Strategic HRM

& Planning
Chapter 1 & 2

Joseph A Carpini
HRMT2237 Unit Coordinator
Learning Objectives

1. Explain what is meant by human

resource management (HRM)
2. Approaches to HRM
3. Describe the role of the HR Manager
4. Define strategy and strategic human
resource management (SHRM)
5. Describe a strategic approach to HRM
6. Discuss the strategic challenges faced by
those working in HRM.
2
HRM Definition

Achievement
of
Satisfaction of organizational
employee strategic
Productive needs objectives
use of people

3
Approaches to HRM

Instrumental (Hard)
– Stresses the rational, quantitative and
strategic aspects. Performance
improvement and competitive advantage are
highlighted.

4
Approaches to HRM

Humanistic (Soft)
– Emphasises the integration of HR policies
and practices with strategic business
objectives but also acknowledges employee
development, collaboration, participation and
trust.

5
Roles of HR Manager: 1

Talent Manager
• Attract, develop, & retain employees
• Identify external talent
• Talent spotter/scout

6
Roles of HR Manager: 2

HR Functional Expert
• Champion of organisational performance
• Speak & act with authority on HR issues, HR
analytics, and ethical issues
• Create value
• Measure HR performance – efficiency &
effectiveness

7
 Roles of HR Manager: 3

Organisation Ambassador
• Represent & market
organisation
(internal/external)
• Communicates values,
culture, and strategies

8
Roles of HR Manager: 4

Employee Advocate
• Understand employee needs / views
• Understand employees’ concerns and representing
them to the management in a fair manner
• Use technology to access employee voice and
engagement

9
Roles of HR Manager: 5

Legal Adviser
• Ensure legal compliance
• Monitor legal hazard risk
• Raise ethical and governance issues
 Roles of HR Manager: 6

Change Agent
• Catalyst for change
• Initiate and monitor change
• Promote and audit employee engagement
• Skills: know how to manage change

11
Roles of HR Manager: 7

Board and Senior

Executive Resource
Counsellor
• Adviser on workplace
trends
• Whistle-blower
• Counsellor & coach to
executive team

12
Roles of HR Manager: 8

Strategic partner
Translate business strategy into action, become part
of the business team
Skills: business acumen, a customer orientation & an
awareness of the competition

13
HR Challenges

What do you think will be the three most significant challenges

facing HR managers in the next five years? Why?

• HR managers need to:

– be strategic contributors;
– show the true value of the HR function to the organisation:
• How to increase profitability through employees’ engagement
and commitment
– be the employees’ voice:
• It shows care and concern → organization’s bottom line
– demonstrate professional competence
• Compensation and benefits

• HR managers need to constantly demonstrate the

connection between HR, organisational performance
and employee well-being.
14
HRM Strategies & Organisation Strategies

• Be aligned with organisation

strategies:
– Growth, retrenchment, or stability

15
HRM Strategies Must

• Be aligned with organisation strategies:

– Growth, retrenchment, or stability
• reflect the strategic objectives and values of
the organisation;
• support culture, climate, and organisational
processes to attract and retain good staff;
• identify the organisation’s distinctive
competencies and match people to these; and
• sustain and build organisational commitment.
Strategic HRM Objectives & Activities

Strategic HRM objectives and activities must:

• be measurable;
– Turnover, recruitment/ selection ratio, employee
attitudes, absenteeism, bottom line
• include deadline dates for accomplishment;
• identify and involve key stakeholders and HR
customers to ensure the necessary collaboration
– Employees, customers, suppliers, management,
unions
• nominate the individuals or parties responsible for
implementation.
– HRM? Line managers?

17
Importance of HR Planning

HR planning:
systematically identifies what must be done
to guarantee the availability of the human
resources required by an organisation to
meet business objectives.
ensures that:
• available talent is correctly allocated
• labour costs are controlled
• the number of staff is appropriate
• talented employees are retained.
18
 Importance of HR Planning: Outcome

“Aces in their places.”

The right people…
in the right place;
in the right jobs;
at the right time.

19
Labour Shortages

Employee Outcomes

Burnout

Longer Hours

Increased Pressure

Reduced Job Performance

Role Overload

Decreased Morale

Increased Turnover
Labour Shortages

Organisational Outcomes

Inadequate Supply of Talent

Increased Overtime Costs

Production Delays

Reduced Productivity

Lost Business Opportunities

Industrial Relations Problems

Labour Surpluses

Employee Outcomes

Rust-out

Job Insecurity

Decreased Morale

Reduced Job Performance

Talents Not Fully Utilised / Over-

qualification

Loss of Motivation

Restricted Career Opportunities

Labour Surpluses

Organisational Outcomes

Excessive Payroll Costs

Employees Under-utilised

Low Productivity

Loss of Competitiveness

Retrenchment & Downsizing Costs

Industrial Relations Problems

Danger of Losing Top Talent

Short-Term vs. Long-Term Planning
Workforce trends

• Aging workforce
– 40% of the Australian workforce will retire within five years
• Talent scarcity
– By 2025, Australia will be short 5 million skilled workers
– Australia loses ~80,000 residents / year
• Increasing rates of women participation, but lower
representation at higher management ranks
– Dual-earner careers
– Changing social roles
• Rising education levels
– Overqualification
• Influx of foreign-born employees
– 30% Australian working population born overseas
• Casualization
– Contingent worker = temporary or part-time
“Homework”

Review lecture content

Review textbook

Bring 2 – 3 media articles to Week 3 Workshop for activity

Just bring the articles, do not need handouts.
Student Resource Slides
 Finding Peer Review Articles

1. Academy of management journal

2. Academy of management review Data Bases: Business Source Complete,
Web of Knowledge, PsychInfo
3. Academy of management
perspectives
4. Personnel psychology
5. Human resource management
6. Journal of applied psychology
7. Journal of organizational behavior
8. Journal of management
9. Journal of cross-cultural
management
10. Journal of occupational health
psychology
11. Journal of business and
psychology
28
Tutorial Plus+ Outline
Journal List

Google Scholar

Australian Business Deans Council List

Using Impact Factor

Search by Journal
Communication and Research Skills
(CARS)

www.student.uwa.edu.au/learning/resources/cars

CARS (Communication and Research Skills) is an online unit which

assists UWA students to develop basic communication and research
skills in an academic context.

30
HRM, LAW &
Diversity
Chapter 4

Joseph A Carpini
HRMT2237 Unit Coordinator
HRM & the Law

• HR managers need to be aware of legal issues that

govern the employee/employer relationship.

– Labour law, which incorporates:

• law of employment (the individual contract that all

employees have with their employer)

• industrial law (regulates the manner in which employees

collectively relate with employers or groups of employers)

This slide set provides an overview only of new legislation and some
important legal issues.

2
Sources of Legal Obligations

• Restraint of trade
– Limits an employee’s ability to engage in similar employment
for a specified period.

• Confidentiality agreements
– During and after the course of employment.

• Whistle-blowers
– Legislation provides protection for individuals
who seek to properly disclose dishonest, corrupt or
unethical dealings, for the public interest.

• Workplace intellectual property

– An invention created during the course of employment
will usually belong to the employer, not the employee.

• Moral rights
– However, the employee may still have rights with
respect to the inventions created during the course of employment.
• Attribution of authorship

3
The National Employment Standards (NES)

• The Fair Work Act (2009) aims for a unified system of

industrial law across Australia. All employees from national
system employers are bound by the Fair Work Act.

• Fair Work Act (2009) stipulates minimum standards apply to

all national system employees:
1) Maximum hours of work
2) Requests for flexible working arrangements
3) Parental leave
4) Annual leave
5) Personal/carer’s leave
6) Community service leave
7) Long service leave
8) Public holiday work
9) Notice of termination and redundancy pay
10) A Fair Work Information Statement
4
Unfair Discrimination

Any practice that makes distinctions between different groups based on

characteristics race, colour, sex, transgender, sexual preference, age,
physical or mental disability, marital status, family responsibility, pregnancy,
religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin which results in
particular individuals or groups being advantaged and others
disadvantaged in an unreasonable or unjust manner

Pervades all stages of the pre-employment process

Cleaning lady
wanted

Waiter

Cameraman
5
Types of Dismissal

• Summary dismissal
– Effectively dismissal without notice; grounds for
summary dismissal:
• Serious misconduct
• Physical/verbal abuse
• Disobedience of an employer’s lawful and reasonable
directions
• Drunkenness at work
• Incompetence
• Neglect of duties
• Dishonesty / bribery
• Criminal behaviour in connection with employment
• Absenteeism.
• Notice of termination or payment in lieu of notice = dismissal on notice
• Redundancy
– Often based on commercial or economic decisions; position eliminated
• Constructive dismissal
– When an employer acts contrary to terms and conditions of employment.

6
HRM Law and COVID-19
Last updated: March 7, 2022

HR managers must be aware of legal obligations and changes

to employment law and employer rights and responsibilities.

Employers are required by WHS law to eliminate / minimise

exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace.

Must recognize National and

State legislation.

Most up-to-date information from:

coronavirus.fairwork.gov.au

Most up-to-date information from:

Health.wa.gov.au
Apple – Case Example
Key Definitions

• Diversity
– Difference or unlikeness.

• Diversity has been categorised in three dimensions:

– demographic
– psychological
– organisational

• Researchers have differentiated diversity using:

– observable attributes (e.g., ethnic background, age, gender)
– non-observable attributes (e.g., personal values)
– functional characteristics (e.g., knowledge, skills).

• Diversity management
– A process of managing employees’ differences and similarities so
that individuals can achieve maximum personal growth and can
contribute positively to organisational goals.

9
Major Australian Legislation

• Racial Discrimination Act 1975

• Sex Discrimination Act 1984
• Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1992
• Disability Discrimination Act 1992

Anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation

makes it illegal to discriminate because of
characteristics such as:
– age
– sex
– race
– impairment
– marital/parental status
– religious beliefs.
• All Australian states and territories have relevant
legislation.
10
Why Does Discrimination Occur?

Discrimination
Unfair treatment of a person or minority group based on prejudice,
consisting of three types:

Direct: Where an irrelevant criterion is used to exclude a person or group from an

opportunity.

Indirect: Where a seemingly neutral practice or decision advantages an individual or

group.

Structural (or systematic): Results from interaction of historical decisions,

policies and social attitudes.

11
Diversity Management

• Diversity management:
A process of management, particularly HRM, underpinned by
a set of values which recognise differences between people
as strengths for management.

• HRM diversity roles at different levels:

– Strategic
– Managerial
– Operational

• Three main levels:

– individual
– group
– organisational

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What does the Science Say?

Zhang (2020). An institutional approach to gender diversity and firm

performance. Organization Science, 31(2), 439 – 457.

The more gender diversity has been normatively

accepted in a country or industry, the more gender-
diverse firms experience positive market valuation and
increased revenue.

Li et al. (In Press). Leveraging age diversity for organizational

performance: an intellectual capital perspective. Journal of Applied
Psychology.

Age diversity was positively related with organizational

performance because it enhances human and social
capital. This benefit was amplified with functional
diversity and age-inclusive management practices.
13
Summary

• The relationship between the employer and the

employee is governed by law:
– Employment contracts, legislation, statutory agreements,
awards and the common law.
• HR managers need to be aware of requirements to
minimise an organisation’s exposure to dispute and
litigation.
• Having a balanced approach and seeking expert
legal advice as necessary is the key.
• In order to increase the acceptance of some legally
prescribed actions, it is critical to create favourable
attitudes toward these actions.
• Policies, practices, and systems are needed to
enhance and normalize diversity of all kinds.