HR Assignment help on : Human resource management
Abstract
Human resource management plays an important role in the organizations as there is a global competition and the organizations are competing for capable resources in all sectors. Obtaining a capable work force would mean that the workforce will be capable of high productivity. Sustainable competitive advantage is only possible when the other firms cannot duplicate the strategies and produce the same results as used by one organization in attaining tangible or intangible profit. Capable Workforce in an organization is non-substitutable and inimitable. The value produced by them is of high importance to the sustainable competitive advantage of an organization.
Introduction
Human resource management appeals to employment management and achieves competitive advantage through strategic deployment of highly committed work force who are integrated through a wide array of cultural, structural and personal techniques” (Storey 1992). Human resource management plays an important role in the organizations as there is a global competition and the organizations are competing for capable resources in all sectors. Capable work force is most pivotal to any organization as they are necessary for sustainable competitive advantage. This can only be possible if the human resource management of the organization is thoroughly competent in the completion of assigned duties. According to Tandu et. al (2002), “The Human resource management focus on six interrelated polices. They are Management of change, Organizational job design, recruitment, selection and socialization, appraisal training and development, reward system and communication. These are the challenges that are important for having a competent work force in the organization”. This article stresses on the importance of having capable work force in the organization for attaining sustainable competitive advantage.
Importance of capable work force
Many ingredients combines together to form a complex alchemy of organizational effectiveness. The major ingredients for this are highly motivated, capable and adaptive workforce so that the organization leverage on their special talents. Obtaining a capable work force would mean that the workforce will be capable of high productivity. The work force will also be motivated to stay with the organization as long as the organization wants to employee them. They would be able to engage in behaviors that are in accordance with the company culture. They will make possible successful in implementation of a business strategy (Jackson et. al, 2012). It is highly important to hire a person who values integrity in an organization. Hiring a wrong person may result in loss and tends to de-motivate other employees. It is important for the organization to have employees who are in harmony with the strategies employed by them. Capable workforce also helps in establishing a successful overseas presence.
Internal resources and competitive advantage
The internal resources are the major determinants of competitive success and this concept was existent from 18th century (Wright, 1993). This is also known as the resource view of any concerned firm. The internal resources of a firm can be divided into three different categories that are the organizational capital resources, human capital resources and the physical capital resources. The major components that are provided by the human capital resources include judgment, experience, and intelligence of the managers and the whole workforce. Any resource that can be related to as the strength and weakness tends to be ties permanently to the firm. In the case of human resources they are inseparable from the firm. These are also the resources that play an important role in the individual function of the organization that includes structuring, planning, coordinating and controlling the various systems. They are also responsible for creating a favorable atmosphere with in a firm among the workforce and between two firms. These components are highly important for establishing a competent atmosphere with in the firm. According to Wright et. al. (1993), competitive advantage is bound to occur only in situation where there is and firm resource immobility and firms resource heterogeneity. These resources tend to be different in different firms and this is what make organizations lag behind others in competition are its inability in acquiring the resources. In other words acquiring and refining the internal resources is what an organization should aim on for increasing the competitive advantage. Sustainable competitive advantage is only possible when the other firms cannot duplicate the strategies and produce the same results as used by one organization in attaining tangible or intangible profit. This means that the strategy used should be integrated from the other strategies used by the organizations. in other words a resource would be able to provide sustainable advantage only when they add a positive value to the firm, the talents and the nature of the resource are unique in nature and cannot be found commonly among various other current and potential competitors, the actions that are undertaken by the resources should not be imitable and the end product made is that of high value and cannot be substituted by other products (Peteraf & Barney, 2003). An example is Apple iPhone whose features have created a technical revolution in the world. Competitors try to inhibit the same features as them, but they fail to and the requirement for iPhone is ever increasing. The credit to this is given for the vision of Steve Jobs and his terms who managed to bring out a product that cannot be copied. The importance of the creative and capable workforce in apple can never be over explained. It is equally important to discuss the role that is played by human resource in promoting sustainable competitive advantage. The benefits of having human resource can be explained from two different aspects. Some of the theories based on this discusses on the skills that these resources have in favor of the organization. They are also referred to as the competencies of organizations. These competencies that lead to sustainable competitive advantage are found in the KSA’s (Knowledge, skill and abilities) of the human resources of these organizations. These views were proposed by Flamholts and Lacey and McKelvey and they recognize the importance of capable employees in an organization as they are important resource and not merely as a practice or procedure that are used in the firm to fulfill their requirements (Flamholts & Lacey, 1981; Ginn, 2001). This means that human resource is of high value to the organization. But is simultaneously the duty of the human resource management to utilize these resources to provide value to the firm by making use of the employee behavior. Employees would be able to create value when they are aligned in the direction of the vision realization of the organization making use of strategic human resource management to control employee behavior and employee competencies.
Major Elements Providing Sustainable competitive advantage in 21st century
The elements required for sustainable competitive advantage in the current century are different from the ones that were required earlier. They are “collaborative growth and efficiency, zero waste, renewable resources, climate resilience, and eco performance measurements”. This can only be possible with the help of capable employees and adequate technologies. There is a requirement of adapting new ways and methods for delivering efficiency, innovation and growth for the purpose of addressing the challenges of sustainability. There is a requirement of diverting all the waste streams to make a productive use of it so as to produce more output with lesser amount of resources. Making use of renewable sources of energy is also highly pivotal for sustainable competitive advantage. It is equally important to address the various climate change issues and implement changes in operations and supply chains. There is also an increase in the ability to measure, report, monitor and manage the various impacts that an organization has on the environment (Brown et. al, 2011).
Analysis
Capable employees are rare as it is a source that can provide sustainable advantage to a firm. There are also contradictions that there is a whole lot of unemployment and employees are homogenous in nature. But the cognitive ability and the adaptability of the employees are different from that of other substitutable employees. Human resource is also inimitable as they lead to sustainable advantage. This can only be possible with the help of proper human resource management strategies. Achievement of these criteria increases the chances for sustainable competitive advantage. Capable employees also coordinate with one another. When one considers capable employees in the light of team production it will be unable for the competing organizations to put together in a team the same attributes as that of the capable employees in one organization and thus produce the same result. This makes the competitive advantage inimitable. The resources that are used for sustainable advantage are not substitutable. In comparison to the various other internal resources that are attained by the organization, human resources are substitutable. Constant training and development on the cognitive ability, employee behaviors and employee competencies makes them un-substitutable as they are not bound to become obsolete like the other internal resources in the firm. Though it can be found that capable employees are substitutable, in the long term they are not as their asset value increases as the years pass by. There are chances to overlook the contribution of the employees in an organization as the contributions that are made by them are invisible in most scenarios. But the role that is played by employees in a firm in generating competitive advantage cannot be underestimated because they are directly involved with production of products and provision of services. But here are some of the facts that would prove the importance of capable workforce. The firms that have high levels of ceteris paribus and cognitive ability are bound to generate higher levels of productivity. Production of a quality product or service valuable to the customers is highly important for an organization. This also means that the effectiveness of organization is highly dependent on the adaptability of the employees to the requirements of the firm. Any level of change that is bound to occur in the environment that the company operated in can be sensed efficient workforce. This helps the firm to become proactive in nature as the work force can adapt to more efficient strategies as per the requirements in the organizations. Employees bring in cost efficiency and product differentiation.
Responsibility of Human Resource Management
Some of the major elements that are used on sustaining a capable workforce include the functions of human resource management like recruitment, hiring, and promotion policies, the workforce structure, quality of life issues and family and the pay (Argyros et. al, 2007). Here are also lists of the adaptations that can be made for increasing the capable and sustainable workforce. There should increased flexibility for supporting the purpose of long term education and career development and adaptation of the concept of work and family well being. HRM should also focus on creating a positive environment in the organization to increase attraction, retention, motivation, development, resilience, engagement and the capacity to thrive in an organization scenario. Feed back and continuous improvement also plays a pivotal role in having a sustainable and efficient work force
Conclusion
Capable Workforce in an organization is non-substitutable and inimitable. The value produced by them is of high importance to the sustainable competitive advantage of an organization.
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