Strategic HRM Approaches

The role of Human Resources (HR) has evolved in the past 30 years from reactive to proactive. Instead of waiting for an issue to occur, many HR departments attempt to identify probable issues and their symptoms. Then, they consider the following questions:

• How did we get here?
• Where do we go from here?
• How do we get to there (Lussier and Hendon, 2013)?

By being more proactive, HR departments are able to take the appropriate steps to analyse the symptoms, propose solutions and create a strategy before an issue begins.

Your Final Project in this module will allow you to develop a set of HRM recommendations for an assigned scenario organization. The organization is facing an upcoming transition, and you are hired to develop a HRM Consultancy Report to address HR issues during the upcoming change. The goal of your report is to analyze the organization in your scenario critically in order to identify potential people management challenges, propose solutions and evaluate proposed recommendations for implementation.

Each of the Individual Assignments in this module will focus on a portion of your HRM Consultancy Report. Then, in Unit 6, you will submit the Final Project using Individual Assignments to complete your analysis and make your recommendations to the organization.

In this Individual Assignment, you will focus on your scenario organization's upcoming transition. You will analyze relevant HR processes and OB concepts that may arise in the scenario.

Scenario Organization:

Starting a new product or service line that will require new kinds of employees

Prochurus and Garner, a large, US-based consumer goods company is to launch a new cosmetics line that targets Latinas and is sold exclusively via network marketing. The consumer who will be interested in selling the cosmetics via network marketing is a 24-year-old, Spanish-speaking female with limited sales experience. The current plan is to use savings from reduced marketing and distribution costs for training.

References
Lussier, R. N, & J. R. Hendon, (2013) Human Resource Management: Functions, Applications, Skill Development, Los Angeles: Sage

To prepare for this Individual Assignment:

• Review the Unit Introduction and the Learning Resources, including the HR/OB Matrix.
• Familiarize yourself with the scenario organization assigned by your Faculty Member. Visit the Final Project area on the to explore the details of the project and your scenario organization. Please note that in order to complete your Final Project, you may have to make some assumptions and add additional details from your own experience and/or other case examples with which you are familiar.
• Consider the transition your scenario organization is facing and identify HR/OB Matrix relationships relevant to the scenario.
• Think about where your assigned organization is now and where you would like your organization to be after the transition. What specific HRM approaches might be relevant?

To complete this Individual Assignment:

• Analyze the current state of the field of strategic HRM in the context of a global environment.
• Include two or three HR/OB Matrix relationships that may occur within your scenario organization. Explain the pending transition for your scenario organization and describe where you would like your scenario organization to be in the future. What strategic HRM approaches may need to be revised and/or what new ones may need to be introduced and why?
• Explain how the revised and/or new HRM approaches might affect staff management's function/role. How might the revised and/or new HRM approaches affect how they manage and/or communicate with their staff? How might they need to adjust to make the approaches effective?
• Support your Individual Assignment with current academic literature beyond your Learning Resources.