HR Management Assignment help on: Harvard HRM model

1. Introduction

The entire research project is prepared on the basis of the topic related to “The Harvard Model of HRM is a commonly used theoretical framework in the application and practice of HRM in organizations. In this project report we will discuss the pros and cons of Harvard model and make recommendations for successful implementation of such a model. The HRM practices came into existence when organizations started to value employees as their main assets for growing their business. The Harvard business model of HRM was being theoretically developed by Boxall and Beer on 1992. The main objective behind development of this framework was to resolve problems related to historical personnel management by involving and developing the employees with respect to practices and HRM policies. Today HRM is being concerned as a central activity which is being interlinked with other activities. In an era of globalizing several factors such as fluctuations in economies, changing customer demands, emergence of new technologies and expectations of stakeholders have pressurized organizations to implement Harvard theoretical model of HRM on practical basis. Today’s business is only sustainable with wider implication of HRM practices which is being linked with employee’s performance and their development process (Robinson, Clinton,    2006).  It is well known that Human Resource Management process helps to make appropriate decisions by developing relationship with employees and organization. According to Harvard its theoretical mode of HRM has got two features. The first feature states that it helps line managers to accept more responsibilities by aligning HR policies with competitive strategy of an organization. The second feature states the mission of HR policy which helps in shaping activities of human by reinforcing them with rewards and recognition process. It is states that Harvard model helps to conceptualize relationships with employees and organizational policies in an effective manner.  In this project report we will highlight how Harvard HRM model is being applied practically at public organizations of Australia (Hendry,   2000). The Harvard model of HRM also explains how interest of stakeholder’s are changing related to business of an organization according to several situations. The public sector organization at Australia has been noticing several types of changes because of new public management (NPM). The Harvard model is being considered as an ideal model which is being implemented by public sector organizations in Australia to track manage the problems related to increasing workload of employees, reduction of the wages, inappropriate working conditions, lack of autonomy at workplace, and lesser accountability of employees towards the organization(Callaghan,    2001).  The Harvard model is interlinked with several components such as it is related to several situational factors, HR choices, HR outcomes, interest of the stakeholders, long term approach, and feedback process. It also helps to hard and soft version of HRM which helps moving people along with the strategies of an organization.  The e Harvard theoretical HRM model is being supported by providing inputs in an organization and output is being measured with the performance of the employees (Hutchunson,     2000).

2. Literature Themes and Arguments

In this paragraph Harvard HRM model is being explain with respect to its pros and cons. The model explains several components on detail basis. According to Harvard HRM theoretical model situation characteristics includes aspects such as workforce characteristic, philosophy of management, the rules and regulations which are being set by the labor market, values which are being created in society, union based approach. It also shows connectivity between socio cultural aspects and product market. The situational factors are being analyzed for developing healthy employment relationships for bridging the gaps which hinders overall growth of an organization. The stakeholder’s interest is being developed practically by creating a healthy communication and relationship between shareholders, employees groups, management, government, unions and communities.  The pluralist approach is being applied by combining HR policies, outcomes and Long term results/ Consequences.

The HR management policies which can be applied in an organization at practical basis are influencing the employees by motivating them with rewards and recognition process. The rewards can be provided to employees extrinsically and intrinsically. It can be inform of hygiene and motivating factors. The employees can also be motivated by designing their job either by enlarging or enriching it as per the skills and potentials of the employees. It also helps in effective decision making process by analyzing the outcomes and constraints. At times at organizations employees who possess multiple skills are not fully utilized by the management.  According to Harvard HRM model MC Gregor’s X and Y theory is being considered for engaging employees in productive work. The HRM policies also help to analyze organizational and environmental parameters. The human resource outcomes can result at an organization with factors such as competence, congruence, commitment and cost effectiveness which is developed among employees with support of training and developmental programs.  It is also helping organizations to provide long term benefits by stating well being of employees, organization as whole and society. According to long term approach in terms of employees it includes psychological rewards that can be provide to employees for their superior performance. At organizational level survival of firm is important by ensuring effectiveness.  It also applies the soft and Hard HRM approaches which can be applied in modern organizations for growing an organization. According to (Guest,    1987) Soft HRM covers several aspects such as job designing process at an organization by ensuring high level of commitment with empowerment process. The jobs are being designed by management of an organization by considering organizational structures. It also deals with framing policies at an organization for managing changes on a systematic manner. For an example at Apple Company policy was being framed for managing changes in term of innovation and creativity.  The Soft HRM also deals with recruitment, selection and induction process for achieving the goals of an organization.  The training and developmental activities of employees also comes under the Soft HRM approach where employees are motivated to improve their skills by maintaining work-life balance. It also deals with the flow of manpower for increasing overall productivity in an organization by monitoring the activities of employees. The rewards and recognition process of employees are considered soft parts of HRM where management of an organization gets goals achieved by their employees.  The goals are specific, measurable, time-bound, realistic, and achievable in nature.  The Soft HRM ensures that there must be an open system of communication because it helps to develop healthy employment relationships among employees and management.  The soft HRM believes in ensuring commitment from employees, showing quality of work and developing flexibility. According to (Storey,   2001) hard HRM approach deals with aspects where the employees are being treated as machines and their emotions are not being considered. According to Harvard HRM model there must be a balance of hard and Soft HRM approach.

In this paragraph the pros and cons of Harvard HRM model are explained on detail basis.  The pros are explained briefly. The four C’’s such as congruence, commitment, cost effectiveness and competence provides long term benefits for an organization. It is a model which is being linked strategically with organizational objectives (Stanton,       2004). According to Harvard HRM model it emphasizes more upon interests of stakeholders for longer period of time. It also recognizes the trade offs either implicitly or explicitly between owners, interests and the owners group. It influences employees widely because the work related questions are answered in a positive manner by the supervisors. The several contextual factors are considered and while planning the strategy related to business which also deals with socio cultural aspects and the product markets. This model considers more of HRM approach which can help to grow the employees and organization on simultaneous basis.   It focuses more upon development of healthy employment relationships which helps in creating a sustainable business model for longer period of time (Simons,    2003).  It has successfully replaced old personnel HRM process with the new HRM model which has been successfully developing intellectual human capital. The cons of Harvard HRM model are it ignores the hard HRM approach which shows that there is high chance of failures of business. The employees are engage in social loafing process which increases conflicts at workplace and results in poor productivity. It is found that Harvard model ignores to understand factors related to business and economies (Janssen,        2004).   At times there are such organizations where this model fails because it can be only operated with Hard HRM approach which focuses to increase more productivity by engaging employees as machines for longer period of time. Several organizations such as Enron, public organizations at Australia and etc has applied this model successfully (Schofield,       2005).

3.Conclusion

Thus it can be concluded that there are several model of HRM being proposed by the researchers which shows that all models have their own advantages and disadvantages. The Harvard HRM theoretical model was being developed by Boxall (Gratton,     1994). The main reason behind its development of this framework was to resolve problems related to historical personnel management by developing employees with respect to practices and HRM policies. HRM framework is considered as a central activity which helps to deal with factors such as fluctuations in economies, changing customer demands, emergence of new technologies and meeting expectations of stakeholders. The Harvard theoretical mode of HRM has got two features where first feature states that it helps line managers to accept more responsibilities by aligning HR policies with competitive strategy of an organization and second feature states mission of HR policy which helps in shaping activities of human by reinforcing them with rewards and recognition process(Gould-Williams,      2004). In the presented Literature review it is highlighted that Harvard HRM theoretical model includes several characteristics such as stakeholder’s interest which is being developed practically by creating a healthy communication and relationship between shareholders, employees groups, management, government, unions and communities. The situational factors such as workforce characteristic, philosophy of management, rules and regulations are being developed on systematic manner. The HR management policies are applied on practical basis by influencing the employees by motivating them with rewards and recognition process. The human resource outcomes are measured with factors such as competence, congruence, commitment and cost effectiveness. The long term approach in terms of employees is developed with superior performance. It also applies the soft HRM approach and ignores Hard HRM that is applied in modern organizations for growing their business. Guest has explained Soft HRM which covers several aspects such as job designing process at an organization by ensuring high level of commitment with empowerment process.

4.Recommendations

 The recommendations are explained in this paragraph.  According to Storey hard HRM approach is ignored in Harvard HRM Model which must also be considered equally for growing business of an organization. The pros of Harvard HRM model are it applies four C’’s such as congruence, commitment, cost effectiveness and competence provides long term benefits for an organization. It emphasizes more upon interests of stakeholders for longer period of time by recognizing the trade offs either implicitly or explicitly between employees and the owners group. Harvard model considers soft HRM approach for growing employees and organization on simultaneous basis (Hendry,     1986).  The cons of Harvard HRM model are it ignores hard HRM approach which brings more social loafing process and increases conflicts at workplace. It results in failure of business and results in poor productivity. The Harvard model of HRM has been practically applied at organizations where it needs to grow business by focusing upon employees.  It has been successfully applied in public organizations of Australia, Enron where employees were successfully trained for achieving the set objectives with support of reward and recognition process (Jackson,    1989).  According to Harvard HRM model MC Gregor’s X and Y theory is being considered for engaging employees in productive work. Many times at organizations employees who possess multiple skills are not fully utilized by the management in such situation Harvard theoretical HRM model is being applied in a practical manner (Purcell,   1986).

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