ALTERNATIVE METHODS FOR GAINING STAKEHOLDER COMMITMENT

Strategy selection is a process that is guided by the intentions of senior management, which may or may not be specified in the mission. Sometimes this "intention" is referred to as the

"vision". It is intention or vision that leads to actions being exercised on a collective yet consistent basis. Strong leadership from the chief executive, with other members of the senior management acting jointly, bring together appropriate strategies to meet business needs.

We have already noted that the extent to which human resource strategy is led by or leads business strategy is dependent upon a number of factors. It is also worth remembering that the formulation of corporate and business strategy is influenced not only by environmental factors, but also by internal factors within the organisation that impact at the point of strategic option generation and strategic choice. Professional, political and cultural influences within the organisation, in particular, can influence and be influenced by strategic choice and be central in generating commitment among key stakeholders and business partners. We will look at some of these issues briefly here.

The Skills Needed by the HR Strategist

It is sensible to begin this section with a brief review of modern thinking about the proper role for the HR professional and the HR function. This thinking is largely derived from the work of Ulrich and Brockbank (2005) in which it is argued that the HR professional has five

interdependent roles:

HR leader

Employee advocate

Human capital developer

Strategic partner

Functional expert

The way that Ulrich and Brockbank arrange this model is as a central circle, representing the HR leader, with the other four roles sited around the periphery. The HR leader is seen as core to the five roles because, as leader, the HR professional provides “… leadership to those in the business as well as those in the function” – emphasising the business role of the HR professional.

The remaining four peripheral roles define the task of the HR business partner.

Human capital developers take on the mantle of preparing the workforce for the future “… often [developing] one employee at a time, developing plans that offer each employee opportunities to develop future abilities, matching desires with opportunities”.

As strategic partners, HR professionals “partner with line managers to help them reach their goals through strategy formulation and execution”.

As a functional expert, the HR business partner has knowledge of the business, offering expertise in the main HR strategic areas of resourcing, promotion and career advancement, training/learning and development, outplacement and so on, as well as work process (job) design and organisational structures.

The role of employee advocate is somewhat different because this role requires HR professionals to understand all their "customers", including employees, and be able to see the world through their eyes in order to articulate their perceptions, and “when the management team discusses the strategy [of] closing a plant … your job is to represent employees.” This does not mean that the views of employees are paramount, but what it does allow is some discussion of the issues relating to the workforce when strategic choices are being exercised.

Power

Lines of authority in an organisation indicate a right to do something but this is not necessarily the same as power to do something, which is associated with ability to do something rather than authority. In this sense, "ability" has nothing to do with the skill or expertise to perform a task but is more associated with the ability to negotiated desirable outcomes.

Charles Handy, in Understanding Organisations, identified six sources of power within organisations:

Physical power – This is the power of force and is rare in modern organisations, other than the militia. Physical power sometimes manifests itself in bullying and intimidation and can be a symptom of poor industrial relations. Those with physical power may dictate an outcome favourable to themselves through threats and bullying.

Resource power – This is linked to control over physical resources or information.

The extent depends upon the way the resource is controlled, how valuable it is and

how much of it there is. Managers can, for example, exert resource power by limiting the information they pass on to subordinates (and of course the reverse can often be true!). Unions have, over the years, wielded varying levels of resource power by their ability to control the human resource. In our earlier case study from Yorkshire Water plc, we noted that the introduction of performance related pay was delayed because it was not supported by the union and this lack of support has led to difficulties ever since.

Position power – This is power derived from the job itself. It is the equivalent to formal authority and carries, for example, the right to access to information, to be consulted on certain matters, etc. Senior managers to some extent but the Chief Executive to a great extent, has position power and studies on the effect of leadership and managerial style have looked at the impact of this power on strategy formulation.

Expert power – This is associated with the level of expertise of an individual and is dependent upon the expertise being of value to and recognised by others within the organisation. Lawyers and accountants within organisations often rely upon expert power to exercise staff authority. Personnel managers often have to rely upon expert power to influence strategy formulation.

Personal power – This is associated with charisma. Charismatic individuals, may not necessarily occupy positions of authority within an organisation or group, but their personal qualities often allow them to influence others.

Leadership

Leadership is often defined in terms of personality traits; behaviour; contingency, power and occupation of an administrative position. Most definitions reflect the assumption that

leadership involves a process whereby an individual exerts influence upon others in an organisational context. Leadership, therefore, can involve aspects of resource power, position power and personal power.

There has been much written about what constitutes "leadership" and "management". Kotter in Leading Change in 1996 proposed that managers develop plans, whereas leaders create a vision and a strategy for achieving the vision. Kotter also highlighted the difference in the way managers and leaders seek to promote their agenda. Managers, it is argued, organise and engage in a process of controlling and problem solving, whilst leaders engage in a process of alignment and seek to motivate and inspire. Kotter suggests that a balance is needed between management and leadership within any successful organisation.

The definition above supports the view of leadership as key to a high performance

organisation, as a strong charismatic leader has the ability to build high levels of commitment and co-operation. Peter Senge, in The Fifth Discipline made the link between leadership and strategic human resource management and suggests that a key constraint in the

development of a resource based, strategic human resources management model is leadership competencies.

Other writers have considered the characteristics of those in leadership positions and argued that leaders that are open and participative are more likely to adopt "prospector" and

"differentiation" strategies and the human resource management strategies to support that approach. Alternatively, leaders who desire "control" and are "challenge-averse" will focus on "defender" and "cost" leadership strategies.

The HR Profession

It seems to go almost without saying that the HR manager is likely to be influential in the development of human resource strategy but it is worth noting that the perception of the HR function and its professionalism has been and is likely to remain, key to the adoption of a strategic approach to human resource management.

Michael Porter, speaking at the 2000 National Conference of the CIPD commented that, to have an impact on the performance of business, human resource managers need to make sure their human resource practices are wired into the strategy of the organisation. "That is not going to happen", he warned, "unless you get very business-oriented. Think of yourself as a business manager, not an HR person."

The extent to which human resource strategies are integrated into corporate and business level strategies, therefore, seems to be influenced to some extent by the perception of human resources within the organisation. Where the positive benefits of a strategic approach are recognised and the professionalism of human resource practitioners is

acknowledged, so the degree to which strategies are integrated or even influenced by human resources, increases.

It is appropriate to finish this section with the following quotation from the Aston Centre For Human Resource’s textbook, Strategic Human Resource Management: Building Research-based Practice (CIPD, 2008)

“HR specialists have to become adept at marketing their contribution and persuading line and senior managers to involve them as equal partners with the rest of the management team. This requires some political acumen, combined with an ability to focus on high-profile strategic initiatives that will be noticed by the senior management team. Research evidence … suggests that the personal characteristics of HR

specialists can impact significantly on the willingness or otherwise of senior management to involve the HR team in strategic decision-making.”

D. HR STRATEGY AS AN EXERCISE IN THE