The department responsible for hiring, educating, and evaluating an organization's workforce is known as the human resources department. The department makes sure that the kind of employees engaged by the company have the necessary qualifications to carry out the goals of the company. A thorough human resource strategy is necessary, according to Farnham & Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2014, p. 111, for the correct positioning of workers to accomplish a firm's goal and objectives. This paper is a detailed report by On-Target Consulting that lists the competitive advantages that Advance Australian Bank may derive from human resource management including what entails a comprehensive human resource strategy.
Comprehensive Human Resource Strategy
Human resource strategy is a vital component of a firm that acts proactively to ensure that the needs and issues of the employees are addressed in conformity with the direction in which the company is moving. The major component of a human resource strategy is the understanding and analysis of the current operational environment of a firm (Murphy 2010, p. 38). Such would enable the company to assess the skills that each employee possess and determine if such skills are in line with the requisite skills needed to accomplish the organization’s objectives. Taking the case of Advance Australian Bank, the banking sector is increasingly tapping into the Small and Micro Enterprises as an avenue for growth. Therefore, the examination of the current environment would entail analyzing is the current crop of employees have the needed skills to take up the challenge and further identify training that they may need to undertake to meet the objectives (Swanepoel, Erasmus & Schenk 2008, p. 332).
Human resource strategy also entails the determination of the future needs of the company and laying measures to accomplish such needs in the current operational status of the firm (Truss, Mankin & Kelliher 2012, p. 51). The future needs that the Advance Bank of Australia may have included competitive sales of their loan products and better customer service to retain their clients.
The modern human resource environment is increasingly dynamic. Talent and change management are at the core of human resource practice with talents being a critical aspect that human resource practitioners have to look into to accomplish their mandate in their firm of operation. Many companies are also sensitive to culture integration in their businesses and containing the performance pressure that is often demanded by the stakeholders of an organization (Jackson 2004, p. 89). Therefore, balancing the needs to retain the older employees and hiring of new talents who are highly innovative into the firm is positioning a challenge for human resource. Such are the issues that Advance Australian Bank has to grapple with to maintain a competitive pace within their field of operation. The performance of the employees of an organization is solely enhanced by aligning the compensation structure and award system to the business goals (Storey 2014, p. 78).
The strategic human resource strategy balances the current and future needs of a firm through succession planning. Succession planning creates a mentorship program within the enterprise where the new and young employees are mentored by the young employee (Rothwell & Benscoter, 2012, p. 174). Such enables the firm to benefit from loyal and old employees of the enterprise with the innovative minds who have just been presently employed within the company. Such mentorship programs are engaged with a training program that developed a new corporate culture for a firm (Kumar 2011, p. 21). Such is an essential ingredient that the bank needs to take up to enhance the sustainability of its operations.
Competitive Advantages that can be derived from HRM strategy
First is employee development. The HRM strategy advocates for more coaching to the staff and being in constant with all the staff, identifying their needs and equipping with the necessary skills that may need to accomplish their roles better (Price, 2007, p. 66). Bringing up career development programs would make Advanced Australian Bank be an employer of choice, thus, facilitating employee retention and attracting of skilled talents into the firm. Basically, the strategic human resource strategy incorporates the human resource professionals, employee behavior and policies and practices of the firm as illustrated in the diagram below.
Second, the strategic human resource strategy would enable the bank to identity better technologies that it can utilize during the recruitment process for its future employees. Software with the talent analytics reduces the bias that the panelist may have during the hiring process, thus, enabling the firm to tap the best talents that are available in the company (Human Resource Planning Society Niehaus & Price 2010, p. 97). Additionally, the use of big data allows the business to top rate the scores that potential candidates have gained to ensure that the most innovative and creative employee gets to work for the firm.
Third, the engagement that the strategic human resource strategy may have to a firm serves to improve the effectiveness of the employees within the workplace. Employee requires a feedback mechanism where they can air their grievances anonymously to the management and present their recommendations on how the firm can be managed better (Cooke & Kothari 2001, p. 187). Such avenues serve to increase the morale that the employees have in their work. The engagement process further helps to ensure that the career development process and path of the employees found to be very successful are taken into consideration with the concerns for adaptiveness and depth to enhance the quality of employees made to work for a firm (Price, 2011, p. 54).
Fourth is the identification of an ideal team that can serve to meet the objectives that have been laid out by a firm. A successful human resource strategy creates a team within a company rather than employees working to benefit the company (Flynn, 2010, p. 77). The right team is set up by offering exceptional client service and merging the new employees with those with several years of experience in the work practice. Furthermore, an emphasis has to lie on the high quality of work with the employees working within a robust operational environment.
Finally, it leads to change management. Change management is realized by creating positions for the line managers within the firm who align the operations within their departments and the demands of the industry. As such, the line managers’ report on the skills gaps and changes in job positions to the human resource department to effect such changes (Bratton, 2012, p. 41). Through such, the human resource department coordinates the achievement of the strategic objectives that have been set by the executive management of a company.
Conclusion
Strategic human resource management is the current trend that many businesses, including those in the banking sector, continue to take. The Advanced Australian Bank needs to entrench strategic HRM through use of analytics in the recruitment process and having an internal coaching program, within the firm. The coaching program is to enhance coordination between the junior and senior employees of the firm (Armstrong, 2003, p. 84). Furthermore, the recruitment process of the new employees needs to have focused on innovation and the new ideas that the new staff is to be within the firm. As such, the strategic HRM needs to be viewed as a dynamic process that brings about positive change into the bank.
References
Armstrong, M. (2003). A handbook of human resource management practice. London [u.a.: Kogan Page.
Bratton, J. (2012). Human Resource Management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Cooke, B., & Kothari, U. (Eds.). (2001). Participation: The new tyranny?. Zed books.
Farnham, D., & Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development,. (2014). Human resource management in context: Strategies, insights and solutions. London.
Flynn, S. M. (2010). Linking human resource strategy and operations: An integrated framework. Leicester: Matador.
Human Resource Planning Society., Niehaus, R. J., & Price, K. F. (2010). Human resource strategies for organizations in transition. New York: Plenum Press.
Jackson, T. (2004). Management and change in Africa: A cross-cultural perspective. Routledge.
Kumar, R. (2011). Human resource management: Strategic analysis text and cases. New Dehli: I.K. International.
Murphy, T. E. (2010). Benefits and beyond: A comprehensive and strategic approach to retirement, health care, and more. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications.
Price, A. (2007). Human resource management in a business context. London: Thomson.
Price, A. (2011). Human resource management. Andover: Cengage Learning EMEA.
Rothwell, W. J., & Benscoter, G. M. B. (2012). Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management, Critical and Emerging Issues in Human Resources. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Storey, J. (2014). New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Swanepoel, B., Erasmus, B., & Schenk, H. (2008). South African human resource management: Theory & practice. Cape Town: Juta.
Truss, C., Mankin, D., & Kelliher, C. (2012). Strategic human resource management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
