A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice

SETTING OUT THE STRATEGY

Astrategic review can provide the basis for setting out the strategy. There is no stan-
dard model for doing this, but the following headings are typical.

1. Basis
   
   
   • business needs in terms of the key elements of the business strategy;
     –analysis of business and environmental factors (SWOT/PESTLE);
     –cultural factors – possible helps or hindrances to implementation.
   
   
   
   


2. Content – details of the proposed HR strategy.


3. Rationale– the business case for the strategy against the background of business
   needs and environmental/cultural factors.


4. Implementation plan
   
   
   • action programme;
     –responsibility for each stage;
     –resources required;
     –proposed arrangements for communication, consultation, involvement and
     training;
     –project management arrangements.
   
   
   
   


5. Costs and benefits analysis– an assessment of the resource implications of the plan
   (costs, people and facilities) and the benefits that will accrue, for the organization
   as a whole, for line managers and for individual employees (so far as possible
   these benefits should be quantified in value-added terms).

IMPLEMENTING HR STRATEGIES

Getting HR strategies into action is not easy even if they have been developed by
means of a systematic review and set out within a clear framework. Because strate-
gies tend to be expressed as abstractions, they must be translated into programmes
with clearly stated objectives and deliverables. The term ‘strategic HRM’ has been
devalued in some quarters, sometimes to mean no more than a few generalized ideas
about HR policies, at other times to describe a short-term plan, for example, to
increase the retention rate of graduates. It must be emphasized that HR strategies are
not just ad hocprogrammes, policies, or plans concerning HR issues that the HR
department happens to feel are important. Piecemeal initiatives do not constitute
strategy.
The problem, as noted by Gratton et al(1999), is that too often there is a gap
between what the strategy states will be achieved and what actually happens to it. As
they put it:

Developing and implementing HR strategies ❚ 143