The Harvard Map of HRM

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Human Resource Managementin a Business Context by Alan Price Thomson Learning - ISBN 978-184480-548-8 Third Edition 2007 Price and delivery Amazon.co.uk - UK pounds Amazon.com - US dollars Amazon.ca - Can.

dollars Amazon.de - Euros Amazon.fr - Euros Contents Introduction to HRM Managing People The Concept of HRM HRM and Business Effectiveness HRM and the Business Environment Human Resources and the Global Economy HRM and the State The Employment Market Organizational HRM HRM in Large Organizations HRM in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Organizational Culture HRM and Commitment Strategic HRM People Strategies Change Strategies Resourcing Strategies The Employee Resourcing Process Recruitment Employee Selection Managing Diversity Equality of Opportunity Race, disability and age Performance and Compensation Performance Management Reward Management Developing People Human Resource Development Learning in Organizations Employee Relations Unions and Collective Bargaining Conflict, bargaining, involvement and well-being Overview of HRM

Human Resources and the Global Economy

HRM in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

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The Harvard Map of HRM

Adapted from Human Resource Management in a Business Context, 3rd edition (2007)

Beer et al (Managing Human Assets by Michael Beer, Richard E. Walton, Bert A. Spector, 1984) argue that when general managers determine the appropriate human resource policies and practices for their organizations, they require some method of assessing the appropriateness or effectiveness of those policies. Beer et al devised the famous Harvard Map (sometimes referred to as the Harvard model) of HRM.

This map is based on an analytical approach and provides a broad causal depiction of the 'determinants and consequences of HRM policies.' It shows human resource policies to be influenced by two significant considerations:

• Situational factors in the outside business environment or within the firm such as laws and societal values, labor market conditions, unions, work-force characteristics, business strategies, management philosophy, and task technology. According to Beer et al these factors may constrain the formation of HRM policies but (to varying degrees) they may also be influenced by human resource policies.
• Stakeholder interests, including those of shareholders, management employees, unions, community, and government. Beer et al argue that human resource policies SHOULD be influenced by ALL stakeholders. If not, 'the enterprise will fail to meet the needs of these stakeholders in the long run and it will fail as an institution.'

The authors also contend that human resource policies have both immediate organizational outcomes and long-term consequences. Managers can affect a number of factors by means of the policy choices they make, including:

- the overall competence of employees,
- the commitment of employees,
- the degree of congruence between employees' own goals and those of the organization, and
- the overall cost effectiveness of HRM practices.

Beer et al state that these 'four Cs' do not represent all the criteria that human resource policy makers can use to evaluate the effectiveness of human resource management, but consider them to be 'reasonably comprehensive' although they suggest that readers may add additional factors depending on circumstances. And various authors have done so.

Beer et al argue that: "In the long run, striving to enhance all four Cs will lead to favorable consequences for individual well-being, societal well-being, and organizational effectiveness (i.e., long-term consequences). By organizational effectiveness we mean the capacity of the organization to be responsive and adaptive to its environment. We are suggesting, then, that human resource management has much broader consequences than simply last quarter's profits or last year's return on equity. Indeed, such short-term measures are relatively unaffected by HRM policies. Thus HRM policy formulation must incorporate this long-term perspective."

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This article is based on Human Resource Management in a Business Context by Alan Price (3rd edition, 2007)

Introduction to HRM

by Alan Price
Thomson Learning - ISBN 978-184480-548-8
Third Edition 2007

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