Performance evaluation of the indian industries and environmental management practices [www.writekraft.com]

Writekraft Research & Publications LLP
(All Rights Reserved)
(Regd. No. AAI-1261)
Corporate Office: 67, UGF, Ganges Nagar (SRGP), 365 Hairis Ganj, Tatmill Chauraha, Kanpur,
208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Email: info@writekraft.com
Web: www.writekraft.com
STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT A STUDY OF
PERCEPTIONS OF HR PROFESSIONALS
IN KARNATAKA

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Chapter – 1
INTRODUCTION

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 PROLOGUE
1.2 HR PROBLEMS
1.3 HR TRANSFORMATION
1.4 STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: A NEW TREND
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
1.6 STRATEGIC HR CHALLENGES
1.7 UPCOMING TRENDS IN HR
1.8 SHRM WITH INDIAN PERSPECTIVE
1.9 RESEARCH GAP
1.10 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1.11 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
1.12 HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY
1.13 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
1.14 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.14 (a) Data collection
1.14 (b) Population and Sample selection
1.14 (c) Locale of the study
1.14 (d) Data analysis – Statistical tools
1.15 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1.16 EPILOGUE
1.17 CHAPTERIZATION SCHEME

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
1.1 PROLOGUE
With the increase in competition, locally and globally, organizations must
become more adaptable, resilient, agile, and customer-focused to succeed. With this
change in environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become a strategic
partner, an employee sponsor or advocate, and a change mentor within the
organization. In order to succeed, HR Professionals must carry out business driven
function with a thorough understanding of the organization's big picture and be able to
influence key decisions and policies (Mishra, 2010). A message frequently found in
corporate mission statements, annual reports and plaques on office walls is that people
are a firm’s most valuable resource. Having the right personnel at the right place and
at the right time is of utmost importance to the survival and success of any
organization (Wan, Ong & Kok, 2002). Hence, the field of Human Resource
Management (HRM) has undergone significant changes in scope, functions and
activities over many years. There is a radical raise in professional maturity in this field
and thus personnel management is now shaped as HRM and further developed as
Strategic HRM (Hussain & Rafique, 2012) which is very essential as the business
dynamics to which the HR field must respond and contribute are increasingly
turbulent (Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005). Recently Waiganjo, Mukulu & Kahiri, (2012)
viewed that the real life experience substantiate the assumption that no matter how
sophisticated and modern the business activities of the organization may become, it
will be extremely difficult to sustain its growth and effectiveness unless there are
strategies that complement its operations. Current era is witnessing the amalgamation
of several facets of management into the strategic management Hence, HR is no
exception. As it has been seen at the global level that there is tremendous change in all
the functions of the organizations like production, finance, marketing, etc., to make
these functions more effective to adapt to the changes the HR functions should also be
changed from time to time. Over the years the HR functions have also been
considerably changed and the recent change is being the implementation of Strategic
Human Resource Management. The implementation of new technology may result

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
with the downsized workforce in the industry and to manage the changed workforce
the effective implementation of policies was an urgent necessity. Hence, the concept
of SHRM has evolved to build a bridge between business strategy and the
1

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
management of human resources (Bhatnagar & Sharma, 2005) but more recently
Hussain & Rafique, (2012) investigated and criticized that the success of the new
policies depends on the introduction and implementation of new strategic HRM
policies.
Strategic Human Resource Management involves designing and implementing
a set of proactive HR policies/practices that ensures that an organization’s human
capital contributes to the achievement of its corporate objectives (Wan, Ong & Kok,
2002). The practices of SHRM such as resourcing, training and development,
employee relations and reward management are concerned with how people are
employed and managed in organizations so as to achieve competitive advantage
through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce
(Waiganjo, Mukulu & Kahiri, 2012).
1.2 HR PROBLEMS
The HRM is a complex multifaceted segment of an organizational setup that
has a variety of problems due to constant changes in social structure, political
instability and human values. HR Functions stems from the problems relating to the
changes in the industrial needs. Armstrong (2004), points out that the organizations
often face HRM problems which may fall within the following categories:
Recruitment, Training of individuals within the organizations, Assessing the
performance of employees and finally Rewarding and retention of employees.
But the major three problems which the HR executives are going to face over
the next ten years as per the survey conducted by Esen (2012) are (a) retaining and
rewarding the best employees, (b) developing the next generation of corporate leaders
and (c) creating a corporate culture that attracts the best employees to organizations.
The toughest task what the HR departments are facing is to attract, retain and nurture

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
talented employees (Srivastava & Agarwal, 2012, Esen, 2012 & Sagar, 2009). As the
individuals are developing themselves as technical and professional expertise, their
demand is increasing and due to which the HR departments are facing the problem of
retaining the talented employees (Srivastava & Agarwal, 2012).
2

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Performance appraisal appears to be the most important issue to tackle for a
company which is intended to assess the financial performance. Similarly, company’s
interest in enhancing HR performance may emphasize the need for empowerment and
training (Wan, Ong & Kok, 2002). Due to the changing working environment, the
employees are not able to work with their outdated skills and ideas for which the HR
departments have to approach for change management through training and
development which is one of the challenging task (Coopers, 2009). The problems
currently faced may also include the readiness of human resource as a strategic
partner, the absence of clearly-defined HR-related key performance indicators, labour
scarcity and Government policies relating to labour and education (Jassel, 2012). In
addition the other problems like acquiring, maintaining, nurturing and proper
utilization of the man power are being faced by the industries. However, by mitigating
these problems the organizations can achieve its overall objectives.
1.3 HR TRANSFORMATION
The business world is far more complex than it was any time before in the
history of our civilization. No organization can run its business competitively by
adopting a simple business model that worked several years ago as competitors evolve
every day trying to grab the market new share. Hence, the firm has to change its
processes, products and services to succeed on the market. HR Professionals have to
understand the business strategy and how Human Resources can contribute to the
success of the company. HR Transformation is an essential part of the success of the
modern company (Mullins, 2002). It answers to the real needs of the company which
is necessity due to acquisition of the additional skills which are highly competitive.
Changes in the HR Values and capabilities with relative accountability are on the rise
in the modern business world. The performance of the HR is not valued on the basis
of the task but considered for accomplishment of challenging goals and bridging the
performance gaps in the company. However, the current status of the HR
Management in the company has been shifted from traditional HR functions to

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Strategic functions though complete implementation of the innovative ideas has not
been incorporated.
3

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
The transformation of Human Resources does not have to be necessary a big
deal. It is better to manage a well-planned set of smaller changes while keeping the
performance of the team at the required level. Even a small step forward can help, if it
is followed by another small step. Days of big bang transformations are over.
Managing the huge and complete transformation requires highly experienced HR
Project Manager. The change of Human Resources is often hidden in the change of
behavior and acquiring additional skills and competencies. The transformation of HR
must be conducted in the context of the business strategy and business requirements
(Sivasubramaniam and Ratnam, 1998). Human Resource has to design the HR
transformation strategy that clearly set boundaries for the change project. It has to
analyze common obstacles, gaps and the status of the HR Management in the
organization. A dedicated internal team has to propose the HR transformation
roadmap that will guide the organization through the set of small changes.
Each transformation has to be put into the business context. No leader will
approve the change that is not aligned with the general vision of the organization and
the standard business requirements. Most organizations identify weak spots in Human
Resources that block the possibility to reach higher productivity and performance
(Zheng et.al., 2007). Connecting the weak points with the potential gains in
productivity is always an excellent start of any transformation journey. The CEO
supports changes that are beneficial for the company and does not support individual
ambitions of HR Managers without any evidence of benefits for all. HR Manager has
to explain clearly why the change in the team is required by communicating clearly
the benefits of the transformation and making the people understand the reason for
change. Each change and transformation is done through people and their minds since
strategic view is a masterpiece of change in soft areas like Human Resources.
1.4 STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:A NEW
TREND

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
The intellectual thoughts about Human Resource Management field can be
traced back to the 1920s in the U.S. The concept of labor as a human resource and the
strategic view of HRM policy and practice were described and discussed by labor
economists and industrial relations scholars of that period, such as John Commons.
4

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Progressive companies in the 1920s intentionally formulated and adopted innovative
HR practices that represented a strategic approach to the management of labor
(Lengnick et.al., 2009). Continuing with this line of thought about HR Practices, the
study by Som (2007) revealed that various theoretical researches have been focusing
on analyzing the organizations work practices as a coherent system. This system
perspective is based on the notion that human resource management (HRM) practices
often complement each other, so that the adoption of one HRM practice is only
effective when it is adopted in combination with one or more supporting work
practices. HRM has been used as a set of practices which can be termed as
progressive or high performance, high commitment, high involvement or innovative
HRM practices (Rimi & Yusuff, 2013).
The scant practice of Strategic Human Resource work could be traced to late
20th century and debates over the importance of HRM integration into corporate
strategy was also started and the term “Strategic HRM” was its outcome (Chiu &
Selmer 2011). Due to increasing international competition, mergers and acquisitions,
advancement in telecommunication technology, along with gradual demographic and
social changes, HR professionals are bounded to perform beyond their normal HR
activities (Lipiec, 2001).
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
The trend towards the modern HR Management starts with the strategic
business partnering where in the power will be turned into “assets” and assets will be
turned into “actionable initiatives”. Each leader has the engaging vision, but HR can
be useful in spreading the vision and ideas across the entire organization. The HR
department has tools that make sure that all employees receive the same message and

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
collects the feedback from staff and managers; together with the business leader in
elaborating the vision further. The main partnership of the HR Manager is with the
CEO which was the beginning of the journey gives benefits to both HR Manager and
the CEO. This partnering continued to spread throughout the organization which has
been accepted by all levels. In this partnering process the HR Manager not only acts
as a leader but a proactive business partner. He develops strong business relationships
5

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
with other business leaders and becomes an integral part of the leadership team,
however, sojourn has taken many years to become the valuable partner in the
organization.
1.6 STRATEGIC HR CHALLENGES
For Human Resources (HR) to be a profession, those working in the discipline
must master a set of competencies (Brockbank, Ulrich & Beatty, 1999) hence, HR
departments that aspire to make unique and valuable contributions must adopt their
departmental capabilities and the competencies of their HR professionals to the
dynamics that influence the human side of the business (Quinn & Brockbank, 2006).
If a company wants to have a wise investment in HR practices such as staffing,
training, compensation, organization design, performance management and culture
change which will again help a business to reach strategic and financial goals, HR
professionals must have knowledge and activate agendas to make strategy-HR linkage
happen (Brockbank, Ulrich & Beatty, 1999). The strategy-HR linkage can better
achieved by making interventions of HR practices with organizational goals hence,
the HR professional development interventions should meet three criteria:
9. Firstly raise the aspirations of the HR professionals to add greater value to
the business,
10. Secondly to develop HR professional competencies that have greatest
impact on business performance and
11. Finally to provide the opportunity to apply concepts, research and tools in
the context of raised aspirations (Quinn & Brockbank, 2006).
HR Professionals must begin not by focusing on the activities or work of
HRM but by defining the deliverables of that work. In terms of deliverables there are
four key roles i.e., Strategic partner, Administrative expert, Change agent and

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Employee champion, that HRM professionals must fulfill to make their business
partnership a reality (Bhatnagar & Sharma, 2005), but Teo & Rodwell (2007) viewed
that there are two facets of HR’s changing role – HR’s involvement in strategy and
the transfer of HR activities to line management. Overall HR managers are urged to
focus less on operational personnel activities and need to become strategic business
partners (Ulrich, 1997).
6

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
The focus of the HR is creating change which should be purposeful goal
directed and must bring positive change in the organizations (Huselid & Becker,
1999). They should also consider adopting strategies to improve their relationships
with line management and can put more energy and resources into legitimizing their
roles and status within their organizations, especially among the senior management
group (Teo & Rodwell, 2007). On the whole it is proved that HR professionals roles
has been increased which is supported by Ulrich (1997) that in the past few years,
roles for HR Professionals were often viewed in terms of the transitional form such as
operational to strategic, qualitative to quantitative, policing to partnering, short term to
long term, administrative to consultative, functionally oriented to business oriented,
etc,. But HR professionals cannot perform their roles effectively, unless and until they
are supported by top management. Hence the challenge for the HR professional is to
(Huselid & Becker, 1999) ensure that the CEO understands that the only way for the
organization to achieve that growth is by its people, the true source of competitive
advantage.
Business competitiveness is a recurring theme which is much sort term by
academicians, consultants and practitioners. The frequent and uncertain changes,
greater competition between firms, the need for continuous innovations, quality
enhancement and cost reduction force companies to face the challenge of improving
their competitiveness and consequently their performance (Waiganjo, Mukulu &
Kahiri, 2012). The realization of this competitiveness has propelled Strategic Human
Resource Management as a major field of study (Wright, 2005). SHRM is related to
HR’s alignment with the firm’s strategy and focuses on what a firm does with its
human resources. Ngo, Lau & Foley (2008) substantiated that the use of strategic HR
practices is positively related to both financial and operational performance but
SHRM perspective makes evident the importance of human resource practices for
organizational performance, such as employee turnover, productivity and financial
performance. SHRM effectiveness significantly reduces employee turnover and
increases overall market performance assessment (Richard & Johnson, 2001).

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Better fit of strategic HR roles with the organizational learning capability lead
to better organizational performance (Bhatnagar & Sharma, 2005), whereas effective
implementation of key strategic HRM practices should be able to bring in higher
7

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
levels of organizational performance. Different aspects of performance could be
affected by different strategic HRM variables (Wan, Ong & Kok, 2002). Sound HR
work can contribute to a firm’s performance when it is aligned to business objectives
and HRM practices when strategically implemented could improve organizational
productivity and that strategic HRM systems may help to sustain corporate future
developments (Chiu & Selmer 2011). Organizations by implementing SHRM gain the
above mentioned advantages along with that the employee relations climate can also
be used as a proxy to evaluate how strategically & effectively an organization
manages its human resources (Ngo, Lau & Foley, 2008). It is observed that by taking
the competitive advantage the firm can have three basic strategic options namely cost
reduction, quality enhancement and innovation which is in line with the argument
made by Waiganjo, Mukulu & Kahiri (2012). Strategic Human Resource Management
is not a ‘big company’ issues. Organizations of all sizes are seeking to maximize their
HR investment. It can be implemented under different types of ownership like state-
owned enterprises, Foreign-invested enterprises, Private owned enterprises, etc., (Ngo,
Lau & Foley, 2008) and evidenced that firms with higher levels of SHRM receive
greater benefit in terms of organizational performance, regardless of ownership type.
1.7 UPCOMING TRENDSIN HR
The only way to have a competitive advantage will be to keep reinventing the
fundamentals of HR practices (Livemint, 2017). After the transformation from
personnel department function to HRM and HRM to SHRM there is growing image
about the HR functions on the basis of the role and significance. This trend stems
from the global practices in the field of HR and their connectivity with that of the
organizational functions. The upcoming trends can be noticed in the area of talent
acquisition, staying relevant, digital way, diversity, adapting for the space and also
with regard to the data analytics which are as follows:

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
1. Challenge in talent acquisition
The impact of automation, though already visible in the past few years, may
become cause for worry, especially in a country like India. As more jobs get
automated, talent acquisition will enter a new phase where people need to possess
8

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
specific skills to get employment. Once that talent is part of the workforce, retaining it
will also require constant effort from the HR team.
2. Staying relevant
Organizations have traditionally trained their employees to work according to
the instructions given to them but now the responsibility is shifting towards
employees. Skilled people will be good at certain roles, companies will have to look at
people who are curious to learn. They are the ones who can seamlessly move from
one role to the other. There is a need for mix of apprenticeships as well as massive
open online courses or certifications to stay relevant in the rapidly changing
professional scenario.
3. Digital will be key
HR department will have to employ analytics to understand the needs of
people in a more customized, individual-specific manner and provide solutions
through the use of mobile technology and newer platforms such as mobile-friendly
platforms for communication, performance management, continuous feedback and
surveys, easier HR systems, automated processes, etc., The digitalization of HR
processes facilitates the HR Managers to be more strategic and can act as business
partner as he spends less time in dealing with day to day activities.
4. Redefining diversity
Every firm’s success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace
diversity wherein more attention should be given on tackling the maximum capacity
of individuals by recognizing and empowering their unique perspective. With the

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
practice of people spending almost their entire working lives in one company coming
to an end, the freelance industry will get a boost. A diverse workforce will now mean
a mix of full-time and freelance employees, young and old, and all genders, however,
the trend of workforce diversity may result with more complexities in employee
engagement.
9

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
1) Changes in work ‘Space’
High monitoring practices by firms may intrude upon an employee’s privacy
causing undue stress and may lead to low employee productivity or even may end up
with attrition. Work place monitoring has raised serious concerns about employee
privacy as it is the foremost complaint among employees however, not many offices
have been able to juggle collaboration with workplace privacy. Hence, firms should
create work environment of both open and structured spaces without compromising
on losing the talent due to lack of work privacy.
6. Focus on data analytics
As companies become more reliant on technology, every step of the employee
life-cycle will be recorded and the extent of data available with the HR team will go
beyond the date of joining and remuneration increase. Apart from training, data
analytics will also enable HR department to correlate reasons for attrition, client loss
and facilitate to take necessary redressal measures against it, however, more
digitization, augmented reality and robotics at the workplace are pressurizing HR
departments to be more proactive and analyzer.
1.8 SHRM - INDIAN PERSPECTIVE
Indian economy, after decades of confinement has experienced a revolutionary
change which is also been witnessed due to the liberalization effect gave rise to the
sudden and increased levels of competition for Indian firms. Each organization a
leader in its own industry had undergone extensive restructuring processes to brace
itself for the impending competition that has arisen with the phased deregulation of
the industries due to liberalization and privatization policy adopted by the Indian
Government way back in 1991. The general trend in Indian industry, due to the

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
liberalization of the Indian economy is encouraging for the SHRM practices
(Bhatnagar & Sharma, 2005) which has enforced for the transformation of the HR
function from ‘Personnel Management’ to ‘Human Resource Management’ and
further given birth for the term ‘Strategic Human Resource Management’. Som (2003)
opined about how innovative HRM practices are being adopted by Indian firms to
brace competition in the post liberalization period and also highlighted about the
10

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
need for new skills, new policies and innovative HRM practices. However, when
compared to the other countries, India is still lagging behind in understanding and
implementing SHRM completely in the organizations which is evidenced by the study
of Chiu & Selmer (2011) who examined empirically the proposition that HR
professionals are strategic business partners and also affirmed that the strategic role of
HR will be increasing in the future due to the continuous changing environment.
In India, HR professionals are not fully involving themselves in achieving
organizational objectives. Mechanism for reinventing traditional HR roles and
improving the effectiveness of HR professionals as business partners were proved
disappointing and they appeared to be particularly weak at predicting performance in
a business partner role (Caldwell, 2008). HR managers should be equal partners in the
business strategy formulation, with representation of HR on the board of directors of
the organization, which is not happening in India (Bhatnagar & Sharma, 2005).
Hence, Human Resource function must redesign itself to deliver the strategic value
that today’s business environment demands and refocus its energies to become a
change catalyst and leader.
1.9 RESEARCHGAP
The review of literature on Strategic Human Resource Management has revealed
that India is lagging behind in total adoption of Strategic Human Resource Management.
However Karnataka has no exception in total implementation of the Strategic Human
Resource Management Policies. Yet, some of the large organizations have implemented it
in the early 1990. After 1990 the adoption of the SHRM has got the momentum even in
Karnataka also. The review of literature further reveals that the studies carried earlier
were mainly focused on the importance of Strategic Human Resource Management, its
effects on the organizational performance, role of Human Resource Managers, effects of
Strategic Human Resource Management on Human Resource executives, line managers

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
and employees, competitive advantage, organization value addition, corporate reputation
etc., by taking perceptions of Human Resource executives, Line managers and
employees. No study has been comprehensively carried out to know the impact of
Strategic Human Resource Management on productivity and performance including
human resource related issues by taking perceptions of HR Managers and HR Consultants
as Human
11

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Resource Professionals in the area of Strategic Human Resource Management in India
in general and no study has been carried out in Karnataka in particular by linking
‘Strategic Human Resource Role’, ‘Human Resource Competency’, ‘Strategic
Recruitment and Selection’ and ‘Integration of Human Resource Management with
Organizational objectives’ as they play a paramount role in the implementation of
Strategic Human Resource Management. Hence, the present study has been carried
out to fill this gap in research concerned with Strategic Human Resource Management
and also to assess the level of transformation of human resource into strategic human
resource practices. In view of the above, the study has its significance.
1.10 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The HRM function in the organizations has to be proactive and need to be
strongly linked to the overall business so as to succeed in a highly competitive
business environment. One of the important tasks faced by the present-day managers
is integrating people with the strategic goals of the organization. Organizations are
finding difficulty in identifying the people who can work by aligning their personal
goals with organizational goals, however, India is still lagging behind in
understanding and implementing Strategic Human Resource Management completely
in the organizations. In this backdrop, the study has been carried by identifying the
following problems:
1 It is highly disappointing to mention that the role of HR Managers is not a
strategic partner but an overseer of employees. Strategic partner role takes last
priority due to the insufficient participation of HR Managers in defining
business strategy process. However, multifaceted roles played by him have not
been given due recognition. Even then the concept is completely acclaimed by
the industries as a boon for workers and management.

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
2 It is observed that the Traditional Human Resource Management has not
solved all the issues related to human resource because many problems like
welfare concerns, job stress, work-life imbalance, etc., still persists and not
resorted to be solved. Another side of criticism that is normally seen is that
HRM or even SHRM are not employee friendly and the new SHRM has
marginalized the human relations.
12

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
2. Most HR changes are organization wide and are intended to enhance
organizational performance and support the achievement of primary business
objectives. Organizations are not effectively managing strategic HR change
due to lack of HR involvement at initial and planning stages.
3. The organizations are incurring high cost in employing the right candidate at
the right time as it has to create a huge pool of talented candidates with huge
investment. In order to reduce this burden the organizations are going for
outsourcing their part or full of their HR activities. However, increase in
outsourcing of HR activities is failing to build a good and positive relationship
between employees and employer.
4. There is a lack of knowledge regarding the identification of the factors
influencing the integration of human resource management with organizational
objectives.
1.11 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The aim of the study is to understand and analyze the Strategic Human
Resource Management (SHRM) in present context and also analyzing the impact of
SHRM on organizational performance by taking perceptions of HR Professionals in
Karnataka. The study is has been carried out with the following objectives:
1 To study the evolution and growth of Strategic Human Resource Management
2 To analyze the shift in HR functions from traditional practices to strategic HR
practices
3 To explore the extent to which the strategic role is performed by HR Managers

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
4 To evaluate the perception of HR Professionals about Strategic Recruitment and
Selection practices.
5 To examine the professional HR competencies in HR Managers and HR
Consultants
6 To enquire into the perceptional differences between HR Managers and HR
Consultants about Strategic Human Resource Management.
7 To develop the conceptual research model of Strategic Human Resource
Management
13

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
1.12 HYPOTHESES FOR THE STUDY
The following research hypotheses have been developed in order to satisfy the
research objectives:
3. “There is no significant difference in the perception of HR Professionals (HR
Managers and HR Consultants) about the strategic role performed by HR
Managers”.
4. “The perception about the Strategic Recruitment and Selection practices is same
among HR Professionals”.
5. “There is no significant difference in the professional HR Competencies between
HR Managers and HR Consultants”.
6. “The perception about integration of HRM with organizational objectives is same
among HR Professionals”.
7. “The conceptual research model is not a good fit to the data”.
1.13 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study focuses on specific areas like the level of awareness of Strategic
Human Resource Management among the HR Professionals viz., HR Managers and
HR Consultants (HR Consultancy Services), the extent of implementation of Strategic
Human Resource Management and its outcomes, Strategic role played by HR
Managers, HR Competencies, Integration of Human Resource Management with the
organization objectives, transformation of HR practices into Strategic HR practices
and finally to know about the inter linkage between three independent variables
namely ‘Strategic HR Role’, ‘Strategic Recruitment and Selection’ and ‘HR

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Competency’ and one dependent variable ‘Integration of HRM with organizational
objectives’ which can be considered as conceptual research model.
1.14 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
A research design is a plan, structure and strategy of investigation conceived
so as to obtain answer to research questions. It specifies the proper methods and
procedures for conducting a particular study. The Research design consists of the
following:
14

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
1.14 (a) DATA COLLECTION: The study is based on both primary and secondary
data.
Primary Data: The primary data was collected by administering a structured
questionnaire and also by interviewing HR Professionals.
Secondary Data: The secondary data has been collected from various National and
International Journals, Working papers, Theses, Newspapers, Books and from various
websites.
1.14 (b) POPULATION AND SAMPLE SELECTION: The population for the
study constituted HR Professionals i.e., HR Managers working in manufacturing and
service industries with more than 500 employees and HR Consultants working in HR
Consultancy firms and rendering HR consulting services for both manufacturing and
service industries in Karnataka. A perusal of the websites of Indiastat and Fundoodata
revealed that there were 7,384 HR Managers in the year 2015, spread over in different
regions of the state and also the email address and websites of HR Consultants was
verified individually and such identified HR Consultants stood at 627. With a view to
obtain the large number of responses in Karnataka the structured questionnaire was
administered to 650 respondents consisting of 500 HR Managers and 150 HR
Consultants. These questionnaires were sent through postal mail, courier, e-mail and
personal contacts. Out of 500 HR Managers only 100 were able to send the responses
which stood at 7 percent and out of 150 HR Consultants 100 respondents have
returned the filled in questionnaires constituting 23 percent. Out of the total
population i.e. in the universe total sample respondents selected stood at 2.5 percent.
Out of HR Managers the sample represented 1.3 percent and 15 percent with respect
to HR Consultants. The sampling technique used for the study was Stratified Random
Sampling technique. Below table shows the total number of questionnaires
distributed, returned and the response rate.

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Table No. 1 – QUESTIONNAIRE DISTRIBUTION AND RESPONSES
Target Group Distributed Returned Response Rate
Percentage
HR Managers 500 100 (50.00) 20.00
HR Consultants 150 100 (50.00) 66.00
Total 650 200 (100.00) 31.00
(Figures in brackets indicate percentages of total sample group)
15

Corporate Office: 67, UGF, Ganges Nagar (SRGP), 365 Hairis Ganj, Tatmill Chauraha, Kanpur, 208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
The response rate was 31 percent of the total number of questionnaires
delivered. Further, the rate of response from HR Managers was 20 percent and 66
percent from HR Consultants. Below chart shows selection of samples made from
manufacturing and service sectors.
Chart No. 1.01 SAMPLE SELECTION
Sample
200 HR Professionals
100 HR Managers 100 HR Consultants
Both Manufacturingand
50 Manufacturing 50 Service sector
Service sector
sector
1.14 (c) LOCALE OF THE STUDY: The study has been conducted in Karnataka
covering four divisions of Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Mysuru, where there
are more conglomerations of industrial units.
Chart No. 2 - DIVISION-WISE CLASSIFICATION

Corporate Office: 67, UGF, Ganges Nagar (SRGP), 365 Hairis Ganj, Tatmill Chauraha, Kanpur, 208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
200 HR Professionals
Bengaluru Belagavi Kalaburagi Mysuru
102 HR Professionals 29 HR Professionals
45 HR 57 HR 18 HR 11 HR
Managers Consultants Managers Consultants
31 HR Professionals 38 HR Professionals
20 HR 18 HR17 HR 14 HR
Managers Consultants Managers Consultants
16

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
1.14 (d) DATA ANALYSIS – STATISTICAL TOOLS
A structured questionnaire prepared and a pilot survey has been conducted to
pretest the questionnaire. After making necessary changes, the final questionnaire was
administered to the selected respondents. The data obtained has been collated and
analyzed with the help of various statistical tests like Mean, Standard Deviations and
various appropriate statistical tests by using EXCEL and also SPSS package to make
analysis and interpretation more reliable and to arrive at meaningful conclusion.
Smart PLS software has been used to test the conceptual research model (developed)
with the help of Partial Least Square method.
1.15 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Like any other research work in the field of social sciences, the present
research is also not free from limitations. The main limitations are as follows:
1 The research is limited to the perceptions of HR Managers and HR
Consultants.
2 The study area is restricted to Karnataka State. The HR Professionals’
perception may differ in other states/countries due to regional differences.
3 The results of the study cannot be generalized as it is based on the perceptions
of 200 respondents.
4 In majority of the cases, the respondents were not available for further
clarifications or discussions as they are working at the managerial level and
usually too busy to allow outsiders/visitors.

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
5 The study has encountered with limited use of Strategic Human Resource
Management practices in firms located in Karnataka as it is not completely
implemented.
1.16 EPILOGUE
Due to increasing international competition, mergers and acquisitions,
advancement in telecommunication technology, along with gradual demographic and
social changes, HR professionals are bound to perform beyond their normal HR
activities. In order to tackle the HR problems, challenges and issues, the organizations
are forced to go for a HR change which can act as a measure to overcome from the
HR hurdles. The HR change can be brought through implementing a tool called
Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) from which the HR function can be
linked to the organizations’ strategies to achieve long term strategic goals. The present
study has been carried out on the ground that it is imperative to manage the people in
an efficient manner and to overcome the HR problems through implementation of
Strategic Human Resource Management.
1.17 CHAPTERIZATION SCHEME
The framework of the thesis has been presented in five chapters which are as follows:
CHAPTER TITLE
1 INTRODUCTION
2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
4 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
5 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND
CONCLUSION

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Chapter – 5
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ,
SUGGESTIONS AND

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
CONCLUSION

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
CHAPTER – 5
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 FINDINGS
5.2.1 Major Findings
5.2.2 General Findings
5.3 SUGGESTIONS
5.3 (a) Suggestions to Organizations
5.3 (b) Suggestions to HR Managers
5.3 (c) Suggestions to HR Consultants

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
5.4 SCOPE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
5.5 CONCLUSION

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
5.1 INTRODUCTION
The Human Resource function is evolving from an administrative to a
strategic edge where, HR professionals are increasingly being asked to create value
and contribute to the business success of their organizations. HR professionals now
share with executive management the responsibility to instill innovation into the
organizations they support. Human Resource Management has a strategic edge, which
needs to be implemented properly in the organization through the proper use of
planning and coherent approach to employment strategy. Human Resource
Management policies have to be aligned and matched with the business strategy
where the management must view the employees as a strategic resource. This entails
that the management looks after the employees and provides them with all necessary
means to improve their job performance. Through the strategic focus and alignment of
HR policies the organization can also achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by
enhancing the employee performance and ensuring that the employees are committed
and emphatically loyal.
The transformation of Human Resource Management into a complete strategic
function is a very difficult task to achieve however, by employing the right methods
and tools along with the right expertise. Once the strategic HR management is
successfully integrated to the overall business agenda, the results will be far superior
than anticipated, as Human Resources are considered as the most critical assets in
modern organizations. To leverage that critical asset for organizational growth and
value creation, strategic HR is the major key. The human capital needs to be
strategically managed for achieving breakthrough improvements in human
performance and help the company to compete and win. By having a renewed interest
in creating synergy, taking steps to ignite employee engagement, undertaking the new
role of creating value for business operations, being the steward of the company’s
brand, leveraging social media to improve collaboration, and implementing new
processes for acquiring, managing, and retaining clever, high potential employees,

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
HR departments are evolving into a new role and ensure the companies that they can
handle upcoming innovation cycles. Managing Human Resources (HR) in a difficult
economic environment is even more demanding than working in times of rapid
191

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
growth. Hence, the Human Resource with Innovative idea and new dimension will
give a solution to pace up with this environment.
5.2 FINDINGS
In the view of the identified objectives and developed hypotheses, the research
methodology was set to draw responses through structured questionnaire from 200
HR Professionals consisting of 100 HR Managers and 100 HR Consultants from both
Manufacturing and Service sectors throughout Karnataka. The findings of the study
have been presented under two heads such as Major Findings and General Findings.
5.2.1 Major Findings
The study has listed the major findings on the basis of empirical evidence
which are as follows:
12. The overall Strategic role played by HR Managers has been highly accepted
by HR Managers as their perceptional grand mean value stood at 4.24 which is
also in near agreement with the perceptions of the HR consultants whose grand
mean value about overall Strategic role stood at 3.98. The perception of
HR Professionals about overall ‘Strategic Role’ was statistically not
significant between two groups. However, the perceptional differences among
HR Professionals existed about the roles such as ‘Operational Proficient’,
‘Employee Facilitator’ and ‘Change preceptor’. This overall strategic role has
been supported by the following findings:

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
HR Managers occasionally play the role of participating in all strategic
level decisions of the top management since they are continually
engaged in performing routine tasks which was evidenced by the mean
value (3.85) as they perceived with moderately high level against HR
Consultants whose perceptional mean value stood at 4.16 showing high
level of acceptability regarding the role. However, no significant
difference was found between the perceptions of HR Managers and HR
Consultants about overall ‘Strategic Companion’ role as the p value
(0.070) was more than 0.05.
192

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
b. As an ‘Employee Facilitator’ HR Managers are not regularly
participating in the process of improving employee commitment by
counseling, motivating or encouraging as it is evidenced from their
mean value (3.97) and HR Consultants’ mean value (4.50) indicated
high level of acceptability and opined that HR Managers often play this
particular role. The perception of HR Professionals was statistically
significant as the p value stood at 0.020. It indicates that HR Managers
occasionally have a stake in the process of accelerating employee
commitment by counseling, motivating or encouraging.
2) HR Consultants opined that HR Managers occasionally play the role of
‘Operational Proficient’ with the mean value of 3.11 whereas it was
proved that HR Managers always perform the role of operational
proficient since they are well versed with the day to day routine work
which was evidence by the mean value of 4.30. Significant difference
in the perception of HR Professionals about the role was found with
the p value of 0.019.
3) HR Managers opined that they often play the role of ‘Employee
Facilitator’ and showed high acceptable as the mean value of HR
Managers is 4.08 and HR Consultants indicated that HR Managers
always play this role with the mean value of 4.45. It indicates that HR
Managers are always considered as an agent between employees and
management. However, significant difference among the perceptions
of HR Professionals about the role of Employee Facilitator was found
with the p value of 0.044.
4) HR Consultants perceived that the act of HR Managers is necessarily a
‘Change Preceptor’ as he regularly opens up to the experiments in the
changed environment which is evidenced d by their perceptional mean
value of 4.20. This view has also been similarly endorsed by the HR
Managers as their perceptional mean value about change preceptor

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
stood 3.99. However significant difference was existed between the
two groups about this role as indicated by the p value stood at 0.047.
193

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
f. The Perception of HR Professionals was found to be statistically
significant about the role of ‘Change Preceptor’ as the p value stood at
0.021 (p < 0.05). The mean value of HR Managers (4.26) with respect
to the same revealed that they always perform the overall role of
Change Preceptor. On the other hand HR Consultants’ mean value of
4.01 exhibited that HR Managers often play the overall role Change
Preceptor.
5. HR Professionals strongly believe that by implementing Strategic Recruitment
and Selection they can procure highly talented and competent employees. The
mean value found to be very closer among HR Professionals indicating their
consensus about the overall Strategic Recruitment and Selection practices. The
difference in the perception for majority of dimension-wise statements
evidenced among HR Professionals, however it was found that there was no
significant perceptional difference about the overall Strategic Recruitment and
Selection practices with the p value of 0.887. It has been evidenced by the
following findings:
a. HR Managers do not highly believe that the implementation of
Strategic Recruitment will facilitate them in executing large national
and global recruitment programmes as the mean value stood at 3.79
whereas HR Consultants highly do believe it as the mean value stood at
4.13. Significant difference was found in the opinions of HR
Professionals about the same.
b. There was no significant difference in the perceptions of HR
Professionals about overall Strategic Recruitment practices which was
evidenced by the p value (0.076). The mean value of HR Managers and
HR Consultants stood at 4.14 and 4.29 respectively showing higher
level of agreement towards strategic recruitment process. It indicates
that both HR Managers and HR Consultants are in consensus about the

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
implementation of strategic recruitment practices in order to acquire
talent workforce.
c. It is perceived by HR Consultants’ that the Strategic selection may
have moderately high effect in creating flexible individuals to increase
194

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
the company’s capacity to adapt for change which was proved by the
mean value of 3.99, however, HR Managers have shown high
agreement (4.19) about the effect. Significant difference was found in
the opinions of HR Professionals.
d. HR Managers’ high acceptability about the Strategic Selection process
was found as the mean value is 4.32 whereas HR Consultants (3.99)
showed moderate agreement about the same. There was significant
perceptional difference among HR Professionals with p value of 0.048
which is less than 0.05 (p < 0.05) about Strategic Selection practices. It
is because the strategic selection practices followed by each group of
respondents may differ.
8. Significant mean difference among the perceptions of HR Professionals about
the overall ‘HR Professional Competencies’ was found as the p value stood at
0.048, however, there was no significant perceptional difference between HR
Managers and HR Consultants about the competencies such as ‘Reliable
Activist’, ‘Riddle Expert’, ‘Human Capital Curator’ and ‘Management
Steward’, though the grand mean value of HR Managers stood at 4.18 which
was found to be higher than that of HR Consultants (3.96). This has been
supported and evidenced by the following findings:
a. It was found that HR Professionals hardly involve themselves to the
fuller extent in strategic management process which indicated that
there was lack of support from the top management. Significant
perceptional difference was not found in case of analyzing and
forecasting the expectations of investors among HR Professionals yet,
HR Consultants showed moderately high level of acceptability about
the same with the mean value of 3.82 against the mean value of HR
Managers which stood at 4.04.

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
b. The perception of HR Professionals was statistically significant about
‘Strategic Expertize’ competency as the p value stood at 0.007. The
mean value of HR Managers was found more than the HR Consultants
(4.03 > 3.77) indicating HR Managers high level of acceptability about
strategic expertize competency. The difference in opinion may be
195

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
based on the level of exposure of HR Professionals in the process of
strategic management.
c. HR Consultants believe that being ‘Reliable Activist’ they are not able
to completely step outside the safety zone to challenge the current
practices which was evidenced with the mean value of 3.91 whereas it
is 4.33 in case of HR Managers who highly believe about the
competency of stepping outside the safety zone. Significant difference
was found among the HR Professionals.
d. Significant perceptional difference was found among HR Professionals
regarding ‘Culture Transformer’ competency as the p value stood at
0.002 (p < 0.05). The mean value of HR Managers with respect to the
same resulted with 4.03 revealing their higher level of acceptability
whereas HR Consultants’ mean value of 3.80 exhibited moderately
high opinion about the competency because it requires implementation
of fundamental cultural change within the firm.
e. The mean value of HR Managers’ about the competency of ‘Innovative
Proponent’ stood at 4.09 revealing their high level of acceptability
compared to the moderately high level of acceptability from HR
Consultants (3.88). The significant difference existed among the HR
Professionals’ perception about the Innovative Proponent competency
with p value of 0.006 which indicated that the role of Innovative
Proponent competency depends upon the implementation and
adaptability of firms towards new strategic innovative techniques.
f. The perception of HR Professionals was statistically significant about
the ‘Analyzer and Compliant’ competency as the p value stood at
0.000. The mean value of HR Managers was found to be 4.21 against

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
HR Consultants’ mean value of 3.95 indicating HR Managers’ high
level of acceptability. The difference in opinion indicated that the
analyzing capacity depends upon person to person whereas compliant
depends upon individual firm’s rules and regulations.
4. HR Managers strongly agreed that integration of HRM with organizational
objectives is achieved when there is complete implementation of Strategic
196

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Human Resource Management which is evidenced by the grand mean value of
4.16 whereas HR Consultants have shown moderately high level of agreement
about the same as the grand mean value stood at 3.83. Significant difference
was found in the perception of HR Professionals as the p value stood at 0.000.
However, there was no significant perceptional difference between HR
Managers and HR Consultants about creating and maintaining a competitive
advantage (IHRM5) and connecting human capital issues to business strategy
(IHRM7) which was proved with the p value of 0.663 and 0.055 (p > 0.05)
respectively. It shows that HR Professionals believe that both the statements if
implemented, the firm can align HR function with business objectives. The
major finding about the overall HR Competencies has been supported by the
following sub findings:
a. The mean value of HR Managers found to be at 4.28 showing their
high level of acceptability about ‘Identifying or designing various
strategy options related to HR Practices’ (IHRM1) against the mean
value of HR Consultants of 3.98. The significant difference was found
in the perception between HR Managers and HR Consultants with the
p value of 0.005 indicating the level of participation of HR
Professionals in the formulation of HR strategies.
b. It was proved that HR Managers highly believe that integration of
HRM with organizational objective results in taking decisions of best
strategy among the strategy alternatives (IHRM2) as the mean value
stood at 4.37 against the mean value of HR Consultants (3.82) with
moderately high level of agreement. The perception of HR
Professionals was statistically significant with respect to the same as
the p value is 0.000.
c. It was found that HR Managers strongly agreed that the analysis of
internal and external environment of the business (IHRM3) facilitates
HRM integration with organizational objectives as the mean value

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
stood at 4.14 against moderately high level of agreement of HR
Consultants (3.86). The perception of HR Professionals was
statistically significant about the statement as the p value stood at
197

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
0.010. It indicated that environmental analysis helps firm to result with
environmental threats and opportunities.
d. Perceptional difference was found about the formulation of strategy
made as per organizational requirements to meet its objectives
(IHRM4) between HR Managers and HR Consultants as the p value
(0.000) is less than 0.05. The difference in the value of mean was also
found with respect to the perception of HR Managers (4.19) and HR
Consultants (3.84). HR Manager’s high level of opinion revealed that
if strategies are formed as per the requirements of the firm it can
achieve its objectives.
e. The perception of HR Managers and HR Consultants was statistically
significant with regard to the assessment of possible merger,
acquisition or divestiture strategies (IHRM6) as the p value stood at
0.049. However the mean values of HR Managers and HR Consultants
individually did not find much variation as they feel that every
organization has to assess about the benefits of merger, acquisition or
divestiture strategies.
f. Significant perceptional difference among HR Professionals was found
about adding value by ensuring compliance with rules, laws and
guidelines (IHRM8) as the p value is 0.026. The mean value of HR
Managers (4.17) revealed high level of acceptability about the
statement against the mean value of HR Consultants of 3.92. It
indicated that HR Managers believe that by following company’s rules
and regulations one can add value to the firm.
g. There was significant difference in the opinion of HR Managers and
HR Consultants about the creation of healthy organizational culture
(IHRM9) which was found with the help of p value (0.000 < 0.05). It

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
was again evidenced with the mean value of HR Managers (4.34) and
HR Consultants (3.56) about the same. It is because they feel that each
firm should create its own corporate culture which in turn can help to
achieve its goals.
198

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
h. The perception of HR Professionals was statistically significant about
increasing Human Resource department’s credibility (IHRM10) as the
p value stood at 0.000. However, both the group was found to be in
agreement as indicated by the mean value of HR Managers (4.41) and
HR Consultants (4.10) about the statement as they feel that HRM
credibility is one of the vital tools in building a strong synergy among
other departments.
i. It was found with the mean value of HR Managers (4.18) that they
showed higher level of acceptability about improving co-operation
between Human Resource department and line manager (IHRM11)
against the mean value of HR Consultants (3.90). Significant
difference existed among the perceptions of HR Professionals about
improving co-operation which was evidenced with the p value (0. 006
< 0.5). The opinion of HR Managers’ indicated that the line manager
should participate in all the HR strategic issues.
5. It was found that the conceptual research model was a good fit to the data as
the bootstrapping p values for various combinations of variables showed less
than the significant value (0.0001) except the combination of Strategic Role of
HR Manager and Strategic Recruitment and Selection with the p value of
0.023 (p > 0.0001 and < 0.05). The path of Strategic Recruitment and
Selection towards HRM integration revealed moderately high effect between
variables with the path value of 0.476, Strategic Role of HR Manager to
Strategic Recruitment and Selection revealed low effect (path value 0.178)
whereas, the HR Competency towards Strategic Recruitment and Selection
showed path value of 0.625 exhibiting ‘high effect’ between the variables. All
together the path was proved to be a significant between the variables which
has been also supported by the following:
a. The outer model of Strategic HR role of Managers revealed convergent
validity relationship between the construct and the four dimensions.

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Among four dimensions, ‘Operational Proficient’ and ‘Employee
Facilitator’ loading values found to be 0.899 and 0.877 representing a
‘very’ high validity relationship.
199

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
b. The relationship between the overall HR Competency (construct) and
the dimensions such as ‘Management Steward’, ‘Human Capital
Curator’, ‘Strategic Expertize’, ‘Reliable Activist’ and ‘Riddle Expert’
exhibited a ‘very’ high validity with the loading values of 0.889, 0.879,
0.882, 0.845 and 0.825 respectively. The loading value of the
dimension ‘Analyzer and Compliant’ revealed a high validity with
value of 0.759. On the other hand, dimensions such as ‘Culture
Transformer’ and ‘Innovative Proponent’ revealed satisfactory validity.
c. The outer model loading values of the construct (Strategic Recruitment
and Selection) and its two dimensions Recruitment and Selection
depicted extremely high convergent validity with their values 0.921
and 0.936 respectively. However, the grand loading values of
Recruitment and Selection dimension 0.848 and 0.877 respectively
revealed high validity relationship between the construct and its
dimensions.
d. The model resulted with the strong relationship between Strategic HR
role, HR Competency and Strategic Recruitment and Selection as it
was proved with the R Square value of 0.570 exhibiting satisfactory
result towards model.
e. The relationship between Strategic Role of HR Manager and HR
Competency showed a ‘high effect’ evidenced by F Square value
0.761. On the other hand, the relationship between the dependent
variable ‘Strategic Recruitment and Selection’ with the two
independent variable ‘Strategic role of HR Manager’ and ‘HR
Competency’ also showed large effect as the F Square value is 0.420

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
and 0.516 respectively. All the predictors together showed a ‘very
high’ effect on HRM Integration with the value of 3.081 exhibiting a
large and strong relationship among the independent and dependent
variables.
200

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
6. It was found from the personal interview made to HR Professionals that HR
Managers are not completely supported by their top management in the
execution of Strategic HR Role.
5.2.2 General Findings
1. Majority of the respondents were found to be male (75.5%) against female
(24.5%) among HR Professionals, which in turn revealed that male HR
Professionals constituted a significant portion in the workplace.
2. Among total respondents 50 percent were from the age group of 36 – 45 years
followed by the age group of 26 – 35 years with 42.5 percent. Only one
percent of the total sample was in the age group of more than 56 years. Hence,
it was found that the HR Professionals designation was dominated by the
workforces who were in the age group of 36 – 45 years which is a good
indicator as their way of analysis and handling the situations will be matured
enough in taking the Strategic decisions..
3. Vast majority of the respondents were post graduates (78.0 %) followed by
graduates and graduates holding diploma with 17.5 and 4.5 percent
respectively. Hence it was found that the major portion of HR Professionals
were post graduates.
4. HR Managers and HR Consultants were chosen equally in order to give equal
eminence for comparing the perceptions of HR Professionals however, Senior
HR head under HR Managers and Senior HR Consultants under HR
Consultants head found to have upper hand with 30.5 percent and 28.5 percent
respectively. Further, they have been chosen equally from both Manufacturing
and Service sectors.
5. Out of 200 respondents, majority of the respondents had work experience
ranging from 11 to 15 years (34.5%), respondents with more than 20 years

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
constituted 17.5 percent, 6 to 10 years of experience with 20.5 percent, 16 to
20 years with 16.5 percent and finally 11 percent of respondents were with the
work experience of 1 to 5 years. Since majority of the respondents had more
than 11 years of experience the opinions considered to be more weighted.
201

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
6. The mean value for all the statements related to Traditional Human Resource
Management found to be less than 4.00, varying from 2.41 to 3.70, depicting
low to moderate agreement about the statements. It was found that the
respondents have given moderately high rate of opinion about Human
Resource practices focusing on long term policies of the organization (3.70),
whereas, least opinion was given towards alignment of Human Resource
Management with organizational philosophy and culture in traditional
practices. It indicated that Traditional Human Resource Management practices
still have its importance but less when compared to new strategic HR
practices.
7. It was found that HR Professionals perceived the same opinion with regard to
the identification of strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of the
organization in both the cases i.e., Traditional as well as Strategic HRM which
was proved by the mean value of 3.22. HR Professional’s moderately high
level of opinion indicated that they are still not completely participating in the
SWOT analysis process of the firm.
8. It is believed that the HR Professionals will be an intellectual asset and due
recognition should be given even in accounting. This view has been strongly
perceived by the HR Professionals whose mean value stood at 4.65 remarking
as the highest among all the other statements.
9. The mean difference was found with regard to ‘alignment of Human Resource
Management with organizational philosophy and culture’ and ‘facilitating for
adoption of change’.
10. The study has found that Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)
was rated more than that of Traditional Human Resource Management
(THRM) because the mean value of perceptions stood at 4.38 for SHRM and
3.05 for THRM. It is also evidenced by the study that HR Professionals rated
SHRM from ‘high’ to ‘very high’.

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
11. The p value for the overall statements resulted with 0.000 (p < 0.05) showing
perceptional difference in the opinions of HR Professionals between
Traditional Human Resource Management and Strategic Human Resource
Management.
202

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
5.3 SUGGESTIONS
The forgoing analysis and findings of the study led to the offering of the
following suggestions, however, the suggestions in this study have been classified
into three namely suggestions to organizations, suggestions to HR Managers and
suggestions to HR Consultants which are as follows:
5.3 (a) Suggestions to Organizations
1. HR department should be strengthened in such a way that HR Managers can
have more time to engage themselves in strategic function and less time for the
routine work. Liberalizing from routine tasks allows them to focus on how
they can contribute themselves in the attainment of business goals.
Implementation of new information technology such as Human Resource
Information System (HRIS), automation and computerization of the operations
or by outsourcing part of their administrative activities to the third party
vendors or consultants facilitate them to achieve it. The line managers can also
be trained to perform many of these tasks.
2. Organizations should regularly conduct informal meetings along with formal
meetings between HR Managers and other employees to create friendly and
participative atmosphere between them. Organizations should also arrange for
recreational activities such as motivational trips, excursions with their family
members, conducting of sports events, etc., which will provide a platform for
HR Managers to understand their employees in a better way and in turn they
can help employees to increase their work commitment. HR Managers must
endeavor to recognize the needs of the employees related to working
environment and try to fulfill those needs by creating the platform for
employees which in turn will enrich and enlarge their commitment.

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
3. The organizations should continuously monitor the business environment and
adapt themselves to the changing environment. This requires fundamental
cultural change within the firm which can be accomplished by the intervention
of HR strategic role. They should help employees let go of old and adapt to a
new culture and also help to identify the process for managing change.
203

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
Organizations must train HR Managers in the area of change management and
acquiring new competencies related to managing and implementing change.
4. Organizations must not only depend on the human resource skills, abilities and
knowledge from within the country but should also look forward to acquire
the human talent throughout the globe by allowing the applicants to apply
from any part of the world to the vacant posts. They can also outsource their
recruitment functions which may cut the cost and improve the quality of the
workforce as well as improve the HR services in turn facilitating the HR
Managers to concentrate on their business goals.
5. Organizations must not only train HR Managers to look in to the existing
Strategic Human Resource Management policies, procedure and practices but
also to explore the possibilities of introducing new ones.
5.3 (b) Suggestions to HR Managers
1. HR Managers need to be proactive with respect to their involvement in
strategic decision making. This will enable them to understand more fully the
strategic issues and assist line managers by executing those relevant HR
strategies that will improve the efficiency of the operation.
2. Always strive to acquire knowledge of the firm’s business, such as the key
business disciplines, an understanding of the internal and external customers,
knowledge about the competitors, the products, the technology and sources of
competitive advantage.
3. They must understand the importance of HR technology and conduct
comprehensive research into the possible investment in HR software that will
best suit the organization’s needs. HR Managers must not only be competent
in using HR systems but also need to be capable of measuring the
effectiveness of HR systems and practices.

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
4. HR Managers should fully understand the key process skills required for
product or service realization and delivery. These skills can be acquired from
the relevant line managers.
5. HR Managers must work in synergy with the other department managers in
order to achieve the organization’s common financial goals.
204

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
5.3 (c) Suggestions to HR Consultants
1. As it was found that the HR Consultants have revealed moderate opinion about
analyzing and forecasting the expectations of investors, it is suggested that the
HR Consultants must spend more time in studying the requirements of the
investors/promoters/entrepreneurs or concentrate on Human Resource
Planning (HRP) before rendering any HR services.
2. HR Consultants must scrutinize the external market by implementing the
technique of SWOT analysis in order to compete with the other competitors in
manpower market.
3. Interacting and being connected more with outside stakeholders, by studying
the existing demands of the clients, understanding the requirements of the
companies, HR Consultants can prepare themselves to step outside their safety
zone.
4. HR Consultants must develop training programmes and they should assist the
HR Managers in imparting the trainings to the newly recruited employees in
order to inculcate in them the values of culture, its importance in the
organizations and guide them to craft the right organizational culture to deliver
organizational results.
5. HR Consultants should update their knowledge in compatible with strategic
goals of firms thereby they can give better consultancy keeping in accordance
with needs and expectations of the firms.
5.4 SCOPE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
The following are the recommendations made for further research:

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
1. Research required in the area of alignment of Strategic Human Resource
Management in terms of Human Resource Accounting.
2. Studies are also required taking the case of Strategic HR policies, procedures
and their implementation in public, private and non-profit sectors.
205

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
3. Further research is also required with regard to the effectiveness of Strategic
Human Resource Management on financial performance, employee turnover
and talent management.
4. It is proposed that the study is required to focus on the problems of the HR
Managers during the implementation of SHRM.
5. As the Corporate Governance is need of the hour, studies can also be carried
on by creating link between implementation of SHRM and Corporate
Governance in achieving the overall objectives of the organizations.
6. Studies can also be taken up covering the cadres of organizations like
employees, HR Managers, Line Managers, and executives along with HR
Consultancies.
7. Effectiveness of Strategic Human Resource Management can be studied
confining to the selected companies.
8. Studies are also required in industry specific areas like Manufacturing,
Trading, Banking, Insurance and Financial services.
5.5 CONCLUSION
In the ever-changing business context, Human Resource Management has
been playing the role of the key differentiator in growth, development and survival of
firms. Along with addressing functional issues, Human Resource Management has
been contributing strategically towards the return on investment of any organization.
Human Resource Management therefore, deals with core issues of managing the
change in the business processes and aligning the organizations’ systems, structures,
and policies to leverage competitiveness, with regard to the operating business
environment. The emphasis today is to manage HR functions and policies in a manner

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
such that organizations can be provided with a unique pool of people who can
continuously take the organization to new levels of growth and sustainability. The HR
function in the present context depends on several factors such as organization staff
size, employment sector and the dynamics of the organization and its operations.
Crossing over from the traditional view of HR function as a primarily administrative
role to an increasingly strategic role involves not only the organization seeing the
206

208004
Phone: 0512-2328181
Mobile: 7753818181, 9838033084
value in HR’s contribution, but also HR’s ability, as a field, to assertively move
beyond a focus on administrative responsibilities.
HR is positioned to contribute to the organization’s business strategy through
aligning HR functional areas with the organization’s priorities. A well concentrated
effort of HR Managers in revising the existing system and coping with SHRM is
imperative for the Indian context. Further, HR can lead the organization in planning
for the future through succession planning and leadership development. HR
professionals’ most frequently cited limitations to HR’s effectiveness are lack of
budget and lack of HR staff for HR initiatives. In view of this there is a need for
updating and adapting the HR functions to the changed scenario of the business. HR is
becoming a key contributor in developing and implementing organizational strategy
which may include investment of more resources in HR. HR professionals also need
to be aware of the various ways where they can assist the organization in meeting its
goals. Mentoring, particularly cross-departmental mentoring can help HR
professionals become strategic contributor to the organization’s business strategy by
increasing their understanding of other key functions within the organization.
The study focused on the new jargon Strategic Human Resource Management
churns out that the HR Managers play Strategic Role in the firms in formulating
business decisions and translating corporate strategy into a human resource strategy.
The HR Competencies is one of the vital aspects to be considered because the
execution of plan can be done only when the employee has the enough competencies
to make it a successful one. Strategic role and Competencies together facilitate
organization to procure the best talent workforce and in turn the competitive HR team
along with the best talent will help the company to accomplish its goals. The
perception of both HR Managers and HR Consultants facilitated to know the level of
understanding and acceptability of HR Professionals about the different indicators of
Strategic Human Resource Management. In current era, majority of the firms are

Performance evaluation of the indian industries and environmental management practices [www.writekraft.com]

Performance evaluation of the indian industries and environmental management practices [www.writekraft.com]

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (8)

Similar to Performance evaluation of the indian industries and environmental management practices [www.writekraft.com]

Similar to Performance evaluation of the indian industries and environmental management practices [www.writekraft.com] (20)

More from WriteKraft Dissertations

More from WriteKraft Dissertations (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Performance evaluation of the indian industries and environmental management practices [www.writekraft.com]