CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Organizations are seeking to create much competition
between them, taking more market, more customers, more sales, etc.
Rapid changes stemming from globalization, advancement of information
systems and other factors have caused higher competition. Many
organizations are driven by the market to set their goals in their
corporate performance (Hendry & Pettigrew, 1990). Some of the goals
are: cost reduction, achieving sales levels, increasing the number of
customers, increasing the market percentage, improving productivity and
quality, innovative products. The realization of these goals will be
achieved through the human resources management in organizations.
Workforce, as the key to success, will enable the achievement of
organizational performance. Human resources are regarded as one of the
most important sources of today's firms (Lance, 1994). To sustain
competitive advantage, companies must reassess their corporate mission
and reset their strategic goals. Programs organized to boost corporate
performance explores the powerful performance management systems that
successful organizations use to compete successfully in a
rapidly-changing global economy (Boxall & Purcell, 2003). With a
deeper understanding of how to analyze and communicate business
strategy, employees can learn how to manage operational and strategic
risk while driving breakthrough innovation and performance.
Human resources management is more important than
other competitive sources because these people use other assets in
organization, create competitiveness and realize objectives. Thus
firstly, organizations must understand the expectations of their
workforce in order to achieve the desired corporate performance. The
realization of the expectations of employees will enable the desired
behavior of employees in the organization (Guest, 1987).
Some of the desired outcomes of the organization
in managing their workforce are: competence, cooperation of employees
with managers, cooperation of employees between them, showing the
capabilities of employees; motivation, commitment and satisfaction;
attitude and presence; employee behaviors. The overall goal of corporate
performance management is to create a culture as high performance in
which individuals and teams to take responsibility for the continuous
improvement of business processes and their skills and contribute in
achieving the targets set by managers. In particular, management
performance can be expressed as the approximation of individual
objectives of employees with organizational objectives provided that
employees support the culture of the organization. It provides for
expectations to be defined and agreed in terms of role responsibilities
and accountabilities (expected to do), skills (expected to have) and
behaviors (expected to be)(Armstrong, 2006). Strategic human resource
management (SHRM) represents a relatively new transformation in the
field of human resource management. Strategic human resource management
is concerned with the role human resource management systems play in
firm performance, particularly focusing on the alignment of human
resources as a means of gaining competitive advantage.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The purpose of strategic human resource management is to improve
corporate performance through people management. The organizations need
to manage their human resources effectively and efficiently to achieve
the desired goals and objectives. The achievement the goals and
objectives translate also in better performance (corporate, financial
etc). So, the issues raised in this study is the approach used by
organizations to manage their human resources and whether strategic
human resource management help to meet the needs, the goals and
objectives of the business organization.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objectives of the study are:
- To examine the impact of strategic human resource management on organizational corporate performance.
- To examine the level of use of strategic human resource management by organizations.
- To identify the importance of strategic human resource management in an organization.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- What is the impact of strategic human resource management on organizational corporate performance?
- What is the level of use of strategic human resource management by organizations?
- What is the importance of strategic human resource management in an organization?
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
HO: There is no significant relationship between strategic human
resource management and organizational corporate performance.
HA: There is significant relationship between strategic human
resource management and organizational corporate performance.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the significance of this study:
- The finding from this study will educate management of
organization and the general public on the importance of strategic
human resource management and its impact on corporate performance.
- This research will also serve as a resource base to other
scholars and researchers interested in carrying out further research in
this field subsequently, if applied will go to an extent to provide
new explanation to the topic
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study on the impact of strategic human resource management on
organizational corporate performance will cover strategies involved in
successful human resource management.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to
impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant
materials, literature or information and in the process of data
collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will
simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This
consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
REFERENCES
Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human resource management practice. 10th edition. Cambridge University Press.
Boxall, P. & Purcell, J. (2003).Strategy and Human Resource Management. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Guest, D. E. (1987).Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations. Journal of Management Studies, 24 (5), 503-521.
Hendry, C., & Pettigrew, A. (1990). Human resource management: An agenda for the 1990s. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1, 17-43.
Lance, C. E. (1994). Test of a latent structure of
performance ratings derived from Wherry’s (1952) theory of ratings. Journal of Management, 20, 757–771.