Assessment item 1

HRM515 – Human Resource Management

Stephen Anton

Write down your personal information

Total word count:

Evidence-Based Human Resource Management

Evidence-based Human Resource Management is a term used to refer the practices

done by a human resource practitioner. This term entails redoubling the efforts to do
what we know works and to develop critical judgement in making decisions that impact
the well-being of our organizations and employees. Rousseau, D. M., & Barends, E. G.
(2011). In other words, using experience to make all the decisions regarding the
human resources department, thus favoring the company’s general outcome.

The evidence-based HRM applies scientific standards of observation, proof and

causality to demonstrate how the intangible human capital can be identified and
shown. T. Lange (2013). There are two key aspects that come mind, when discussing
the importance of evidence based practices, time and people. Both are crucial for
every company regarding the process used when operating, as they both can either
generate great profits for the company or great losses. In a human resources
department, trapping all knowledge of what works and what doesn’t can avoid the time
lost using the traditional intuitive methods on all those practices proper to a human
resources department, such as recruiting process, performance evolution, staff
retention and other process which are vital for a company to operate properly.

Strategic Value of the Human Resources Functions

A company stated, that by utilizing basic HR tools like business process redesign,
organizational redesign, job redesign and competency model development, we could
more effectively align our selling and support processes to the changing business
realities of large-scale farming and construction. Within the first year of our effort net
sales increased 27 percent while fixed costs were reduced by 40 percent. Hults, B.
(2014, July 23). This success story shared by Hults exemplifies in numbers the impact
a human resources department can have when tools and process are properly applied
and executed. Most of the time, a human resources department is seen a luxury for a
company, specially for those companies that offer services rather than products.
However, it can be eye catching for a business entrepreneur to look at solid numbers
and observe though statistics the revenue and strategic value a human resources
department can offer. A person is just a person, non-the less we often forget by this
logic the following statement, that people are an organization’s most important asset.
Therefor the human resource department should be the heart and soul when setting
the strategic direction of the business. A human resource strategy touches every
aspect of the business and should reflect its wider objectives and vision, while
preparing the company for what the future might bring. Leeming, R. (2015, Nov. 19)

Once a human resources department is considered “the heart of the company” the
CEO’s ideas and the vision of where the company wants to go, can be transmitted
directly through this department to all the people forming part of the company’s team.
Every new member, old team players can walk as part of one body moving towards
the same goals, same achievements and same success. A department that should be
considered the heart of the company, must be able to do more than getting caught up
on recruiting process and payrolls with the proper tools, knowledge and processes
every company should be able to shift their numbers, increasing the revenue and
reducing the costs.

CRAP Evaluation

Harvard Business Review published by the end of 2011 an article titled Why HR
Really Does Add Value, explains from personal work experience point of view,
statistical results and knowledgeable information, a background on why a human
resources department can add strategical value to a company. This article written by
Brian Hults, a person with more than 25 years of experience in human resources, who
he had the opportunity to help a large manufacturer and distributor of construction and
agricultural equipment change the way it went to market in North America. In the mid-
1990s the small businesses that dominated both construction and agriculture were
being replaced by much larger corporate competitors. Present day, Brian Hults is the
vice president for global organization and people development at Newell Rubbermaid.
This article was posted by Harvard Business Review with the hopes a conversation
regarding the topics discussed takes place, thus ensuring a quality discussion. The
article written both in source fact, opinioned based and biased towards selling a human
resources department as something necessary so other companies can see the added
value in having a well-founded human resources department. It is no longer a luxury
but a necessity that every company should have.
HRreview, a website which provides analysis articles on human resource
management, published an article on the human resources strategy on 2015, entitled
How can HR professionals demonstrate the strategic value they provide to a
company? This article was written as a Q&A with Annabel Jones – HR Director at
ADP UK to expose and answer all questions regarding the value provided to a
company with a human resources department. It tells business entrepreneurs what to
expect from a human resources department and how having a department as such
can better the company’s strategic agenda and productivity. From a Human
Resources Director’s perspective, Annabel Jones, through the narration of Robert
Leeming, the author of this article responds questions that demonstrate the strategic
value in having a human resources department, thus persuading his audience by
providing evidence based HR management on added value a department as such can
bring to a company.

Both sources make a compiling case in favor of human resource management, not
only are they fact based studies that use statics to prove the added value in HR
management, but authority each author possess based on the on their work
experience, evidences the need every company has for such department.

Conclusion

People are the heart and soul a company, without people, one person cannot operate
as an organization by themselves. A company needs others to produce, which is why
a Human Resources Department should be considered the priority of a company.
Without a department as such, people are just people, treated like machines, not as
individuals who have needs, who have goals and aspirations. People who can be
assets for a company when guided properly. By harvesting a proper human resources
department, a company can analyze data, better up the talent it has and convert any
problem into an opportunity using analytical and critical thinking problem solving skills.
When Evidence-based Human Resource, Management is used, it has been proven
that value is added to a human resources department by increasing the revenue,
reducing costs and providing strategic value to a company. Now a day, it is necessary
 to use HR tools to augment a company’s competiveness towards it’s market a
department so important can no longer be a luxury in a company. Every company
should set aside it’s stereotypes towards HR management and stop seeing it as a
department that only deals with payrolls and recruiting process. It should be the
department that moves the people otherwise known as the soul of the company,
towards the same vision to achieve success as a team.

Bibliography

Thomas Lange (2013). Evidence-based HRM [Abstract]. Emerald Journals, (2049),

3983rd ser. Retrieved March 15, 2018, from
http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=ebhrm

Rousseau, D. M., & Barends, E. G. (2011). Becoming an evidence-based HR

practitioner. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(3), 221-235.
doi:10.1111/j.1748-8583.2011.00173.x

Hults, B. (2014, July 23). Why HR Really Does Add Value. Retrieved March 17, 2018,
from https://hbr.org/2011/12/why-hr-really-does-add-value

Leeming, R. (2015, November 19). How can HR professionals demonstrate the strategic
value they provide to a company? A Q&A with Annabel Jones – HR Director at ADP
UK. Retrieved March 17, 2018, from http://www.hrreview.co.uk/analysis/analysis-hr-
news/can-hr-demonstrate-strategic-value-provide-company-qa-annabel-jones-hr-
director-adp-uk/60211