the need for a strong corporate culture expressed in mission and value
statements and reinforced by communications, training and perfor-
mance management processes.
Soft HRM
The soft model of HRM traces its roots to the human relations school,
emphasizing communication, motivation and leadership. As described by
Storey (1989) it involves 'treating employees as valued assets, a source of
competitive advantage through their commitment, adaptability and high quality
(of skills, performance and so on)'. It therefore views employees, in the words
of Guest (1999), as means rather than objects. The soft approach to HRM
emphasizes the need to gain the commitment - the 'hearts and minds' - of
employees through involvement, communications and other methods of
developing a high commitment, high-trust organization. Attention is also
drawn to the key role of organizational culture.
The focus is on 'mutuality' - a belief that the interests of management and
employees can, indeed should, coincide. It is a therefore a unitarist approach.
In the words of Gennard and Judge (1997)^15 , organizations are assumed to
be 'harmonious and integrated, all employees sharing the organizational goals
and working as members of one team'.
It has, however, been observed by Truss (1999) that 'even if the rhetoric of
HRM is soft, the reality is often hard, with the interests of the organization
prevailing over those of the individual'. Research carried out by Gratton et al
(1999) found out that in the eight organizations they studied, there was a
mixture of hard and soft HRM approaches.
2.2 MULTIPLE ROLE MODEL FOR HUMAN RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT^
To create value and deliver results, HR professionals must begin not by
focusing on the activities or work of HR but by defining the deliverables of that
work. Deliverables guarantee outcomes of HR work. With deliverables
defined, the roles and activities of business partners may be stipulated.