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At present then, the contribution of HRM in improving a firm’s performance and in the overall

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At present then, the contribution of HRM in improving a firm’s performance and in the overall success of any organisation (alongside other factors) is being highlighted in the literature (see e.g. Guest, 1997; Schuler and Jackson, 2005; 2007).

The main aim for now would be to define the HRM. First of all, Stephen Bach noticed that decade ago people have argued about the definition of HRM, it happened due to the fact that people have not had the knowledge in this area as it is now. In Managing Human Resources: Personnel Management in Transition, Stephen Bach (2005:3). However, Bach (p.4) shows that the debate has not finished because he disagreed with Boxall and Purcell's (2003:1) statement that HRM is about: "... all those activities …show more content…

So, the main idea of the strategic model is to perform the operational function between a company and workers. This model sees employees as a factor in the production process. Employees are considered passive and treated as numbers and skills that need to be deployed at the right price (Legge, 1995, p.66-67). Hard HRM is as calculative and tough minded as any other branch of management, communicating through the tough language of business and economics. The hard HRM approach is quite similar to scientific management because employees are reduced to passive objects that are not prized as a whole people but estimated on whether they have the skills or attributes that is needed for company (Legge, 1995; Vaughan, 1994; Storey, 1987; Drucker et al, 1996; Keenoy, 1990).For example, hard HRM employ only those that suit them (e.g. they have appropriate skill or attributes). After hiring process, HRM creates trainings to help the employees adapt to the company. The best example is employees in McDonald’s. McDonald’s does not give any opportunity to develop personality. The idea of working in a McDonald’s is only working and performing out tasks.

On the other hand, soft HRM makes an accent on "human" and is connected with the human relations ideas of Herzberg and McGregor (Storey, 1987). Legge called it "Developmental Humanism" (Legge, 1995, p.66-67).

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