Hr strategies Key concepts and terms

How horizontal fi t (bundling) is 
achieved
Identify appropriate HR practices, assess 
how these items can be bundled together so 
that they become mutually reinforcing, and 
draw up programmes for the development 
of these practices, paying particular atten-
tion to the links between them.
How HR strategies can be set out
The format will vary but may typically be 
set out under the following headings:
Basic considerations.
•
Content.
•
Rationale.
•
Implementation plan.
•
Costs and benefi ts analysis.
•
How HR strategies can be 
imple mented
Analyse business needs and how the 
•
HR strategy will help to meet them.
Communicate full information on 
•
the strategy and what it is expected 
to achieve.
Involve those concerned in identify-
•
ing implementation problems and 
how they should be dealt with.
Prepare action plans.
•
Plan and execute a programme of 
•
project management that ensures 
that the action plans are achieved.
Questions
1. Critically evaluate the following statement by Lester Digman (1990): ‘Since most strate-
gic decisions are event-driven rather than programmed they are unplanned. Accordingly 
they should be seen in terms of preferences, choices and matches rather than exercises in 
applied logic.’
2. You have been asked to write an article for your CIPD branch newsletter on ‘What are 
the main characteristics of an HR strategy?’ You have also been asked to include exam-
ples from your own organization or a published article or book. Draft an outline of the 
article.
3. A colleague says to you: ‘It’s all very well talking about integrated HR strategy but what 
does it mean for us?’ Reply.

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HR Strategies 63
References
Appelbaum, E, Bailey, T, Berg, P and Kalleberg, A L (2000) Manufacturing Advantage: Why high 
performance work systems pay off, ILR Press, Ithaca, NY
Armstrong, M and Baron, A (2002) Strategic HRM: The route to improved business performance, CIPD, 
London
Armstrong, M and Baron, A (2004) Managing Performance: Performance management in action, CIPD, 
London
Armstrong, M and Long, P (1994) The Reality of Strategic HRM, IPD, London
Becker, B E and Huselid, M A (1998) High performance work systems and fi rm performance: a synthesis 
of research and managerial implications, Research on Personnel and Human Resource Management, 16, 
pp 53–101, JAI Press, Stamford, CT
Beer, M, Spector, B, Lawrence, P, Quinn Mills, D and Walton, R (1984) Managing Human Assets, The Free 
Press, New York
Benson, G S, Young, S M and Lawler, E E (2006) High involvement work practices and analysts’ forecasts 
of corporate performance, Human Resource Management, 45 (4), pp 519–27
Boxall, P F (1993) The signifi cance of human resource management: a reconsideration of the evidence, 
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 4 (3), pp 645–65
Boxall, P F and Purcell, J (2003) Strategy and Human Resource Management, Palgrave Macmillan, 
Basingstoke
Cappelli, P (1999) Employment Practices and Business Strategy, Oxford University Press, New York
Dickens, C (1843) Martin Chuzzlewit , Chapman & Hall, London
Digman, L A (1990) Strategic management – Concepts, decisions, cases, Irwin, Homewood, IL
Dyer, L and Reeves, T (1995) Human resource strategies and fi rm performance: what do we know and 
where do we need to go?, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 6 (3), pp 656–70
Questions (continued)
4. Prepare a presentation for your fellow students on ‘What makes a good HR strategy?’ 
Illustrate with examples.
5. You have received an e-mail from your boss, the HR director, with the message: ‘We hear 
a lot about integrating the HR strategy with the business strategy but what does this 
mean? What are the problems in doing it? How do we overcome these problems?’ 
Reply.
6. Thompson and Harley (2007) wrote that the move has not been to abandon control in 
favour of commitment (cf Walton, 1985a) but towards the introduction of softer con-
trols, ie ‘towards practices intended to generate commitment through a combination of 
culture-led changes and delegation of authority’. Soft controls are presented as a package 
of high-commitment practices. To what extent is this picture of high-commitment 
practices as manipulative true?

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64 Human Resource Management
Fombrun, C J, Tichy, N M and Devanna, M A (1984) Strategic Human Resource Management, Wiley, New 
York
Gratton, L A (2000) Real step change, People Management, 16 March, pp 27–30
Gratton, L A, Hailey, V H, Stiles, P and Truss, C (1999) Strategic Human Resource Management, Oxford 
University Press, Oxford
Lawler, E E (1986) High Involvement Management, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA
Lawler, E E, Mohrman, S and Ledford, G (1998) Strategies for High Performance Organizations: Employee