Strategic Linkages Case Study

Strategic Linkages

The modern day working environment is the result of decades of evolution. The labor force initially set its basis in the Industrial Revolution, when the people moved from villages to towns and cities in order to become factory workers and pursue better lives. What they found was nevertheless different from a better life, as they were exploited, overworked, underpaid and forced to live and function in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.

Since those times however, the labor force has gained more and more rights, which are enforced through legislations. The modern day employees then are the most valuable asset within the company, as they support the company in attaining its objectives. In such a setting, the role of the Human Resource Department in the organizational setting has become more complex, to be assessed as part of an integrated and multifaceted strategic setting. At this level, it is important to assess three specific dimensions, as follows:

(1) The importance of perceiving HR as a strategic partner in the business

(2) The benefits of this perception to employees, and last

(3) The risks of HR operating as a secluded department, rather than one integrated in the wider organizational context.The need to perceive the human resource department as an integrant party in the overall organizational system is explained mostly by the recent realization of the role played by the staff members in the attainment of the pre-established business objectives. As it has been mentioned previously, the workforce had initially been perceived as the force operating the machines and implementing the decisions made by the managers. They did not participate in the decision making process, nor did they provide feedback or any real feedback on how the company should proceed to attain its goals.

Throughout the past recent decades however, the staff members have metamorphosed from the people operating the machines into the most valuable assets of the company. Today then, the staff members serve multiple functions and roles, and they are no longer the force that operates the machines and blindly implemented the decisions. Today's employees are more knowledgeable than ever; they provide feedback; they communicate with their employers and they provide solutions to the problems encountered by the firm. The employees are now the ones who ensure ultimate company performance.

In this new setting then, the human resources department cannot be an isolated structure within the.....