What Makes Human Resource Development “ Strategic”.

Stoik Musah,
LBS,Leicester.
United Kingdom.
Stoik_joy@yahoo.com



Human resource development is defined as a set of intentional activities by an organisation to increase employees skills, abilities or knowledge, and direct these skills and abilities for the company’s benefit (Marsick and Watkins 1990).The term refers to the planned procedures through which the human capital of the organisation grows- to people behind that function or to the outcomes of developmental procedures i.e. growth in the skill and knowledge reserve (Marsick and Watkins 1990).Traditionally, within this concept understanding, the existence of different dimensions of strategy, perspectives ,contents and process-helps strategist avoid the pitfall of a single isolated practice on its impact on organisational performance. This essay therefore sort to describe what makes human resource development strategic within these divergent literature perspectives, with particular interest in the systematic logic in its application with organisations internal components issues and people related matters.

Similarly some evolution has taken place in this frame of reference. This entails that for scholars to contribute to the richness of the strategic significance of the concept, the strategic requirements of the organisation need to draw research design from multiple theoretical perspective- this has caused, the focus on internal resources and processes, to be a large part of the discussion. For this reason it can be stated that only the recognition of the internal component has made it possible for issues of adding value to business performance, issues of knowledge skill and ability to meet business objective, issues of gaining synergy from human resource process and practice through horizontal alignment etc, among other people related issues to truly find their way into the strategic arena (Ulrich 1997). Although some other parts of the literature studies see human resource development as a philosophy of management (Beer and Nohria 2000).
Moreover a one central feature to human resource development among these studies is its strategic logic in its application. This has made several authors adopt the findings of the study of Human resource development also from the view point of strategy models. For example Schuler (1989) and Walton (1999) have created integrated frameworks to cover different aspects of human resource development by using a certain approach to business strategy. Here strategy is seen generally as an idea of how a company reaches its goals. This is carried out through the implementation of strategic planning and systematic processes.

In another direction, within the concept literature studies ,another common feature by many writers (McCracken and Wallace 2000, Boxall and Purcell 2000) is the tendency to create one model which is then applied to all people related activities within the organisation (Recruitment, Training, Development, Appraisal etc). This entails an underlying assumption that all these human resource activities share the same basic nature and play a similar kind of role in relation to strategic management. Although there are exceptions, if we wish to analyse the contribution of Human resource development as a whole, to business performance; each activity deserve its own consideration. For this reason human resource development has many applications in modern literature.

But also well represented in the human resource development literature within this definition is Luoma (2000) works on: (i) The Traditional Approaches that can be formed based on conventional views on the strategic role of human resource development and (ii) Organisational Approach to internal capabilities as a central source of competitive advantage to the concept (HRD) application. Within this Luoma (2000) traditional approach to human resource development, it is assume that; (i) human resource development is driven by development needs within the organisation and that (ii) some concept of the subject have their interest in the outer world of the firm. Mabey and Salaman (1995) reiterated this position that a general view of the role of human resource development in relation to strategy within this framework is to see strategy as a means to assess and address skill deficiencies in the organisation. In other words, the task that is being carried out in the organisation has been further broken down into certain roles, and that a competence profile has been identified for each of the role. The company can then pursue its strategy if it’s entire people live up to their roles and possess the appropriate competencies. On the contrary, the reverse will be the case when people fail to accomplish their roles; they face a skill performance opening. This requirement can be closed with the help of human resource development (Pettigrew and Whipp1991).

The adoption of human resource development as the above demands constant monitoring of factors affecting the expected performance of people issues and processes within the organisation. For example a change in any area has to be translated into new competences profiles and any noticeable failing area is closed by human resource development initiatives (Torraco and Swanson 1995). The strategic logic behind this process (HRD) implies that the development within these internal arrangements is being driven from the objectives of the organisation rather than from those of individual personnel. Robinson and Robinson (1990) stressed that since the development is driven by the organisations objective, the approach often tends to be rational, deliberate and a sequential process, starting from the needs assessment and ending in the phase of evaluation-were the results achieved are compared with the learning objectives set earlier in the process. This is strategic in the sense that unless the emerging needs are being taken care of (Organisations Interest), the implementation of the strategy can be compromised by the organisation. This development need approach within the organisation gives human resource development a vital role in the strategy implementation of the situation. Consequently when the company is forging ahead towards its objectives, and the critical parts within the organisation face a lack of appropriate competence, human resource development is used to close the performance skill requirement and so assisting the progress.

Furthermore some literature studies on human resource development also have their strategic logic influenced by interest in the outer world development trends (Beer 1980, Butler et al 1991, French and Bell 1990). In contemporary business environment, those responsible for human resource development unavoidably encounter a constant stream of external developmental options available. The continous supply- from the environment, of this developments, form trends that organisations find very difficult to ignore. The reflections of these trends are (i) Total Quality Management (ii) Teambuilding (iii) Empowerment (iv) Management Development Programmes etc. This trends, Jackson and Schuler (2003) suggest; that synergies can be achieved when bundles of its practices are horizontally aligned with the organisations set objectives- this position the writer re-emphasized; can contribute to a define set of behaviours and performance expectations within the organisation. Likewise, and most recently Guest (2002) strengthened this position that in addition to the above, it is important to have functional and process integration to achieve the economies of scale expected from the application of these practices. The strategic functional integration both writer suggest, emphasize the need to have a high quality human resource development process mechanism to ensure enormous strategic impact. However the strategic rationale behind this horizontal alignment with human resource practices is not only in the direct benefit organisations get for their businesses, but also in the risk of losing in competitiveness, if these trends were ignored.

In addition to the aforementioned illustration, human resources development can be a part of the organisations strategic planning exercise by facilitating the learning process itself as suggested by Agyris (1989). According to Agyris (1989) the internal learning process can be seen as a set of learning experiences to shape employees behaviour where participant are required to make use of skills related to solving problems and interaction between individuals etc. This set of strategic learning activities (as critical reflection, tacit learning and action learning) are designed to facilitate organisational learning. Garavan (2007) posit that the capacity of the human resource development plans to focus on these learning activities is dependent on its capacity to cultivate a working environment of openness with accessibility of information and involvement of individuals at all levels in the organisation.

Furthermore, some writers (Burgoyne 1988) see this strategic learning perspective of human resources development as one of the ultimate level of the strategic integration of management development and business planning. Alternatively, this thinking has led to the second element of Luoma (2000) works on the idea of organisational approach to the internal capabilities as a source of competitive advantage introduced earlier at the onset of this discussion. According to the theorist (Prahalad and Hamel 1990, Pfeffer, Ghoshal and Bartlett 1998) arguing for this theoretical perspective the strategic management literature has traditionally emphasised factors within the organisation about the way people act, and that these factors, when harnessed, will be very difficult for competitors to copy. This is because they constitute knowledge, skills and processes developed over time into workable combinations within the context of a particular organisational setting (Long and Vickers-Koch 1995).It is assume here that the term organisational setting in this respect stands for two important aspect required for the strategic process of human resource development; and they are (i) The Organisational Structure and (ii) The Human Resource Strategy applied. The relationship between these two important aspects of strategic human resource development has been discussed extensively in many notable writings Mintzberg 1990, Galbraith and Lawler 1993, Dalton et al 1996 among others too numerous to mention) on strategic management.

That is to say, in this theoretical perspective, the decisions on structuring are based on the nature of competencies required in different operations. These studies presented frameworks for using the resource based theory in aligning organisational structure with strategy. The central debate within the literature studies emphasize the role of organisational capability as a critical source of competitive advantage- and thus as the determinant of structural decisions. Moreover other research studies on the strategic nature of human resource development process in an organisation structure, is close to Beer et al (1984) age long Matching Model distinction between strategy and organisations structure- that structure follows strategy . The underlying assumption behind this theory is that human resource development strategy and an organisations structure follow and feed upon one another- and this is influenced by environmental forces. The environmental influence the writer assert emerge from the fact that- there must be a fit between competitive strategy, internal human resource development policies and a fit among the elements of human resource practices( ie action learning etc). This relationship is said to be reactive in the sense that human resource strategy is submissive to corporate strategy (Boxall 1992). As Boxall (1991) emphasis; that human resource development cannot be conceptualise as a stand alone corporate issue, strategically it must flow from and be dependent upon the organisations structure- it is therefore seen as strategic by virtue of its alignment with business strategy, organisational structure, and internal consistency.

Furthermore, the other important element of organisational setting consideration in the strategic logic behind human resource development is the human resource strategy. The strategic significance of the human resource development in this direction is to effectively feed the targeted individual behaviour with all those human resource practice that guide employees behaviour in the organisation. For the most part, issues relating to competences emerge in the course of facilitating this process- but even at that, this is not enough to provide the organisation with the requirement, of the capabilities we search to introduce in the understanding of the strategic nature of human resource development. The competences has to be processed to turn into capabilities, alongside sustained and reinforced with the help of other aspects of human resource management i.e. Selection, Appraisal, and Reward (Ulrich and Lake 1990). For this reason human resource development gives the guideline for these practices and thus create a framework for human assets to be exploited and developed (Schuler 1992). This makes the strategic nature of the human resource development concept apparent again. Since at first, human resource development can be used for creating organisational capabilities, that calls for the alignment of other HR practices and secondly it can also be used for the modification of organisation structure to generate desired behaviours, it follows that according to this capability driven approach, human resource development thus support strategy by making the process of strategy happen.

Similarly strategic action process is required to institute the work habit and culture required for the implementation of human resource development policies. For this reason and to effectively shape the organisation working culture in line with strategic human resource development systems; the key to implementing this internal consistency is to institute the visions and values to develop the desired work habits within the organisation- and an effective leadership structure will be the platform to set the scene for this process, like Garravan (2007) suggested in the dynamic framework for strategic human resource development: that leaders set the agenda for the organisation by conferring legitimacy on human resource development policies through strategic action processes, their strategic influence to the human resource development course will be concern with showing bottom-line results i.e. Creating employee commitment to the vision, establishing the fit of all those SHRD systems introduced previously with organisations processes, people and resources.

Consequently, the beauty of these analogies is that, to understand the strategic significance of human resource development , one has to search in depth, the thinking, theories and research studies on the concept(SHRD), and then try to connect these postulations with our understanding of the concept application. The main premise of this reflective exercise is to unearth the strategic logic in the notion of human resource development, and also to comprehend that its application process consists of a multi- level concept whose contribution to the organisation is to enhance its performance in the long-term. This Human Resource Systems processed, can be rewarding if a clear, measurable SHRD systems is put in place, alongside the right leadership structure and culture by the organisation – for this will go a long way to facilitate this process.





















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Special tribute and thanks to Luomo.M, Who contributed greatly to my studies on this subject.
Stoik Musah writes from LBS leicester.Tel:07737251501,01162516339.