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For an organization to be successful, human resource professionals are required to be more concerned with the deliverables of their roles rather than doing their duties better. As a result, they must grasp how their positions contribute to value generation inside their respective organizations. Human Resources Management models often combine principles of soft and hard HRM, but with more emphasis put on one of these two approaches.

The Harvard Model

One of the most significant and most influential models of HRM, the Harvard model, was initially developed by several experts lead by Michael Beer in 1984 at Harvard University. 

It is operating with five significant components: situational factors, stakeholder interests, HRM policies, HRM outcomes, and long-term consequences the organisation is set out to accomplish. According to this HR framework, the correlation between situational factors and stakeholder interests strongly affects and helps shape HRM policies, which should be implemented to lead to the desired HR outcomes (commitment, competence, congruence, and cost-effectiveness).

The Warwick Model

The Warwick HRM Model was constructed by the researchers Chris Hendry and Andrew M. Pettigrew at the University of Warwick in the early 1990s. Developed from the Harvard Model, this HRM framework represents an analytical approach to HRM. It focuses on five different elements:

• The outer context (which includes political, technical, and competitive factors, among others);

• The inner context (concerning the structure, leadership, culture, task-technology);

• Business strategy content (representing company objectives, product market, and general strategy);

• HRM context (including role, definition, organisation, HR outputs);

• HRM content (HR flow, reward systems, employee relations, work systems, and other aspects).

The Warwick model could be defined as a “framework focused on achieving performance and company growth by reaching the appropriate balance between internal and external context”, utilizing HRM context and HRM content elements that adapt to the changes in the process.

The 5P’s Model

The 5P’s HRM Model is a form of strategic HRM developed in 1992 by Randall S. Schuler, a praised scholar dedicated to the matters of global HRM, strategic HRM, the function of HRM in organizations and the interface of business strategy and human resource management. As its name suggests, the 5P’s Model is based on five constitutional aspects: purpose, principles, processes, people, and performance. According to this framework, aligning and balancing these five principles leads to achieving company success.

The 5P’s Model defines:

• Purpose as the organization’s vision, mission, and primary objectives;

• Principles are defined as operational protocols set to lead to achieving a purpose;

• Processes include organisation architecture, systems, and methods of operation;

• People are the vital HR resource performing tasks in line with the appointed principles and processes;

• Performance, ultimately, is a result that can be measured by the appropriate standards.

5P’s Model operates in this way: strategy prompts the system, the system affects staff behavior, and staff behavior triggers the performance. Shortly put, organisational performance directly depends on the performance of people engaged in processes and guided by organisation purposes and principles. Human managers should also formulate to guide the employees. These rules are in line with the human resource objective of entrenching good work ethics. The human resource manager should develop policies that define the respective punishment in the event of failing to adhere to the set rules. This will aid in entrenching good ethics amongst the employees to avoid punishment. The human resource manager must possess effective monitoring capability to optimize the benefits.

The Ulrich Model

The Ulrich Model (or the Business Partner Model) was first introduced in 1995 by Dave Ulrich, “the father of modern HR.” In his book “Human Resource Champions”, published in 1997, Ulrich elaborated the idea further. The Ulrich Model falls under the creative HRM and focuses on organizing all HR functions into four central roles: strategic partner, change agent, administrative expert, and employee champion (or employee advocate). Rather than focusing on processes and functions, this model is centered around people of the organisation and the roles they play in the grand scheme of things. Ulrich emphasized that remodeling HR doesn’t rely primarily on HR functions, however. He stressed that CEO, together with senior management, also has a significant part to play in the process. Although the Business Partner Model is causing much debate when it comes to determining if it’s still valid today, it represents an important milestone in HRM history and is still in use in many organizations.

The ASTD Competency Model 

The ASTD Competency model was developed in 2004 by the American Society for Training and Development; it delivers a roadmap of success that lays out performance against a credible set of descriptors. Two slight modifications to the model were made since then: first time in 2008/09, and then again in 2010/11. This framework is founded on three subsequent layers or blocks:

• Foundational level includes essential competencies: personal, interpersonal, and managerial;

• Focus level introduces Areas of Expertise (AoE) such as coaching, improving employee performance, social learning, career planning, and evaluating;

• Execution level focuses on four crucial professional roles: learning strategist, project manager, business partner, and professional specialist.

The ASTD Competency Model considers professional development the key to personal and company success. It mainly focuses on providing an answer to the question: “What competencies should people possess and develop to succeed in their field and offer a valuable contribution to the organisation?”

Human Resource Management and Internship program coordination

Creating an internship program is a great way for HR managers to attract new talent while offering students or recent graduates the chance to gain experience in their field.  An internship program gives your company the ability to develop young ambitious talent that can bring new ideas and ways of innovation. Here are some aspects that HRM has to consider before creating an internship program:

• Giving responsibilities to one or two full-time employees who already know how the company operates, so that these internal hires have adequate time to both focus on their full-time job and develop the interns;

• Understanding the state’s specific requirements for employing interns. Some states require interns to be paid, while others merely require an exchange of college credit. How your state defines interns can affect the minimum wage, their compensation, their protection under company policies and if they are entitled to certain benefits from your business;

• Setting realistic objectives for the program: interns can work on a few major projects or help them support long-term functions of the job and the daily routine;

• Giving a personal relationship within the company and someone to learn and get feedback from. Meeting with just the interns once a week to set up a rapport, seeing what they're learning and being conscious of any issues they are having. Coordinators should also bring in different employees to share their experience, learn about the interns and answer their questions.