phasis on the ‘doing’ rather than the ‘talking’ and therefore, it might be better to have a
strategy of limited quality which is well implemented as opposed to having an excellent
one which is almost impossible to implement.
Core competencies for effective human resource professionals
In order for human resource managers to play an effective strategic role in the organisa-
tion, it is imperative that a set of key competencies are developed. Yeung et al. (1996)
recommend that competencies in business knowledge, customer focus, credibility and
integrity, view of the entire organisation, negotiation, conflict resolutions, and effective
communication be developed or sourced. Inyang (2008) goes further by including lead-
ership based competencies which are visionary and ability to learn and multiskill while
Ismail & Long (2009) consider consulting and human resource’s application of skills as
important too. Indeed, the more the list of competencies is extended the more the human
resource professionals are able to play more effective roles in the strategic human re-
source management framework. However, although all these competencies can be de-
veloped, some are also natural talents. Therefore, resourcing strategies that include
hunting for talents and develop them is one of the strategic aspects of human resource
management that is deployed.
Changing from traditional practices to SHRM
Putting strategic human resource management in place and making it effective is a jour-
ney that requires a strategic approach and enduring hard work. This is mainly because it
is about changing the thinking, perceptions, attitudes, values and the way of doing
things. There is no one strategy that can be used to introduce SHRM in all organisations
and making it work all depends on the nature of the organisation and the environment.
When selling an idea for introducing strategic human resource management in an
organisation, the first question will be: to what extent does the organisation already use
traditional human resource management practices? For example, most public organisa-
tions in the third world countries are at the level of personnel administration where per-
sonnel functions are disjointed, merely supportive and isolated from the corporate goals
and objectives (Kamoche et al. 2004; Khan & Ackers 2004). In this case, the first at-
tempt should be to create awareness of the need to improve the current practices to the
level that will naturally call for a strategic approach to managing people. Where formal
traditional human resource management practices are noted, the starting point would be
to assess the organisational environment and justify the reasons for changing to a strate-
gic approach. That is to say, there must be a justification for ‘changing the way we do
things here’ in terms of improving organisational competitiveness. It is important to
note that if the management and staff do not see the danger of remaining at the level of
‘business as usual’ and older traditional human resource practices they will not support
the change. For example, one should suggest specific innovation and how they give the
organisation a competitive advantage, their relevance in addressing strategic issues fac-
ing the organisation, the impact on short and long-term organisational performance and
coherence with the existing policies and practices.
From the organisational analysis, it may be found that there is no shortage of enemies
against bringing change. Managers or employees may be reluctant to accept the new
changes due to various reasons such as fearing the implications for their own jobs and