Abstract
This article describes the concept of strategic human resource management (SHRM); the concept of electronic human resource management (e-HRM); the importance of SHRM in modern organizations; and the current trends of organizational learning and knowledge management (KM) in modern organizations. SHRM is the strategic practice of attracting, developing, rewarding, and retaining employees with the important goal of increasing various benefits to both employees as individuals and organization as a whole. SHRM strategically utilizes organizational resources and talent within HR functions to make organizations more effective in the modern workforce. Organizational learning and KM allow for organizational employees to share knowledge and learn exactly what is relevant to their specific tasks toward encouraging human capital and knowledge creation. The article argues that promoting SHRM, organizational learning, and KM has the potential to enhance organizational performance and achieve strategic goals in modern organizations.
TopIntroduction
The added value of human resource management (HRM) is strongest when HRM decisions are linked to organizational strategy (Schalk, Timmerman, & van den Heuvel, 2013). Strategic human resource management (SHRM) practices are developed, implemented, and executed based on a deliberate linkage to organizational strategy (Huselid, Jackson, & Schuler, 1997). SHRM predicts electronic human resource management (e-HRM) outcomes and the relationship appears context-dependent in modern organizations (Marler & Fisher, 2013).
Learning has an important position in the development of employees and their expertise (Melo & Beck, 2015). Organizational learning theory indicates that knowledge must be integrated throughout organization to facilitate strategic renewal (Lionzo & Rossignoli, 2013). Organizational learning incorporates the organizational system, dynamic mechanism, and effective HR activities toward improving the competency and capability of organizational employees in the modern workforce (Sabir & Kalyar, 2013). Organizational learning can significantly improve the family firms’ ability to counter by stimulating entrepreneurship (Zahra, 2012). Knowledge management (KM), strategic orientation, and organizational innovation are correlated with organizational performance (Kasemsap, 2014a).
This article aims to bridge the gap in the literature on the thorough literature consolidation of SHRM, organizational learning, and KM. The extensive literature of SHRM, organizational learning, and KM provides a contribution to practitioners and researchers by describing the theory and applications of SHRM, organizational learning, and KM in order to maximize the value of SHRM, organizational learning, and KM in modern organizations.
BACKGROUND
Strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature emerged about 30 years ago (Lengnick-Hall, Lengnick-Hall, Andrade, & Drake, 2009). The strategic evolution perspective explains how the expected outcomes of SHRM may vary depending on what decisions are made and what paths are taken in implementation (Lengnick-Hall et al., 2009). Most organizational strategy research offers some rationale to account for performance differences across organizations or to account for strategic differences that presumably have an impact on organizational performance (Barnett & Burgelman, 1996). SHRM is defined as the pattern of planned HR deployments and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals (Wright & McMahan, 1992).
Organizational learning refers to the process of developing new knowledge and insights derived from the common experiences of people within the organization (Slater & Narver, 1995). Organizational learning is described as an important process that expands the organization's ability to accomplish effective actions by improving its performance and results (Chiva & Alegre, 2009). Organizational learning includes the acquisition, dissemination, and use of knowledge (Argote, McEvily, & Reagans, 2003). Organizational learning is an extremely useful process for generating new ideas (Fernandez-Mesa & Alegre, 2015). Knowledge-sharing behavior positively mediates the relationships between organizational learning and organizational innovation and between KM and organizational innovation in the learning organizations (Kasemsap, 2014b).
Organizational policy perspectives can promote both SHRM and e-HRM toward increasing organizational learning, KM, and competitive advantage by encouraging the effective coordination and partnerships among organizations and combining employees' learning and development opportunities available to employees through modern learning technologies. Executives and HR managers should organize particular emphasis on employees' learning and development by implementing SHRM and e-HRM. The establishment of SHRM-related learning and development is the necessary component of organizational learning and KM strategies in modern organizations.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Learning: The measurable and relatively permanent change in behavior through experience, instruction, and study.
Human Resource: The resource that resides in the knowledge, skills, and motivation of people.
Learning Organization: The organization that obtains knowledge in order to survive in a rapidly changing environment.
Knowledge Management: The strategies and processes designed to identify, capture, structure, value, organize, and share an organization's intellectual assets to enhance its performance and competitiveness.
Human resource management: The process of hiring and developing employees so that they become more valuable to the organization.
Strategic Human Resource Management: The proactive management of the employees of an organization.
Knowledge Creation: The formation of new ideas through the interactions between explicit and tacit knowledge in individual human minds.
Organizational learning: The organization-wide continuous process that enhances its collective ability to accept, make sense of, and respond to the internal and external change.