Analysis of best HRM Practices

Strategic management is a major aspect that differentiates one firm from another, giving one competitive advantage over all others. Application of strategic management concepts in human resource management has similarly remained vital in the formation of versatile and high output teams (Dyer & Ericksen, 2005). This paper highlights some of the effective human resource management practices not used at Starbucks Corporation, and which could add value to their organization and give them a competitive advantage. It is expected that implementing these strategic practices at the firm will add value to their products, services, and processes, giving them a competitive advantage.

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HR Best Practices

In development, one HRM strategy is fostering a fluid organization. This entails giving employees’ freedom to advance their skills and expertise, encourage them to improve their innovativeness and creativity at work (Dyer & Ericksen, 2005). The organization then needs to use the new developed talent, innovation, invention, and creativity to change the organizational dynamics and processes. Starbucks has not been in the limelight of creativity, innovation, and changes in their operations, embarking on this will ultimately give them success in HRM.

Another core HRM strategy in the development of human resources is the management of various groups of employees. This entails developing employee skills and talents and then reclassifying them in regard to these aspects or value addition to the organization (Dyer & Ericksen, 2005). This will enable for rewarding or appreciating the high performers within an organization and also accord them special treatment, which might spike performance across all employees.

According to Lepak & Shaw (2008), ensuring that there is a balance between the inflows and the outflows of talent in an organization is of key value in resourcing. This entails identifying low performing employees and allowing them to quit work if they are not willing to deliver according to demands and meet objectives. This will ensure that such employees are replaced with more committed individuals.

Another key strategy in resourcing is cross training. This entails training staff members to take up other roles in the organization. It entails giving employees multiple tasks or giving them new tasks altogether (Pfeffer, 2005). This helps the employees to value their work and thus deliver more. Such an intervention can also help employees get more payment, which motivates them to deliver their best.

Best Practices for Starbucks

For the first recommendation on training and development, Starbucks should formulate a policy for submission of proposals to change company processes and products after finishing their training and development (Dyer & Ericksen, 2005). This will help the organization to receive ideas that might transform their products, and way of working.

In the second recommendation, the organization is supposed to create classification for employees in regard to their skills set, their value and their flexibility in doing their work. This will help them to understand which employees are more valuable and beneficial to their course and thus appreciate them more (Dyer & Ericksen, 2005). This will improve employee loyalty and commitment.

Starbucks is one organization that has had reputation for high employee retention. Although retention is good, there is need to balance between inflows and outflows. This entails ensuring that the lowly performing employees are given a chance to improve or leave the company. However, the process of job termination should be done humanely to avoid fear or poor job security (Lepak & Shaw, 2008).

Cross training can be done by identifying employees that are willing to deliver more but are challenged to do their work due to less tasks. Such employees should then be trained for other tasks and equally given a chance to deliver their best (Pfeffer, 2005).

Recommendations

Getting employee proposals from time to time will help the organization to incorporate the new proposals in their working processes, which will help them to attract more clients (Dyer & Ericksen, 2005). Adding innovative products and services to their portfolio will ultimately help them to outshine their competitors.

Dealing with employees in regard to their education, skills, or department can help an organization to identify individuals that can be promoted to various positions, as well as identify those that deserve more recognition and appraisal (Dyer & Ericksen, 2005). This will motivate more employees to work hard and move to higher levels of classification.

Ensuring that there is a balance in the outlaw and inflow of employees ensures that an organization meets better employees, while losing those deemed incompetent and gaining better ones (Lepak & Shaw, 2008). This ensures that the quality of the workforce continues to improve over time. This ensures that performance and productivity it improved.

Cross training will help employees to earn more, which will improve their commitment and motivation to work (Pfeffer, 2005). Such program will also give them a sense of purpose since they have more tasks to deliver at the work environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that Starbucks Corporation, despite having one of the most effective human resource management strategies and reputation, still needs to advance and change their human resource management approaches to ensure that they remain competitive. Some of the practices lacking in their human resource strategies include cross-training, balance between inflows and outflows of employees, classification of employees, and encouraging firm liquidity in terms of innovations and creativity (Dyer & Ericksen, 2005; Lepak & Shaw, 2008). Implementing these will ultimately give Starbucks Corporation competitive advantage

References

Dyer, L., & Ericksen, J. (2005). In pursuit of marketplace agility: Applying precepts of self-organizing systems to optimize human resource scalability. Human Resource Management, 183-188.

Lepaka, D. P., & Shaw, J. D. (2008). Strategic HRM in North America: looking to the future. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1486–1499.

Pfeffer, J. (2005). Producing sustainable competitive advantage through the effective management of people. Academy of Management Executive, 95-106.

Analysis of best HRM Practices