l the HR director is capable of making a full contribution to the formulation
of corporate/business strategies as well as those relating to people;l the views of the HR director are listened to, respected and acted upon;
l unions are involved in developing change strategies on a partnership
basis;l HR strategies relate to the critical success factors of the organization and
the impact high-quality and committed people can make on the delivery
of the results the organization is expected to achieve.WHAT ARE THE MOST CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF
STRATEGIC HRM IN ACTION?To summarize, the most characteristic features of strategic HRM in action in
the case study organizations mentioned above were that:
l a clear and purposeful corporate or business strategy exists;
l the HR strategies in most cases are fully integrated and owned by the
whole of the top management team;l the HR strategies are very much concerned with developing the organi-
zation and the people in it.Most if not all of the organizations could be described as ‘unitarist’ in their
approach (ie they believed in the commonality of the interests of
management and employees), and they are all striving to develop a
‘commitment-orientated’ culture. But in many cases they have still taken
pains to involve the trade unions.
104 l The practice of strategic HRM