Harvard Business School Case Study: TRW\'s Information

¶ … Harvard Business School Case Study: "TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management

The Strategic human resource management process initiated by Will Sproule was a very smart initiative for the purpose of increasing the organizational effectiveness of the company. However, there were some issues that need to be addressed. As discussed in the case, when this change process was initiated, it faced several hurdles which made the achievement of objectives more difficult. There were several reasons because of which Sproule found it difficult to initiate the change process. The primary reason that creates barriers to the effective execution of the change process is that those who are going to be affected by the change are usually unwilling to cooperate because they fear that any such change may decrease their importance in the organization or they will eventually loose their jobs. Some other causes may be that the management might not be confident that whether any major change is going to benefit the organization in the long-term or it will be wastage of resources and time. In addition to this any such change also requires proper planning and effective management which is easier said than done. The Strategic Human Resource Management process focuses primarily on the development of the organizational capability to adapt to changing environmental conditions. To achieve this objective Sproule should first overcome the problems that are creating hurdles in the effective implementation of the process. This can be done by educating the employees and the top management about the benefits that such initiatives are going to bring and by ensuring them that the change process is not going to negatively affect the employees. Moreover, for the effective implementation of the SHRM process it is necessary that Sproule should create a sense of involvement among the employees i.e. he should take input from those who are going to get affected from his process. In this way there will be a higher rate of cooperation and the implementation of the process will be much easier.

The concept of SHRM is basically to focus on the pattern of planned human resource development and activities that are intended to enable the firm to accomplish its objectives. Within an organization, the primary role of SHRM is to meet the demands of the competitive environment. In case of a stable environment the achievements of such objectives is much easier as the skill requirements of the human resources are expected to remain the same. Therefore, the organization focuses on the developing its human capital with a constricted range of skills. However, in a dynamic environment, as is the case with TRW, the organization should focus on the development of a human capital with a broader range of skills so that they are able to engage in a wide variety of behavior and meet the changing demands of the environment. The Strategic Human Resource Management process should promote the concept of organizational flexibility among the employees so that the firm can easily fit in the ever changing environment. As today's organizations face increasingly dynamic environment characterized by increasing competition and change, it has become increasingly important for the firms to develop a flexible organization.

For the effective implementation of the SHRM process, it is necessary that the HRM strategy of the organization should match with the core components of an organization. It should be in line with the HRM practices of the organization because if the will be in conflict with the previous HRM practices, the process will face several barriers as is the case with Sproule. Second, it should be developed by keeping in view the skills and abilities of the existing human capital of the firm. If the strategies will be developed by just making unrealistic assumptions about the employee's skills, the process is going to suffer. In addition to this, the employees' role behavior should also be kept in mind while developing the strategies.

Every firm has its own well defined HRM practices which differ from organizations to organizations. Therefore, different strategies developed by different firms require a totally diverse role behavior from their employees. That is why it is proposed that the firm should develop its strategies and define its HRM practices on the basis of its employees' ability to perform the behaviors that are required to implement a strategy. In addition to this, the firm should also define a fit between the strategy adopted by the firm and the individual skills of the employees.

The formulation of strategy for the SHRM process should include the clear and comprehensive definition of the mission or goals of the organization. Along with this the firm should identify its strength & weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats. This will help the organization to choose a specific strategy for its operations. The process of identification of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats should be related to the human capital of the firm. The major role of Human Resource Management in this regard is of strategy implementation. The strategy defined by the firm will then define the desired skills and behaviors as perceived by the HR managers who are implementing the strategy. this perception of the required skills and behaviors is then going to define the HRM practices. Once these HRM practices are defined they are actually practiced by the organization. These actual HRM practices in turn will influence the actual skills and practices of the organization hence bringing increased efficiency to the organizational performance. The results of the strategies formulated i.e. The change in organizational performance should be used as a tool for further strategy formulation processes for the future.

Even if an organization has considered all the above mentioned factors while practicing SHRM, there is a chance of failure if the employees are not willing to cooperate in the change process. Their cooperation is one of the most crucial parts because it is the employee who is going to bring the change and who is going to make the organization more productive. Cooperation from the employees can be earned by teaching them that such activities are not only going to benefit the organization but it is going to bring advantages to them as well in the long-term. Moreover, the fear of change should be reduced among the employees.

In case of TRW, the SHRM process can only be successful when the manager i.e. Sproule succeeds in gaining cooperation of the employees in the respective department where he intends to practice the SHRM process. He can achieve this objective by convincing the employees that any such change is going to bring more efficiency and productivity which in turn will bring increased revenues and lesser costs. In this way not only the company is going to benefit but also the employees will gain as they will be getting more perks and more salaries. Moreover, improved organizational performance means the organization will be able to develop more efficient work processes which will reduce the strain of work. This can also be a motivating factor to motivate the employees. The HR management should also ask the employees to provide input as to how we can effectively manage this SHRM process. In this way, the HR manager will be able to get the insight of a number of those problems which he was unable to identify earlier and which were causing problems.