Strategic

Human
Resource
CHAPTER 6
Management FORCES OF HRM
6.1. Socio-Cultural Environment
62. Political/Legal Environment

Abrarw Chane (PhD) 6.3. Economic and Labor Market Conditions

abraraw.chane@aau.edu.et 6.4. Demographic Trends and the Workforce
6.5. Technology of Production and
፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም. Organization of Work
6.6. The Workforce
May 2020
6.7. The Organization’s Culture
Addis Ababa University
School of Commerce 6.7. The Organization’s Strategy
 6.1. SOCIO-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
 Social forces influencing HRM begin
with the society’s norms about work &
employment
 What in the society lends status to
Socio-Cultural individuals?
Environment
 What sorts of behavior are frowned
upon and what sorts are condoned?
 What are viewed as the social
responsibilities of the firm?
 What types of org’al control are (not)
፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም. acceptable and legitimate?

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 6.2. POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
 How do political pressures
work on the org in terms of HR
policies?
 What do local governments
Political
expect?
Environment  What support can be obtained
from the political system?
 What impediments are
፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም. imposed by the political
system?
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 6.3. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
 What conditions exist in the
local labor market?
 How great is labor mobility?
 What economic pressures does
Economic
Environment
the org face in other product &
factor markets?

፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም.

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 6.4. LEGAL ENVIRONMENT
 What are the statutory responsibilities of
the org?
 What rights do workers have, both
individually and collectively?
 What sorts of employment practices are
Legal sanctioned?
Environment  What legally enforced distinctions must
be made among workers?
 What distinctions are impermissible?

፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም.

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 6.5. TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

What factors and conditions

determine how labor inputs
Technological are converted to outputs?
Environment

፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም.

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 Technological …
Physical layout, & worker
privacy & proximity
 Is the work conducted in a single
location, with workers in close
Technological
proximity to one another, or is the
Environment work conducted at isolated
locations?

፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም.

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 Technological …
Required skills
 What skills are required?
 Are those skills acquired externally
or on the job?
Technological  Are those skills firm-specific or
Environment
transportable?

፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም.

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 Technological …
Monitoring employee input
 How and how well can we do it?
 How expensive is it to monitor?
 How easy is it to observe the employee?
 How intrusive would direct monitoring
Technological
Environment be?

፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም.

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 Technological …

Task ambiguity & creativity

 To what extent the task is certain?
 Does it require creativity?
Technological
Environment

፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም.

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 Technological …
Patterns of worker
interdependence &
cooperation
 To what extent the product of one
Technological
Environment worker’s efforts is affected by the efforts
of other workers

፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም.

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 6.6. THE WORKFORCE
 How old is the workforce?
 How well educated?
 How heterogeneous or
homogeneous socially?
The  Social characteristics such as
Workforce sex, age, ethnic group, income
group, education, etc
 Norms of behavior derived
፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም. from the society that workers
come from
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 6.7. The Organization’s Culture
 Is the culture egalitarian or hierarchical?
 Is the culture one of cooperation or
competition among co-workers?
 Is work itself regarded as a joy or as
drudgery that provides a means to some
The
other end?
Organization’s
Culture
 Is conformity important, or does the
organization encourage diversity or even
contention in thought & action?
 Are workers regarded as mere employees
፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም. or as family members?

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 6.8. The Organization’s Culture
 What are the organization’s
distinctive competencies?
 On what basis does the org hope to
The
Organization’s
achieve competitive advantage?
strategy
 On what basis will its competitive
advantage be sustained?
 What are the long-term objectives?
 What actions are being taken to get
፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም.
there?

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 Critical Thinking Questions
1. Should a company monitor the HR environment and
imitate “Best Practices” of HR from successful firms?
What caveats would you want to apply to applying Best
HR Practices?
2. Give an example of a type of Organizational Culture
that would reinforce strategy: What type of HR
practices would fit with this culture?
3. What type of HR practices would fit with jobs with
tasks that are highly ambiguous, uncertain and
creative? What about predictable, routine and certain
tasks?

Abraraw-SHRM-06-2020 ፳፻፲፪ ዓ.ም. ፲፭