STRATEGIC HUMAN-RESOURCES MANAGEMENT - LINKING THE PEOPLE WITH THE STRATEGIC NEEDS OF THE BUSINESS

Increasingly, effective human resources management means going beyond traditional personnel practices and into the are of strategic human resources management. Simply defined, strategic human resources management means linking HR activities with strategic business need. Straightforward as this definition may look, the view becomes cluttered when we consider the many HR activities that have been labeled ''strategic.'' In this article, the author shows how all such activities can be melded together into a ''Five-P'' model thus aligning HR philosophy, policies, practices, programs, and processes with business needs. The model provides insight into how companies such as Grand Union, Pepsi-Cola International, and the Forest Products Company were able to integrate and orchestrate HR practices to achieve strategic goals.