THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER Contents1. SHR.docx

THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGER
Contents
1. SHRM in action
Listen
For employer and employee alike, "change" and "uncertainty"
appear much more frequently in descriptions of today's work
environment. This developing complexity has facilitated a shift
in the importance of human resources management (HRM)
functions. This article probes some recent developments and
future workplace changes of which HRM professionals should
be aware.
Organizations need individuals with new kinds of technical
knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics (KSAOCs)
-- people who are flexible and willing to deal with rapid and
unstructured changes. As a result, public and nonprofit
organizations must think more strategically than ever before.
and they must translate their insights into effective strategies
for meeting future challenges. Given the complexity of change
in the workplace, human resource professionals, more than ever,
need to be a part of the planning process.
Strategic planning and human resources management activities
must become integrated and work together so agencies can
confront impending challenges and change. Human resource
management departments must become linked with the strategy
of the organization and HRM activities integrated as part of
their everyday work by line managers and employees.
Traditionally, managers and employees see FIRM departments
merely as regulators and enforcers, more concerned with
compliance with rules and regulations, but not as partners
working in sync with them. Line managers typically view
personnel specialists as obstructionists, while personnel
specialists see line managers as uncooperative, uninterested,
antagonistic to merit principles. At no level of government are

HRM departments perceived as being integrated into the
strategic planning process and policy development.
An element of the strategic planning process frequently
overlooked is that achieving goals and objectives absolutely
requires an accurate assessment of current staff KSAOCs.
Traditional HRM kicks in after agencies have developed their
basic missions and strategic objectives. Management seldom
considers the talents and capabilities of its present staff nor
considers the availability of new hires when establishing
strategic plans. As a result, HRM departments and line
managers are forced to react to the strategic plans instead of
taking proactive postures.
In other words, don't plan on agency strategic decision makers
suddenly opening up their doors to HRM department input.
HRM departments need to expand their scope of activities
beyond being just, functional specialists concerned with
staffing, evaluation, training and compensation. They need to
educate themselves about how the organization can be more
competitive and effective. By soliciting ideas from employees
and managers and by listening to their concerns, HRM
departments can become valuable members of the management
team. HRM specialists should be team players working with line
managers to identify such employees. Together they can
identify more readily any political, technological, financial and
social changes affecting the organization and assist current
employees in adapting to those changes.
Organizational objectives should be formulated after relevant
data on the quantity and potential of available human resources
have been reviewed. Are there human resources available for
short and long term objectives? Do the skills required to get the
agency through the long term differ from those required to get
the agency through the next pay period? The answer to
questions like these requires a more sophisticated approach to
needs assessment as well as a much enhanced understanding of
the agency's overall mission.
To compete, organizations must be able to anticipate, influence

and manage the forces that impact their ability to remain
competitive. In the service sector, this means their human
resource capabilities. All too often, agencies rely on short-term
service requirements to direct their HRM policies and practices.
Little thought was given to long term implications. By invoking
Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM), agencies are
better able to match their human resource requirements with the
demands of the market and the needs of the organization. The
human resource focus is not just on individual employee issues
but instead becomes integrated in the organization's strategy. It
becomes part of the visionary process.
Strategic human resources management recognizes the role that
employees play in contributing to an organization's success. It
becomes part of the strategic planning and policy development
process guiding and supporting agency efforts as attempts are
made to meet the demands imposed upon it from its external and
internal environments. SHRM is driven by an organization's
strategy instead of its functional or administrative activities
(Perry, 1993a).
However, asserting HRM into the strategic planning process
involves compromise. HRM professionals should be sensitive to
the fact that an HRM seat at the planning table might mean new
seats at the HRM table, which is okay. They should be partners
in the design of staffing requirements, identifying employee
development needs and career opportunities, developing benefit
packages and evaluation instruments. HRM specialists need to
be connected to and knowledgeable about organizational
objectives and be perceived as credible by line managers.
Public sector organizations often have a crisis orientation rather
than a strategic focus. Public agencies often cope with changes
rather than plan for them. Human resource planning is a way to
develop a strategic approach to prevent problems. Agencies
need to anticipate their personnel requirements so that they are
prepared to deal with changing situations. Strategic human
resource management forces managers to identify future
organizational needs, review the supply and demand of skills

readily available in the organization and workforce; and can
assist in the development of programs. An immediate outcome
in strategic human resource planning could be a shift from
reactive to assertive organizations. A critical component of
SHRM is human resource planning. Human resource planning is
the process of analyzing and identifying the need for and
availability of the human resources required for the agency to
meet its objectives. Forecasting is used to assess past trends,
evaluate the present situation and project future events.
Forecasting and planning complement one another because
forecasts identify the best available expectations while plans
establish future goals and objectives.
Agencies must consider the allocation of people to jobs over
long periods of time. Attempts must be made to anticipate any
expansions or reductions in programs or changes that may affect
the organization. Based on the analyses, plans can be made for
the recruitment and selection of new employees, shifting
employees to different programs or units, or retraining
incumbent employees. Forecasting human resource requirements
involves determining the number and types of employees needed
by skill level. To be able to forecast the supply and demand of
human resources, agencies need to audit the skills of incumbent
employees and determine their capabilities and weaknesses.
Positions must also be audited. In most organizations there are
likely to be jobs that are vulnerable, ready to be replaced by
technology or reengineering. Job analyses must be conducted to
provide information on existing jobs. The basic requirements of
a job should be defined and converted to job specifications that
specify the minimum KSAOCs necessary for effective
performance. The skill requirements of positions do change, any
changes that occur must be monitored and reflected in the job
specifications.
It is not enough to monitor changes in positions, organizations
must also keep abreast of the skills that their employees
possess. Human resource planning uses data inventories to
integrate the planning and utilization functions of SHRM. Data

inventories compile summary information such as the
characteristics of employees, the distribution of employees by
position, employee performance and career objectives. Specific
data that are typically catalogued include age, education, career
path., current skills, work experience, aspirations, performance
evaluations, years with organization, and jobs qualified for.
Expected vacancies due to retirement, promotion, transfers, sick
leave, relocation, or terminations are also monitored. Using a
computerized human resource information system (HRIS) to
compile this data makes the retrieval of this information readily
available for forecasting human resource needs.
Some helpful literature on the subject of strategic HRM
includes
Bryson, J. M. (1995). Strategic planning for public and
nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining
organizational achievement. (Revised Edition). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Oppenheimer, M., & Palguta, J. M. (1993). Reinventing public
personnel management? Introduction to Forum. The Public
Manager, 22, 7-9.
Ospina, S. (1992). When managers don't plan: Consequences of
non-strategic public personnel management. Review of Public
Personnel Management, 12, 52-67.
Perry, J. L. (1993a). Strategic human resources management.
Review of Public Personnel Administration, 13, 59-71.
Perry, J. L. (1993b). Transforming the federal civil service. The
Public Manager, 22, 14-16.
Pynes, Joan (1997)Human Resources Management for Public
and Nonprofit Organizations. Jossey Bass.
Shuler, R. S. (1990). Strategic human resources management:
Liking the people with the strategic needs of the business.
Organizational Dynamics, 21, 1832.
SHRM in action
An example of strategic human resources management in action
is the case of Places for People. Places for People is a St.
Louis-based nonprofit organization that provides various kinds

of rehabilitative support for mentally ill people.
Since its inception in 1972, the program has expanded a number
of times to include even more services, such as a psychosocial
rehabilitation center and a group home.
In 1992, the organization underwent a strategic planning
process. Because each new program had its own staff, director,
and policies, the presence of human resource professionals at
the table proved extremely valuable.
As well, human resource professionals were able to help address
a number of personnel issues that came to light during the
planning efforts. Among them, employees did not feel involved
in the agency or a sense of ownership in the success of the
organization.
After an internal evaluation that included a focus group, some
controversial changes were implemented. For example, staff are
no longer divided along programmatic lines, and everyone is
involved in providing the full range of services, including
treatment planning, resource management, assistance in the
activities of daily living, social skills, substance abuse
education, budgeting, and advocacy.
Clearly, such far reaching changes would not be possible
without the input and support of the human resources team.
~~~~~~~~
By Joan E. Pynes
INSTRUCTIONS:
For this assignment, you are to read a primary source related to
the content of the lecture in this module. Upon completion of
the reading, you will need to complete a reading response
journal. Reading response journals provide opportunities to
practice understanding and evaluation of philosophical

conceptions of the good life we consider in the course; these
opportunities, along with feedback received, will prepare you
for the analysis and evaluation component of the final project.
After reading "The Value of Philosophy" reflect on the ideas,
arguments, conceptions, and perspectives Russell offers.
Consider one of them that you find intriguing, compelling, or
important to your understanding of the reading. In doing so,
ponder the specific reasons for why you find it intriguing,
compelling, or important. Possible considerations to
contemplate is the strength of an argument in terms of its
validity, its truthfulness in terms of evidence that can support it,
its coherence with other ideas presented in the reading, its
relatability to your own life (especially the specific values and
beliefs you hold--not just a story about how one time...), and
how it compares with other philosophical perspectives you have
encountered elsewhere. Be sure to explain the argument you
choose, define philosophical concepts that you use, and provide
examples to support your points. Your explanation should
include textual support with citations; any citation style can be
used so long as the page number of the quote or paraphrase is
provided. To earn full credit and have appropriate philosophical
depth, your response should be approximately 400 words.

Bertrand Russell, Problems of Philosophy
CHAPTER XV
THE VALUE OF PHILOSOPHY
HAVING now come to the end of our brief and very incomplete
review of the problems
of philosophy, it will be well to consider, in conclusion, what is
the value of philosophy
and why it ought to be studied. It is the more necessary to
consider this question, in view
of the fact that many men, under the influence of science or of
practical affairs, are
inclined to doubt whether philosophy is anything better than
innocent but useless trifling,
hair-splitting distinctions, and controversies on matters
concerning which knowledge is
impossible.
This view of philosophy appears to result, partly from a wrong
conception of the ends of
life, partly from a wrong conception of the kind of goods which
philosophy strives to
achieve. Physical science, through the medium of inventions, is
useful to innumerable
people who are wholly ignorant of it; thus the study of physical
science is to be
recommended, not only, or primarily, because of the effect on
the student, but rather
because of the effect on mankind in general. Thus utility does
not belong to philosophy.
If the study of philosophy has any value at all for others than
students of philosophy, it
must be only indirectly, through its effects upon the lives of

those who study it. It is in
these effects, therefore, if anywhere, that the value of
philosophy must be primarily
sought.
But further, if we are not to fail in our endeavour to determine
the value of philosophy,
we must first free our minds from the prejudices of what are
wrongly called 'practical'
men. The 'practical' man, as this word is often used, is one who
recognizes only material
needs, who realizes that men must have food for the body, but is
oblivious of the
necessity of providing food for the mind. If all men were well
off, if poverty and disease
had been reduced to their lowest possible point, there would
still remain much to be done
to produce a valuable society; and even in the existing world the
goods of the mind are at
least as important as the goods of the body. It is exclusively
among the goods of the mind
that the value of philosophy is to be found; and only those who
are not indifferent to
these goods can be persuaded that the study of philosophy is not
a waste of time.
Philosophy, like all other studies, aims primarily at knowledge.
The knowledge it aims at
is the kind of knowledge which gives unity and system to the
body of the sciences, and
the kind which results from a critical examination of the
grounds of our convictions,
prejudices, and beliefs. But it cannot be maintained that
philosophy has had any very
great measure of success in its attempts to provide definite
answers to its questions. If

you ask a mathematician, a mineralogist, a historian, or any
other man of learning, what
definite body of truths has been ascertained by his science, his
answer will last as long as
you are willing to listen. But if you put the same question to a
philosopher, he will, if he
is candid, have to confess that his study has not achieved
positive results such as have
been achieved by other sciences. It is true that this is partly
accounted for by the fact that,
as soon as definite knowledge concerning any subject becomes
possible, this subject
ceases to be called philosophy, and becomes a separate science.
The whole study of the
heavens, which now belongs to astronomy, was once included in
philosophy; Newton's
great work was called 'the mathematical principles of natural
philosophy'. Similarly, the
study of the human mind, which was a part of philosophy, has
now been separated from
philosophy and has become the science of psychology. Thus, to
a great extent, the
uncertainty of philosophy is more apparent than real: those
questions which are already
capable of definite answers are placed in the sciences, while
those only to which, at
present, no definite answer can be given, remain to form the
residue which is called
philosophy.
This is, however, only a part of the truth concerning the
uncertainty of philosophy. There
are many questions -- and among them those that are of the

profoundest interest to our
spiritual life -- which, so far as we can see, must remain
insoluble to the human intellect
unless its powers become of quite a different order from what
they are now. Has the
universe any unity of plan or purpose, or is it a fortuitous
concourse of atoms? Is
consciousness a permanent part of the universe, giving hope of
indefinite growth in
wisdom, or is it a transitory accident on a small planet on which
life must ultimately
become impossible? Are good and evil of importance to the
universe or only to man?
Such questions are asked by philosophy, and variously answered
by various philosophers.
But it would seem that, whether answers be otherwise
discoverable or not, the answers
suggested by philosophy are none of them demonstrably true.
Yet, however slight may be
the hope of discovering an answer, it is part of the business of
philosophy to continue the
consideration of such questions, to make us aware of their
importance, to examine all the
approaches to them, and to keep alive that speculative interest
in the universe which is apt
to be killed by confining ourselves to definitely ascertainable
knowledge.
Many philosophers, it is true, have held that philosophy could
establish the truth of
certain answers to such fundamental questions. They have
supposed that what is of most
importance in religious beliefs could be proved by strict
demonstration to be true. In
order to judge of such attempts, it is necessary to take a survey
of human knowledge, and

to form an opinion as to its methods and its limitations. On such
a subject it would be
unwise to pronounce dogmatically; but if the investigations of
our previous chapters have
not led us astray, we shall be compelled to renounce the hope of
finding philosophical
proofs of religious beliefs. We cannot, therefore, include as part
of the value of
philosophy any definite set of answers to such questions. Hence,
once more, the value of
philosophy must not depend upon any supposed body of
definitely ascertainable
knowledge to be acquired by those who study it.
The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its
very uncertainty. The man
who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned
in the prejudices derived
from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his
nation, and from
convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-
operation or consent of his
deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become
definite, finite, obvious;
common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities
are contemptuously
rejected. As soon as we begin to philosophize, on the contrary,
we find, as we saw in our
opening chapters, that even the most everyday things lead to
problems to which only very
incomplete answers can be given. Philosophy, though unable to
tell us with certainty
what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to

suggest many possibilities
which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of
custom. Thus, while
diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it
greatly increases our
knowledge as to what they may be; it removes the somewhat
arrogant dogmatism of
those who have never travelled into the region of liberating
doubt, and it keeps alive our
sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar
aspect.
Apart from its utility in showing unsuspected possibilities,
philosophy has a value --
perhaps its chief value -- through the greatness of the objects
which it contemplates, and
the freedom from narrow and personal aims resulting from this
contemplation. The life of
the instinctive man is shut up within the circle of his private
interests: family and friends
may be included, but the outer world is not regarded except as it
may help or hinder what
comes within the circle of instinctive wishes. In such a life
there is something feverish
and confined, in comparison with which the philosophic life is
calm and free. The private
world of instinctive interests is a small one, set in the midst of a
great and powerful world
which must, sooner or later, lay our private world in ruins.
Unless we can so enlarge our
interests as to include the whole outer world, we remain like a
garrison in a beleagured
fortress, knowing that the enemy prevents escape and that
ultimate surrender is
inevitable. In such a life there is no peace, but a constant strife
between the insistence of

desire and the powerlessness of will. In one way or another, if
our life is to be great and
free, we must escape this prison and this strife.
One way of escape is by philosophic contemplation. Philosophic
contemplation does not,
in its widest survey, divide the universe into two hostile camps
-- friends and foes,
helpful and hostile, good and bad -- it views the whole
impartially. Philosophic
contemplation, when it is unalloyed, does not aim at proving
that the rest of the universe
is akin to man. All acquisition of knowledge is an enlargement
of the Self, but this
enlargement is best attained when it is not directly sought. It is
obtained when the desire
for knowledge is alone operative, by a study which does not
wish in advance that its
objects should have this or that character, but adapts the Self to
the characters which it
finds in its objects. This enlargement of Self is not obtained
when, taking the Self as it is,
we try to show that the world is so similar to this Self that
knowledge of it is possible
without any admission of what seems alien. The desire to prove
this is a form of self-
assertion and, like all self-assertion, it is an obstacle to the
growth of Self which it
desires, and of which the Self knows that it is capable. Self-
assertion, in philosophic
speculation as elsewhere, views the world as a means to its own
ends; thus it makes the
world of less account than Self, and the Self sets bounds to the
greatness of its goods. In
contemplation, on the contrary, we start from the not-Self, and
through its greatness the

boundaries of Self are enlarged; through the infinity of the
universe the mind which
contemplates it achieves some share in infinity.
For this reason greatness of soul is not fostered by those
philosophies which assimilate
the universe to Man. Knowledge is a form of union of Self and
not-Self; like all union, it
is impaired by dominion, and therefore by any attempt to force
the universe into
conformity with what we find in ourselves. There is a
widespread philosophical tendency
towards the view which tells us that Man is the measure of all
things, that truth is man-
made, that space and time and the world of universals are
properties of the mind, and
that, if there be anything not created by the mind, it is
unknowable and of no account for
us. This view, if our previous discussions were correct, is
untrue; but in addition to being
untrue, it has the effect of robbing philosophic contemplation of
all that gives it value,
since it fetters contemplation to Self. What it calls knowledge is
not a union with the not-
Self, but a set of prejudices, habits, and desires, making an
impenetrable veil between us
and the world beyond. The man who finds pleasure in such a
theory of knowledge is like
the man who never leaves the domestic circle for fear his word
might not be law.
The true philosophic contemplation, on the contrary, finds its
satisfaction in every

enlargement of the not-Self, in everything that magnifies the
objects contemplated, and
thereby the subject contemplating. Everything, in
contemplation, that is personal or
private, everything that depends upon habit, self-interest, or
desire, distorts the object,
and hence impairs the union which the intellect seeks. By thus
making a barrier between
subject and object, such personal and private things become a
prison to the intellect. The
free intellect will see as God might see, without a here and now,
without hopes and fears,
without the trammels of customary beliefs and traditional
prejudices, calmly,
dispassionately, in the sole and exclusive desire of knowledge --
knowledge as
impersonal, as purely contemplative, as it is possible for man to
attain. Hence also the
free intellect will value more the abstract and universal
knowledge into which the
accidents of private history do not enter, than the knowledge
brought by the senses, and
dependent, as such knowledge must be, upon an exclusive and
personal point of view and
a body whose sense-organs distort as much as they reveal.
The mind which has become accustomed to the freedom and
impartiality of philosophic
contemplation will preserve something of the same freedom and
impartiality in the world
of action and emotion. It will view its purposes and desires as
parts of the whole, with the
absence of insistence that results from seeing them as
infinitesimal fragments in a world
of which all the rest is unaffected by any one man's deeds. The
impartiality which, in

contemplation, is the unalloyed desire for truth, is the very
same quality of mind which,
in action, is justice, and in emotion is that universal love which
can be given to all, and
not only to those who are judged useful or admirable. Thus
contemplation enlarges not
only the objects of our thoughts, but also the objects of our
actions and our affections: it
makes us citizens of the universe, not only of one walled city at
war with all the rest. In
this citizenship of the universe consists man's true freedom, and
his liberation from the
thraldom of narrow hopes and fears.
Thus, to sum up our discussion of the value of philosophy;
Philosophy is to be studied,
not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions since no
definite answers can, as a
rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the
questions themselves; because
these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible,
enrich our intellectual
imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes
the mind against
speculation; but above all because, through the greatness of the
universe which
philosophy contemplates, the mind also is rendered great, and
becomes capable of that
union with the universe which constitutes its highest good.

Since the formal advent of the field of Strategic Human
Resource Management (HRM), probably with the publication of
Devanna, Fombrum & Tichy's (1981) article titled "Human
Resources Management: A Strategic Perspective," academics,
consultants, and executives have assumed the need to "fit" HR
to the strategy of the firm. Even prior to this article, authors
such as Walker (1978) called for a better link between business
planning (though not specifically strategy) and human resource
planning. In fact, in large part, this need to find ways to fit HR
to the strategy of the firm formed the foundation for the
creation of The Human Resource Planning Society (Dyer,
personal communication).
The basic theory behind "fit" is that the effectiveness of any HR
practice or set of practices for impacting firm performance
depends upon the firm's strategy (or conversely, the
effectiveness of any strategy depends upon having the right HR
practices). Academic definitions and theories of Strategic HRM
clearly emphasize the link between HR and strategy (c.f.
Fombrum, Tichy & Devanna, 1984; Ulrich, 1998; Wright &
McMahan, 1992). Consulting models emphasize the need for
congruence between HR and strategy, and HR executives spend
a large part of their time trying to ensure an alignment between
HR and strategy. Given the assumption of a need for a link and
the preoccupation with attempting to develop it, one would
think that the efficacy of fit between HR and strategy has found
overwhelming empirical support. Think again.
Over 10 years ago, after reviewing the earliest Strategic HRM
research, Lengnick-Hall and Lengnick-Hall (1988: 468)
concluded, "There is little empirical evidence to suggest that
strategic HR directly influences organizational performance or
competitive advantage." In 1995 Dyer and Reeves reviewed four
studies of the effects of "bundling" HR practices on firm
performance and stated that there was "no convincing evidence
that more effective HRM practices are those that fit the business
strategy." Gerhart, Trevor, and Graham (1996) argued that there

was little empirical evidence supporting the value of achieving
synergy between strategy and HR practices. Both Delery and
Doty (1996) and Huselid (1995) found much more support for a
best practices approach (high-performance HR practices that are
related to performance regardless of strategy) than for the
benefit of fitting practices to strategy. Finally, Wright and Snell
(1998) recently reviewed all of the studies attempting to
demonstrate that fit between HR and strategy resulted in
increased firm performance. They found that while some studies
provided minor support for the efficacy of fit, overall the
results were far from conclusive.
Reviews such as these have led to the question of whether, in
fact, fitting HR to strategy really matters. For example, while
Becker and Gerhart (1996) found considerable evidence that HR
practices were related to firm performance, little evidence
existed that these relationships were contingent on strategy.
Pfeffer (1994; 1998), after reviewing the lack of empirical
evidence in support of fitting HR and strategy, concluded that
there is a set of HR practices that, if properly implemented, will
universally positively impact performance across all strategies.
If we stop now, one might conclude that the Strategy-HR fit
model is outdated, and that we can go back to developing the
best in HR practices without the tiresome burden of trying to
understand the business. However, this results in two problems.
First, from a practical perspective, try telling your CEO that
your HR systems do not need to be tied to the firm's strategy
and see how long your employment lasts. Second, from a
theoretical/empirical perspective, just because those of us in
academe have failed to prove something true in no way makes it
false. An old scientist friend used to advise, "If the facts don't
fit the theory, fix the facts." This describes the recent work on
fit in Strategic HRM.
Becker and Gerhart (1996) provide the first step toward
understanding how to begin fixing the facts. In addition, recent
examinations by Wright and Sherman (forthcoming) and Delery
(forthcoming) have further clarified how the level of abstraction

at which HR is conceptualized helps in creating an
"architectural" approach to reconciling the best practice vs. fit
debate. Becker and Gerhart proposed that the system
architecture forms the highest level abstraction, and consists of
the guiding principles. For example, IBM's move from an
"entitlement" culture to a "performance" culture implied a
change in the guiding principles for the development of HR
systems toward ones that reward performance. Notice that at
this level of abstraction, little reason exists for thinking that the
effectiveness of such principles might vary across strategies.
At the next level of abstraction one finds the policy alternatives
- in essence, the different techniques or practices through which
the guiding principles can be promoted. So if the firm seeks to
develop a performance culture through rewarding performance,
it has a plethora of incentive mechanisms available for
achieving this. The system could include stock options, merit
pay, performance bonuses, piece-rate pay, gainsharing, profit
sharing, etc., or any combination of these. At this level of
abstraction, one sees how fit with strategy might take on
importance. For example, if a firm is strategically seeking fast
growth, then stock options might be more beneficial than simple
merit pay.
The next level of abstraction might be referred to as the
"product" level. This refers to the immediate product the HR
practices aim to produce. For example, Wright and Sherman
(forthcoming) note that a policy alternative of incentive pay
may differ by the aspect of performance to which the pay is
tied: One could use bonuses to produce cost cutting (if the finn
is competing on cost), new product development or innovation
(if the firm is competing via differentiation), or revenue growth
(for a firm seeking growth). Similarly, most competency-based
models of leadership depict this level of abstraction. For
example, Debbie Smith, SVP of HR at Merck, noted that the
company sought to identify the competencies Merck would need
in its leaders given the firm's strategies for the next five to 10
years. The company then developed HR systems aimed at

producing those competencies among its existing executives and
high potentials. Thus, at this level, a strong need to tie HR to
strategy exists.
Finally, Becker and Gerhart (1996) identify practice-process as
the lowest level of abstraction. This level refers to the best-in-
class implementation and/or technique of the principles,
practices, and product systems. For example, a firm might seek
to create a performance culture (principle) by instituting a
bonus plan (policy alternative) to promote innovation (product).
However, the plan might fail because of a lack of good
measures of innovation, or because the plan is not supported by
other HR practices (e.g., other reward practices promote cost
cutting, or training and staffing systems do not result in the firm
having innovative people - this issue of internal fit will be left
for a future article).
This architecture approach provides insight as to the lack of
empirical support for fit. Most research testing the "fit" effect
has used measures of HR that are at the guiding principle level
of abstraction. These measures might ask firm respondents to
indicate the percentage of employees who are covered by
performance-based pay, are given formal performance
appraisals, are hired with valid selection systems, or are
provided with more than 40 hours of training each year. Readers
of this journal probably agree that such practices, if
implemented correctly, will benefit organizations regardless of
the strategy. Thus, one should hardly find results failing to
support the need to fit such practices to strategy surprising.
So, how will the facts be fixed in the future? Becker and
Gerhart (1996) called for Strategic HRM researchers to bear
such distinctions in mind in future research. More specifically,
Wright and Sherman (forthcoming) called for researchers to
develop better theoretical models for how different strategies
might imply differences in HR, and then to be much more
specific in their development of the measures of HR. For
example, they argued moving from simple measures of
performance-based pay to assessing the aspects of performance

to which pay is tied. Also, Delery (forthcoming) advocated the
development of more valid measures of HR practices, paying
significant attention to the level of abstraction at which these
practices should be measured given the specific research
question.
Thus, while empirically, the jury might still be out on research
demonstrating conclusively the need to fit HR practices to the
strategy of the business, considerable theoretical and practical
evidence exists for making such a link. Given the considerable
attention paid to the critical examination of past research and
calls for refining future measures, our empirical knowledge base
should soon achieve much more consistency with our theoretical
and practical beliefs.
References
Becker, B. & Gerhart, B. 1996. "The Impact of Human Resource
Management on Organizational Performance: Progress and
Prospects." Academy of Management Journal, 39: 779-801.
Delery, J. Forthcoming. "Issues of Fit in Strategic Human
Resource Management: Implications for Research." Human
Resource Management Review.
Delery, J. & Doty, H. 1996. "Modes of Theorizing in Strategic
Human Resource Management: Tests of Universalistic,
Contingency, and Configurational Performance Predictions."
Academy of Management Journal, 39: 802-835.
Dyer, L. Personal communication, November 19, 1998.
Devanna, M., Fombrum, C. & Tichy, N. 1981. "Human
Resources Management: A Strategic Perspective."
Organizational Dynamics, Winter: 51-67.
Gerhart, B., Trevor, C. & Graham, M. 1996. "New Directions in
Employee Compensation Research." In G.R. Ferris (Ed.)
Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, Vol.
14, 143-204. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Huselid, M. 1995. "The Impact of Human Resource Management
Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial
Performance." Academy of Management Journal, 38: 635-672.
Pfeffer, J. 1994. Competitive Advantage Through People.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Pfeffer, J. 1998. The Human Equation. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard Business School Press.
Walker, J. 1978. "Linking Human Resource Planning and
Strategic Planning." Human Resource Planning, Vol. 1.1: 1-18.
Wright, P., & Sherman, S. Forthcoming. "Failing to Find Fit in
Strategic Human Resource Management: Theoretical and
Empirical Problems." P. Wright, L. Dyer, J. Boudreau & G.
Milkovich (Eds.) Research in Personnel and Human Resource
Management: Supplement. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Wright, P., & Snell, S. 1998. "Toward a Unifying Framework
for Exploring Fit and Flexibility in Strategic Human Resource
Management," Academy of Management Review, 23: 756-772.
Ulrich, D. 1998. Human Resource Champions. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard Business School Press.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Wright, Patrick M. "Strategy - HR fit: does it really matter?"
Human Resource Planning, Dec. 1998, p. 56+. Academic
OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A54035902/AONE?u=oran9
5108&sid=AONE&xid=60cdb941. Accessed 2 Oct. 2018.
Employee safety a necessary consideration

Hotel Management.
230.9 (July 2015): p85.
Copyright:
COPYRIGHT 2015 Questex, LLC
http://www.hotelmanagement.net/hotel-
management
Full Text:
Operators are always very concerned with guest safety, but the
safety of a hotel's employees also must be taken under
consideration.
Since the best way to keep employees safe at night is to keep
them inside the
property as much as possible, John Porior, president of WHG
Companies, said
to make sure all garbage bins are emptied before dark and to
have employees

watch each other walk to their cars or other forms of
transportation during
shift changes.
Martin Flaherty, corporate director of maintenance at Coakley
& Williams, suggests hotels hold monthly safety meetings with
staff, and
to form an on-property safety committee. Staff should be
trained on how to
deal with intoxicated guests at bars, and should always call
management or
the authorities when dealing with belligerent guests.
"As a hotel, you want to develop a relationship with the
local police, have them visit regularly to inspect the buildings
and keep
managers that know them," Flaherty said.
According to Margaret Leon, operations director for Driftwood
Hospitality Management, personal safety for staff is a major
topic in the
industry. Roughly one year ago, Driftwood enacted a new
housekeeping cart
policy to protect housekeeping staff as they clean rooms,
whereby the carts
are now used to clean while staff operates in a closed
guestroom, as opposed
to with the door open.
"This takes away the possibility of an associate being
trapped in a guestroom by a guest or visitor," Leon said.
"Topics
like data security are stealing the headlines, but personal safety
in hotels
is a major topic. Housekeeping can be operating on a floor
during the day

when there is not a lot of activity, and there is a lot of
opportunity for
exposure there. It's important for associates to feel safe, and we
think
this new rule change helps with that."
[email protected]
Caption: The lobby bar is an area where staff should be trained
in
safety, from wet floors due to spilled drinks to angry guests.
----------
Please note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright
restrictions.
Source Citation
(MLA 8th Edition)
"Employee safety a necessary
consideration." Hotel Management, July 2015, p. 85. Academic
OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.ed
u/apps/doc/A431533457/AONE?u=oran95108&sid=AONE&xid=

0e5d76a5. Accessed 2 Oct. 2018.
Gale Document Number:
GALE|A431533457

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