According to Lepak and Gowan (2010), strategically managing employees (individuals who work for a company and have the abilities to make it successful) refer to a company’s ability to successfully attract (proper staffing), develop (monitoring, reporting, training and appraisal of performance) as well as retain (reward, renumeration and incentives) talented employees. By strategically managing employees, a company acknowledges the role that employees play in the success of the organization. Additionally, an organization understands that having the right employees in place and motivating them to work hard as possible, is likely to improve its performance and therefore, enhance and sustain the company’s competitive advantage on the long term (ability to create more economic value than competitors). To do so, an organization will implement an HR department, i.e., a support function within companies with a purpose of designing as well as implementing a company’s policies for the management of employees (Lepak & Gowan 2010).
The three primary HR activities are as follows:
- Work Design and Workforce Planning
- Managing Employees Competencies
- Managing Employee Attitudes and Behaviors
Work Design and Workforce Planning refers to designing the jobs as well as planning for the workforce needed in order to achieve the organizational goals of the company. Designing jobs includes making decisions on what the employees’ roles are (what they will do) as well as ensuring proper staffing (that the right employees are in the right place at the right time). Job designing also involves how the jobs are interconnected, ensuring that they align with the objectives of the organization. It also involves determining which tasks should be emphasized, and how simple/complex they are going to be. Through planning the workforce, an organization must decide how the employees are allocated (through hiring, retaining, promotions, transfers). Workforce planning also involves supplying the necessary employees, which can be achieved via outsourcing as well as the use of contingent labor (temporary employees and independent contractors for example) if needed (Lepak & Gowan 2010).
Managing Employees Competencies refers to ensuring that employees possess the necessary competencies (i.e., knowledge, skills, abilities, talents) to perform their tasks effectively. To do so, an organization must assess the competencies that the employees possess, recruit employees and select the candidates that possess the desired competencies based on their past experiences as well as their personalities. Lastly, an organization can train current employees in the competencies that are needed for both current and future positions (Lepak & Gowan 2010).
Managing Employee Attitudes and Behaviors refers to encouraging the right attitudes and behaviors by motivating the employees in order for them to appropriately perform and continually improve their performance. This is achieved through performance management and ensuring that the performance criteria represent the expected attitudes and behaviors and are properly communicated. It also involves providing empowerment, constructive feedback and discipline for employees not performing as desired. Lastly, the attitudes and behaviors can be managed through compensation and incentives (making sure the employees feel valued) as well as providing employees benefits, health and wellness (Lepak & Gowan 2010).
Even though the three activities need to implemented together to be effective and are all subject to challenges (i.e., meeting the organization demands, environmental influences and regulatory issues), the most challenging could be Managing Employee Attitudes and Behaviors. Indeed, successfully managing attitudes and behaviors is subjective, is more difficult to teach than competencies and will depend on the managers’ capabilities and ensuring that the lack of an employee’s performance/motivation is properly measured and actions for correction, properly taken (Lepak & Gowan 2010).
Lepak, D., & Gowan, M. (2010). Human resource management: Managing employees for competitive advantage. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.