UNIT 2

Human Resource Policies &

Strategies
 Human Resource Policies & Strategies:
Introduction
• With human nature being what it is,
employees will test limits and act “creatively”
in workplace situations, so you need a strategy
for developing, communicating and enforcing
a set of policies and practices that reflect your
standards of acceptable behavior.
• So how can you make sure your employees
have clear expectations and are treated fairly
as they work to help build your company? The
answer is found in the way you address four
key elements related to the development and
deployment of your policies and practices:
Roles, Rules, Consequences and Tools
 Roles
• People like to have a clear understanding of
their role in a company as well as the roles of
others. Every successful team has well-defined
positions for its members: Everyone knows
what he or she is to do, how to do it and how
their performance can impact those around
them
 Rules
• Managers and employees need to share a
clear understanding of what is and what is not
acceptable behavior within the company.
• Setting clear and specific behavioral standards
in the form of rules establishes a framework
for spotting and addressing violations of those
standards.
 Consequences
• It’s important that you clearly state
consequences for violations of your behavioral
standards so that employees know what to
expect and have fair warning of those
expectations. In addition, clear consequences
help to ensure that you aren’t limited in your
options for dealing with improper behaviors.
 Tools
• Tools address the question of how you support the
people in your company who manage other employees.
When faced with a specific personnel issue, what
resources are available to them? Do they have an
employee handbook or a policy guide? What about
regular training in company policies and practices,
coupled with simple, easy-to-use forms to guide them
when dealing with particular issues? Are you giving them
a clear directive on working with your human resources
personnel or legal representatives? Are your resources
available online?
 Role of HR in strategic management

• Environmental scanning
• Strategy formulation
• Strategy implementation
• Evaluation and control
 Environmental Scanning
• “From public information and legitimate recruiting
and interview activities, you ought to be able to
construct organization charts, staffing levels, and
group missions for the various organizational
components of each of your major competitors.
Your knowledge of how brands are sorted among
sales subdivisions and who reports to whom can
give important clues as to a competitor’s strategic
priorities. You may even know the track record and
characteristic behavior of the executives”.
 Strategy Formulation
Strategies are formulated at three levels:
• Corporate level
• Business unit level
• Functional level
 Key steps in HR strategy formulation

• Be clear whether the HR strategy is meant for corporate, unit

or functional level strategies. The decision is simple in as
much as the same HR strategy shall be relevant for any level
strategy.
• Next step is to identify the trends in the environment.
Environmental scanning helps delineate the major trends.
• The third step is to have a SWOT analysis of the firm.
Scanning the internal environment of the business helps list
out its strengths and weaknesses and that of external
environment helps identify opportunities and threats.
• Flow of People: Hiring, promotions, transfers, out
placement and training and development
• Flow of performance management: Measurement,
rewards and follow-up
• Flow of information: Keeping the organization in
touch with key external realities, managing internal
communications, and designing information
technology infrastructure.
• Flow of work: Organization structure, work process
design and physical arrangements
 Strategy Implementation
(A)Encouragement of Pro-active Rather than
Reactive Behavior
(B) Explicit Communication of Goals
(C)  Stimulation of Critical Thinking
(D) Productivity as an HR Based Strategy
(E) Quality and Service are HR-based Strategies
(F) Proficient Strategic Management
 Strategy Evaluation
• Establishing performance targets, standards and
tolerance limits for the objectives, strategies and
implementation plans.
• Measuring the performance in relation to the targets
at a given time. If outcomes are outside the limits,
inform managers to take action.
• Analyze deviations from acceptable tolerance limits.
• Execute modifications where necessary and feasible.
 HR Policies & Procedures
• Human resource policies are continuing guidelines on the approach
of which an organization intends to adopt in managing its people.
They represent specific guidelines to HR managers on various matters
concerning employment and state the intent of the organization on
different aspects of Human Resource management such as
recruitment, promotion, compensation, training, selections etc. They
therefore serve as a reference point when human resources
management practices are being developed or when decisions are
being made about an organization’s workforce.
A good HR policy provides generalized guidance on the approach
adopted by the organization, and therefore its employees, concerning
various aspects of employment. A procedure spells out precisely what
action should be taken in line with the policies.
Each organization has a different set of circumstances and so develops
an individual set of human resource policies. The location an
organization operates in will also dictate the content of their policies.
In developing HR Policies, there should be clear and consistent
statement of the organization’s policies regarding all conditions of
employment and procedures for their equal and fair implementation.
In order to fulfill this objective, policies and procedures should be:
• Clear and specific, but provide enough flexibility to meet changing
conditions.
• Comply with all appropriate law and regulation.
• Consistent amongst one another and reflect an overall true and fair
view approach to all employees.
• HR policies are developed by making decisions
and taking actions on the day-to-day problems
of the organization. The process of developing
HR policies involves the assessment of the
following factors:
• Identify the purpose and objectives which the organization wishes to
attain regarding its Human Resources department.
• Analysis of all the factors under which the organization’s HR policy will be
operating.
• Examining the possible alternatives in each area which the HR policy
statement is necessary.
• Implementation of the policy through the development of a procedure
to support the policy.
• Communication of the policy and procedures adapted to the entire
organization.
• Auditing the policy so as to reveal the necessary areas requiring change.
• Continuous revaluation and revision of policy to meet the current needs
of the organization.
 On the basis of their source, human
resource policies could be classified into
• Originated Policies: These are the policies usually established by
the senior managers in order to guide their subordinates.
• Implicit Policies: These are the policies which are not formally
expressed; they are inferred from the behavior of managers. They
are also known as Implied Policies.
• Imposed Policies: Policies are sometimes imposed on the
business by external agencies such as government, trade
associations and trade unions.
• Appealed Policies: Appealed policies arise because the particular
case is not covered by the earlier policies. In order to know how
to handle some situations, subordinates may request or appeal
for the formulation of specific policies.
On the basis of description, policies may be general or
specific.
• General Policies: These policies do not relate to any
specific issue in particular. General policies are formulated
by an organization’s leadership team. This kind of policies
is called ‘general’ because they do not relate to any
specific issue in particular.
• Specific Policies: These policies are related to specific
issues like staffing, compensation, collective bargaining
Specific policies must confirm to the pattern laid down by
the general policies.
 Advantages achieved by setting up HR
policies
• They help managers at various level of decision making to make decisions
without consulting their superiors. Subordinates are more willing to accept
responsibility because policies indicate what is expected of them and they
can quote our return policy to justify their actions.
• They ensure long-term Welfare of employees and makes for a good employer
employee relationship as favoritism and discrimination are reduced.
• They ensure prompt action for taking decisions because the policies serve as
standards to be followed. They prevent the wastage of time and energy
involved in repeated analysis for solving problems of a similar nature.
• The establish consistency in application of the policies over a period of time
so that each one in the organisation gets a fair and just treatment.
• Policies set patterns of behaviour and permit employees to work more
confidently.
 Developing HR policies and strategies
To deliver a successful HR strategy, Human resource
manager must follow these 8 steps –
1. Aligning business and HR needs
2. Developing your HR strategy
3. Organizational performance
4. Organizational design and structure
5. Strategic resourcing
6. Organizational development
7. Compensation and benefits
8. Organizational culture
 Strategic control
Important types of strategic control used in
organizations are –
• Premise control
• Implementation control
• Strategic surveillance
• Special alert control
 Process of strategic control
Strategic control processes ensure that the actions required to achieve
strategic goals are carried out, and checks to ensure that these actions are
having the required impact on the organisation.

Regardless of the type or levels, strategic control can be done through the
following 6 steps -

1. Determine what to control

2. Set control standards
3. Measure performance
4. Compare performance to standards
5. Determine the reasons for the deviations
6. Take corrective action
The final phase of controlling process occurs when the
manager must decide action to take to correct performance
when the deviations occur. Corrective action depends on the
discovery of deviation and ability to take necessary action.

To conclude, strategic control is an integral part of strategy.

Without properly placed controls the strategy of the
company is bound to fail. Strategic control is a tool by which
companies check their internal business process and
environment and ascertain the progress towards their goal.
Thank you