STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Strategic Human Resource Management

American Military University
August 31, 2014

The resources are the main source of achieving the objectives facing the organization. All the resources are traditionally divided into three main categories: organic, or natural, material and human. Each of the category has it’s own significant impact on the organization’s performance and success reaching, but the Human Resource Management is considered to be the basis of management of the organization. Managing people is the main component of any organization along with the management of material and natural resources. But according to the characteristics people significantly differ from other resources used and, therefore, require special type management.
Firstly, all the people are endowed with intelligence, their response to the external influence (control) is emotionally supported, not mechanical, and therefore, the interaction between the organization and the employee is bilateral. Secondly, people are capable of continuous improvement and development. Thirdly, the awarage working wife continues in today's society during the 30-50 years, which means that the relationship between man and organization an have a long term character. Lastly, in comparison with material and natural resources, people enter the organization consciously providing the agreement to the targets and expecting to be taken care of while the realization of these goals. Last but not least important feature of HR is that each person is unique, as no two people, who are exactly the same.
Accordingly, the reaction of employees to the same control methods may be very different. Described above shows that Human Resource Management is a certain activity, which requires the implementation of specific functions and the presence of special qualities of the people involved in this process. Managing people requires creative (not mechanical) approach, individualization, and taking into account the long-term prospects when making all kinds of decisions.
This can be approved by the history of the HRM. The periods of clearly defined principles, ideas, doctrines and approaches to HRM have been allocated in the formation of Human Resource Management as a professional activity in the XX century. The two basic approaches to HR were allocated between the First and Second World Wars and they included: the doctrine of scientific organization of labor and the doctrine of human relations. If the first doctrine focused mainly on improving technology, including "Taylor’s conveyor" and minimizing the possibility of human to interfere with the technology, making it independent in the terms of qualifications and other characteristics of the labor force, while the second focused on the importance of moral and psychological factor’s impact on the staff.
The representative of the first approach was a famous American engineer F. Taylor and the second one sociologist E. Mayo, who has conducted a scientific research in regard to the company "Western Electric Company," which performance was considered to be ineffective, despite the introduction of Taylor’s methods. The scientific Human Resource Management was also formed and influenced by the theory of D. Mcgregor in his book, "The human side of enterprise", which emphasized on the formation of the managers, who could anticipate and shape human behavior, efficiently use the human talent, the abilities and create an organizational climate that would facilitate the professional development of each human.
America and Western Europe in 70-80s years of XX century began to create "Human Resource Departments" in terms of humane approach to managing people that has significantly enhanced their status in the organization. At the same time, new areas of activity, such as planning and career development, the in-organization communication, involvement of employees into management process. Most of that time