A dissertation on the influence of employee empowerment on SHRM practices

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Introduction

The international business environment has changed tremendously over the past few decades, and it is now characterised by phenomena like acceleration in information technology, fierce competition, changing client needs, and a varied workforce (Soloducho-Pelc & Sulich, 2020). Organisations must constantly grow and adapt to remain competitive in this dynamic environment by creating products, acquiring new technology, enhancing process and service quality, and developing compelling strategies (Miceli et al., 2021). Physical capital no longer contributes to an organisation’s ability to achieve Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA); rather, non-physical human resources and intellectual capital.

Since HR practices are critical in managing, developing, and influencing workers, it is critical to integrate such practices with the larger approach of the organisation to obtain a competitive edge (Collins, 2021). Over the last few decades, researchers and practitioners have paid increasing attention to SHRM because it helps to strengthen employee motivation and satisfaction, build healthy relationships at work among employees, and deliver higher work performance by being more strategic about human resources.

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) views HR from a strategic standpoint, and the employees are considered as strategic assets. According to SHRM, one of the essential success factors in achieving a competitive advantage is connecting HR practices and policies with the strategy of the organisation (Iqbal, 2019). HR practices that are specifically designed to improve employees’ capabilities, motivation, and satisfaction, as well as to provide empowerment and development opportunities, act as great catalysts in improving short-term financial stability through improved employee performance while also offering long-term business sustainability in terms of employee retention and enhanced skill levels (Allui & Sahni, 2016).

To know more about how SHRM influences organisational performance, check out our blog.

Aims and Objectives

The study aims to investigate the relationship between Employee Empowerment by Employee Relationship Management (ERM) and SHRM on individual and organisational outcomes.

Literature review

Employee empowerment refers to the process of giving employees the authority, autonomy, and responsibility to make decisions and take actions related to their work. It means trusting employees to contribute to the success of the organisation by using their skills, knowledge, and judgement. Previous research indicates individuals and their knowledge are the most valuable resources in any organization’s success and attainment of long-term competitive advantage. However, organisations cannot properly utilise their employees’ abilities and knowledge if they are dissatisfied and do not trust their organisations. As a result, developing a harmonious relationship between employee and employer, as well as between employee and employee, is vital for improving employees’ performance, motivation, happiness, and satisfaction (AlKahtani et al., 2021).

Employee Relationship Management is a strategic and holistic HRM approach to managing relationships between an organization and its employees. ERM aligns the interests of both employees and employers, with significant benefits for employees, including increased satisfaction and well-being by taking care of their individual needs, and benefits for employers, such as increased motivation and retention, engagement, commitment, and performance (Zhang, 2021).

SHRM is defined as an organization’s strategic collaborator in designing and implementing growth strategies through strategic-level human resource management activities such as recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, and sharing ownership with personnel (Rehman, 2021).

The concept of SHRM has evolved over the years. Traditionally, HR was considered a support function, dealing with hiring, payroll, and compliance. However, as businesses became more complex and competitive, the need for a more strategic approach to HR management emerged. The role of SHRM is to determine the significance of human resources in achieving the objectives. Continuous evaluation of SHRM and feedback will assist the organisation in maintaining its greatness (Al-Jedaiah, 2020).

The core concept of SHRM is that diverse HRM policies and practices must be linked to the demands of the business. SHRM primarily focuses on firm-level human resource phenomena in which effective HR practices have a direct impact on accelerating firm performance and achieving long-term competitive advantage through improved employee outcomes such as higher levels of motivation, commitment, happiness, performance, and reduced turnover. Strategically integrating HR practices with various business areas provides more benefits than the simple existence of standalone HR practices (Li, 2022).

The participants in the research consisted of employees in the human resources departments of consumer product manufacturing firms in the industrial areas of Manchester. Manchester is among the most industrialised regions in the UK and is situated approximately 320 kilometres from London. Various types of industrial firms are located in Manchester, rendering the location suitable for the research. About five consumer product manufacturing units and about 80 participants were included in this study.

A Likert-type strategic human resource management scale with horizontal and vertical dimensions, validity and reliability measurements was developed. In the study, the strategic human resource management scale was applied. The data for this study was collected from employees in the human resources departments of manufacturing firms in Manchester by convenience sampling method. The data was analysed using MAXQDA.

Results

Table 1 summarises the demographic characteristics of the study participants.

Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the participants

Table 2 consists of the responses by the participants.

Table 2: A summary of the type of questions asked and the responses

From Table 2, it is evident that a majority of the participants prioritise the importance of employee empowerment in achieving a company’s objective, thereby facilitating SHRM. Employees are much more likely to be satisfied in an organisation which facilitates employee empowerment.

Conclusion

The study investigated the relationship between Employee Empowerment by Employee Relationship Management (ERM) and SHRM, revealing a strong correlation between employee empowerment and improved outcomes in the areas of recruitment, workplace communication, adaptability, innovation, job satisfaction, and retention. According to the statistics, the majority of participants understand the importance of employee empowerment in attaining organisational goals and promoting SHRM, as well as its positive impact on satisfaction among employees.

To know more about how a dissertation is written in other disciplines, check out our dissertation examples.

References

1. Sołoducho-Pelc, L., & Sulich, A. (2020). Between sustainable and temporary competitive advantages in the unstable business environment. Sustainability, 12(21), 8832.
2. Miceli, A., Hagen, B., Riccardi, M. P., Sotti, F., & Settembre-Blundo, D. (2021). Thriving, not just surviving in changing times: How sustainability, agility and digitalization intertwine with organizational resilience. Sustainability, 13(4), 2052.
3. Collins, C. J. (2021). Expanding the resource-based view model of strategic human resource management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(2), 331-358.
4. Iqbal, A. (2019). The strategic human resource management approaches and organisational performance: The mediating role of creative climate. Journal of Advances in Management Research, 16(2), 181-193.
5. Allui A., & Sahni, J. (2016). Strategic human resource management in higher education institutions: empirical evidence from Saudi. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 235, 361-371.
6. AlKahtani, N., Iqbal, S., Sohail, M., Sheraz, F., Jahan, S., Anwar, B., & Haider, S. (2021). Impact of employee empowerment on organizational commitment through job satisfaction in four and five stars hotel industry. Management Science Letters, 11(3), 813-822.
7. Zhang, J. (2021, February). Research on employee relationship management innovation of SMEs in China. In 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Economic Research and Management Innovation (ERMI 2021) (pp. 94-99). Atlantis Press.
8. Rehman, K. U., Mata, M. N., Martins, J. M., Mariam, S., Rita, J. X., & Correia, A. B. (2021). SHRM practices employee and organizational resilient behaviour: Implications for open innovation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 7(2), 159.
9. Al-Jedaiah, M. N., & Albdareen, R. (2020). The effect of strategic human resources management (SHRM) on organizational excellence. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 18(4), 49.
10. Li, S., Jia, R., Seufert, J. H., Hu, W., & Luo, J. (2022). The impact of ability‐, motivation‐and opportunity‐enhancing strategic human resource management on performance: the mediating roles of emotional capability and intellectual capital. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 60(3), 453-478.