Alignment of human resource management and business strategies

Ford HRM

The role of human resources has changed dramatically over the course of the last decade. Now, in today's corporate world, human resources are viewed more as a strategic tool that may contribute to a firm's competitive advantage if and when used correctly and with the right principles. The purpose of this essay is to examine the human resources department at Ford Motor Company to highlight some important principles related to human resource strategy and its relationship to overall business strategy.

The Importance of Human Resource Strategy

According to Stewart & Brown (2012) it is imperative for human resources to become decidedly aligned with the more general and far reaching strategic plans of a firm. They suggested that "in the increasingly important strategic partner role, human resource specialists work with other organizational leaders to put company strategy into action. True partners go beyond providing support to other leaders and expertise in human resource practices." When this avenue of approach is discovered all facets of an organization begin to concentrate their focus on the larger purposes of the firm and a more effective and efficient organization begins to manifest problems into solutions that provide competitive advantage realized in profits and expansion.

According to it Human Resources' web site the Ford Motor Company has provided some useful insight into this department of their company. It appears that Ford's Human resource division is aligned with the rest of the corporation and the strategies overlap and feed off each other. Stewart & Brown (2012) also noted how important this alignment is. They suggested that "organizations are likely to have human resource practices that fit with their competitive business strategies. Organizations that effectively recruit, select, train, and compensate their employees develop an advantage that is hard for other organizations to copy. This advantage is maximized when the organization has a clear competitive strategy and a matching human resource strategy " (p.67).

Ford's Human Resources

Ford's human resources suggests nine key principles that it aligns itself with. These include: labor relations, business operations, compensation, benefits, workforce planning and recruiting, organization development, personnel relations, HR strategy and learning and development. Under these key nine principles there are opportunities for HR professionals to work for. According to the site Ford's Human Resource goal is " to build a team of people who possess strong consumer instincts and innovative ideas, who draw strength from diversity, and who can deliver the performance needed to compete effectively in a global marketplace." Of all these opportunities I would be most interested in learning and development because I like to teach others how to do things and this would be a fine way of demonstrating that skill and contributing to human resource strategy.

In order to improve Human Resource strategic initiatives at Ford I would suggest to make the company as friendly as possible to work for. This would include listening and respecting to their many employees. Often better pay and benefits works to placate the worker into obeying and toeing the company line, but sometimes letting the workers contribute to the actual strategic planning of the business would provide a highly motivated workforce ready to defend their suggestions and ideas with extra energy and dedication. Another way to increase the effectiveness of human resource strategic planning would be to inform and educate as many people as possible about these efforts. While there is a certain amount of necessary secrecy needed to ensure a successful strategy, key information about obvious intentions should be shared with employees across the business.