The HR Alignment, Essay Example

It is important to assess how well HR goals align with the organization’s strategy because when these goals are in alignment, the company is more likely to be productive and achieve its goals across the board. This is particularly useful in my organization of choice, Walmart, because it is a large corporation and requires cooperation on many levels to remain organized and successful. HR is a partner and driver of change when meeting the organization’s strategy because of its unique ability to decide which employees to hire and how they should be trained. In Walmart, this results in the training of goal oriented employees who are adequately suited to meet the goals of the company. A systems view can better align HR goals with an organization’s strategy because it ensures consistency and encourages communication in order to achieve business goals. This is particularly important to Walmart because it is essential that the customer service experience is similar for every individual, regardless of the store location.

Malina, M. A. and Selto, F. H. (2001). Communicating and Controlling Strategy: An Empirical Study of the Effectiveness of the Balanced Scorecard.Journal of Management Accounting Research, Vol. 13, p. 47.

To Lisa:

I agree that HR is an essential part of ensuring that the employees are strategically focused. It does seem that HR has a lot to do because it still has its administrative responsibilities, but I think that larger HR departments can compensate for this problem. In Walmart, the company I chose to study, there is a very large HR department in corporate, and this helps keep both the corporate office and the stores in check.

To Michele:

I agree that HR’s most important responsibility is to ensure that organizational strategy be achieved. However, I wonder if the structure of corporate organizations can occasionally hinder this due to conflicting ideas between the HR department and management.