Strategic Human

Resource
Management
PROF. PRANTIKA RAY

Excerpts from Bratton & Gold (2014) and Gary Dessler (13th edition)
Control-based model
“When employers hire people, they have only a potential or a
capacity to work. To ensure that each worker exercises her or his full
capacity, the employer or agent (the manager) must organize the
tasks, space, movement and time within which workers operate.
Workers, however, have divergent interests in terms of pace of work,
rewards and job security, and engage in formal (trade unions) and
informal (restrictions of output or sabotage) behaviours to counteract
management job controls.”
Control-based model
The choice of HR strategy is governed by
◦ variations in organizational form (for example, size, structure and
history)
◦ competitive pressures on management
◦ the stability of labour markets,
mediated by the interplay between superordinate and subordinate
relations, the transmitter and the recipient of the control strategies
involved, and resistance on the part of subordinates (Thompson and
McHugh, 2009).
Resource-Based View
of Competitive Advantage
Three basic types of resources can provide this competitive
advantage (Barney, 1991).
❖Physical capital resources include such things as the firm’s plant,
equipment, and finances.
❖Organizational capital resources consist of such things as the
firm’s structure, planning, controlling, coordinating, and HR
systems.
❖ Human capital resources include such things as the skills,
judgment, and intelligence of the firm’s employees.
The VRIO Framework
The Question of Value
The Question of Rareness
The Question of Imitability
The Question of Organization
Integrative model of human
resources strategy
Acquisition and development is concerned
with the extent to which the HR strategy
develops internal human capital, as opposed
to the external recruitment of human capital.

Locus of control is concerned with the

degree to which HR strategy focuses on
monitoring employees’ compliance with
process-based standards. The focus here is
on controlling the outcomes (the ends)
themselves.
Source: Bratton & Gold (2014) based on Bamberger and Meshoulam (2000)
HR strategies
The commitment HR strategy is characterized as focusing on the internal development of
employees’ competencies and on outcome control.
The traditional HR strategy focuses on the external recruitment of competencies and on
behavioural or process-based controls.
The collaborative HR strategy involves the organization subcontracting work to external
independent experts (for example, consultants or contractors); this provides for greater
autonomy and performance evaluation primarily by measurement of the end results.
The paternalistic HR strategy offers learning opportunities and internal promotion to
employees in return for their compliance with process-based control mechanisms.
High performance work systems
A high-performance work
system is a set of human
resource management
policies and practices that
together produce superior
employee performance
Fits in HRM field
Environmental fit represents the linkage of different HR practices within the HRM system and
external environment. According to this logic, the HRM system should be adapted to the social,
cultural and institutional characteristics of the environment.

Vertical strategic fit, also called strategic fit, represents the link between the HR system and the
business strategy. The logic of this fit dictates that HR practices must stimulate the employees’
capabilities and motivations to fulfill the organizational mission, vision and key goals.

Internal organizational fit represents the alignment between the HRM system and other relevant
systems in the organization, such as technology, structures, work system, production system and
organizational culture.
Fits in HRM field
Intra-function HR fit describes the link between different HR practices within the HR system.
Accordingly, the HRM function plays a strategic role in the firm if the HR system is highly
coherent. This consistency is greater when HR practices do not contradict the positive effect of
other HR practices, and when individual practices complement and reinforce one another.

Intra-activity HR fit represents the coordination of policies, activities and actions associated
with a particular HR activity. In order to be able to contribute to several fits, a specific HR
activity (e.g. compensation) must present a strong degree of consistency with the practices related
to this activity
 Fit
strategies

Source: Chenevert & Tremblay, 2009

References
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource
management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Dessler, G. (2013). Fundamentals of human resource
management. Pearson.