The myth of HR strategizing Analyzing Strategic Human Resource Management as global practice and local praxis

Abstract

The idea of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), to combine HR strategizing with business strategizing in order to increase organizational performance, is today generally accepted and many organizations have transformed their HR organization from support functions into business partners. However, critical voices are questioning the actual success of the transformation and claim that HR still struggle to contribute with valuable strategic input. The aim of this study was to apply a Strategy-as-Practice (SaP) approach towards HR strategizing and investigate if, how, when and why HR practitioners are involved in strategic activities in order to question the “myth” of SHRM and getting closer to the actual praxis of HR strategizing. By interviewing HR practitioners in USA and Sweden, the study investigates how global ideas of SHRM translate into local activities and result in a variation of strategizing activities within different contexts. Based on SaP and institutional theory as theoretical frameworks, this study suggests that HR practitioners act in a setting where the idea of SHRM is institutionalized and accepted but the actual HR strategizing activities are still more or less marginalized from business settings. HR practitioners are to some extend fighting to legitimize their role as important strategic contributors which have direct impact on quality of HR strategizing activities and indirect on organizations competitive advantage. The study suggests a need for organizations to look beyond the myth of HR strategizing in order to create the right contextual factors that enhance optimal use of SHRM.