STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT-

CENTURION PLC

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Question 1..................................................................................................................................2
Question 2..................................................................................................................................4
Question 3..................................................................................................................................6
Question 4..................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................10

List of figures
Figure 1:Atkinson’s model of flexible organization..................................................................7
Figure 2:Balanced Scorecard.....................................................................................................9
Introduction

Human Resources may provide a corporation with a competitive edge in this quickly
changing environment, which is defined, among other things, by fierce market competition.
Organizations must apply successful tactics in their operations to ensure success, survival,
and development in today's business climate. Many changes are occurring in the context in
which businesses function. As a result, companies must adapt to these developments and
provide suitable 'tools' to assist such firms in succeeding and thriving. “Strategic Human
Resource Management (SHRM)” has arisen to characterize contemporary companies from
the standpoint of strategic planning”. This report will discuss some of the SHRM practices
used by Centurion Group of Companies, which commenced its operations in the Maldives in
March 2009. They provide trustworthy and effective transportation services, specializing in
cargo delivery to any location inside the Maldives, and are involved in businesses that
encourage trade in general.

Question 1
“Define and explain the role of HRM. Explain in detail the Hard and soft perspectives
of HRM”

“Human resource management is a systematic strategy to enhance and encourage employees

while fostering a positive working atmosphere.” The duties vary according to the firm and
sector but frequently involve recruitment, benefits and compensation training and
development, and employee engagement. The company’s primary component concerned
personnel management and welfare (Osibanjo & Adeniji, 2012). It combines policies,
programs, and practices to maximize an employee's potential, resulting in enhanced
production for the whole business. Human resource management (HRM) has a strategic role
in overseeing people, workplace environment, and culture.

HRM has emerged as one of the most significant activities of an organization in the modern
organizational environment, particularly since the recognition that human resource
productivity, unlike other components of production, is reliant on its surroundings. The
quality of an organization's human resources becomes critical for it to use its capabilities and

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assets effectively and efficiently. Human resource management increases employee quality to
guarantee they contribute their full potential to achieving company goals and objectives.

HRM entails serving as an "employee advocate, strategic planner, and change agent.” HRM
is involved in managerial and operational tasks and hiring new employees. To be excellent in
human resource management, management should also play roles in continual staff training
and deeply understand the business's goals and objectives. The HRM must be capable of
advising the different departments on workforce development concerns. It entails working
with the department head to design guidelines and procedures. HRM should give expert
advice on how to improve employee relations and satisfaction. As part of its managerial and
operational responsibilities, an effective HR strategy involves personnel planning,
recruitment, and promotion (Patrick & Mazhar, 2021).

“Hard HRM”: Since company goals take priority, HR would be acquired, implemented, and
managed by company objectives. Its purpose is to create labor needs so that you may hire and
work as required, such as "hiring personnel or making others redundant.” These demands on
such assets are given little thought, and the emphasis is exclusively on mathematical
components (Paul & Shah, 2021).

“Soft HRM”: Employees are seen as a critical resource in the organization, preferably the
most important one. Consequently, the organization takes a somewhat more positive stance—
where employees are treated as individuals. The soft HRM strategy focuses on the workers’
requirements, providing incentives and motivation. All abilities should be nurtured and
created to achieve a competitive advantage through the “full-time or part-time, fixed or
temporary employees.” Initiatives focusing on people's behavioral characteristics during
employment are established (Paul & Shah, 2021).

Management in hard HRM is concerned with revenue and regards employees as income
generators, similar to machinery. In soft HRM, workers are considered significant assets and
sources of the organization's competitive advantages. Employers treat their employees like
individuals, concentrating on their requirements and growth. Hard HRM may include soft
HRM elements.

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Question 2
“Explain the five stages of recruitment in any given organization. Also, discuss different
types of interviews”

According to (Devi & Banu, 2014), “recruitment is placing the right talent in the appropriate
location at the right moment, which is essential to organizational development”. It refers to
identifying, recruiting, interviewing, selecting, hiring, and onboarding new employees". It
encompasses the whole method of determining and filling a personnel need. Recruitment is
the responsibility of many employees regardless of the size of a business.

The stages of recruitment are as follows,

1. “Recruiting Planning”
This creates a comprehensive job description for the job vacancy, highlighting its
“primary and secondary responsibilities; the skills, experience, and qualifications
required; the grade and level of pay; the starting date; if temporary or permanent; and
notice of any special conditions attached to the job to be filled”.

2. “Strategy Development”
Candidates, including requirements, as necessary once it has been defined numerous
times, and the following stage is to build a realistic strategy for hiring personnel
inside the business. The recruitment strategy to employ, the area to look for
applicants, the recruitment sources, and the steps to follow in selecting candidates
inside the company are all essential elements to consider.

3. “Searching.”
This stage is to attract job seekers to the firm. Both internal and external sources are
frequently employed to attract candidates.

4. “Screening”
While some consider screening the initial stage in the selection procedure, they feel it
is an essential part of recruitment. The selection procedure starts after all entries have
been reviewed and shortlisted. Several screening procedures varied based on the

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 source of supply and the method of recruiting, such as “Preliminary applications, de-
selection examinations, and screening interviews.”
5. “Evaluation and control”
Due to the high cost of the recruiting process, evaluating and regulating it is critical.

Types of interviews

The interview is an essential element of the recruitment process because it decides whether an
applicant should be considered subsequently, hired, or rejected. It is the primary method of
acquiring further facts about an applicant and the basis for evaluating an applicant's
employment knowledge, talents, and talents (Sharma, 2023).

1. Panel Interview
Multiple interviewers evaluate the applicant in this form of an interview. Such
interviews may cover a wide range of topics, from competence to future objectives.
These may involve various team members who evaluate the applicant through
multiple criteria. In such interviews, the choice is made collectively. The candidate's
skill set and body language are closely scrutinized.

2. Interview Structure
In this interview, interviewers pose the same topics to all candidates. These inquiries
could be "open-ended or closed-ended". If asked in an open-ended manner, a single
question may elicit several replies. There's only one answer to a closed-ended inquiry.
The interviewer evaluates candidates according to their responses to such survey
questionnaires.

3. Informal Interview
In this case, interviewers adjust questions depending on the candidate's answers to
earlier questions. There is no standard framework, and you may be surprised by the
variety of interview questions. The interviewer might already have issues or may base
these on the course of the interview.

4. Stress Evaluation

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 These are difficult since the interview evaluates the reaction to stressful events.
Interviewers want to know whether the answer will be beneficial to the firm. Such
interviews are typical in high-stress job descriptions.

5. Case Study Interview

The interviewer will provide you with a circumstance and the accompanying issue.
This might be a fictitious or real-life issue. They then inquire about a remedy to the
situation. The goal is to determine how proficient people are at problem-solving.

6. Off-site Interview
These would be informal interviews where the applicant and interviewer meet outside
the office. The interviewer may extend an invitation to the applicant for lunch. The
purpose of these interviews is to evaluate the personality outside of the office.

Question 3
“Discuss Atkinson’s model of flexible organization. Also, elaborate on functional and
financial flexibility in any organization”

“John Atkinson of the Institute of Manpower Studies introduced the Flexible-Firm Model in
1984” and proposed that organizational structures demand more adaptability “in a volatile
market and uncertain and competitive economic environment” (Procter, et al., 1994).
Atkinson stressed the idea of separating the levels of the relevance of specific teams or
people in groups to an organization to promote employment flexibility and a clear hierarchy
of significance. The core principle of this notion is that being proactively and intentional
regarding the change, instead of being responsive, separates a successful adaptable
organization from a dysfunctional one. The group consists of individuals who are vital to the
firm, functionally diverse, and challenging to replace, perhaps because of their skills,
knowledge, or experience. Based on the idea, the staff can be formed proactively to meet the
needs of businesses in a competitive marketplace.

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 Figure 1:Atkinson’s model of flexible organization
 This
advocate for implementing flexible circumstances into the operational activities of a
company to meet the requirements of a competing marketplace and achieve objectives
and targets.
 This does warn because developing a flexible work environment is risky since cutting
employees may backfire in stressful conditions when there is insufficient space to
cope with unexpected obstacles.

Workers are more likely to be a central aspect instead of a peripheral component since the
earlier gives more employment security, better wages and working conditions, and more
opportunities. Aside from essential workers, the flexible business model emphasizes the
necessity of people with different backgrounds, particularly outsourced employees that often
do tasks like maintenance and catering that aren't necessary to the company but are needed
for its operation (Ruiner, et al., 2013).

Functional flexibility

Management may switch workers among jobs and duties as required. Functional flexibility is
linked to the core workforce in this model, and job security is sacrificed for employee
variation. Training that permits flexibility and extending work hours is required for functional
flexibility. Consequently, rather than the older styles from Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, the key

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worker's employment day will fit the service or product demands. The breakdown of wage
levels encourages workers to move across professions and activities. It is associated with high
skill levels across numerous occupations, according to the best group of employees. This
enables the company to move key individuals across workers and responsibilities. Building
functional flexibility in a team sometimes entails additional flexible hours and re-evaluating
the company's remuneration.

Financial flexibility

This permits labor expenses to satisfy market forces represented by regular salaries and
agreement pricing. As a result, wages and bonuses can vary based on the market value of
each labor need. As a result, financial flexibility facilitates the implementation of functional
and numerical flexibility. This is related to a company's capacity to modify labor pricing
(pay) in response to worker demand and availability within the company. It also impacts the
market made to persons whose contracts are terminated. As a result, financial flexibility is
linked to and promotes analytical and functional flexibility.

Question 4
“Discuss the balanced scorecard approach for performance measurement”

According to (Išoraitė, 2008), “the balanced scorecard is a strategic performance

measurement metric that helps firms discover and improve internal processes to achieve
external objectives”. It evaluates performance appraisal data and suggests how to perform
better in organizations. It is a management strategy used to transform strategic and long
objectives into a set of overall performance goals that are then evaluated, monitored, and
adjusted to guarantee that the company's strategic goals are reached. It detects and improves
internal corporate operations as well as external outcomes. It is used to evaluate and provide
recommendations to companies. This may also help organizations make better decisions for
the company.

The components of the Balanced Scorecard are as follows,

1. Learning and growth - Learning and development are examined by examining

training and knowledge resources. This concerns how helpful information is recorded
and how effectively workers utilize the knowledge to gain a competitive advantage.

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2. Business process- This is performed by examining how well the things are
manufactured. Operational Management is analyzed for gaps, bottlenecks,
bottlenecks, or wastage.

3. Consumer perception - This data is collected to measure consumer satisfaction with

the price and availability of products or services. Clients' feedback on their
satisfaction with the services or products is also provided.

4. Financial data - Refers to the sales, costs, and income required to calculate financial
performance. “Monetary values, financial ratios, budget fluctuations, and revenue
targets” are all examples of financial metrics.

Figure 2:Balanced Scorecard

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BSC helps firms define "key performance indicators (KPIs)" for various strategic objectives.
It ensures that businesses measure what is essential. The BSC approach provides decision-
makers with managerial information and statistical insight. The balanced scorecard concept is
not restricted to the business level. The balanced approach to worker performance assessment
is an efficient method for obtaining a complete perspective of an employee's work
performance rather than just a partial one. With its features and criteria, employee
performance plans too often assess behaviors, activities, or procedures without monitoring
the outcomes of workers' work. When just behaviors or actions are measured in performance
evaluation plans, a business may discover that most of its individuals are assessed as
Outstanding even while the organization has not achieved its goals (Al-Baidhani, 2014).

Managers provide the information required to match performance evaluation plans with
organizational objectives by employing balanced measurements at the corporate level and
communicating the findings with managers, groups, and workers. The performance picture is
completed by balancing the metrics used in performance evaluation plans.

Conclusion
The SHRM has a close association with the Centurion results. The corporation should
integrate economic and strategic goals with HR to achieve its objectives. Consequently, the
previously accepted idea that SHRM is merely administration and an expense to the business
no longer holds water. This idea has given way to the strategic importance of human
resources, which is directly tied to an organization's bottom line or profitability. Given the
link between HR and overall organizational performance, HRM has created programs that
combine HR and business goals for excellent organizational performance, which leads to
better results. Better productivity, in turn, helps businesses acquire a competitive advantage.

References
Al-Baidhani, A. M., 2014. The Use of Balanced Scorecard as a Tool for Performance
Management and Planning. SSRN Electronic Journal.

Chand, S., 2023. Recruitment Process: 5 Steps Involved in Recruitment Process (with
diagram). [Online]
Available at: https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/recruitment/recruitment-process-5-steps-

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involved-in-recruitment-process-with-diagram/35261
[Accessed 2023].

Devi, B. R. & Banu, P. V., 2014. Introduction to Recruitment. International Journal of

Economics and Management Studies, 1(2).

Išoraitė, M., 2008. The Balanced Scorecard Method: from Theory to Practice.
INTELLECTUAL ECONOMICS, p. 18–28.

Osibanjo, O. A. & Adeniji, A., 2012. Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. 1
ed. s.l.:Pumark Nigeria Limited.

Patrick, P. & Mazhar, S., 2021. Core Functions of Human Resource Management and its
Effectiveness on Organization: A Study. International Journal of Social Economics , 9(5),
pp. 257-266.

Paul, N. A. & Shah, P. A., 2021. Hard and Soft HRM Models: A review. Journal of Business
and Management (, 23(16), pp. 35-38.

Procter, S., Rowlinson, M., Mcardle, L. & Forrester, P., 1994. Flexibility, politics & strategy:
In defence of the model of the flexible firm. Work, Employment and Society, 8(2), pp. 241-
242.

Ruiner, C., Wilkens , U. & Küpper, M., 2013. Patterns of Organizational Flexibility in
Knowledge-intensive Firms — Going Beyond Existing Concepts. Management Revue, 24(3),
p. 162–178.

Sharma, J., 2023. Different Types of Interviews. [Online]

Available at: https://www.naukri.com/learning/articles/different-types-of-interview/
[Accessed 2023].

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