HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE - Fichier PDF

Human resource management ❚ 13The strategic nature of HRMPerhaps the most significant feature of HRM is the importance attached to strategicintegration, which flows from top management’s vision and leadership, and whichrequires the full commitment of people to it. Guest (1987, 1989a, 1989b, 1991) believesthat this is a key policy goal for HRM, which is concerned with the ability of the organizationto integrate HRM issues into its strategic plans, to ensure that the variousaspects of HRM cohere, and to encourage line managers to incorporate an HRMperspective into their decision-making.Legge (1989) considers that one of the common themes of the typical definitions ofHRM is that human resource policies should be integrated with strategic businessplanning. Sisson (1990) suggests that a feature increasingly associated with HRM is astress on the integration of HR policies both with one another and with business planningmore generally.Storey (1989) suggests that: ‘The concept locates HRM policy formulation firmly atthe strategic level and insists that a characteristic of HRM is its internally coherentapproach.’The commitment-oriented nature of HRMThe importance of commitment and mutuality was emphasized by Walton (1985a) asfollows:The new HRM model is composed of policies that promote mutuality – mutual goals,mutual influence, mutual respect, mutual rewards, and mutual responsibility. The theoryis that policies of mutuality will elicit commitment, which in turn will yield both bettereconomic performance and greater human development.Guest (1987) wrote that one of the HRM policy goals was the achievement of highcommitment – ‘behavioural commitment to pursue agreed goals, and attitudinalcommitment reflected in a strong identification with the enterprise’.It was noted by Legge (1995) that human resources ‘may be tapped most effectivelyby mutually consistent policies that promote commitment and which, as a consequence,foster a willingness in employees to act flexibly in the interests of the “adaptiveorganization’s” pursuit of excellence’.But this emphasis on commitment has been criticized from the earliest days ofHRM. Guest (1987) asked: ‘commitment to what?’ and Fowler (1987) has stated:At the heart of the concept is the complete identification of employees with the aims andvalues of the business – employee involvement but on the company’s terms. Power in