Human resource management strategy
Hard and soft HRM
- hard HRM — treats staff as a resource to use at the lowest cost: tight control, short-term contracts.
- soft HRM — treats staff as the firm's most valuable asset: training, involvement, long-term careers.
- Both link to workforce planning — working out the staff the firm will need.
Practice
Soft HRM treats staff as:
Soft HRM invests in staff (training, careers); hard HRM treats them as a cost to control.
Relations and trade unions
- Change works best when employer–employee relations are good.
- A trade union speaks for its members. Through collective bargaining it negotiates pay/conditions for the whole group.
- If talks fail, workers may take industrial action (e.g. a strike). Good relations avoid this.
Practice
Collective bargaining is when a trade union and employer:
Collective bargaining negotiates for all members together, not one worker at a time.
Practice
A strike is a form of industrial action workers may take if negotiations fail.
A strike (stopping work) is industrial action; good employer–employee relations help avoid it.
You've got it
Key idea
- hard HRM = staff as a cost (control); soft HRM = staff as an asset (develop)
- a trade union uses collective bargaining for the whole group
- failed talks → industrial action (strike); good relations prevent it