Shifting contours of strategic human resource management in India
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-05-2017-0028 |
| Date | 09 October 2017 |
| Pages | 241-243 |
| Published date | 09 October 2017 |
| Author | Sumi Jha,Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Employee behaviour |
Shifting contours of strategic human
resource management in India
Sumi Jha and Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya
Sumi Jha is Associate Professor at
the Department of Organizational
Behaviour and Human Resources,
National Institute of Industrial
Engineering, Mumbai, India.
Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya is
Associate Professor at the
Department of Strategy and
Economics, National Institute of
Industrial Engineering, Mumbai,
India.
Indian organisations have
increased their business foot
prints as well as global reach
in the last couple of decades.
Strategic human resource
management (SHRM) has played a
pivotal role in the success of these
organisations. Over the years,
SHRM literature has mainly
concentrated on two dimensions.
First, the fit between human
resource strategy with business
strategy (Bamberger and Phillips,
1991) and second, the
resource-based view (Jackson et al.,
2014) of human resource
management. The researchers
conducted semi-structured interview
with 22 Indian CEOs regarding
SHRM. Content analysis of
responses highlighted the 11
dynamic dimensions of strategic
human resource management
themes in India. The 11 thematic
findings on evolving SHRM
practices have been outlined.
1. HR practices, policies and
processes: From rigidity to
flexibility
In Indian organisations, there is an
increasing emphasis on flexible
work hours, work from home and
working in virtual teams. This is
because of IT infrastructure
improvements, which has made
virtual teams and work from home
possible. The second element is
development of trust in context of
task completion. The monitoring of
employees regarding completion of
task is increasingly becoming
minimal. The focus is on delivery of
assignment. Another benefit of
flexibility is in virtual work settings:
the conflicts are task oriented, not
relationship oriented. This helps in
timely completion of assignment.
2. Matching of resources and
capabilities: Internal with external
environmental needs
Post liberalisation, globalisation and
privatisation, organisations are
changing their growth strategy from
inorganic to organic. Adoption of
inorganic growth techniques, such
as mergers and acquisition and
aligning itself to changing business
needs such as digitisation, is the
need of the hour. Therefore,
organisations have to build HR
policies that will shape internal
capabilities in accordance with the
dynamic external environmental
needs. After liberalisation,
globalisation and privatisation of
Indian economy in 1991, Indian
firms strategically could expand its
product portfolios into domestic as
well as international geographical
markets. Indian organisations thus
had both, choice and opportunities.
3. HRM perspectives: From
national to international
orientation
Given the internationalisation of
Indian firms, HR department has to
sensitise employees who have
HR at work
DOI 10.1108/SHR-05-2017-0028 VOL. 16 NO. 5 2017, pp. 241-243, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1475-4398 STRATEGIC HR REVIEW PAGE 241
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