Human resource management has frequently been described as a concept with two distinct forms: soft and hard. These are diametrically opposed along a number of dimensions, and they have been used by many commentators as devices to categorize approaches to managing people according to developmental-humanist or utilitarian-instrumentalist principles (Legge 1995 b).
The terms have gained some currency although, from a theoretical point of view, the underlying conflicts and tensions contained within the models have not been sufficiently explored and, from a practical perspective, available empirical evidence would suggest that neither model accurately represents what is happening within organizations (Storey 1992; Wood 1995). This leads us to
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Guest (1987) and Storey (1992) in their definitions of soft and hard models of HRM view the key distinction as being whether the emphasis is placed on the human or the resource. Soft HRM is associated with the human relations movement, the utilization of individual talents, and McGregor's (1960) Theory Y perspective on individuals (developmental humanism). This has been equated with the concept of a 'high commitment work system' (Walton 1985b), 'which is aimed at eliciting a commitment so that behaviour is primarily self-regulated rather than controlled by sanctions and pressures external to the individual and relations within the organization are based on high levels of trust' (Wood 1996: 41). Soft HRM is also associated with the goals of flexibility and adaptability (which themselves are problematic concepts, as we shall see in more detail later), and implies that communication plays a central role in management (Storey and Sisson 1993).
Hard HRM, on the other hand, stresses 'the quantitative, calculative and business-strategic aspects of managing the "headcount resource" in as "rational" a way as for any other factor of production', as associated with a utilitarian-instrumentalist approach (Storey 1992: 29; see also Legge 1995 b). Hard HRM focuses on the importance of 'strategic fit', where human resource policies and practices are closely linked to the strategic objectives of the organization (external fit), and are coherent among
Gomez-Mejia, L., Balkin, D., & Cardy, R. (2012). Managing Human Resources (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Cascio, W. F. (2013). Managing Human Resources (9th ed.). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
Wright and McMahan (1994) define strategic HRM as “the pattern of planned Human Resource deployments and activities intended to enable the organisation to achieve its goals.” A HR function should impact the success of an organisation; a policy must remain current and suitable to both the internal and external environment. Ulrich and Lake (1990) affirm, ‘HRM systems can be the source of organisational capabilities that allow organisations to learn and capitalise on new opportunities.’
Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Werner, S. (2011). Managing human resources (11th ed.). [CourseSmart]. http://dx.doi.org/ISBN-13 9991133185727
‘Human Resource Management is a strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasizes that leveraging people’s capabilities and commitment is critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage or superior public services.’ (Bratton and Gold, 2012, p.7). Therefore, it is important to understand the concept of human resource management model and how does it work and influence organization. While many model of HRM emerged, soft and hard model are both most widely adopted (Truss, et al., 1997). Both soft and hard HRM model are emphasizing to integrate the HR policies with business strategic, but the main distinction is how organization sees individual, which is as resource in hard model or as human in soft
Human resources management was defined as ‘a strategic, integrated and coherent approach to the employment, development and well-being of the people working in organizations’ by Boxall and Purcell (2003). Noon, 1992 (as cited in Armstrong, 2014 a, p6) drew ‘doubts of whether HRM was a map, a model or a theory. But it is evident that the original concept could be seen as a philosophy’. The human
The "best-fit" approach questions the universality assumption of the best-practice perspective. It emphasizes contingency fit between HR activities and the organization's stage of development, an organization's internal structures and its external environment like clients, suppliers, competition and labour markets (Redman and Wilkinson 2009). HR policy should be minted by the appropriate context of individual employees and therefore support the overall competitive strategy. Aligning HRM practices to strategies can enable companies to create potential competitive advantages (Schuler and Jackson 1987 in Redman and Wilkinson 2009).
Buckley, R. M., Fedor, D. B., & Ferris, G. R. (2002). Human resources management: perspectives, context, functions, and outcomes (4th ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.
Byars, Lloyd L., and Leslie W. Rue. Human resource management. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2010. Print.
Human Resource Management is a vital function in any organisation and operates in legal and social environments that are becoming increasingly complex. It is defined as the process and practice of managing and advising executives on staff recruitment, selection, retention and development (Clegg, Kornberger & Pitsis 2011). In the post-bureaucratic era, these management styles have altered to cater towards satisfying employees through intrinsic rewards by providing pride, relationships, meaning and a sense of accomplishment through their work (Clegg, Josserand & Teo 2006). Throughout this essay, the evolution of human resource management from the bureaucratic era’s ‘hard theories’ to the post-bureaucratic era’s ‘soft theories’ will be
People are biggest asset for every organization and, therefore, to draw, motivate, and preserve the most skilled employees and assign them to jobs for which they are exceptionally well suited is a responsible job for human resource. Therefore, human resources management is done in all type of organizations. Profound management of people is equally indispensable in success of organizations as the sound management of production, finance, and other operations. The human resource management field postulates the infinite diversity of people and their dynamics (McKenzie & Traynor, 2002). To get into this career field, one must have the required education degree by completing many different courses, and have the experience along with skills and
Hard HRM is often considered as the opposite of Soft HRM, as it is defined as “quantitative, calculative and business-strategic [mean] of managing the "headcount resource””36 and sees the employee more like a resource, similar to other components of the production. The HR policies and practices are coherent with the strategic goals set by the company and aim to increase the general competiveness of the company. Following, the management expects the employees to be unwilling to work and has to take control over his actions to secure the companies stability and competiveness. The employee is instrumentalized.
It makes it realistic by motivating the workforce, developing commitment in them and improving communication.(Armstrong M,2003) Traditional Personnel management deals with short term planning and controlled externally. With employee relations’ perspective, it has low trust and less communication. It has lot to do with labour management.(limited to the people and not deals with strategy) On the other hand, HRM emphasizes that employees are critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage and is central to organisational strategic performance.(Bratton and Gold,1999).HRM plays great role with organisation’s corporate strategy. But to do this, all HR strategies must be integrated and must be in line with overall business strategies.(Lecture Notes,2004 Topic 1)
Dessler, Gary, Nina D. Cole, and Carolin Rekar Munro. Management of human resources . 3rd Canadian ed. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
Alignment between HRM practices and organizational strategy establishes a coherent system for organizations. There has to be a "fit" between the human resource planning and organizational strategy, Internal fit aligns HR practices with strategic organizational objectives while external fit aligns HR practices with the external environment. The external fit exhibits a more precise fit between quality policy and assertive performance HRM practices (Youndt,