Human resources planning has evolved over time from a basic tool used by companies to identify personnel needs to an integral part of an organization’s strategy for making the most of its “human capital.”
Increasingly, companies are finding that the strategic management of human resources can actually be a source of competitive advantage. For example, one company that has clearly used its human resources as the key driver of its competitive advantage is Southwest Airlines.
In the airline industry, competitors are using essentially the same kind of equipment, maintenance, and aircraft, and also utilize the same physical locations (i.e., airports), yet Southwest consistently outperforms its competition, using the very same hard assets as its competitors. The main, telltale variable explaining the difference in relative performance between Southwest and its less profitable competitors is its focus on the human side of its business model. Southwest has focused a great deal of its energy in developing a highly productive organizational culture by crafting a human resources strategy that has driven its sustainable competitive advantage.
Additionally, companies like Whole Foods Market, SAS Institute, and Men’s Warehouse proactively address personnel issues in order to keep their employees happy with their jobs. It has been proven time and again that when organizations take care of their employees, the employees will take care of the organization.
Men’s Warehouse, for example, has a corporate philosophy to uncover untapped human capital in all of its employees. It operates under well-defined values and believes the employees are the organization. They provide training for all levels and, as an added bonus, provide very low-interest loans to employees. As a result, Men’s Warehouse has reaped unprecedented growth of more than 30 percent annually in recent years in an industry that is very competitive with very low margins. The company also benefits from low-to-zero employee theft and does not use any devices to try to prevent employee theft.
The Men’s Warehouse model can be transferred to any industry. It starts with well-defined goals and values to make human capital a competitive advantage for the organization. In the Men’s Warehouse example, the company’s goal was to develop every employee to his/her fullest potential. Then once the goals and values are decided on, programs are developed to make them attainable and a reality.
Human resource planning, recruitment, and selection are the initial steps in effecting the company’s strategy by maximizing its investment in human capital. Think of the recruitment and selection like a funnel, with the wide part of the funnel collecting a wide assortment of candidates, and the selection process sorting the candidate pool into a smaller group of qualified candidates, both in terms of the skills needed for the job and from the standpoint of their fit with the organizational culture of the company. Both kinds of suitability are needed to effectively advance the company strategy via its human resources capabilities.
Increasingly, companies are finding that the strategic management of human resources can actually be a source of competitive advantage. For example, one company that has clearly used its human resources as the key driver of its competitive advantage is Southwest Airlines.
In the airline industry, competitors are using essentially the same kind of equipment, maintenance, and aircraft, and also utilize the same physical locations (i.e., airports), yet Southwest consistently outperforms its competition, using the very same hard assets as its competitors. The main, telltale variable explaining the difference in relative performance between Southwest and its less profitable competitors is its focus on the human side of its business model. Southwest has focused a great deal of its energy in developing a highly productive organizational culture by crafting a human resources strategy that has driven its sustainable competitive advantage.
Additionally, companies like Whole Foods Market, SAS Institute, and Men’s Warehouse proactively address personnel issues in order to keep their employees happy with their jobs. It has been proven time and again that when organizations take care of their employees, the employees will take care of the organization.
Men’s Warehouse, for example, has a corporate philosophy to uncover untapped human capital in all of its employees. It operates under well-defined values and believes the employees are the organization. They provide training for all levels and, as an added bonus, provide very low-interest loans to employees. As a result, Men’s Warehouse has reaped unprecedented growth of more than 30 percent annually in recent years in an industry that is very competitive with very low margins. The company also benefits from low-to-zero employee theft and does not use any devices to try to prevent employee theft.
The Men’s Warehouse model can be transferred to any industry. It starts with well-defined goals and values to make human capital a competitive advantage for the organization. In the Men’s Warehouse example, the company’s goal was to develop every employee to his/her fullest potential. Then once the goals and values are decided on, programs are developed to make them attainable and a reality.
Human resource planning, recruitment, and selection are the initial steps in effecting the company’s strategy by maximizing its investment in human capital. Think of the recruitment and selection like a funnel, with the wide part of the funnel collecting a wide assortment of candidates, and the selection process sorting the candidate pool into a smaller group of qualified candidates, both in terms of the skills needed for the job and from the standpoint of their fit with the organizational culture of the company. Both kinds of suitability are needed to effectively advance the company strategy via its human resources capabilities.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment