Model of HRM: Key frameworks explained

What are the different Human Resources models?

For HR to actually benefit a company, it needs to function effectively. HR is better positioned to deliver services and make an impact with a well-considered structure. HR models help in defining and clarifying HR’s function inside the company. HR professionals can set up their HR organization for success if they are aware of the principles underlying some popular frameworks and how HR models operate.

We will go over eight useful HR models in this post. Let’s get to it!

But first, what is a Human Resources model?

An HR model, also known as a human resources management model, is a structure that helps define HR’s function and place in the company. It links with the HR plan and acts as a roadmap for human resource management. An HR model deconstructs the strategy for reaching the goal, while the HR strategy envisions the future.

HR directors use a Human Resources model to specify how HR will be implemented by making the following clear:

• Important HR procedures and activities
• HR jobs and duties necessary to oversee HR operations
• Guiding concepts for HR goals, expectations, and responsibilities

The HR role has changed along with the workplace. Over time, HR grew from its foundation in policy management to include strategic HRM practices and gain a place at the upper management table. HR is entering a new phase of being experience architects thanks to a growing role.

Numerous frameworks and models have evolved over the years. HRM models are meant to offer several viewpoints for structuring the function and usefulness of HR.

An explanation of Human Resources models

By becoming knowledgeable about the various HRM models and their underlying ideas, HR professionals can sharpen their strategic thinking skills. Now let’s examine a few of the most well-known HR models.

1. HRM’s Conventional Causal Model

A number of similar models that were released in the 1990s and early 2000s served as the foundation for the Standard Causal Model of HRM. This HR model states that HR can only function well if its strategy is in line with the company strategy.

The model displays a causal chain illustrating the effects of HR procedures on the company. The chain begins with the business strategy of the organization as a whole, which shapes the HR strategy and procedures. The chain concludes with improved corporate performance.

Hiring, training, grading, and pay policies, for instance, can result in outcomes like engagement, quality work, and dedication. These HRM outcomes boost internal performance, which has a positive impact on financial success.

The model’s relationships are not always linear, as this HR framework demonstrates. Improved internal performance can be a direct result of certain HR procedures. For instance, effective training can boost productivity without necessarily having an impact on HR results.

Moreover, improved financial performance can occasionally result in increased spending on HR procedures and improved HR results. Strong performance frequently translates into more employee engagement, which is an HR goal.

2. Paul Boselie’s 8-Box Model

Paul Boselie’s 8-box model shows the eight internal and external aspects that affect how effective HR strategies are.

It begins by listing the four outside factors that affect how businesses handle human resources:

• External context of the general market
• Context of the external population market
• Outside overall institutional setting
• Institutional context of the external population

For instance, hiring, recruiting, and sourcing practices are different for businesses when there is a shortage of a certain skill in the market than when there is a surplus of competent candidates. Legislation, work councils, and labor unions regulate what HR does and how it does it within the institutional framework.

The evolution of HR’s influence on the company is demonstrated by the four main components:

Configuration: The company’s technology, culture, and history all affect how HR communicates its goals and the efficacy of its policies.

There are four components to the HR methods and procedures element:

• Targeted HR procedures: Objectives for hiring, development, etc.
• Real HR procedures: How the procedures are carried out.
• Employee perception of HR practices: How do staff members see the state of the company?
• HR outcomes: The outcomes of the perceived HR procedures.

Important HR objectives: The aforementioned tactics produce results like affordability, adaptability, credibility, and so forth.

Final business objectives: These results—profit, market share, and market capitalization—help ensure the organization’s survival.

3. The Value Chain for HR

Within HR, one of the most well-known models is the HR value chain. It adds a nuance to the previously mentioned theories regarding how HR functions. It is based on the research of Paauwe and Richardson (1997).

The HR value chain categorizes all that HR performs and measures into two groups:

HRM activities: Routine tasks like hiring, paying employees, providing training, and dealing with succession. HR metrics are frequently used to measure these activities. We refer to these as efficiency metrics. The goal is to hire as quickly as possible and to train as cheaply as possible.

HRM outcomes: The objectives that guide our HRM efforts. We hire, train, and pay in order to accomplish particular objectives or results. These results include motivation, presence, retention, and employee satisfaction.

Measuring only HRM activities will inevitably lead us to prioritize cost-cutting efficiency gains. On the other hand, this may not produce the best long-term results. Rather, we ought to concentrate on quantifying HRM results, since this helps in coordinating our procedures with our objectives.

For instance, if an applicant looks like the perfect fit for our company, we would prefer to take a few extra days to hire them (time to hire, a performance metric) (quality of hire, a result metric). Instead of taking short cuts and hiring someone as soon and cheaply as possible, the objective should be to place the best candidate in the best role.

Performance should improve when HRM initiatives and results meet expectations. This means that the performance of the business improves when we hire the right people, send them to the correct training programs, and keep our top players.

There is also a separate impact. HRM activities rise in conjunction with improved company performance. This is because more prosperous businesses typically make more investments in HR initiatives, such as providing employees with L&D opportunities and HR software.

4. The HR Value Chain: An Advancement

It’s unclear where the HR Value Chain Advanced model originated. With two significant exceptions, it is fairly similar to the HR value chain.

First, the balanced scorecard defines organizational performance. The important performance metrics from three perspectives—financial, customer, and process—are included in the balanced scorecard. The HR value chain incorporates these. The scorecard allows for alignment and demonstrates the value that HR brings to the company.

Secondly, the model starts off with several HR facilitators. The work that HR does for the company depends heavily on these enablers. This covers HR systems, HR spending, qualified personnel, and other essential components. It is believed that for the value chain to function properly, several enablers must exist.

HR will be less effective in achieving its HR results and business outcomes if it lacks skilled personnel, has a little budget, or has antiquated systems that stifle innovation.

5. The HRM Harvard Model

Paauwe and Richardson’s contributions in 1997 and Michael Beer’s work in 1984 are credited with creating the Harvard model of HRM. It addresses HR from a more comprehensive perspective and incorporates several result levels.

The five parts of this model are as follows:

Stakeholder interest comes first. The government, labor unions, shareholders, and management are a few of these stakeholders. The HRM policies are defined by these interests.

These interests are also influenced by situational conditions. Workforce features, labor organizations, and every other component included in the 8-box model are examples of situational factors.

HRM policies are influenced by situational conditions and stakeholder interests. These include of the fundamental HR tasks including hiring, onboarding, and incentive programs.

HRM outcomes are favorable when HRM policies are implemented correctly. They consist of the abovementioned expertise, dedication, cost-effectiveness, and retention.

These beneficial HRM results have long-term effects. They can be societal, organizational, or individual.

6. The Guest Model

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, David Guest, a professor at King’s Business School in the UK, created the Guest model. The concept highlights HR’s strategic role and sets strategic HRM apart from conventional HRM practices.

It was among the earliest models to combine the “soft” and “hard” aspects of human resource management. The model recognized the critical role that company culture plays in achieving performance goals and highlighted the influence of HRM on company success.

According to the Guest model, HR may be explained using six interconnected analytical aspects that correspond to particular business strategies:

The idea is that HRM begins with specific business-aligned strategies, which then (2) inform HRM practices and policies, (3) lead to specific HRM outcomes, (4) result in desired employee behaviors like motivation and commitment, (5) drive performance outcomes, and (6) ultimately produce financial outcomes.

This human resource management model’s opposite is also true: performance, which is determined by organizational and individual behavior, will have an impact on financial results. These actions are the consequence of particular HR outcomes that are attained by focused HR practices and policies that are founded on a certain HR strategy.

7. The Warwick Model

Early in the 1990s, scholars Hendry and Pettigrew from the University of Warwick created another significant HRM model. While sharing similarities with the Guest and Harvard models, this model offers a further viewpoint on the alignment of HRM practices with internal and external settings.

It offers a framework for investigating how external environmental factors impact HRM and how it impacts the inner workings of the company.

The following components make up the model:

• External context: The macro-environmental (societal, political, technological, environmental, legal) elements that impact HR policies.

• Internal context: The internal factors that impact human resources practices and policies and are impacted by the external environment, such as leadership, company culture, and technology.

• Business strategy: The business’s strategic intent as expressed in its mission and goals. It is shaped by the organization’s internal and external contexts, which in turn affect the HRM context.

• HRM content: Includes roles, job definitions, and HR outputs that are determined by the business strategy and the HRM context.

• HRM context: How HR work is organized and how corporate strategy affects areas like employee interactions, work procedures, and reward structures.

This model highlights how crucial strategic HRM is. In simpler terms, HR needs to be aware of these aspects, be able to foresee them, and be able to modify its plans using sound business judgment.

8. The Ulrich Model

In his 1996 book Human Resource Champions, David Ulrich presented the Ulrich Model, which identifies four key duties that the HR department must fulfill:

• Administrative Expert: Manages personnel strategy and HR procedures, taking care of internal operations.

• Employee Champion: Increases productivity by overseeing employee engagement and workforce competence. Focuses on keeping the connection between employers and employees positive.

• Change Agent: Collaborates with management and staff to start projects that improve workplace culture and grow the firm.

• Strategic Partner: Coordinates HR tactics with the commercial objectives of the organization. Develops the most effective strategies for managing and growing the workforce in order to maximize success.

Another name for this is the Ulrich HR Business Partner model. HR professionals can fill any one or more of the four positions within the parameters of their duties; they do not need to have distinct job titles.

HR was able to advance from a purely administrative and commercial role to one that significantly contributed to the accomplishment of company goals thanks to the strategic partner role in this model. HR is linked to senior leadership in this strategic business partner association, and people policies are integrated into the overarching business plan.

In 2005 Ulrich updated his four-role model of business partners, adding a fifth role and extending the functions. These roles are: Employee Advocate, HR Leader, Strategic Partner, Functional Expert, and Human Capital Developer.

There is also another interpretation of the HR model for large firms that was influenced by Ulrich’s Human Resource Champions book. It is occasionally referred to as the “Ulrich model” and frequently as the “Three-legged stool model.” The idea behind it is that HR performs four essential functions:

• Shared services: A centralized team that responds to regular administrative questions and services. It is available to managers and staff.

• Centers of excellence: Experts who handle requests and situations that are more complicated. They aid management in putting HR policies and plans into action.

• HR business partners: Strategic HR experts who collaborate with management to offer practical advice on personnel-related matters.

• HR leadership team: A group of HR executives who set up the HR department to meet its objectives and top priorities.

The phrase “three-legged stool” describes a framework in which business partners, shared services, and centers of excellence serve as the three legs and leadership is at the top.

Ulrich, Jon Younger, and Wayne Brockbank extended this HR service delivery model in 2008 and identified five roles: Corporate HR, Service Centers, Embedded HR, Centers of expertise, and Operational HR.

Choosing a Human resources model

Every workforce, organization, and HR team is different, with different needs and objectives. There are a number of things to take into account while selecting the best HRM model for your company:

• Business strategy: Identifying which HR model will best direct your efforts should begin with your business strategy.

• Organizational design and structure: Which HR model will work best for your company depends on its size, composition, and design.

• Industry and competition: HR’s place in the company is heavily influenced by the particulars of the industry in which it operates as well as the competitive environment.

• HR team capabilities: You should take your HR team’s capabilities into account when comparing various HRM models. Make sure your HR staff has the knowledge and tools needed to provide HR services in an efficient manner.

• Cost-effectiveness: Which of the HR models will provide your company a decent return on investment? You must consider the expense of HR services in light of their effect on the productivity and financial health of the company.

One last thing about HR models

Gaining familiarity with these HR models and theories can help you become more knowledgeable and more productive in your role and team. It’s important to realize that models cannot fully show how HR will operate because they are an abstraction of reality.

Furthermore, there isn’t just one perfect HR model. Every workforce and company has unique demands and makeup. As a result, finding the HR model that works best for your needs and intended results may require some trial and error.