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Human Resource Management Essay Introduction The new trend in human resource management is strategic human resource management. It is gaining popularity edging out the traditional human resource management. Strategic human resource is critical to the success of any organization because it is management that is tied to achievement of the broader goals and the objectives of the organization. Strategic human resource gives the firm competitive advantage in the industry within which it operates as it boosts the productivity of labor, which is oriented towards the long term, and short-term goals of the organization. In pursuit of strategic human resource management there is an obvious consequence, which is attainment of competitive strategies and improved firm performance. This is so because the essence of strategic management is its ability to influence the employee to develop an attitude that leads the organization into competitive edge and productivity. A firm cannot obtain growth and expansion which strategy that facilitates operations towards the objective. 3.1 Identify a range of HR strategies for an organization There are a range of human resource strategies that are adopted by organizations in order to improve their business performance and their competitive strategies. First and foremost, the organization has resourcing strategy which ensures that the management puts in place proper human resource planning, maintains high retention rate of employees, and harness the immense talents of employees to the betterment of the organization. Secondly, there is the learning and development strategy which aims to give employees platform to engage in further training and career development. The other strategic human resource strategy is reward strategy. This strategy ensures that the employees are paid remuneration which is equal to the effort they put in the organization. Finally there is employee relation strategy which helps to ensure there is good rapport between management and employee. The employee relation strategy is achieved through having various communication channel and sound conflict reso lution mechanisms (Legge, 2005 P.154). 3.2 Assess HR strategies and their application in an organization Each organization exists in a unique industry and it is therefore prudent that each of the human resource strategies are applied uniquely depending on the industry. Industry such as manufacturing and construction industry are such that it is easy to measure employees input by physically looking at the work they have done over a given period of time. It is therefore easier for the management of the organizations in those industries to adopt reward strategy. This strategy ensures that the employees are paid remuneration which is equal to the effort they put in the organization, on the other hand, in most service industry such consultancy services it is not easy to measure employees input since input can only be assessed in terms of clients’ satisfaction (Price, 2011 P.89). Quantify client satisfaction and tying it to pay for employee is therefore almost impossibility. Other strategies are largely uniform across several organizations with only slight differences and hence they ar e applicable across organizations in different industries. 4. Identify contemporary issues affecting strategic human resource management Strategic human resource management is very dynamic and keeps changing because better approaches to the concept are realized frequently. The  dynamism that has characterized strategic human resource is driven by the fact that organizations wants to increase their competitive edge and boost their performance in the organizations within which they operate. The major contemporary issue that influences strategic management is globalization. All firms want to expand and grow into new markets to increase their revenues. In achieving this they must strategically direct the efforts of employees toward this objective. The other contemporary issue is downsizing. Firms usually are operated with profitability incentive they must therefore have cost cut measures to reduce expenses and enhance receipts (Scholes Johnson, 2007 p.69). Downsizing offers the best option to cost cutting because salaries constitute a lion’s share of organizations’ expenses. The management is therefore forced to retrench some its workers in a bid to realize profitability. Automation of systems is yet another contemporary issue affecting organizations’ strategic human resource management. Automation compels organization to ensure that their employees are knowledgeable in as far as technology is concerned. Installing system in organization is not any easy fete to achieve, it involves a lot of costs to procure the software and hardware components for the system. The other challenge is that it is time consuming because a lot of procedures have to be followed in integrating a system to the organization. The most challenging part of a management system is managing the system and its associated risks. The first risk is that the employees who are supposed to be part and parcel of such a system may refuse to embrace because they may not fully understand how such a system would be beneficial to them. The human resource team should therefore rise to the occa sion by finding ways and means of influencing the employees to embrace such system within their ranks (Sharma 2011 p.48). Conclusion . Strategic human resource is critical to the success of any organization because it is management that is tied to achievement of the broader goals and the objectives of the organization. Strategic human resource gives the firm competitive advantage in the industry within which it operates as it boosts the productivity of labor which is oriented towards the long term and short term goals of the organization. In order to achieve this daunting task human resource management is responsible for several strategic functions such as recruitment, motivation of workers, designing job analysis, making of remuneration and other non-financial packages to employees, as well as facilitating staff training and development. References Armstrong, M. Baron, A. (2004) Managing performance: Performance Management in Action. London: CIPD. P.136 Bamberger, P. Meshoulam, H. (2000).Human Resource Strategy: Formulation, Implementation and Impact. Sage Publishers, p.254 Bechet, T. P. (2008). Strategic Staffing: A Comprehensive System for Effective Workforce Planning. New York: AMACOM, p.145 Cox, W. Klinger, E. (2011) Handbook of Motivational Counseling: Goal-Based Approaches to Assessment and Intervention with Addiction and Other Problems, Wiley Sons p.125 Goodstein J. (2009) A Practical Guide to Job Analysis, John Willey and Sons pp. 68 Griffin, W. Moorhead, G. (2011) Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations, Cengage learning, p.32 Henry A. (2008) Understanding Strategic Management, Oxford University Press pp. 51 Legge, K. (2005) Human Resource Management Rhetoric and Realities, London: Palgrave Macmillan, p.154 Price A. (2011) Human Resource Management, Cengage Learning, p.89 Scholes, K. Johnson, G . (2007) Explaining Corporate Strategy, Hempstead: Prentice Hall, p.69 Sharma K. (2011) Human Resource Management: Strategic Approach to Employment, Global India publications p. 48 ASSIGNMNET 2 Executive summary Strategic human resource is critical to the success of any organization because it is management that is tied to achievement of the broader goals and the objectives of the organization. The report analyses how British Airways has adopted different strategies in strategic human resource management to achieve competitive strategies and improved firm performance. The reports also put into perspective the impact of merger between British Airways and Iberia on strategic HRM at British Airways Overview of British Airways The company commenced business in the 1974 after the successful merger of BOAC and BEA. It was owned by the state until 1987 when it undergone privatization. Up to date British Airways is the leading airline is UK flying over 400 destinations across the world through both its freight and passenger business. The company decided to merge with Iberia a Spanish Airline in order to produce synergies and as cost cutting measure through economies of scale. Task 1: Human resource strategies and their application to British Airways There are a range of human resource strategies that are adopted by British Airways in order to improve their business performance and their competitive strategies. First and foremost, the organization has resourcing strategy which ensures that the management puts in place proper human resource planning, maintains high retention rate of employees, and harness the immense talents of employees to the betterment of the airline. Learning and development strategy which aims to give employees platform to engage in further training and career development is equally applicable to British Airways. Several roles at the airline such as pilot and aeronautical engineer require immense skills and experience and as such the strategy ensures that employees attain this standard (Scholes Johnson, 2007 p.69). The other strategic human resource strategy applicable to British Airways is reward strategy. This strategy ensures that the employees are paid remuneration which is equal to the effort they put in the organization. By adopting this reward strategy employees at British Airways are driven by reward incentive to increase their productivity consequently earning the airline more business performance in terms of profitability and revenues. Finally there is employee relation strategy which helps to ensure there is good rapport between management and employee. British Airways can achieve employee relation strategy through having various communication channel and sound conflict resolution mechanisms. Task 2: Impact of merger between British Airways and Iberia on strategic HRM at British Airways The merger between British Airways and Iberia has had tremendous impact on strategic human resource management of British Airways. The merger was driven by the fact that organizations wants to increase their competitive edge and boost their performance in the organizations within which they operate. Through the merger the Airline hoped to increase its global presence by increasing its flights to the over 400 dest inations that it had before the merger. Globalization through merging with Iberia ensures that the airline now under the holding company, International Airlines Group (IAG) expands and grows  into new markets to increase its revenues. In achieving this they must strategically direct the efforts of employees toward this objective. The other impact of the merger is downsizing. (Henry, 2008 p.51) says that downsizing offers the best option to cost cutting because salaries constitute a lion’s share of organizations’ expenses. The management is therefore forced to retrench some its workers in a bid to realize profitability. British Airline after the merger embarked on an elaborate cost cutting measure; this involved reducing their costs by a whopping  £400 million in five years, one major way of achieving this would involve downsizing the workforce. The other impact of the merger is that the business adopted a new model. Installing system in organization is not any easy fete to achieve, it involves a lot of costs to procure the software and hardware components for the system. The most challenging part of a management system is managing the system and its associated risks. The first risk is that the employees who are supposed to be part and parcel of such a system may refuse to embrace because they may not fully understand how such a system would be beneficial to them (Armstrong Baron, 2004 p.123). The human resource team should therefore rise to the occasion by finding ways and means of influencing the employees to embrace such system within their ranks. The management of the International Airlines Group (IAG) decided to train 900 of British Airways staff and 4000 of Iberia staff on various aspect of this new business model Conclusion International Airlines Group (IAG) has no choice but to restructure its human capital by implementing the strategic needs of this factor of production to allow the firm a competitive edge in the industry. The management of IAG needs to integrate all the strategies of strategic human resource management to ensure that the employees are influenced towards achieving the strategic needs of the merger. The merger despite the challenges promises better gains for the holding company in terms of increased profitability and efficiency n operations. References Armstrong, M. Baron, A. (2004) Managing performance: Performance Management in Action. London: CIPD. P.123 Henry A. (2008) Understanding Strategic Management, Oxford University Press pp. 51 Scholes, K. Johnson, G. (2007) Explaining Corporate Strategy, Hempstead: Prentice Hal, p.69