Human Resource Management : Gaining a competitive advantage

To grow and thrive in today's competitive environment, organisations must deal with several major challenges. First, they must provide "value". Traditionally, the concept of value has been considered a function of finance or accounting. However, we believe that how human resources are managed is crucial to the long-term value of a company and ultimately to its survival. Our definition of value includes not only profits by employee growth and satisfaction, additional employment opportunities, protection of the environment, and contributions to community programs. Since the publication of the first edition of Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage, value has become even more critical. Organization's resources a re stretched tighter than ever, and allocating those resources wisely is imperative. For that reason, all functions in an organization must work together to contribute wherever they can;and all functions, particularly human resources, are increasingly being scrutinised for the value they add. We belive that all aspects of human resource management- including how companies interact with the environment;acquire, prepare, develop, and compensate human resources, and design and measure work - can help companies meet their competitive challenges and create value. Meeting challenges is necessary to create value and to gain a competitive advantage.