The Strategic View of Human
Resources
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Employees are human assets that increase in
value to the organization and the marketplace
when investments of appropriate policies and
programs are applied.
Effective organizations recognize that their
employees do have value, much as same as
the organization’s physical and capital assets
have value.
Employees are a valuable source of
sustainable competitive advantage.
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Sources of Sustainable
Competitive Advantage
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Valuable to the firm in that it exploits
weaknesses or neutralizes threats
Must be rare among competitors
Must be difficult for competitors to
imitate
Must not be easily substitutable
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The New Competitive
Environment
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Shortened product lifecycles
Erosion of patent
protection
Decreased regulation
and protected markets
Increased access to
capital markets
Increasing importance
of innovation, both
process and product
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HR is a key lever in
addressing these
challenges!
HR & Competitive
Advantage
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The International Motor Vehicle Study, a
worldwide research study of the automobile
industry conducted at MIT showed that
people-centered practices were associated
with almost twice the productivity and quality
as conventional mass production.
Similar studies in steel, apparel, and
semiconductors, sponsored by the Alfred P.
Sloan Foundation, reveal similar positive
effects for people-centered practices.
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HR CHOICES:
FUNCTIONAL
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Individual work v. team work
Pay for job v. pay for individual v.
pay for group v. pay for need
Make or buy skills
Promote form within v. recruit at
all levels
Job security v. no commitments
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HR CHOICES:
PHILOSOPHY
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Motivate by money v. peers v. the
work
Egalitarianism v. meritocracy
Assume shirking v. assume
inherent desire to do good work
Centralized v. decentralized control
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WHY DIFFERENT CHOICES
ARE MADE
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Investment Orientation
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The Investment-Oriented
Organization
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Organizational Characteristics
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Sees people as central to its mission/strategy.
Has a mission statement and strategic
objectives that espouse the value of human
assets in achieving goals.
Has a management philosophy that encourages
the development and retention of human assets
and does not treat or regard human assets in
the same ways as physical assets.
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Investment Orientation
Factors
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Senior Management Values and Actions
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Attitude Toward Risk
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An organization’s willingness to invest in its human
resources is determined by the “investment orientation”
of its managers.
Investment in human resources is inherently riskier due
to lack of absolute “ownership” of the asset.
Nature of Skills Needed by Employees
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The more likely that skills developed by employees are
marketable outside the firm, the more risky the firm’s
investment in the development of those skills.
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Investment Orientation
Factors
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Utilitarian (“Bottom Line”) Mentality
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An attempt is made to quantify employee worth to the
organization through a cost-benefit analysis.
The “soft” benefits of HR programs and polices are
difficult to objectively quantify because they affect
many different organizational areas and have
differential effects on individual employees.
Availability of Outsourcing
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If cost-effective outsourcing is available, investments
will be made only in HR activities producing the highest
returns and largest sustainable competitive advantages.
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Case Discussion
Southwest Airlines
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Southwest Airlines
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Southwest Airlines
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Only major airline to have earned a profit
every year for nearly three decades.
Southwest has won the Triple Crown (best on
time performance, fewest complaints, fewest
lost bags) for 5 years in a row. No other
airline has won this award.
Southwest’s operating costs are 20% below
the industry average. Company is 84%
unionized.
Now serves over 52 cities with 26,000
employees.
In 1998 they had over 140,000 job applicants.
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Three Questions:
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What does it take to make money in
Southwest’s business? What are Southwest’s
sources of competitive advantage? Are they
sustainable?
How serious is the threat of competition? Can
other airlines copy the Southwest model?
How?
What are your concerns? What does
Southwest need to do to continue their
success?
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Southwest Airlines
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Talking about Southwest’s recruiting.
Kelleher says, “We draft great
attitudes. If you don’t have a good
attitude, we don’t want you, no
matter how skilled you are.”
What are your reactions to this
approach?
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Mission Statement
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“The mission of Southwest Airlines
is dedicated to the highest quality
of customer service delivered with
a sense of warmth, friendliness,
individual pride, and company
spirit.”
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Does this matter at Southwest?
Why?
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To Our Employees:
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“We are committed to provide our
employees a stable work environment with
equal opportunity for learning and personal
growth. Creativity and innovation are
encouraged for improving the effectiveness
of Southwest Airlines. Above all, employees
will be provided the same concern, respect,
and caring attitude within the organization
that they are expected to share externally
with every Southwest Customer.”
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“Every company I have ever
gone in, they say people are
number one, but they’re just
not. They don’t live up to that,
and we do.”
Gary Kelly
Chief Financial Officer
Southwest Airline
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Airline Performance, January
1999
Complaints
On-time
Lost bags
Southwest
Continental
Delta
American West
American
Alaska
United
Northwest
TWA
USAir
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Percent
Per 1000
per
100,000
76.7% - 1
72.0% - 2
71.4% - 3
68.3% - 4
67.1% - 5
66.5% - 6
66.5% - 7
62.7% - 8
60.0% - 9
58.2% - 10
5.70 - 3
8.49 - 6
7.63 - 5
5.21 - 1
7.20 - 4
8.87 - 7
11.3 - 9
10.3 - 8
12.0 - 10
5.37 - 2
0.40 - 1
1.46 - 3
1.52 - 4
3.21 - 8
2.12 - 8
1.34 - 2
1.92 - 5
3.89 - 10
3.88 - 9
3.06 - 7
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Southwest Takeaways
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A simple, consistent strategy
Aligned and consistent HR practices
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Long-term perspective on employment
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Careers
Compensation
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Stability
Job design
Training and development
Performance-based
Ownership
Compressed wages
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Southwest Takeaways
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Selection for “attitude” and “fit”
Strong culture --family, performance
Leadership reinforcement
Information sharing
Psychological Ownership
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Value at Southwest Airlines is:
1. Created through satisfaction of employee needs.
SWA management acts to fulfill employee needs
(monetary and non-monetary) as a means of
creating value which can ultimately be converted
to organizational uses.
2. Converted to customer and share holder value via
organizational capabilities (the design of specific
operating processes).
3. Captured by SWA as competitive advantage
through lower costs and superior service
(productivity) in relation to its competitors.
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The SWA Value Cycle
The airlines’ competitive advantage, achieved
in how it manages its workforce, can not be
readily imitated by it competitors for two
reasons.
 people management systems are not visible
or tangible
effective human resource management
practice involves having different functions
working in tandem as a system
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The SWA Value Cycle
Management Implications:
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Both aspects of strategy (e.g., low-price, highservice) must be in harmony to create and
sustain internally derived competitive advantage.
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Harmony among operating processes,
organizational culture, and HR practices reinforce
one another in the creation and conversion of
value.
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HR’s ability to achieve and maintain of
competitive advantage
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The SWA Value Cycle
Management Implications (cont’d):
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While competitive advantage through people is
difficult to achieve and hard to sustain, it is also
not easy to duplicate (imitate).
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HR and line managers are responsible to identify
which tools will be most effective in their
organization’s effort to create value for
employees.
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HR is implemented by everyone in the
organization.
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Effective HRM Practices
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Employment Security
Selectivity in Recruiting
High Wages
Incentive pay
Employee Ownership
Information Sharing
Participation &
Ownership
Self-Managed Teams
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Training & Development
Cross-Utilization &
Cross-Training
Symbolic Egalitarianism
Wage Compression
Promotion From Within
Taking the Long View
Measurement of Practice
Overall Philosophy