5 Human Resources Models Every HR Practitioner Should Know
-Islah brandsterz
A new business requires an HR Model to follow from the very beginning so that everything falls into the correct place. Here we have the top 5 influential HR Models.
Human Resources Models or Human Resource Framework outlines how an HR department works, and it is the guideline it follows. Whenever someone sets up a new company, they select an HR Model that best fits their demands and moves around it.
How Do Human Resources Models Work?
These HR Models focus on how the HR department makes a plan for the company and how the management and employees follow it. Moreover, it evaluates all the factors enlisted and analyzes them beforehand as they might influence an organization's progress. Certainly, this brings stability to HR management.
In addition, HR management has two proposals to follow. Firstly, the challenging approach only focuses on managing the employees as well as the performance of the organization. On the other hand, the soft course emphasizes growing its relationship with the employees by motivating and gaining their trust. Different HR Models follow either one or both of the approaches.
To date, numerous HR models have been formed. Other than the five mentioned below, some of them are;
The People Value Chain Model
The ASTD Competency Model
The Advanced HR Value Chain
The Dave Ulrich Model
The Harvard Model
The Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna Model
Their Objective
The main aim of the HR Model is to help a company grow and flourish. Based on tried and tested strategies, the HR department follows these models as they help double the business's profits. Undoubtedly, HR directly impacts the business value, and these models give direction, so they work effectively and efficiently.
Furthermore;
It helps HR associate different components and their impact, such as employee trust, people services, business law, etc.
It emphasizes the importance of good HR practices.
It gives a structure and basic plan to the management of the HR department.
It focuses on the authenticity of the HR practices and how they are accepted.
It states the factors affecting business productivity and how to overcome them.
It establishes the relationship between the various components of a model and their dependence on one another.
The Top 5 Human Resources Models
Through our research, we have listed the top 5 HR Models among all those existing. They are not only practical but also widely used around the world. The list below has a variety of models made by both university professionals as well as industrialists.
1. The Standard Causal Model
It is the most famous and influential HR model of all that was formed by taking ideas from multiple models made during the 90s and 2000s. It is a simple model beginning with simple strategy formation, ultimately leading to the company's performance.
This model explains why strategy making by HR is essential for the progress and growth of a company in the long term. The complete model consists of;
● Overall strategy
● HR strategy
● HR practices
● HR outcomes
● Internal performance (improved)
● Financial performance (improved)
2. The 8 Box Model
Paul Boselie created this model considering multiple external and internal components that may directly impact HR functionality. The external factors include population market context, population institutional context, general institutional context, and general market context.
We can further explain the model with an example, i.e., the workers are employed and enlisted differently depending on the shortage or abundance of a certain skill in the market. Moreover, the work laws, councils, and trade unions directly influence the day to day productivity of HR.
The main step of the middle process is the configuration, which consists of the company's ownership, culture, workforce, etc. All of these ultimately control the HR outcomes.
The HR strategy is further categorized into;
Intended HR Practices: Usually, it is intended that hiring and training workers is an essential element. However, this model states it only as a starting point.
Actual HR Practices: Executing any intention requires a partnership between the HR and the manager. The model clarifies that the actual practices will differ if there is no coordination between the two despite good intentions.
Perceived HR Practices: The outcome mainly depends on how the employees perceive the aim and goal of the company. Thus different perceptions from the HR or manager would alter a company's results.
HR Outcomes: Whatever was perceived would now give the outcome; thus, when the HR, manager, and employee are all together, the objective can be easily accomplished by them.
Critical HR Goals: Everything related to the company's business progress, such as profit, market share, etc, depends on the critical HR goals. These include flexibility, legitimacy, and cost-effectiveness.
Ultimate Business Goals: It consists of the company's viability and sustained competitive advantage entirely based on the fulfillment of the HR goals.
3. The Warwick Model
The two researchers of the University of Warwick, Chris Hendry, and Andrew M. Pettigrew, came together in the early 1990s and formed the Warwick Model. The basic idea of the professors behind the model is that the progress and accomplishments of an organization depend on how well it balances the changes and factors affecting it.
Adding on, it is categorized into five different parts, one way or another, impacting the Human Resources Department. These are;
Outer Context: In easy words, it includes all the external factors influencing the company, such as socio-economic condition, technicalities, competencies, political forces, and legal laws.
Inner Context: Likewise, these are the internal components, mainly the company's structure, and culture. Furthermore, it includes company politics, leadership, task management, and business output.
Business Strategy: It is the most important of all, and this is the key factor that defines the company's objectives, goals, and strategy formulated to achieve them.
HRM Content 1: It consists of the HR roles, its definitions, organizations, and HR outputs.
HRM Content 2: This focuses on the working pattern of HR, including its reward system, work system, employer relation, and HR flows.
4. The 5P’s Model
Randall S. Schuler, a famous scholar known for his Human Resource Models due to their function and strategies, formed a new 5P Model in 1992. The name being self-explanatory, the Model stands for Purpose, Principles, Process, People, and Performance
According to his research, if a company or organization makes sure that these 5 P's work together collectively, then any company can do well. The model's main idea is that a company's productivity relies on its work. Further dependent on the employee performance under the influences of the company's principles.
The P's are further defined as;
Purpose: It focuses on the objectives and mission of the organization and the strategies it formulates in order to fulfill them.
Principles: These are the company's culture and values, classified as operational protocols, which help move one step toward achieving the company's goals.
Process: It is the theory and system on which the company operates.
People: They are the core of the HR department as the company's purpose is timely achieved through their coordination.
Performance: As strategized by HR previously, it is the outcome or the result.
In 1998, another 5P model was made by M. G. Pryor, C. White, and L. Toombs to monitor the HR strategies, thus working around the same features as the previous model. The new model states, "strategy determines the system, and the system impacts the behavior of the staff, which further influences the company's performance.
5. The High Impact Operating Model
Over time various researchers have claimed that a business grows under the impact of its HR department, and the higher its impact is, the more a company will flourish. Delottie forms this model considering the functionality of HR, mainly focusing on its expertise, innovations, and adaptations.
The model help increase the productivity of a company by forming a high impact HR based on the four C's i.e.
Creating capacity
Capability of growing
Community empowerment
Credibility boost
Adding on, the four most important features of the model are;
HR Customers: Being present at the model's center this represents its direct influence on the workforce.
The Digital Workplace: Connects the workforce that includes Business HR, HR Operational Services, External Network and Partners, and Communities of Expertise.
Workforce Insights: Helps form strategies for the business based on the analysis of HR.
Fluid interaction among the HR components: It is the main strength of the model.
Bottom Line
The Human Resource Department has to work on two main components of the company, its productivity, and progress. HR is always praised when a company is doing well and meeting its goal of making strategies and executing them perfectly. Behind the success of HR is the model it is following.
However, till now, none of these HR Models has been considered 100% successful. Though, these HR models provide the team with an excellent plan to follow while making improvements and adjustments.
Once HR understands the model, it formulates its approach and makes relevant changes. From hiring employees to training them, it focuses on following the plan of action to produce desired outcomes. The results will be in your favor, whichever HR model you follow.