Introduction: In the recent time human resource management has assumed new importance because of continuing concerns about global contest, the internationalization of technology and the productivity of labor. It is argued manager have to change the way in which they manage the employment relationship in order to get most out of human resources (HR). Human Resource management plays an vital role in the management of people within organisations. HR is backbone of any business, because it interacts with the most important resource in the business people.
For any business to achieve its objectives they must plan their resources and one of their key resources is people. They need to get the right people and develop them well in order to meet the organisation’s aims successfully. Human resource management always emphasises on the control of the employees of the organisation, it would include things such as •Recruitment & Selection •Planning •training and development •motivation etc. In this paper, author will discusses Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) and its theory’s and practice in the one of the world’s biggest company Samsung group. . Strategic Human Resource Management Practices in Samsung: Human resource management is defined as a strategic and coherent approach to the management and development oraganization’s human resources in which every aspect of that process is wholly integrated within the overall management of the organization as per Armstrong, 2006. A number of studies have identified human resource management (HRM) as an essential element of competitive strategy. Rodwell 2007 & Teo, 2008. This implication had given rise to the concept of strategic human resource management (SHRM).
SHRM may be defined as the practice which “takes what is and develops ideas of what should be along with plans for how to get there” Baerdwell et al. 2005. HRM professionals may facilitate the use of SHRM within an organisation through working alongside business unit managers. This may assist in achieving long-term productivity and efficiency to meet organisational goals as per Torrington et al. , 2008 2 a. Samsung overall introduce Samsung Electronics is a leading electronics brand and well known for its innovation in products such as mobile phones, TVs and monitors.
The company has grown to become a major global player in the consumer electronics marketplace. Entering the UK marketplace in 1984, Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd (SEUK) has enjoyed impressive growth, particularly in the competitive mobile phone industry. The legendary tycoon, Byung-Chull Lee in 1938, founded Samsung. In 1995, Samsung’s sales rose to $87 billion and its assets totaled $87 billion (Samsung Corporation, 1995). Samsung is the second largest chaebol (enterprises) composed of 35 enterprises, which employ 233,000 employees in 66 countries.
Samsung is a major global competitor in electronics, machinery, chemicals and finance. Other areas of Samsung’s operations include the auto manufacturing, newspaper, hotel, and entertainment industries. 2. b HRM challenge in Samsung Chairman Kun-Hee Lee, the third son of the founder, manages and own this huge multinational company. Samsung has been one of the most important vehicles for Korea’s remarkable economic growth and has received numerous awards from the government for its contributions. According to campdenfb. com. Lee Kun Hee, the second-generation chairman of Samsung Electronics, became South Korea’s richest man in terms of stock ownership after the listing of Samsung Life Insurance Co last week. Based on the closing price after the IPO, stocks owned by Lee were valued at $10. 71 billion making him the country’s richest man, according the Chaebul. com, a specialist website that collates information on the country’s family-owned conglomerates. ” Available fromhttp://www. campdenfb. com/default. asp? title=Samsungchairmantopsrichlist&page=article. isplay&article. id=21455 Gihong Yi, Linsu Kim1998; International Studies of Management & Organization, Vol. 28, argued that not only has Samsung been a major medium for south Korea’s economic growth, but it has also been a pioneer among the enterprises in terms of the development of formal HRM systems. Samsung was the first chaebol (enterprises) to use a competitive recruiting system in the early 1960s. At that time, most firms relied on referrals based on connections when they recruited employees.
The company is also well known for managing its people based on their performance and capabilities. In almost all enterprises, family members provide the core of management, but Samsung has the highest ratio of non-family-member executives. The effective management of employees at Samsung led to the use of the term “Samsung man” to denote competent, well-trained employees of the chaebol. Samsung’s leadership in effective HRM, however, has been seriously challenged as the chaebol has begun to compete with the world’s most competitive firms in both its domestic and global markets.
The success and pride of Samsung largely stemmed from being the best in Korea – where foreign competition was almost non-existent because of trade barriers maintained by the government. However, these trade barriers are being reduced due to pressures from globalization As Samsung increasingly competes with foreign firms, it has begun to realize that it must build competitiveness in its management and HRM practices in order to succeed in the global marketplace. 2 . c Samsung strategies Samsung’s HRM strategy can be described as an effort to consistently meet customers’ needs across three critical dimensions- •quality time-to-volume, and •being easy to do business with. The company is constantly changing and reinventing itself in support of these goals. Each of these elements has significant implications for the people employed by the firm, and they are reflected by design in Samsung’s HR management systems. In part, this phenomenon is linked to Samsung’s emphasis on product development and operations teams, which frequently shift and change composition as products move through their life cycles. This “constant reorganization” places considerable pressure on the HR function to assist in the placement, evaluation, and reintegration of employees.
To some extent all assignments at Samsung are temporary, and moving around a lot within the firm is considered the norm, but the “glue” that holds it all together is the firm’s common culture. Because of the very short product life cycles in this business, Samsung must continually push the technology envelope. In this context, and consistent with the firm’s emphasis on engineering and product development, the firm has developed considerable competencies around systematically defining where they want to be as an organization. Recently the firm has collected some data about why people in high tech came to (and stayed at) Samsung.
It was found that “interesting work” and the quality of the work environment were key attributes that reinforced Samsung’s commitment to the way people are managed. Samsung, for example, has identified the development and maintenance of an Extraordinary Environment as a key driver in the implementation of its competitive strategy. The emphasis on the extraordinary environment emanates from CEO Kun-He Lee’s office. Samsung disdains formal bureaucracy, with a number of respondents noting that “rules here are made to be broken”.
Moreover, it doesn’t have formal policies and programs that one might usually associate with “progressive” organizations. There is no flextime scheduling; people just come and go as they please. There are no empowerments programs people are just empowered to do the job. 3. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION Whenever anyone talks about recruitment and selection, there is one basic question that is why business does recruitment and selection? The main reason business recruits stuff so that they expand the business objectives and change the job roles in business because of global contest, the internationalization of technology.
The HRM managers always know when, why and how to recruit. It’s very vital role for HRM managers because it very expensive and they have to select the right person for right jobs because there is the high possibility of rejecting the best ones and getting the wrong ones. As per chruden and Sherman,2006. Recruitment and selection efforts take place in the context of an organisation – its location, size, and growth potential, opportunities for development, work environment, and general reputation.
As for as Samsung is concern, Electronics giant, Samsung usually recruits about four graduates for entry-level positions in UK It is not economical to have a graduate recruitment team in their HR department. Instead, Samsung Electronics National Human Resources and Operations Manager Rob Matzen have outsourced graduate recruitment to a specialist agency. In the same way, his executive appointments and call centre recruitment are also placed with specialist agencies. “We want to get the right exposure and the right candidates –to find recruitment companies that are up to speed in their market.
Its part of our overall recruitment strategy to enter into partnerships with these companies”, Mr Matzen also mentioned “Our graduate recruitment company also offers sourcing and marketing on-campus and international recruitment options for our Asian subsidiaries. ” Available from www. samsang. com/careers As Samsung in core competence of professionalism, creativity, leadership and humanity so based on these Samsung has developed their own recruitment process. In which they identify candidate personality and ability.
For that Samsung using their tool and different methods, to examine right candidate they observe their personal background, past behavior and perception of future situation. To check their personal competence they include task assignment for problem solving, case analysis, and group discussion. Evaluation team devides five stages to evaluate each candidate. These stages of evaluation are:- 1. document screening 2. job aptitude 3. personality/ability test 4. physical examination 5. Final acceptance. 4. Career management and development
In an environment where talent is scarce and external opportunities are plentiful, Samsung believes that employees will stay with the firm only as long as they feel that their contributions are valued, and they are able to do meaningful work in a stimulating and challenging environment. While managers are to some extent held responsible for the development of their subordinates at Samsung, there is some concern that due to the speed of the firm’s recent growth, this process is not occurring as quickly as it needs to, especially around the development of competencies for the firm’s many types of teams.
Samsung develop a lot of courses for Samsung staff to learn, and give them opportunities to go outside to learn. The design center staff can go abroad or have chance to work with famous talents. Moreover, Lee (Kun-He Lee) led launched a design revolution, he personally invited the IBM design wunderkind Tom Hardy from the United States to make the Samsung’s designers to broaden their thinking. There are 307 designers in Samsung design centre. Samsung company give their chances go to the best art design school in United States.
As result, they design more than 700 pieces of product model each year. Samsung Electronics win 5 awards in IDEA competition (Industrial Design Excellence Awards), which is as many as Apple Company. 4. a HTP concept In 1994, Samsung established the Human-Tech Thesis Prize. The goal of the Prize is threefold: 1. To search for creative and driven young people who will lead the field of science into the future for Korea; 2. To encourage research at the collegiate level; and 3.
To increase the awareness of the importance of technology in society. The Prize has gone beyond its expectations of nurturing creativity and research among young scientists to become the major driving force behind the intellectual passion for college students to succeed in research. Currently, The Prize has gone beyond its expectations of nurturing creativity and research among young scientists to become the major driving force behind the intellectual passion for college students to succeed in research.
Currently, the Prize encourages student participation from domestic and foreign high schools, colleges and graduate schools in order to broaden and enrich the basis of research and development of the sciences in Korea. Through the Prize competition, Samsung has and will continue to discover and cultivate gifted human talent in science and technology. This human talent will serve as the foundation necessary to compete in the global environment in which technology has become both a weapon and an asset to the nations. Samsung strives deepen and expand the research in core technological areas through the Human-Tech Thesis Prize.
The Prize itself will develop into a renowned award for students all over the world. 5. Rewarding Rewarding employees consists of base pay, individual performance-related pay, bonuses, incentives, commission and allowances depends on their contributions to organisations Armstrong, 1999 Samsung is committed to providing its staff with an environment in which they can flourish. They look for people with energy, creativity and commitment and give them the tools they need to fulfil ambitious goals, whilst striving to attain the highest standards of professional excellence and integrity.
Samsung reputation as one of the world’s most admired employers is hard-earned. They have achieved it by offering opportunities for their people to pursue their goals, both professionally and personally. Because they operate a truly global business, they recognize the importance of diversity; of understanding individual ways of working, and how employee can complement each other to deliver outstanding results. The Prize has gone beyond its expectations of nurturing creativity and research among young scientists to become the major driving force behind the intellectual passion for college students to succeed in research.
Currently, the Prize encourages student participation from domestic and foreign high schools, colleges and graduate schools in order to broaden and enrich the basis of research and development of the sciences in Korea. Through the Prize competition, Samsung has and will continue to discover and cultivate gifted human talent in science and technology. This human talent will serve as the foundation necessary to compete in the global environment in which technology has become both a weapon and an asset to the nations. Samsung strives deepen and expand the research in core technological areas through the Human-Tech Thesis Prize.
The Prize itself will develop into a renowned award for students all over the world. 6. DIVERSITY AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Enhance teamwork and diversity; these are age groups, ethnicity, colour and sexual orientations within the working staff and this means that a business having these kinds of people has a more effective service on customers brought up in different cultures. This means that customers will be comfortable to express their needs and preferences when they are served with the king of people who understands their behaviours and culture in general.
This helps to encourage teamwork in the case that staff indiviauls will ask for a hand among themselves to deliver their best service to the customers intended. This also enables different companies to provide employment to individuals from different cultures with different races, ethnicity origin, colour, gender and sexual orientation. Available from http://www. workplaceanswers. com/Products/DiversitySup. aspx, Improve customer satisfaction, diversity encourages the apprance in ethinicity, gender and colour of which encourages employment of staff from different cultures.
This system improves the quality of services provided to the customers from different areas and culture in the sense that different groups of staff are able to cope with different types of customers since by a certain amount if not all of it by the way they act and behave. Since this idea is in mind, customers tend to be open to show what they really think about the kind of services they are provided with and also they can explain themselves in their preferences of which this can help the company’s performance. Available from http://www. diversityworking. om/employerZone/diversityManagement/? id=6 As for as Samsung is concerns they employer of around 126 nationalities, with 58 nationalities among their top one thousand managers, Samsung is an inherently diverse organization. They have consumers from many different cultures and backgrounds, and diversity in their workforce helps them better understand and respond to their needs. Samsung approach to diversity is to focus on building an inclusive culture in order to make everyone feels they are valued, sense of belonging and unique. In 2004 they conducted a company-wide review of diversity.
They now have a global diversity board and detailed and regular diversity monitoring. Women continue to hold over 35% of management posts. 7. Employee welfare Samsung helps support employees in the areas of family health, children’s education, housing, and retirement preparation. The Company allocates large sums of employee welfare investment to support their housing, children’s tuition for high-quality educational opportunities, medical treatment, and leisure activities. Employee wage and welfare The total employee wages and bonuses totaled 2. 7 trillion Korean Won in 2003, 3. 3trillion Won in 2004, 3. won in 2005. The Company also provided benefits such as family healthcare, children’s education, housing, post-retirement plans, and other life needs to enhance the quality of life for each and every one of our employees. Support for housing Samsung offers housing support to suit the lifestyles of employees. Dormitories or rental apartments are provided for singles. The Company flat is also provided for employees who are transferred away from their families. Children’s education The Company provides tuition for the children of employee from pre-school to college. Support for leisure activities
The Company provides in-house cultural programs and sports and leisure facilities, paying for full or partial expenses when employees pursue cultural and leisure activities. Medical support Top quality medical treatment, healthcare measures, and medical expenses are provided for employees’ health concerns. The in-house health-screening center carries out a periodic medical examination. Support for retirement So that retirees can live comfortable lives, the Company facilitates a retirement pension and other solutions. 8. Contribution to the national economy and global communities
Samsung, known to be the largest business establishment in Korea, continues to strive toward achieving high-performance with every employee accepting responsibility for the betterment of the community and the national Economy. Taking a broad view of the Company’s contribution to the Korean Economy in 2005, the Company’s 18. 8trillion Korean Won in value adds represented 2. 3% of the national GDP, and US$ 46. 56 billion in export reached 16. 4% of the total amount of national export. In the equity market, Samsung market capitalization amounted to 108. 3 trillion Korean Won, representing 16. % in 2005. This is clear evidence of Samsung being a main driving force behind the Economic development of the country. Samsung is keenly aware that it owes much of its success to the support of the national and global communities. Therefore, the Company is pleased to share corporate profits with communities far and wide. Beijing 2008 Olympic Games- Samsung supports the Beijing Olympic Games as an Official Worldwide Wireless Telecommunications Equipment Partner. 9. Recommendations 1. In order to ensure keep the head position, Samsung must establish “Moving forward and becoming first class” sense.
Samsung should under Lee ‘s led strive for globalization and comprehensive integration. Samsung have to first of all rediscover humane and moral qualities and learn to value good manners. “Good manners are essential for maintaining an organization on a high moral ground” Dwivedi (1998). At Samsung have to make a promise to follow our mandate and guiding principles, which emphasize humanism, morality, good manners, and etiquette. 2. Organizations must perform faster and smarter than ever, and this means that they must become more innovative and adaptable.
They must achieve more with consolidated and integrated resources and with less cost and effort. Leading organizations must produce maximum value with adaptable resources and with a shorter time-to-market to sustain leadership. High-quality information is the common foundation required to achieve all these mandates. 3. A systematic and long-term view needs to be taken in the management of human capital so as to enhance the organizational competitiveness. And the HR plans and system need to be developed on the long-term plan of the company as well. When a high quality the HR system will feature the internal consistency of various HR practices.
The strategic HRM will becomes more involved in broader organizational activities, and will be very useful for evaluate the impact these activities have on the organization as a whole. 10. Conclusion With the increasingly importance of human resources in modern business the management of people is highlighted to be strategic. Samsung Management Philosophy is “devote human resources and technology to create superior products and services, thereby contributing to a better global society. “(Kun-He Lee, 2006) The strong determination to contribute directly to the prosperity of people all over the world. The talent, creativity and dedication of people are key factors to Samsung efforts, and the strides Samsung have made in technology offer endless possibilities to achieve higher standards of living everywhere.
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