Hard and Soft HRM approach
Hard and Soft HRM approach
HRM divided into three areas:
1.
Individual
Assisting staff with
developing within your business.
2.
Organizational
Generating a successful system
across your business.
3.
Career
When matching individuals with the
right roles and career paths throughout your organization can also take a hard
or soft HRM approach.
What is hard and soft HRM?
There are different types of
approaches to managing your employees with HR, hard HRM focuses on more
traditional business outlooks, while soft has a progressive outlook.
Hard HRM: The focus here is to identify workforce needs so you can
recruit and manage as you need to (including hiring staff, or making others
redundant). The main features of this approach are:
- Regular changes in employee numbers.
- Little business transparency.
- Lower wages.
- Little to no empowerment of employees.
- Appraisal systems that focus on good and bad
performance.
- A more old-fashioned style of leadership.
Soft HRM: This approach treats employees as an essential
resource in your business, if not the most important one of all. This makes it
a more progressive outlook. One where you treat staff members as individuals.
The soft HRM model focus is for the needs of your staff, including rewards and
motivation.
- Focussing on long-term planning
- An open and transparent business model with good
communication.
- Competitive pay, relying on salary benchmarking and
bonus packages.
- Employee empowerment.
- Appraisal systems that identify training opportunities
and professional development.
- A more democratic type of leadership.
Hard and soft HRM approaches
depend on what you want to achieve as a business. Along with your beliefs in
terms of leadership. The soft HRM approach is certainly more popular in the
modern business world. Especially with employees, who expect to treat with
respect.
The reality is that staff now have a
much wider range of businesses available and have more choice on where they can
work. So to retain top talent, you should look to offer them a competitive
package.
The more relaxed and encouraging you
are with your employees, the happier they’ll be. And the more likely they’ll
commit to your business in the long-term.
Advantages and disadvantages:
Hard HRM
The disadvantage of that is it could
frustrate employees, as the approach is more in line with micromanagement.
It can lead to high turnover
rates and that can add to recruitment costs as
you have to keep replacing departing employees.
Soft HRM
The approach is with employee morale. Employees will feel more valued and be appreciative of your efforts as a business.
It develops levels of motivation and
higher productivity for your business. A long-term commitment from staff,
who’ll remain eager to continue working for you. That cuts costs on recruitment
as you’ll have a higher retention rate.
The organization will also receive
positive word of mouth, with equal opportunities and rewards for staff hard
work. This will encourage a positive company culture and attract like-minded
employees.
Conclusion
As a beginning, your focus on
training and professional development will cost your business money. Although
you can balance that out knowing there’s a return on investment (ROI) from
up-skilling staff.
It can also delay decision making
sometimes, as there’s a more democratic approach with the need for varying
departments to provide feedback
.
References
Jenkins, S. and Delbridge, R.,
2013. Context matters: examining ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ approaches to employee
engagement in two workplaces. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 24(14), pp.2670-2691..
Riley, J., 2015. Human Resources Management.
[online] Tutor2u. Available at: <1.
http://www.tutor2u.net/business/people/hrm_hard_soft.asp> [Accessed 1 May
2021].
With hard approach Employer can get maximum control of business. An organization can take cost effective policies.However it can also frustrate the employees and lead to high turnover rates. Soft approach motivates employees and it can lead to high productivity. The cost for training and development would be higher in this approach and sometimes it can delay the decisions.
ReplyDeleteSOFT HRM SOFT HRM = People-Focused / High-Commitment Treats employees as the most important resource in the business and a source of competitive advantage. Focal Points Needs of employees Employee Training Development Commitment Participation Motivation Workforce flexibility Quality Strategic integration Modern approach to strategic human resource management.
ReplyDeleteHARD HRM HARD HRM = Task-Focused / Low-Commitment Treats employees simply as a resource of the business (like machinery & buildings) Focal Points Performance Management Strategy in Achieving Organizational Goals Cost Control Hiring, Moving and Firing The concept of “Hard HRM" is the basis for the traditional approach toward human resource management.
Two of the most widely adopted models of human resource management are the hard and soft versions. These are based on opposing views of human nature and managerial control strategies. The hard model is based on notions of tight strategic control, and an economic model of man according to Theory X, while the soft model is based on control through commitment and Theory Y.
ReplyDeleteThe “hard” approach to HR might be expected to result in a more cost-effective workforce where decision-making is quicker and focused on senior managers. However, such an approach pays relatively little attention to the needs of employees and a business adopting a genuinely “hard” approach might expect to suffer from higher absenteeism and staff turnover and less successful recruitment.
ReplyDeleteThe “soft” approach will certainly appeal to the “touchy-feely” amongst us who like to see people being treated nicely! And you can also make a good business case for an approach which rewards employee performance and motivates staff more effectively. However, the danger of taking too “soft” an approach is that when all the employee benefits are added up, the cost of the workforce leaves a business at a competitive disadvantage.
Hard HRM: The primacy of business needs means that human resources will be acquired, deployed and dispensed with as corporate plans demand. Little regard is paid to the needs of these resources and the emphasis is purely on quantitative aspects.
ReplyDeleteSoft HRM: In order to gain a competitive advantage through the workforce, regardless of whether they are full-time or part-time, temporary or contract staff, all potential must be nurtured and developed, and programmes that pay attention to the behavioural aspects of people at work are developed.
Hard HRM is Treats employees simply as a resource of the business (like machinery & buildings)
ReplyDeleteStrong link with corporate business planning – what resources do we need, how do we get them and how much will they cost, it identify workforce needs of the business and recruit & manage accordingly (hiring, moving and firing).
Soft HR is Treats employees as the most important resource in the business and a source of competitive advantage, Employees are treated as individuals and their needs are planned accordingly, it concentrate on the needs of employees – their roles, rewards, motivation etc. Hard and Soft HRM are different approaches, many successful businesses use each.
Ex: Google is much more towards Soft HRM, Samsung is much more towards hard HRM.
however both businesses have enjoyed huge success.
(Source: https://pakistanihr.blogspot.com/2012/02/difference-between-hrm-and-soft-hrm.html)