Introduction

to
Strategic
Resource Management

Human

SHRM can be defined as the linking of Human resources with strategic goals
and objectives for improving business performance and developing
organizational culture with innovation, competitive advantage and flexibility.
To identify the need of SHRM means to accept and have the HR function
involved as a strategically important partner in the formulation and
implementation of the companys overall strategy.
To explain it elaborately, Strategic HRM defines the organizations intentions
and plans on how its business goals should be achieved through people. It is
based on three propositions:
First, that human capital is a major source of competitive advantage;
Second, that it is people who implement the strategic plan;
Third, that a systematic approach should be adopted to defining where
the organization wants to go and how it should get there.

Review of Literature
Journals:
1) Strategic Management and HRM
Mathew R. Allen and Patrick M. Wright
2) Human Resource Management
Karen Legge

Websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald's
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/our_story/our_history/the_ray_kroc_story.ht
ml
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16448162/McDonalds-Project

www.hrm guide.com
www.hr-topics.com
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/annual_reports.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-reports-first-quarter-2013115800163.html
http://www.csrwire.com/members/12873-McDonald-s-Corporation
http://jpkc.szpt.edu.cn/english/article/Human%20Resource
%20Management.htm
http://www.studymode.com/essays/Hrm-In-Mcdonald-s-952331.html

Methodology
Primary and secondary source of data was used in order to study Strategic
HRM in the light of McDonalds and Nokia.
Primary source of data includes journals by eminent personalities referred
above.
Secondary data includes online material through various websites related to
HR and McDonalds.

Analysis and Results

Introduction to McDonald
McDonald is the worlds largest chain of fast food restaurant, spanning over
119 countries and serving around 68 million customers daily. The company
had its installation in 1940 as small hamburger stand in California by Richard
and Maurice McDonald. Initially operated as barbecue restaurant, it was
reorganized in 1948 to offer hamburger as a product. Later on the company
witnessed a period of massive growth after Ray Kroc joined the company as
a franchise agent in 1955 and purchased the chain from the McDonald
brothers. The first filed U.S. trademark for Mc Donalds was on 1961 which
provided the Drive-In Restaurant Services. With the global expansion of
McDonald, it has been a symbol of globalization and has spread the
American way of life across the world.
The primary products of Mc Donalds are hamburgers, cheeseburgers,
chicken items, French fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes and
desserts. In response to changing consumer tastes, the company has
expanded its menu to include salads, fish, wraps, smoothies and fruit. Its
headquarter is situated in the United States, operating in more than 34,000
restaurants worldwide where more than 75% are operated by independent
owners, creating an opportunity of employment to about 1.7 million people.
McDonald is often referred as a benchmark for its standard policies and

practices relate to human resources, social responsibility and moral and

ethical values.

Role of SHRM in Hospitality Industry:

SHRM is an important factor for attaining a dominant market position. The

need of SHRM for Hospitality industry is important and prominent in the
tourism and hospitality based organizations go for the same. The quality and
nature of service product offered depends on the skills and competencies of
the human resources that are employed to deliver particular product
offerings. SHRM is important for successful operation of the organization in
short term as well as in the long term for attaining a dominant market
position.

For a multinational company like McDonald, adopting SHRM enables it to

focus on:
1)
Organizational growth in a global market.
2)
Foster competitiveness in the market in which the organization is
operating.
3)
Adjustment to the rapid change in technological factors.
4)
Adherence to the different cross-cultural issues.
5)
Changes in the factors in the economic environment.
6)
Identifying new issues in the workforce environment and developing of
a pro-active approach to adjust to these issues.

Long-term HR Planning a Necessity than a Luxury:

Long term HR planning is an integral part of Strategic HRM. HR planning is

the process of determining an organizations human resource need.
In todays business world, competition is an important factor to exist in the
business. For an organization like McDonald, operating in 119 countries with
68 million customers served daily by 1.7 million employees, the presence of
SHRM is critically important. Long term HR planning generates a bigger
picture of the future demand and supply of the organizations human
resource and the ways that organization is supposed to deal with the issue.

SHRM Strategy in McDonald

HR strategy identifies the role of the HR as being transformational and
change oriented. HR strategy differs from short term to long term. Unlike
traditional HRM where rigidity is stressed, strategic HRM focuses on broad,
flexible and team-work form of job design. The most crucial factor in

effective HR strategy is the identifying people as important asset of the

organization and investment in enhancing of their knowledge.

Appraisal of McDonalds HR Strategy

HR strategy provides a roadmap for an organization to visualize the future

direction and scope with regard to its human resources. It is a long-term
strategic plan which facilitates the organization to analyze the opportunity
and threats, assess internal strengths and weaknesses, and identify
competitive advantage. Developing of HR strategy is a crucial and
challenging managerial activity
HR strategy identifies the role of the HR as being transformational and
change oriented. HR strategy differs from short term to long term. Unlike
traditional HRM where rigidity is stressed, strategic HRM focuses on broad,
flexible and team-work form of job design. The most crucial factor in
effective HR strategy is the identifying people as important asset of the
organization and investment in enhancing of their knowledge
McDonald has been one of the most prominent in the global hospitality for
many years. The continuous growth of the company in a global market
addressing various issues regarding the Human resources hailing from
countries with different culture is really an interesting matter of study.
Generally a HR strategy involves the careful development of various
components of the HRM. A general discussion of the HR strategy of
McDonald has been made as follows:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

1.

Organizational Structure
Job Analysis and Job Evaluation.
Recruitment and Selection Process
Training and Development
Motivation Performance management and Appraisal
Reward and Employee Benefits

Organizational Structure

McDonald has 3 different categories in their structure:

The corporate staff controls the company and manages the franchises
worldwide.
The Franchisees are given restaurants to manage them following the
standard of practices set by McDonald.
Restaurant workers are the lower-level wage based employees who are paid
in hourly basis.

2.

Job Analysis and Job Evaluation

Job design specifies the content of the job and the methods of performing
the job. Where job analysis provides with job related data as well as the skills
and knowledge expected of the incumbent to discharge the job, Job design
involves a conscious efforts to organize tasks, duties and responsibilities into
a unit of work to achieve a certain objectives. As such job design follows job
analysis.
A process of attaining an effective job design involves following steps:
1)
What tasks are to be done? : Specification of individual tasks.
2)
How are the tasks performed? : Specification of the methods of
performing each task, and
3)
What is the sequence of performing tasks? : Combination of tasks into
specific job to be assigned to individuals.
Job design provides with a pathway for determining the content of the job
and how the job shall be performed. The most important factor while
designing a job is taking in to consideration of the requirement of the
organization and individual needs of the job holder. An effective and
successful job design can be attained only via striking a balance between the
requirements of the organization and the competencies of job holder.

3. Training and Development

Skill development of the employees in one of the important ongoing concern
in an organization. Human resources need to be developed continuously to
achieve organizational goals efficiently and effectively. Skill development
activities of an organization are focused on developing competencies of
people resources in organization. Organization executes various activities
focusing on the development of the varied skills of the employees. Generally
an organization makes use of various interventions or behavioral techniques
that are designed to teach new skills and knowledge for its employees to
perform the designated tasks swiftly.
Training and development of employees is of vital concern for a globalized
company like McDonald. McDonald has a Management Development
Program (MDP) designed to develop the potential leaders. For example, each
year, McDonald trains about 55,000 employees. It also invests more than
$10 million to ongoing employee trainings, providing valuable skills and
knowledge to its franchisees all over the globe. It has a designated
Hamburger University as a management training center for its valued
employees.

Training is inherent in the McDonald's work culture, and the link between
training and development within the company is overt. The organization has
proven that a fully trained crew is more productive; employees who are
being trained will be less effective and are also likely to produce more waste.
Successful completion of a range of tasks leads to a small pay increase.
Training employees is used as a retention tool. Individuals are trained to work
as a team and feel part of the organization. Training is given to all
employees, this includes all part time staff, encouraging the team.
The morale of the team is of crucial importance in its ability to cope and
work together as a team. Crew members fill in satisfaction surveys, where
they are asked to rate the individual elements of their job role. There is a
correlation between the number of fully trained staff and employee
satisfaction levels, which in turn affect customer ratings.
Restaurants with high levels of training tend to have lower rates of staff
turnover and lower turnover costs. Among leisure retailers an average staff
turnover rate of 188 per cent, while the better performing McDonald's
restaurants averaged 64 per cent .The restaurants that reach the above
average in the training department were inclined to have lower employee
turnover.

Benefits of Job Analysis and Training considered together

1) Improvement of competencies:
Employees competencies can be enhanced via improving their knowledge,
skills and abilities by proper development of a job design and execution of
the training activities accordingly.
2)

Enhance the effectiveness of the employees:

Well formulated job design ensures productive performance of the
employees for achieving
goal effectively.

3)

Fostering of the team work:

When employees become aware of the tasks to be performed by them and
each other, conflicts regarding job execution are eliminated. Various skill
development activities are designed to enhance the climate of trust,
knowledge sharing, effective communication and so on.

4)

Increase job satisfaction:

Job design developed via matching the need of the organization and the
capability of the employees will help to boost-up the morale of the
employees and thus better job satisfaction.

5)

Improve decision making:

When employees are aware of their tasks and are provided with opportunity
to enhance their skills and knowledge, they can have a greater control over
what they perform. Thus it ensures better decision making.

6)

Managing conflicts and changes:

Well formulated job design outlines the duties and responsibilities of
employees and thus conflicts of overlapping duties and tasks are eliminated.
When a job design is developed appropriately, integrating required skill
development training and activities, not only an improvement in the
performance of an individual employee will be noticed but also the whole
human resources of the organization will perform excellently. Individual
conflicts, de-motivation, conflicts and tensions will be reduced and thus a
congenial environment will be developed for a harmonious team work via cooperation and collaboration.

4. Recruitment and Selection Process

McDonald screens the applications submitted by the individual applicants. A
well devised recruitment policy is formulated for the selection process. The
screening of the applicants is based on the merit, institute of previous
employment, experience and so on. Candidates passing through this are
further processed for selection.
Recruitment is easy for the organization; it establishes itself as an employer
of choice by paying top wages for high quality employees and providing a
benefits package which exceeds the minimum required by the local
employment legislation, retention starts at recruitment.
The organization recruits locally and has a strategy of internal promotion.
This helps to attract career minded individuals that will commit themselves
to the organization. Over 60% of their current managers started their careers
as crew in the restaurants .The Company has opened employment up to a
wide range of candidates. The organization is committed to equal
opportunity policy that extends beyond race, gender, ethnic origin, marital
status, color, nationality or disability, to encompass people with very
different backgrounds and experience.

The main focus of the organizations recruitment policy is the ability of the
individual to be customer focused. The right attitude is viewed as more
important than technical ability. This is part of the ethos of customer service
and standardization. The ability to understand and adopt McDonald's
customer led culture is worth as much as the more usual career entry
requirements.
With the graduates development programme, later in the selection process,
the company also looks at specific skills and general knowledge. This is to
develop leadership skills. The organization has been awarded graduate
employee of the year.
Successful Management applicants, who pass the initial screening, are

invited to work in one of the restaurants before a final decision is made. This
gives applicants the chance to try out the job, and provides McDonald's with
the opportunity to see how they function in the environment in which they
will work. This method will reduce the number of employees who leave
shortly after joining the organization.

5. Performance Appraisal
The performance of the employees is appraised on a regular basis. Absence
of appropriate performance appraisal leads to employee dissatisfaction and
frustration. McDonald makes use of various performance appraisal methods
like Graphical rating scale and 360 degree feedback.

6. Compensation and Employee Benefits

Compensation in McDonald includes:
Direct financial payments: wages, salaries, bonuses and commission.
indirect payments: financial benefits like paid insurance
Employee Benefits in McDonald includes perks and benefits like:
Free life insurance after 3 years of employment,
Medical and hospital facilities,
Provident fund, etc.

Development of appropriate SHRM Policies

Devising of appropriate Strategic Human Resource Management has been
the focal point of most of the globally operating organizations in the recent
era. Increased competition, turbulent political forces, socio-cultural changes
are some of the factors responsible for this change. For a multinational
hospitality company such as McDonalds, the need of SHRM is even more vital
due to its confrontation with various critical factors including the
management of diverse culture, political instability, and enormous
competition.

Impact of various factors on devising of SHRM policies

(Analysis of Macro Factors):
PESTEL model is widely used for macro-environmental analysis of a business
entity. PESTEL model measures the impact of Political, Social and Cultural,
Technological, Environmental and Legal factors on operation of business
organization.
With revenues of about $23 billion, human resources of 1.6 million
employees and global coverage, McDonald is a leader in convenient foods
and beverages industry. The corporations increasing success has been the
result of its effective marketing strategies, competitiveness, and high
standard of performance, personal and professional integrity of its
employees and standard business processes and practices.

Political factors:
The global operation of McDonald is highly influenced by the political
scenario of the particular country in which it operates. Companys
operational policies are highly influence by the political system of the host
country. McDonald is confronted to different political consequences in
different countries. For example, some pressure groups in the US time and
often raise voice demanding state action pertaining to the health
implications of consuming fast foods.

Economic Factors:
McDonald is confronted to risk related to foreign currency exchange and the
risk of inflation. Franchises of McDonald suffer badly when the economy of
the host countries are marked with inflation and change in the currency
rates. In addition to this, McDonalds should also adapt itself to the local
economic factors. For example, due to low purchasing power of Indian
nationals, McDonald offers cheapest product to its target people in India
backed by its economies of scale in operation.
Socio-cultural Factors:
Managing human resources coming out of different cultural and social
background is a vital task when the organization is multinational. Over the
years, McDonalds has been able to manage the workforce diversity it retains
under its umbrella. The organization has to address the unique cultural
needs of its diversified customers across the globe. For example, keeping in
mind the vast majority of Hindus in India, McDonald removed Pork and
Mutton products from its menu in India.
Technological Factors:
Though adaptation to the sophisticated technology is a must, a tradeoff
between the cost of technological installment and its desired benefit is
necessary for a firm. Adapting to the modern technology, McDonald makes
use of Facebook and Google advertisements, collaborates with various
websites, makes use of hoarding boards, banners, and stars endorsements
and so on. In this connection, McDonald has also infused its operation with
the new technology-such as technology friendly inventory system and supply
chain.
Legal Factors:
Operating in a global environment requires a company to comply with the
varied legal system across the globe. McDonald has to comply with various
regulatory systems requiring it to be flexible in its operating policies and
other labor policies. For e.g.: McDonald provides its customer with
appropriate information regarding the ingredients of the products and this
has been made mandatory in many countries. Similarly, the company also
takes into account of various legal factors like: employment standards, tax
obligations, and so on.
Environmental Factors:
In this current time when the issues of global warming, climates changes,
carbon emission etc are the emerging global issues, McDonald has also faced
various environmental problems regarding its operation. The most notorious
allegations to McDonald have been the employment of non-biodegradable
substances for their drinks glasses and Styrofoam coffers for the meals. In
these connections, McDonald has to control the use of such substances and
make its customers aware of these factors. It has to invest in those elements

within its domain that promotes the conservation of environment, in any way
it can.

Role of Strategic HRM in developing Organization Culture

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) encompasses decisions and
actions which concern with the management of employees at all levels of the
business and is related to the implementation of strategies for sustaining
competitive advantage with regard to its competitors. SHRM is the HRM
planned at the strategic level. The central idea of SHRM is to gain
competitive advantage through human resources management by
integrating it with overall business strategy.
Organization culture is the set of values, beliefs, behaviors, customs, and
attitudes that helps the members of the organizations understand what it
stands for, how it does things, and what it considers important. It is the basic
foundation of the internal environment of an organization and highly
influential to the behavior of the employees. It is developed over a long
period of time. Companys leadership and its success, symbols, stories and
heroes shape-up and enhances organizational culture.
Strategic human resource management is a vital part of the overall business
plan of an organization. It shapes the basic standards of values and ethical
practices of an organization. Devising of SHRM policies are based in a way
that shapes and modifies employees behavior in long run to attain the
overall business objective. In connection to the Organization culture, SHRM
makes following consideration for attaining business strategy:
1)

Whether or not an organizational culture is supporting the

SHRM?
SHRM and organization culture is inter-related to each other. While
formulating a SHRM policy, a HR manager must consider organizational
culture. For e.g.: while bringing a change in HR policies regarding
implementation of new technology, a youth based organization may accept it
wisely because of having a to-do organization culture.

2)

Whether or not an organizational culture is supporting the longterm business strategy?

Organization culture being inter-related and inter-dependent to SHRM, in turn
also influences and gets influenced by overall business strategy of an
organization.
With regard to the organization culture, McDonald has been an outstanding
example. Its dedication, care, respects and recognition to the employees and
fair treatment has made the corporate values of McDonald strong. The
culture of McDonald has holistic approach that covers the society as a whole.
The benchmarking culture of McDonald is facilitated by:

Fair and ethical treatment to employees.

Quality food at affordable cost.
High standard of food safety.
Improvement of the animal welfare

Areas of Improvement
A well devised Human resource strategy can enable any organization to
develop its human resources to achieve the overall business strategy. In case
of McDonald, its effective human resources strategy has enabled it to
achieve a great deal of success till date. However, McDonald should focus on
making its human resource strategy more comprehensive and adoptive to
the emerging human resources concerns. Specifically, focusing in the
following areas shall benefit the company in making its human resources
strategy more effective.
1) Communication of its human resource strategy to its employees
effectively.
2) Inclusion of the mechanism for identifying the talented and qualified
workers, grooming of the workers and providing various kinds of scholarship
and facilities.
3) Formulation of effective motivational schemes such as payment of
higher wages for the part-time employees.
4) Making the recruitment and selection policy more adoptive to the
legislation of the host
country along with the recognition of issues related
to the workforce diversity.
SHRM policies should focus on succession planning of its employees via
continuous amendment of Job design and appropriate enforcement of HR
training and development programs.

Conclusion
The organization now operates on a global scale with competition through
other key players. This rapid expansion has opened up new cultures, which
are managed through their global HR policies. The organisation pays
employees in new markets above average wages; this is used to attract large
number of candidates.
All employees are managed by global HR policies, with the only exceptions is
where local employment legislation differs from that of the organisation.
Therefore all employees receive the same benefits, training and control,

leading to standardisation of employment. To the customer this

standardisation is of both product and service.
The organisation trades on this standardisation, therefore this is part of the
ethos, and integrated into all HR policies. The training plan for all employees
is a global policy, so they all follow the same route. Where this training is
standardised, it is a rigid framework. All employees know what stage they
are at with their training. This adds stability to the employment.
McDonalds successfully attracts potential employees, this is essentially
through word of mouth. The majority of candidates have either relatives or
friends employed at MacDonalds. This not only reduces advertising costs,
prospective employees already know about the role. This will reduce the
number of candidates that leave soon after appointment. They know about
the role before they apply.
The majority of managers are promoted within, this demonstrates a good
career path, and retains skilled employees. The promotion ladder is well
documented; therefore all employees can plan their career routes within the
organisation. The success of retaining employees for the management
training scheme warrants a full study of its own.

Analysis and Results

Introduction to Nokia
Nokia is a Finnish multinational communication corporation headquartered in
Espoo, Finland. As of 2013, Nokia employed 90,000 people across 120
countries, conducts sales in more than 150 countries and reported annual
revenues of around 12.7 billion
Nokia operated a total of 16 manufacturing facilities in different places
around the globe like United Kingdom, Brazil, India, and China etc.
With a simple mission of connecting people, its strategic intent is to build
great and durable products to enable people to get more life opportunities
through mobiles. Nokia use to be at the forefront of innovation in mobile
industry and it had a huge market share of mobile phones for at least a
decade. But thing began to change in 2007 with the launch of iPhone and the
later with the introduction of android enabled mobile phones which laid the
foundation of apps development. It opened new possibilities for the mobile
app developers to create innovative applications for the end users and earn
revenue from the download and updates. This created a difficult situation for
Nokia, which did, not adapt to this innovation in the mobile industry. Hence it
lacked behind and kept itself with its Symbian mobile operating system,
which worked for it for over a decade. Nokia did not realize how quickly the

industry would change and the new eco system of mobile apps would sweep
it across. And this is exactly what happened, Nokia lost its market share
dramatically since 2007 and its now facing a difficult time and all now the
only way forward is to innovate and bring new ideas and inspirations into
reality and find ways to better help customers.
Nokia is a well renowned mobile manufacturing company. In the past Nokia
was holding a prestigious position in the mobile market, which has been
affected due to a change in technology in the mobile communication
industry.

Role of SHRM:
Strategic human resource management is the process of linking the human
resource function with the strategic objectives of the organization in order to
improve performance. Strategic human resource management (strategic
HRM, or SHRM) may be regarded as an approach to the management of
human resources that provides a strategic framework to support long-term
business goals and outcomes. The approach is concerned with longer-term
people issues and macro-concerns about structure, quality, culture, values,
commitment and matching resources to future need. Strategic management is
considered to be a continuous activity that requires a constant adjustment of three major
interdependent poles: the values of senior management, the environment, and the resources
available In todays businesses, the right approach and management of the companys employees
can greatly affect the companys overall performance. A strategic approach in Human Resource
Management is vital especially in growing companies. Starting from right staffing to maintaining
performing employees. As demands for the product or services increase, additional manpower is
needed to comply with them. The current manpower should be checked but not simply if they
can comply with the demands, but it has to ensure that it could still keep its quality and
standards. HRM needs to achieve the following strategic goals in order for the company to gain
and sustain competitive advantage:

To invest in people through the introduction and encouragement of learning processes

designed to increase capability and align skills to organizational needs,
To ensure that the organization identifies the knowledge required to meet its goals and
satisfy its customers and takes steps to acquire and develop its intellectual capital,
To define the behaviors required for organizational success and ensure that these
behaviors are encouraged, valued and rewarded,
To encourage people to engage wholeheartedly in the work they do for the organization,
To gain the commitment of people to the organizations mission and values.

Impact of SHRM on Nokia

Human resource policies play a huge role in an organisation. The human

resource management function has consistently faced a battle in justifying
its position in Nokia. At good times when there are enough budgets, Nokia
easily justify expenditures on training, staffing, rewards and employee
involvement systems, but when faced with financial difficulties, such HR
systems get the earliest cutbacks.
Many companies when then want to expand or setup a new business they
have to take into consideration the government laws that affect the human
resource policy. These could be hiring laws, international laws, foreign policy
towards a particular country and so on.
Many companies take strong notice of regulatory laws that affect their
strategic human resource policies and make sure that they comply with the
organization overall business policies.
Immigration Laws
With UKBA laws on work permits, most companies including Nokia find it
difficult to hire talented international individuals who graduate from the UK
universities but due to immigration laws companies cannot recruit them.
Many talented students are just kicked out of the country just because of
their visa status, even if the companies want to hire them as they bring fresh
ideas into the company.
Minimum Wage Rate
The minimum wage rate is another concern for the companies when they
hire any employee and this comes under the umbrella of regulatory impact
of human resource management. The minimum salary rates for the job for
new starters and for experienced staff are all defined in the codes of
practice.
Equal opportunities
Employers like Nokia have to comply with the UK laws for equal opportunities
and the companies have to make sure that their HR policies are not
discriminating against certain group of people. All people should be treated
similarly, without any prejudices, preferences or discrimination.
Mergers and the government policies
All companies are subject to government policies when they acquire or
merge with another company. Strategic human resource management plays
an important role in assisting business strategy to comply with government
policies. Most companies have to go thorough government approval to
undergo merger and acquisitions.

Nokias HR policies have played a key role in helping the company to reach
its 40 percent share of the global handset market and industry-leading profit
margins of 20 to 25 percent, at a time of technological change and intense
competition from Asian manufacturers.
Nokias New Objectives
Nokias New HRM Objective is to Recruit the best and smart people.
Nokias new Business objective is to implement creativity and innovation in
its management and leadership style.
In order for Nokia to compete in a very competitive environment it need to
constantly re-invent it-self and bring new creative and innovative products in
the market.
There is an opportunity for potential new leadership, implementation of
lateral thinking, visioning and innovation style at Nokia.
Nokias mission Connecting People is a powerful slogan, which exquisitely
defines its purpose of being in the mobile industry, which is to connect
people. This statement gives a positive message for its employees who work
for the company that their ultimate goal is to connect all the 6.5 billion
people of the world.
Creative and Innovative Leadership
Suggest implementing the Googles innovation management model on
Nokia.
It is a WIN-WIN model for the Nokia and their employees.
Strategic Human Resource plays an integral role in the implementation of
new creative and innovative management style at Nokia.
Human capital management
It depends on SHRM weather Nokia could offer competitive salaries like
Apple, Microsoft and Google. And if Nokia can invest in Research and
Development like Microsoft. All of these are pertinent questions and it
depends on the SHRM policies weather this could be achieved.
SHRM promises Nokia employees a career that that they can be proud of. It
creates continuous opportunities to challenge them and offer them resources
to lead a balanced life.
Efficient human resource management

HRM is responsible for the attraction, selection, training, assessment, and

rewarding of employees, while also overseeing organizational leadership and
culture, and ensuring compliance with employment and labour laws.
Some of the ways by which HRM can help Nokia achieve its objectives is by
offering its employees:
1) Flexible Working hours 2) Compensation 3) Non-Discrimination 4) Freedom
of Association 5) Eliminating Forced Labour 6) Child Labour avoidance 7)
Disciplinary practices 8) Occupational Health and Safety 9) Promotion
opportunities 10) Management systems

Strategic Human Resource Management Planning

Strategic Human resources planning is an important component of securing
future operations for Nokia. For sustainability, plans must be made to ensure
that adequate resources are available and trained for all levels of an
organization.
HR Planning involves gathering of information, making objectives, and
making decisions to enable the organization achieve its objectives.
HR planning translates the organizations objectives and plans in to the
number of workers needed to meet those objectives.
When HR Planning is applied properly in the field of HR Management, it
would assist to address the following questions:
1.How many staff does Nokia have?
2.What type of employees as far as skills and abilities does Nokia have?
3.How should Nokia best utilize the available resources?
4.How can Nokia keep its employees?
HR department of Nokia has a unique challenge it has to ensure that the
employees are motivated and committed to the organization with complete
integrity and honesty. However, at the same time, the HR department has
to ensure that the sheer volumes of investment involved in the process do
not adversely affect the market dynamics.

Implementation
There are various Human resource management policies that would be
applied at Nokia in order to achieve its SHRM objectives. These include:
Recruitment

and

Selection

Recruitment at Nokia is the first and foremost step in the overall HR

processes. With the reputation and promise that Nokia holds for thousands of
technology professionals. Hiring the right people is a key HR philosophy at
Nokia the Y generation cyber generation professionals who are prone to
changing their affiliations quicker than they change their clothes. Nokia
should hosts many external events throughout the year, which reflect a
combination of their excellent recruiting practices and their awareness of the
internal culture they want to maintain. They should be explicitly seeking to
attract the kinds of people to the company who will be successful in their
open, collaborative culture.
Training

and

Development

Nokia employees should be offered opportunities to learn and grow.

Professional development opportunities offered to all employees include
classes on individual and team presentation skills, content development,
business writing, executive speaking, delivering feedback, and
management/leadership. Nokia should also sponsor free foreign language
lessons, including French, Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin. Given the
prominence of engineers at Nokia, particular attention is needed in providing
unique development opportunities for this group.
Innovation and Creativity
In order to implement a strong culture of innovation and experimentation at
Nokia, one key Nokias SHRM policy is to adopt Googles style management
where engineers are encouraged to take 20% of their time to develop new
product or service offerings, or to provide enhancements to current offerings.
Innovation from inside the firm is the norm for most engineering based
software development companies. What is unique at Google is the support
provided by the company, the collaboration among engineers working on
each others projects, and the final set of results that Google is able to
achieve with the creativity and expertise of its engineers. So the same
environment of creativity is needed at Nokia.
Compensation Structure
Proving a competitive salary with other benefits could make Nokia stands out
as being one of the most sought after employers in the industry. However,
the HR strategy fits perfectly with the business model and vision at Nokia
wherein employees are attracted not to the short-term monetary returns
from work, but rather to the support system that could help them create
anything. So the work hives at Nokia have day care and elder care centers,
have spa and hair salons, car wash and oil check facilities, and virtually
everything that a technology obsessed geek would like to worry least about,
in form of an all inclusive liberal benefits package, but the actual take out
cash component is negligible. The Stock Option system at Nokia ensures that

all employees get compensated competitively with the growth of the

company.
The Challenge of Recession
Global economic recession poses the unique challenge to the HR department
of Nokia. Nokia as an organization have to be equipped to handle the
recession because of its brand name, reputation and market share. In tough
economic times, companies need to move forward while keeping their eyes
on the global threats that might affect them.
Headhunting new talent
Recruiting bright talented people from across the world that brings fresh
ideas to Nokia is one of the key responsibilities of HR. HR should hosts many
external events throughout the year, which reflect a combination of their
excellent recruiting practices and their awareness of the new culture they
want to maintain. They should be explicitly seeking to attract the kinds of
people to the company who will be successful in their new open, innovative
and collaborative culture.
And assess the human resource requirements for next two years for
the process of developing a human resource plan at Nokia
Next two years are very important for Nokia in their bid to regain their
market position. The company would have to reposition itself in the market
at the same time it faces fierce competition from various companies from
china, which are producing low priced competitive phones.
This would require strategic human resource planning to continuously
support the company by adopting various SHRM policies and the pursuing
with them for a sustained period.
Human resources management must comply with all employment, health
and safety and other relevant legislation applicable to the jurisdiction where
the company operates. This includes state and local laws that pertain to
various areas of HR such as recruitment, benefits, labor relations and
termination. Keeping up-to-date with legislation ensures that the
organization remains compliant and avoids costly penalties. Especially in UK,
the laws related to recruitment are very strict and its a big challenge for
Nokias HR to handle these.
Legal Requirements
Ensuring legal compliance with labor and tax law is a vital part of ensuring
the Nokia's continued existence. The local government where the business
operates impose mandates on companies regarding the working hours of
employees, tax allowances, required break times and working hours,
minimum wage amounts and policies on discrimination. Being aware of these

laws and policies and working to keep the organization completely legal at all
times is an essential role of Nokias human resources.
Minimum salary requirement
Foreign workers are allowed into Britain only if they meet minimum salary
standards. Nokia HRM should be able to plan adequate methods to be able to
comply with the minimum wage requirements.
Work Permits/ Recruiting Foreign Migrants
In UK to recruit foreign migrants there are laws and regulations set by the
UKBA. These policies and procedures have to be followed if a company wants
to recruit individuals from out side EU. HR needs to understand these policies
and procedures and should make sure that legislations dont become a
barrier between companies goal to hire talented individuals from around the
world.
Social Media
Social Media is going to play a huge role in next 2 years for Nokia.HR needs
to be fully aware of the trends in the online social media and be proactive in
this space.
Payroll
Human resource personnel need to ensure overtime pay meets government
regulations, even if payroll processing is outsourced to another company.
Employee Benefits
Human resource personnel should provide training and information packets
to employees to help them understand the benefits program a company
offers.
Training
Human resources have a main function in providing training to the staff. Onthe-job training is a requirement that the human resources department is
responsible for providing. The training function for Nokia is increased as the
company is running global operations in a number of different locations.
Benefits and Compensation
Non-traditional benefits such as flexible working hours, paternity leave,
extended vacation time and telecommuting are ways to motivate existing
employees and to attract and retain new skilled employees. Balancing
compensation and benefits for the Nokia's workforce is an important HR
function for next 2 years as it requires sensitivity to the wants and needs of a
diverse group of people.

Compliance
Nokia HR must demonstrate compliance with employee-related legal
requirements such as equal opportunity, gender neutrality and quality of the
work-place environment. The HR should track employee characteristics,
hiring decisions, employee evaluations and decisions for firing or layoffs. It
should be able to generate reports detailing whether and how well the
company is in compliance with legal requirements.
Privacy and Security
SHRM should ensure the protection of employee personal data according to
privacy laws of UK by allowing only the employee himself and appropriate
company personnel to view his data. The security module of HR also ensures
that employees can only view sensitive data when they need it to perform
their job. Data on promotional paths and candidates, for example, is likely to
be severely restricted. The HRM security module should uses appropriate
levels of security, including multiple layers, to protect the HR data.
Organizational Effectiveness
The strategic human resource management system of Nokia has a significant
impact on individual and company effectiveness. A good SHRM brings
consistency in human resource management practices and improves human
relations in the company. An effective SHRM is focused on a strategic
objective and works by improving employee knowledge, skills, motivation
and contribution opportunities.
Strategic human resource management contribute to organizational
effectiveness in multiple ways like
1. Talent Acquisition & Development
2. Management Development
3. Leadership Development
4. Management of the evolution of the Microsoft Culture
Empowering Employees
The focus of Nokias SHRM should be to increase the involvement of
employees and empowering them. Under such a system, employees are
given more decision-making power, and teamwork is encouraged. This
requires trusting employees, training them, and giving them more decisionmaking authority. (Small Business, 2013)
Micro Level

In micro level the HR is involved in small detail planning and goes in deep
details. This includes interviewing, Screening CVs, Performance reviews of
employees, Appraisals, offering training, Employee motivation, Succession
Planning, Employee satisfaction and loyalty, Employee rewards, Growth &
acquisitions are micro level views by which HR could improve Nokias
effectiveness.
Macro Level
At macro level, the HR takes a larger view of the Organization. Its a holistic
view of the company. In that the HR would determine how many vacancies
are needed in Nokia in next 2 years. How are they going to be financed? How
will the salaries be offered to employees and manpower planning all comes
in the Macro Level?
To monitor the HR performance both macro and micro level are taken into
consideration.
Employee Retention Rate
If employee turnover rate is high that means that many new people are
joining the company but at the same time its losing skilled workers. HR
performance is measured by looking at the companies turnover rate and
adopting methods to increase employee retention rate.
Succession Planning
Succession Planning is the ways by which HR recruited bright talented fresh
graduates or interims via graduate schemes so that the company does not
fall short of new ideas and there should be new people ready to replace old
employees when they get retired.
Rewarding Performance
Measuring employee engagement levels to see how committed and loyal
employee is to the company. One methodology to retain important people is
to reward its employees.

Rewards employees competitively through a global reward framework

Nokia rewards employees for good performance, competence
development, and for overall company success.
Higher performance and contribution lead to higher rewards.
Reward programs including- bonuses, recognize performance based on
individual, team and company results
Levels of compensation are determined by local labor markets
Offers Equity programs to eligible employees

Communicate with employees about the effect of business results on

their incentives after each quarter
Introduction of Investing in People (IIP) process
Development and renewal of our employees skills and competencies is
critical
These Benefits would include

Insurance (healthcare and life)

Transportation (free buses)

Gifts on special occasions (e.g. birthday, marriage)

Relocation support (need based)

Work related mobile phone

Education assistance
Market Competitive Rewards
Other ways by which Nokia HR could improve its effectiveness is by
a) Offering Basic pay with equity bonuses and incentives
b) Health and welfare benefits
c) Vacation and time off
Promises

A career that employees can be proud of

Continuous opportunities to challenge employees

Resources to lead a balanced life

Conclusion
The organization now provide different opportunities like Offering Nokia
employees to take responsibility for their development, Structured
performance management system, Personal development plan,
Opportunities for career progression and professional development through
global mobility and continuous renewal, Gaining broad experience through
horizontal career steps is encouraged as a way to proceed in your career,
Adopting global performance management process Investing in People,
Education Assistance Plan.