Strategic Human Resource Management has become a key factor in strategic decision making. HR practices that focus on organizational performance and competitive advantage are the ones with the highest success rate.
High performance is strongly linked to high involvement in work. One of the major influences in high performance is having HR roles being performed by people with a business background. Individuals with a business degree realize the value in improving customer service as well as creating a fast and efficient system. Moreover, they are more than capable of delivering results. In further evaluation, they are also assessed based on the employee delight index which measures how efficiently they are able to resolve employee issues.
These HR Managers are able to implement a strong organizational culture, by recruiting the best talent available and by making sure they are rewarded on time and based on their performance. They make sure to retain the talent recruited. Employees are also satisfied since they are rewarded by continuous training and the ability to work on challenging tasks.
Alpha is an example of a successful multinational IT company that uses a polycentric or adaptive approach in its HR Management. It focuses on creating leaders from its employees. By decentralizing its own leadership, and empowering employees to make their own decisions, inculcating in them the belief and willingness to act like CEOs, they ensure that employees are able to work to their maximum potential. This method of working known as the “AlphaWay” is embedded into the organizational structure, to be implemented in day to day life. The Alpha School of Leadership guarantees successful leadership training is achieved from within. Alpha does not discriminate nor provides favorable advantage to any one employee, instead believing they are all capable of the extraordinary, provided their talent is recognized, nurtured and rewarded. People who have performed well act as guides or role models to further improve the learning process.
One of the most profitable methods of performance analysis stems from performance metrics constituting of the 5 R’s and 6 P’s. These are applied to every employee, thus everyone is able to review their individual performance in a holistic manner. Where employees fall short, a performance improvement plan is set in place.
A factor that must receive positive notice is the utilization and time efficiency given to soft aspects of the job. In some companies, where the time taken to resolve employee grievances might not be at the forefront, Alpha believes in providing adequate response and resolution to employee issues. Teams at Alpha work cross functionally and are therefore required to collaborate, thus fostering a sense of teamwork and partnership rather than working in isolation. This creates a challenge in performance measuring, however the company has utilized a collaboration index to measure the level of collaboration between teams.
With this cross functionality, employees have a say in how metrics are measured, thus emphasizing the decision wielding power they possess. Not only that, but Alpha takes into account its customers and suppliers and regulates their input into their processes.
Although Alpha is an Indian based company, it recognizes the worth in using local staffing. Aside from its own limitations, they have recognized that its subsidiaries will perform better with local managers and employees of the host country who share the same values and goals. In addition to this, it also keeps its policies such as reward management standardized across all locations, while giving its subsidiaries the authority to implement fixed payment plans as they wish.
As such, through employee empowerment and accountability and adopting a polycentric HR approach, Alpha has taken advantage of all the best business practices to certify its position as a standout global company.