HRM STRATEGIC INTEGRATION AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE

HRM STRATEGIC INTEGRATION AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE

ASHOK CHANDA

JIE SHEN

SAGE Publications 2009

Rs.550   Pp 384

HR scholars and researchers continue to stake their claims on various regions of the human brain although most people don’t have a clue about what happens in the deep recesses of the mind. The variables are too many and the equations never amenable to universal application. In fact there are no equations. This grounding on reality is what one expected from Ashok Chanda and Jie Shen when they started out on the premise that no one knows for sure if in a particular unit the HRM function is integrated with the strategy of the business. The Foreword claims that while MNCs seeking to establish business operations in India would find this book useful, it will also help HR practitioners recognise and understand the close link between HRM and organisational strategy. Perhaps the greatest contribution of the authors, says the Foreword, is that HRM strategic integration impacts organisational performance (both financial and non-financial) – something every HR man without exception would give an arm and a leg to get proof of!

It has been accepted of late that though the contribution of HR may not directly be seen in the net profits, it is HR that can ensure the sustainability of profits. Yes, it took some decades to come to this realisation, and it was about time that work like the one under review was published – though, in short, the book is a disappointment. We can have no comments on the quality of research in the present case as that is the prerogative of the university. We see the book as it is seen by a reader with some interest in HRM and the claims of the authors to their new insights.

Like most writers on the subject, there is an over-consciousness of the need to define various terms, some pre-existing and some existing in the peculiar perception of the author(s). The present authors find differences between HRM and SHRM and between SHRM and HRM with Strategic Integration (HRM Si). HRM, they say, treats employees as one of the resources, with its focus on ‘development based on annual needs’, but SHRM treats employees as strategic resources providing sustained competitive advantage. What converts HRM to SHRM or to HRM Si is the mystery. Unfortunately, the book does not supply an answer. Perhaps in the urge to prove that HRM does have a positive contribution to the organisation’s performance the authors lost track of this.

They also seem to have lost track all along the way: the contents of each Part or Chapter do not match with the expectations raised by the headings. Part II, for instance, is entitled Individual HR Practices and their Impact on Organisational Performance: Empirical Evidence. One understands ‘empirical’ as fact-based observations from experimental / practical situations or of surveys conducted by the authors; the authors’ understanding apparently refers to reading up the vast literature on the subject. This Part also covers the bread-and-butter of HR managers viz. Recruitment & Selection, Performance Management, Training & Development, Reward & Compensation, and Employee Relations.

Let’s focus on Performance Management – particularly because this is one area that HR managers hold themselves responsible for being fully aware that ground level performance is a function of line managers. After citing 14 authorities for 8 statements in three-fourths of a page, the authors state that there is confusion and misunderstanding about the efficacy of Performance Management and that further research is needed. This is more than half-way through the book which professes to investigate how differently performance management with varied levels of strategic integration affects organisational performance, in the Indian context. It comes nowhere close to achieving this.

The conclusions could well have been arrived at without the extensive research. It is important, they say, that HR executives and experts are integrally involved to provide HR inputs into business strategy. The question is that if they are not thus involved, what are the reasons and what are the remedies? And isn’t this old hat: Competency of HR managers is a major influence on performance management through which organisations are able to drive employee appraisal and feedback. Can we beat the originality of this one: effective performance management is possible only if there is a dedicated team engaged in performance management process – comprised of both HR experts/managers and line managers. One point is clear though: no HR man will be seen drooling over the freshness of the findings in this book.