Noakhali-3814

Assignment on: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Course Title: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMRNT

Course Code: BBA3105

Submitted To

Fatema Jannat

Assistant professor

Department of Business Administration

Noakhali Science & Technology University

Submitted By

Md. Sabbir Hossen

ID: ASH1810047M

Session:2017-18 Year-3, Term-1

Department of Business Administration

Noakhali Science & Technology University

Page | 1
Page | 2
Abstract:

The field of personal management in organizations has undergone significant changes in the
past decade. An advanced area of personal management -Human Resource Management
(HRM) - takes actions to have lasting access to qualified human resources to enable
organizations to meet its desired objectives. Sustainability initiatives are mostly define as
new strategy for improving the environment and human activities. Sustainable human
resource (HR) strategies could help companies manage their human resources HRs to achieve
“net optimality” of companies’ objectives as well as a stable community. The concept of
sustainability has deeply penetrated in all functions of management such as supply chain,
organizational behavior, human resource, strategic management and so on. But recently,
sustainable human resource management (S-HRM) has garnered a significant amount of
attention from industry practitioners and academicians due to the escalation of adverse impact
of existing HRM approaches on employees, society and the environment. Human resource
sustainability is being desired by all because of its notable implications for both the
employees and the organizations.

Keywords:

 Sustainable Human Resources Management

Page | 3
 Sustainability

 Social Responsibility

 Sustainable Leadership

 Development

 Sustainable enterprises

Page | 4
Introduction:

Human resource management is also a strategic and comprehensive approach to managing

people and the workplace culture and environment. Human resource management is the
organizational function that manages all issues related to the people in an organization. That
includes but is not limited to compensation, recruitment and hiring, performance
management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation,
communication, policy administration, and training.

The advancement of new communication and information technologies and the consequent
mushrooming of economy industries like service sectors causes to view human resources as
source of competitive advantage than any other capital in organizations. The field of personal
management in organizations has undergone significant changes in the past decade. It
experienced a shift in its scope and functions by moving towards what is called the Human
Resource Management (HRM) and to the Strategic HRM and then to the present Sustainable
HRM.

Sustainable human resource management is those long-term oriented conceptual approaches

and activities aimed at a socially responsible and economically appropriate recruitment and
selection, development, deployment, and release of employees.” (Thom and Zaugg, 2004)
this implies that, as long there are different managers with different training and experience,
there will be inconsistencies particular where managers are change often in an organizations,
this will result to change in approaches, it is in this light that there is a need for sustainable
human resource management which will create a long term approach in managing
organizational assets in attempt to achieve organizational performance.

Sustainable HRM (S-HRM) could be seen as the next step to strategic HRM (SHRM; Ehnert,
2009a). SHRM is defined by Wright and McMahan (1992) as ‘the pattern of planned human
resource deployments and activities intended to enable the firm to achieve its goals’. But, the
traditional strategic management scholarship explains firm-level outcomes in terms of firm
performance, satisfaction, absenteeism, turnover, etc., that have economic consequences. The
objective of SHRM is to increase the output or to decrease the input by stationing the human
resource more efficiently and effectively (Allen & Wright, 2009). SHRM specifically relates
HR management practices and policies to the fulfilment of a firm’s goals and achieve higher
performance, most notably financial and market results (Kramar, 2014a). Even though some

Page | 5
SHRM frameworks give due recognition to the influence of HR practices of an organisation
on employee-related outcomes, the value is calculated through their effort towards enhancing
organizational performance rather than the employees receiving any kind of benefit for the
same (Miles & Snow, 1984).

Sustainability has been subject of thought and reflection in the field of management for a
long time, only recently, however that the link between sustainability and HRM issues, seem
to have received attention, where sustainable human resource management has developed
different approaches, in identifying the benefit of the perception, against the traditional HRM,
which is a drive towards a Sustainable development (Ehnert, 2006).

In the 21st century, sustainability and sustainable development - applied as synonyms for
‘long-term’, ‘durable’, ‘sound’, and ‘systematic’ - have become a critical issue for the world
and for business in particular. Companies have found themselves in need to develop more
sustainable business models, in which the HR function has a key role to play. The
understanding of sustainability in theory and practice has been influenced by three main
groups: ecologists, business strategists, and the United Nation’s World Commission on
Environment and Development (WCED, 1987), called the ‘Brundtland Commission’

Sustainability is a now evolving approach that promotes the use of human, natural and
financial resources to improve the economy, the environment, and society in an integrated
way for the benefit of current and future generations.

Human resource management has a multidimensional approach on organizational function

that build on theories and ideas from various disciplines such as management, psychology,
sociology anthropology and economics, (Storey, 1992).

Human resource management is a distinctive approach to employment management which

seeks to achieve competitive advantage through strategy deployment of a highly committed
and capable workforce using an integrated array of cultural, structural and personal
techniques (Senyucel, 2009).

The exponential growth of human economic expansion has had a devastating effect on the
environment and on the world’s natural resources. At the same time, the engagement in social
action to redress this situation is very limited. Recent studies have drawn attention to the
impact of the human factor on sustainable development and resource preservation (Pfeffer,
2010; Speth, 2010). With the increasing focus on social responsibility and sustainable

Page | 6
performance, organizations have set themselves new goals other than mere financial profit,
such as a commitment to social and environmental outcomes (Elkington, 1997). In fact, an
international survey of 2800 global companies revealed that 70% of these organizations
include sustainability as a primary issue in their strategic plans and agendas (Kiron et al.,
2012). In 2015, the UN General Assembly presented “the 2030 Agenda for sustainable
development” consisting of 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. The
targets are built on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aim to accomplish their
uncompleted objectives. The 17 goals are unified and incorporated in three dimensions of
sustainable development: economic, social, and environmental.

There are three basic dimensions of sustainable development [8]: - ecological (protection of
the environment and its natural resources), - economic (economic development that is not
hindered, but stimulated by technological advancement and increased effectiveness in the use
of resources, materials and workforce), - social (improvement in the living conditions and
safety of all people). The concept of sustainable development is based on the so-called triple
bottom Line [1,9]. Pursuant to the principles of sustainable development, the social,
economic and environmental objectives are interdependent and mutually reinforcing [10].
Thus, the development strategy of the company should take into account the development of
a balance between the economic, environmental and social dimensions of economic activity

Literature review

The term “sustainability” can be used in different aspects which is concerned with “meeting
the needs of people today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs”(World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2005).Sustainability

Page | 7
and sustainable development are synonymously used for the notions ‘long-term’, ‘durable’,
‘sound’, and ‘systematic’ (Filho, 2000). Dyllick and Hockerts (2002) noted that, the term
‘sustainability’ has been influenced mainly by three different stakeholder groups; ecologists,
business strategy scholars, and the United Nation’s World Commission on Environment and
Development (WCED, 1987), called the ‘Brundtland Commission’. Some authors believe
sustainability first appeared as a concept in the forestry sector, before it was adapted by the
ecological movement concerned with the over-exploitation of natural and environmental
resources (Leal Filho, 2000),. While ecologists focus on sustainability’s ecological dimension
– the protection of the natural environment – the traditional goal of business strategy scholars
is economic sustainability of organizations (Dyllick & Hockerts, 2002).

Sustainable management of human resources started to be discussed in the late nineties in

Germany, Switzerland and Australia. A research by Müller-Christ and Remer (1999), Zaugg
et al. (2001), Gollan (2000), Wilkinson et al. (2001) and Avery and Bergsteiner (2001) were
decisive in the area. Those authors highlighted the importance of sustainability for the
management of human resources based on previous studies on environmental management,
human relations and corporate sustainability (Ehnert and Harry, 2012; Stefano et al., 2017).

The relationship between sustainability and human resources management is pointed out as
an innovative and emerging approach and a relevant gap to be filled. The intersection
between sustainability and human resources management is based on two assumptions: the
role of human resource management in promoting organizational sustainability (Cohen et al.,
2012; Ehnert et al., 2013; Guerci and Pedrini, 2014) and the sustainability of human
resources management processes (Mariappanadar, 2003; Ehnert, 2009b; Cohen et al., 2012).
In this sense, existing researches have had different goals and are based on different
assumptions about the role of HRM in sustainability (Ehnert and Harry, 2012; Järlström et
al., 2016).

In the early 2000s, sustainability diffused into all functions of management including HRM.
An alternative approach to triple bottom line defined sustainability as the ‘balance of resource
consumption and resource reproduction’ and also incorporated human resources into its
description (Müller-Christ & Remer, 1999). In their book on sustainable resource
management, they define it as, ‘What companies themselves have to do in their environments
to have durable access to skilled human resources in the future.’ This leads to the recognition
of employees of an organisation as key resources that also needed sustainable utilization.

Page | 8
This definition created a stir in the HRM literature where the focus until that time was
predominantly on enhancing the financial performance of the firm. The impact of HRM
practices on other stakeholders of an organisation started being acknowledged (Järlström et
al., 2016). However, negative impact of HRM practices on internal stakeholders of
organisation was still sparsely studied and instead of exploring ‘S-HRM’ in its entirety, many
competing terms emerged in the context of HRM (Ehnert & Harry, 2012) such as, ‘socially
responsible HRM’ or ‘corporate social responsibility (CSR)’ that explore the role of HR in
making an organisation socially sustainable (Daily & Huang, 2001). Another term, ‘Green
HRM’ or ‘GHRM’ refers to the HRM practices that enable an organisation to achieve its
environmental objectives by decreasing the adverse influences of business on the
environment (Bombiak & MarciniukKluska, 2018).

According to Kramar (2014), sustainable HRM refers to social and human outcomes which
contribute to the continuation of the organization in the long term, that is to a sustainable
organization. It has also been used to refer to HRM activities which enhance positive
environmental outcomes, and positive social and human outcomes for their own sake, rather
than just asmediating factors between financial outcomes and strategy. Kramer (2014)
mentioned some interchangeable terms of sustainable HRM which include sustainable work
systems (SWSs; Docherty et al 2002), HR sustainability (Wirtenberg, et al 2007), sustainable
management of HRs (Ehnert2006, 2009, 2011, 2012), sustainable leadership (Avery 2005;
Avery and Bergsteiner2010) and sustainable HRM (Marriappanadar 2003; 2012). In addition,
the term sustainable organization (Dunphy et al. 2007) has been used. Althoughthese terms
differ in the extent to which they attempt to reconcile the goals of economic competitiveness,
positive human/social outcomes and ecological outcomes, they are all concerned with
acknowledging either explicitly or implicitly human and social outcomes of the organization,
that is, the triple bottom line. Ehnert (2006; 2012) noted that, the Sustainable Management
perspective explores “what companies themselves have to do with their environments to have
durable access to skilled human resources (Sustainable HRM)”. Her suggestions are twofold.
One is, organizations should reduce negative side effects of practices and strategies on the
sources for resources. Another is, organizations should ensure the survival of those sources
for resources which provide human resources with the skills and motivation required. In other
words, sustainable HRM is economically rational for companies to invest in the survival of
their sources for resources if the functioning of these is endangered (Ehnert 2006).Sustainable

Page | 9
HRM is a long-term oriented conceptual approaches and activities aimed at a socially
responsible and economically appropriate recruitment and selection, development,
deployment, and release of employees.” (Zaugg& Thom, 2004: 217). Sustainable HRM is
interpreted as a cross-functional task (Ehnert 2006). Sustainable HRM could help sustain
employee dignity in the case of staff reduction and warranting their employment on the job
market (Zaugg& Thom, 2001). Thom & Zaugg (2004) stated that, a sustainable HR policy
focuses on implementing proper, transparent procedures for recruitment and retention,
training and development, performance management and motivation and employee
engagement and it is a conceptual approach and long-term oriented activity in developing
socially viable and responsible policies for recruitment and retention, employee engagement,
deployment and motivation. Wirtenberg et al (2007) mentioned that, implementing
sustainable human resource policies help in creating more productive and motivated
workforce which eventually led to organizational success. Ehnert (2009) mentioned that,
sustainable HR model is that it anticipates on the short term and long term effects of
implementing a policy and measures organizational success in social and environmental
dimensions and not just by the financial aspect. It also utilizes the power of human resource
management to develop and empower employees by building a conducive work environment.

Findings

 Focus on recruitment and selection.

 Main focus of sustainable work system is employee’s health and development raise
awareness for negative side effects of HR exploitation and self-exploitation.

Page | 10
  This study highlights status of human resources management practices such as
training, requirement, performance appraisal, employee motivation.
 The employee’s perception of S-HRM has a positive significant influence on
‘employee voice behavior and employer attractiveness’ and negative significant
influence on ‘employee turnover intentions’
 Maintaining a healthy and productive workforce.
 Creating employee trust, employer trustworthiness and sustained employment
relationships.
 The performance management system helps in analyzing the current efficiency of an
employee, finding gaps, exploring measurers for improvisation and in setting future
target.

Research Gap

To prepare this proposal I face some difficulties. I found some research gap that visible at the
time of collecting data from secondary sources like journals, articles. Sustainable represents a

Page | 11
transition in which resources, capital investments, technologies and changes are used to meet
future human needs (world commission on Environment and development WCED, 1987).

So, with the time passes with making the report on sustainable HRM, I found some usual
terms that are not being taken care and those make and impact towards the approach and I
think those make an impact in my studied article

This study is conducted on only 100 HR employees and no specific organizational SHRM
analysis has been made.

When organizations build better relations with external and primary stakeholders,
shareholder wealth could be positively impacted. However, the opposite results are achieved
when organizations engage in corporate social participation on issues not related to primary
stakeholders.

Page | 12
Recommendation

 To study the various impact of sustainability not to specific one.

 Focus on the consequences of ecological & social performance indicator.
 Should pressing companies to move forward in adopting & adapting sustainable
approach that suits them.
 Making initiative & create more & more awareness about SHRM & GHRM issues to
overcome the test complexity.
 Should focus on mainly internationalization & globalization changing process.

Page | 13
Conclusion

Sustainability is an emerging phenomenon in HRM practice and research. As the world has
entered the 21st century, companies found themselves in need to develop more sustainable
business models, and the HR function has a key role to play in the process. This paper has
attempted to make a contribution to both: sustainability and HRM literature. Firstly, it
provided a short historical analysis of the emergence and different origins of understanding
sustainability in HRM. Then, as a contribution to sustainability literature, research findings of
nine highly sustainable corporations were presented and the areas of HR’s greatest
contribution and areas needing more HR contribution were indicated. The analysis of a small
sample of the corporations suggests the existence of some relationship between the HR
function’s positioning in the firm and the degree of its contribution in areas of sustainability-
related HR practices. The challenge HR is now facing is to step up to this call and develop
the necessary capabilities to help foster greater business and world sustainability.

Page | 14
References
Barney J. (1991), Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage, Journal of
Management 17 (1), pp. 99-120 2.

Boudreau J. W., Ramstad P. M. (2005), Talentship, Talent Segmentation, and Sustainability,

Human Ressource Management 44 (2), pp. 129-136 3. Docherty P., Forslin, J., Shani, A. B.
(eds.), (2002a), Creating Sustainable Work Systems, Routledge, London

4. Docherty P., Forslin J., Shani A., Kira M. (2002b), Emerging Work Systems, in: Docherty
P., Forslin J., Shani A. (eds.), Creating Sustainable Work Systems, Emerging Perspectives
and Practice, Routledge, London, pp. 3-14

5. Ehnert I. (2006), Sustainability Issues in Human Resource Management: Linkages,

theoretical approaches, and outlines for an emerging field, Paper presented at 21st EIASM
Workshop on SHRM, March 30-31 2006, Birmingham

6. Mariappanadar S., (2003), Sustainable Human Resource Strategy: The Sustainable and
Unsustainable Dilemmas of Retrenchment, International Journal of Social Economics 30 (8),
pp. 906-923

7. Mazur B., (2013), Linking diversity management and corporate social responsibility,
Journal of Intercultural Management 5 (3), pp. 39-47

8. Schuler R. S., Jackson S. E. (2005), A Quarter-Century Review of Human Resource

Management in the U.S., Management Revue 16 (1), pp. 11-35

9. Sun L-T., O’Brien J. C., Jiang Q. (2001), Human development and economic system: a
unitary approach, International Journal of Social Economics, 28 (5-7), pp. 526-60

10. Wirtenberg J., Harmon J., Russell W. G., Fairfield K. D. (2007), HR's role in building a
sustainable enterprise: insights from some of world's best companies, Human Resource
Planning 30 (1), pp. 10-20

11. Our Common Future (1987), World Commission on Environment and Development
(WCED) Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press

12. Wright P. M., McMahan G. C., McWilliams, A. (1994), Human Resources and Sustained
Competitive Advantage, International Journal of Human Resource Management 5 (2), pp.
301-326

Page | 15