 6) Silicon India Magazine. 7) Kearns, P. (2003) HR Strategy: Business Focused Individually Centred, Butterworth-Heinemann. 8) Towers, David. "Human Resource Management essays". 9) Armstrong, Michael (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th ed.). London. 10) B.K.,HRM Strategic for competitive Advantage

http://www.ivoryresearch.com/sample13.php HRM in Marks & Spencer 1.0/Introduction In the face of increasing competitive environment organizations have to focus on the value of investments in human resources as a major source of competitive advantage. Although business strategy as a means of competition is common conversation in the executive suite, taking a strategic approach can be especially beneficial for staff functions within companies, as they often are required to justify their need for resources and their contribution to the company. The following report presents the analysis of human resource management (HRM) issues provided in the case study on Marks and Spencer's (M&S) organizational change. Discusses strategic HRM issues facing the company in deciding to create business units and adopt structural change, and the extent to which M&S needs to overhaul HRM and its core business. The author also emphasizes the importance of HRM styles and approaches for the company's medium term business practices, being integrated into an overall organizational strategy. 2.0 Strategic HRM Issues for M&S's Organizational Change The received wisdom in the literature on organizational change is that employee involvement is crucial to successful change, especially in situations that require attitudinal and cultural change. Therefore, any rapid organizational transformations can only be successful if they focus on structural as reverse to cultural change. The case with M&S is a scenario of rapid organizational transformation, which was based on a vision imposed on the company in a mainly directive fashion, down from the top, by its management and CEO, but which could potentially lead to a widespread change of attitudes and behaviors in the company. This change in the middle of the trading period was a risky action and would bring a big confusion for the staff, putting a high pressure on their performance. It was an emergent change where staff had to develop and adjust to new ways of a flatter organizational structure and new ways of operations under new business units. In the case of M&S, it can be seen that the company deliberately set out to change the basis on which it competed by reinventing itself as a service-based organization. One of the standard perceptions for successful organizations is that they should know their own strengths and weaknesses, their customers' needs and the nature of the environment in which they operate. Hence, by introducing new business units M&S aimed to create them fully profit-accountable, putting more emphasis on the individual performance of the departments. This would enable M&S to effectively control their operations and show where the improvements need to be implemented. Hence, by this new approach to business practices, the company had to closely consider strategic issues of HRM.

One of the reasons behind the proposed change is to modify the attitudes and behaviours of the staff. People are being required to reconsider their attitudes towards how work is performed and their attitudes to their counterparts externally. Whatever form it takes, if it is to be successful, there are three people-related activities that need to be undertaken: creating willingness to change; involving people, and sustaining the momentum (Doorewaard and Benschop, 2003; Burnes, 2004). M&S in seeking to create willingness and a readiness for change need to be aware that stressing the positive aspects of the proposed change may have much a negative impact on the company's performance. Therefore, M&S have to make people fully aware of the pressure for such change during the trading period, giving them an on-going feedback on the performance and areas of activity within the organization, and understanding staff's fears and concerns. A constant communication and involvement will have to be present, providing resources and explanations for change. Aligned line managers will have to give all support needed to the change agents, develop new competence and skills and reinforce desired behaviors, such as increased pay or bonus. The new changes to business units and flatter company structure are likely to increase employee empowerment and responsibility, increasing more of the direct contacts with customers and building new knowledge. Post-Modern theories suggest better flexible strategies, accommodating change in the structure of power relationships, where they specialize in their field of tasks (Johnson and Scholes, 2002; Francis, 2003), To become more flexible M&S decided to apply a more horizontal management organization style. Through a clear leadership role of appointed heads of business units, centralization will also be high only to a certain degree, not to prevent adaptability and flexibility of staff. Coordination will need to be in a form of a clear structured hierarchy and division of labor. To encourage job enrichment and staff satisfaction, M&S may establish one or more specific coordinating roles. Liaisons, individual or departmental, committees, task forces, project groups, and the like are all examples of possible structural coordinating devices. Many modern theorists believe that in order to succeed business culture needs to be changeoriented and, hence, M&S need to adapt to differentiating changing environments and internal workforce diversity. 3.0 HRM Approaches for M&S's Medium Term Performance The interpretation of HRM is based on incorporating either a "soft", developmental humanist approach or a "hard", situational contingent approach (Liao, 2005). Schneider (1994) has suggested that in the "soft" approach, effective HRM is seen necessarily to involve a focus upon fostering employee motivation, commitment and development. It is an approach that acknowledges the importance of HRM to the aims of the business, whilst reflecting attempts by management to create a work environment that emphasises employee development, through

practices such as training, participation and communication, and the importance of having innovative, flexible, committed employees who are valued resources. "Hard" HRM is, as Liao (2005) has noted, closely aligned with what is often termed strategic HRM. In these instances, HRM is closely linked with business strategy. Accordingly, it views employees as resource to be used dispassionately and in a formally rational manner. As such, HRM effectiveness can be more contingent upon cost minimization measures rather than upon significant investment in human resources. A "hard", contingency-based approach to HRM is often seen as an essential part of a cost-minimization strategy. However, in the case of M&S it is suggested that for a successful implementation of changes, there is a more need of " soft " approach for the medium term success, as everyone within the company needs to cooperate and understand the importance of the changes. For M&S the commitment of senior management and the assigned heads of the business units to HRM are crucial to company's effective operation. It would be essential to possess the knowledge and skills necessary to implement a credible HRM programme within the organization. For a medium term success, M&S needs to consider the following HRM approaches: A clear understanding and commitment of the management to the desirable change need to prevent any conflicts and operational barriers; Good dynamic and effective leadership will have to take place and be supported by the managers of M&S; It is also importance to consider teamwork in decision process. The employees have to be integrated into the change process management; To become more service-focused company, M&S will have to look at a culture of communication, so that people can use the advantage of a good working team for the progress and the company's success. Mayo's motivation theory also suggests that effective communication is an essential part of organizational changes and an effective foundation of modern organizations. Hence, M&S has to put greater emphasis on improvement of interpersonal communication skills of all organizational members; As McGregor's theory proves, employees are likely to be motivated by the goals of achievement and " self-esteem ". By rewarding staff and by leading people, M&S would build a good management for a medium-term success; Staff involvement and participation are likely to contribute to a sense of responsibility and ownership and, hence, organizational commitment and loyalty. The norms and beliefs that enhance an organization's ability to receive, interpret, and translate signals from the environment into internal

organizational and behavioral change will promote its survival, growth and development; It may be important to clarify the strategy throughout the hierarchy to every employee (Huang, 2001). An effective two-way flow of information and communication has to take place, so that everyone will be aware about the goals and visions of the company's growth. Face-to-face, one-to-one communication through to routine bulletins on notice boards and circulars sent around the organization might take place for effective communication of the message. Staff meetings have to take place to inform everyone about the changes and prevent misunderstanding and dissatisfaction. In order to get a feedback on the changes, two-way communication approach has to be encouraged; A good strategy for dealing with conflicts and contingency system is also essential form for the operational process. 4.0 HRM and Core Business of M&S One of the challenges for managers having to introduce change in the company is to determine the strategy that will produce the best results. In a situation of excellence, a company has to be able not only to adapt in an outstanding way to its market conditions, but also to develop internal practices that clearly set it aside from the competition. Change can be costly, not only in financial terms, but in terms of management time. The question should arise whether M&S has enough capabilities and is ready to manage change and, more importantly, readiness to achieve the scope of change. It is not enough to adjust the performance management processes to support changing business strategies. Managers of M&S need to be able and willing to envisage a future where the strategies and performance of the company are transformed by stretching the staff's capabilities of the organization better than their competitors. The primary goal of M&S management has to be in overhauling an integrated relationship between HRM and the core business to successfully implement the changes. Strategic capability is essentially concerned with how the resources (including people) are deployed, managed, controlled and, in the case of people, motivated to create competences in those activities and business processes needed to run the business (Huang, 2001). Bergenhenegouwen (1996) states that the concept of core competences goes beyond this in a search for those few activities that underpin competitive advantage. Nevertheless, the starting point of successful strategies for M&S is acquiring, retaining and developing human resources. Much of the hard side of HRM is concerned with ensuring that this baseline is maintained in the

company. Such HRM activities as audits to assess HR requirements to support core business strategies, goal-setting and performance assessment of individuals and teams, the use of rewards, recruitment as a key to improve strategic capability, and training would assist M&S management in delivering about the proposed change in the most effective way for business outcomes. M&S has been always renown for the strength of linking business and human resource strategies. This tends to bring clarity from the business planning process. However, operating in a highly competitive environment, with a constant pressure from stakeholders and external forces impacts the decisions of the management Board, as it was in this case. In general, a strategic approach to HRM involves the designs and implementations of a set of internally consistent policies and practices that ensure a firm's human capital to contribute to the achievement of its business objectives. Fundamental to the strategic HRM perspectives, there is an assumption that firm performance is influenced by the set of HRM practices a firm has in place. M&S line managers can enhance productivity by building a sound HRM system having a set of specific HRM practices in different ways. This necessitates the development of an approach to investigate the correlation between a firm's productivity and strategic HRM factors. Based on that understanding, managers can adopt appropriate strategies to improve company's HRM so as to increase the business units' total productivity. According to strategic HRM, the HR strategy should be developed alongside the general strategy of the organization, to acquire cultural fit within and with the outside environment. 5.0 Conclusion Every organization wants to be successful and depends upon its employees to make that happen. Success should be viewed over the long term. A healthy organization can go the distance and the best metric of success should be the health of the employees. The most important issue of M&S is to build upon the company's already existing strengths and try to overcome the threats of the change. One of the major benefits claimed for organizational learning is that it enables organizations to manage change in a timely and effective manner. The organizational learning and individual development movement was largely a response to the need for organizations to seek to sustain competitiveness and survival in a discontinuous environment. Management practice today is still largely driven by a closed systems view that relies on planning, on a consensual, top-down implementation of change interventions. M&S's change requires time and energy for learning new approaches, but it is necessary to develop new skills and capacities. M&S has a long history of change management and HRM excellence, but even for them, resolving their present tensions and changes represent a considerable challenge.

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http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/08/report-assignmentstrategic-human-resources-management.html Assignment 1 - SHRM Scenarios Using the concepts, frameworks and techniques covered during the module, you are required to produce a report in which you outline two alternative future scenarios for an organisation of your choice and the resulting HRM implications. Your report should be addressed to the senior management team. Specifically your report should: Analyse key features of the organisations internal and external

environment Produce two alternative scenarios that might face the organisation

in the future. In doing so you should avoid extrapolating existing trends and focus on creating genuine alternative futures Identify the HR implications arising from each scenario and

make appropriate recommendations for their implementation Your assignment should take the form of an individual, written report. Your report should not exceed 3,000 words in length excluding bibliography and appendices. The assignment should be submitted by Friday 25th January 2008. References to the literature or other

published sources should be made using the Harvard system of referencing and a full bibliography of sources included with the assignment. Take care to attribute all source material. Assessment criteria Your work will be assessed against the following criteria: The development of plausible scenarios demonstrating

understanding of environmental influences and their potential impact upon an organisation in the future

Explanation of the implications of scenarios for the organisation

and its human resources

Formulation of coherent HR strategies that take account of the

need for effective change management and the development of appropriate behaviours and attitudes

Production of clear, logical and fully referenced report in

support of the presentation

Credibility, clarity and conviction of communication

Assignment 2 Strategic Human Resource Management

For this assignment you are required to select one of the following areas of HR strategy and critically evaluate its operation within your organisation (or an organisation you are familiar with). You should pay particular attention to the extent to which the strategy is vertically and horizontally integrated; in other words the degree to which the selected strategy supports the organisations corporate strategy and is integrated with other areas of HR strategy. 1. Human Resource Planning

2.

Recruitment and Selection

3.

Human Resource Development

4.

Performance Management

As part of your evaluation you should perform a comparative analysis between your organisation and a benchmark exemplar, preferably from a different industrial sector. You should explain why you have selected the comparator organisation and analyse the nature and scope of factors differentiating your organisation from that of the benchmark organisation.

Your comparator analysis should be based on in-depth, independent, third party sources and should form a significant part of your analysis. The assignment should be in report format and should be addressed to the HR Director. Imagine that he will be interested in the basis of your analysis as well as your conclusions and ensure that you draw upon relevant literature and research to support your analysis. Your analysis should culminate in a clear set of recommendations as to how the selected strategy might be improved in supporting organisational goals and priorities. In undertaking this assignment, assume the role of a consultant to the organisation and comment on the key features of the organisational context. Your assignment should be submitted in report format by Friday 22nd February 2008. Read your study guide carefully to familiarise yourself with the writing, structure and presentation of reports and the referencing of material. Your report should not exceed 3,000 words in length, excluding the executive summary, appendices and bibliography. Appendices should however be used sparingly. Assessment Criteria The assignment will be assessed against the following criteria; Business awareness outline of organisational context, the

1.

environment within which the business operates and the nature and scope of the selected HR strategy in supporting business goals 20%

2.

Knowledge of the subject matter evidence of wide reading and a

comprehensive familiarity with the topic reinforced by citations from appropriate third-party sources, research and relevant literature 20% Critical thinking demonstration of the ability to analyse and

3.

evaluate both theory and research and corporate policy and practice and to make objective and impartial judgements about the real effectiveness of the selected strategy 20% Application capability the development of firm conclusions and

4.

appropriate recommendations which are realistic and provide valueadded outcomes for the organisation together with an assessment of costs, timescale, process and responsibility 30% Presentation and persuasion skills the systematic organisation

5.

and presentation of the report so that it is coherent, convincing, accurate, reader-friendly and businesslike 10%

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Human Resource Management Assignment

The organization I am most familiar with is that of which I am currently employed, Farmhouse Studios is a small company consisting of seven people: The Director/Owner, two managers of equal rank, two designers, a sound engineer, a technician and a secretary. My position is that of one of the managers, my job is to generate new business and oversee day to day production. Farmhouse studios is in the compact disk duplication market, we provide a turnkey service in which company profiles may be set up on CD-Rom for promotional purposes, we also provide audio CD's along with use of our fully equipped state of the art music studio.

The two areas I felt would be applied best to this organization are training and development, and motivation. Before discussing either of the two one must first really understand what training and development really consist of. This assignment entails of me to compare what I have learnt in this module with my practice at work, however by doing so certain aspects

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must be simplified due to the size of the company. Large organizations would constantly analyze performance and would probably have a training department. In our company's case training usually follows an introduction of new hardware or software. Technology is one of the most important factors at Farmhouse Studios, being an I.T based company, new technology is always being introduced. Just before the beginning of 2005 new printers were brought in and our technician was sent overseas to attend a course. Our designers attend courses regularly so as to keep informed regarding the constantly progressing world of I.T and graphic design. Training results in better utilization of high tech equipment, the efficiency of staff increases dramatically. Once a workforce is professionally educated regarding the field they deal with everyday the response is very positive, one may see a change in performance almost immediately. When discussing training and development we must keep in mind that...