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Introduction
The advent of fundamental changes in
processing systems towards lean
manufacturing has coincided with a
period of transition within the field of
people management. Many companies
are adopting lean approaches, either
through their own or through their
major customers volition. For many
this is a potentially fraught route, lined
with possible difficulties. This
transition, however, can offer
personnel practitioners and business
managers an opportunity to assess
areas of potential synergy between
their lean processes and their people
policies, a chance to examine the
different paradigm offered by this
approach. This article examines the
implications on human resource
strategy and policies of lean processes
and highlights the major areas of
transition.
The term human resource (HR) is
now ten years old. Coined originally by
Harvard academics[1], it has been
heralded by some as the establishment
of new industrial relations[2] and has
been accompanied by a general shift
towards a more strategic per-
spective[3]. Some have seen it as the
closer integration of policies for people
management within the business plan
and the change in status for employee
from cost to asset[4].
This change in terminology has also
brought into sharper focus the place of
people management within the
business strategy. The word strategy
has been given a number of definitions
over the years. Gleuck and Juach[5]
defined it as being the means used to
achieve the ends (objective). This is
seen from the perspective of a unified,
comprehensive and integrated plan that
relates the strategic advantages of the
firm to the challenges of the
environment and that is designed to
ensure that the basic objectives of the
enterprise are achieved through proper
execution by the organization. Some,
however, proposed a different
definition, arguing that strategy is a
game that managers play every
day[6], with the dynamic environment
incorporating complex feedback
processes. This notion of day-to-day
play must not be confused with the
daily operational decisions a manager
makes. Other authors have provided
the most traditional definition,
distinguishing it from the operational
by emphasizing the focus on major and
long-term decisions of the firm.
In speculating on the correct place of
personnel strategy within the business
plan, the literature offers a number of
perspectives. Some provide an extreme
view, like failing to include it, others
place it in last tenth place, such as
Gleuck and Juachs[5] model, through
to Purcells[7], whose model perceives
it as being an integral part of the
business strategy process. The model
provided by Purcell clearly
demonstrated the inter-relationships
between different elements of the
business plan and HR strategy.
Purcells[7] model, developed from
Chandlers[8] work, provides an
interesting theoretical perspective,
suggesting the importance of HR in the
overall business strategy-making
process. The first order of strategy
proposed concentrates on the long-run
goals and scope of activity for the
company, while the second develops
this by focusing on the procedures
needed to achieve the goals. Together
they provide the critical context in
which the third order of HR functional
strategies is determined. All these
upstream strategies lead in turn to the
downstream, which is more
concerned with outcomes.
Chandler emphasized the im-
portance of structure following from
strategy, with structural aspects
focusing on how the organization
would actually meet its goals. Both are
important, not only because they have
long-term implications for the
deployment of the resources of the firm
(in terms of people, money and time),
but also for an organizational
behavioural perspective. They are both
determined in conditions of
uncertainty.
An underlying influence, Purcell[7]
suggests, on all the orders of strategy is
the political process. He, along with
Stacey and others, sees strategy as
being largely concerned with the
process of change. Politics, in terms of
bargaining and trading between
different groups in determining the
direction of the change, will inevitably
play its part.
Theoristsnn
put HR in
different places in
their strategic
models
Companiesnn
have
developed
organization
structures
deliberately to
produce
conflict
Leannn
manufacturing
emphasizes the need
to add value
to the final
product