Human Resource Management in Context Assignment

Human Resource Management in Context - Assignment Example 5). Key Developments in Human Resource Management – Hard and Soft Versions: The above-mentioned reason is enough to explain so many developments in Human Resource management in recent times. Human Resource Management can be differentiated between hard and soft versions. The followers of hard version treat their employees as one of the inputs in the business and try to utilize them in the best possible way to generate the most profit. For this, they try to reduce cost and try to focus on flexibility techniques. On the other hand, the followers of soft version of Human Resource Management believe employees to be the most precious asset of the organization and they apply different strategies to retain their employees and to make them happy (Armstrong, 2009, p. 5). It would be wrong to say as to which technique is the best. Companies choose a version on Human Resource Management depending upon its core values and company’s philosophies and design their HR strategy according ly. There are companies that apply a combination of both soft and hard versions of Human Resource Management. ... HR professionals would deal with the concerns of the employees as they arise from the employees’ side. However, the view of looking at an HR professional and the span of its roles and responsibilities have changed drastically over time. Now, HR professionals are seen in most organizations as business partners (Hunter, 2006, p. 6). The word â€Å"business† in Business Partners implies a strategic intervention. It refers to something that has to be implemented from the top i.e. designing the strategy. Besides, the term â€Å"partners† refers to working alongside, and at the same level with that of the top management (Charles and Fombrun, 1984 , p. 3). Now, HR professionals sit with the top management, help them, and advise them in designing a company’s strategy and that is where the role of strategic HRM comes into play (Charles and Fombrun, 1984 , p. 3). Once, a company’s strategy is designed then HR strategy is designed keeping in view companyâ€⠄¢s strategy. For example, if company’s business strategy is cost leadership so the culture in the organization would be such that would incentivise its employees on cost-cutting activities and the like (Kenton and Yarnall, 2009, p. 2). This is why, when today one talks about HR professionals, he talks about someone who is working hand in hand with the company in order to implement its strategy from top to bottom, and is thus playing a role of a Business Partner of that company. External Contexts of HRM: Today’s HR professional has to be aware about the key developments in the business or in business’ strategy. Moreover, he also has to be aware about the external context in which the business operates. By external context, we mean a company’s macro environment. This includes socio-cultural,