1.

0 INTRODUCTION

The survival of any organization is dependent on the human resources. The human
resources are one of the crucial assets to an organization because they assist the
organization to achieve objectives and goals (Hermansyah et al 2022). In order to
ensure the effectiveness of human resources, proper management need be established.
To assist human resource personnel, achieve this, a concept was formulated by
researchers known as strategic human resources management (HRM). Through the use
of integrated HR policies and procedures, strategic human resources management
outlines how the organization's goals will be accomplished through its workforce.

According to Boxall (1996), SHRM ‘is the interface between HRM and strategic
management’. Pearce and Robinson (1988) ‘Strategic management is the set of decisions
and actions resulting in the formulation and implementation of strategies designed to
achieve the objectives of an organization.’

The purpose of this report is to evaluate various approaches to developing HR Strategy

which are resource based view, best practices and best fit. The report also shall consider
key priority HR issues and finally shall produce a set of recommendations.

2.0 APPROACHES TO DEVELOPING HR STRATEGY BASED ON STEEPLE

ANALYSIS OF FACEBOOK INC.

2.1 BEST FIT APPROACH

The best-fit strategy emphasizes how to manage individuals both inside and outside of
an organization (Mendy, 2017). The approach is also known as contingency model and
the proponents of this model believe that there is no universal way of doing things as
what might work well in an organization might be unsuccessful in another place
(Schuler and Jackson 1987). The universality premise of the "best-practice" perspective
is contested by the "best-fit" approach. It emphasizes the need for HR activities to be
compatible with the organization's internal organizational structures, stage of
development, and external environment, which includes clients, suppliers, rivals, and
labor markets (Redman and Wilkinson 2009).
This approach is subject to certain criticism. Firstly, the need to synchronize HR policies
as businesses progress through their life cycles results in the varying treatment of
employees, can be demotivating and can also reveal inconsistencies in corporate culture
(Boxall and Purcell 2003). According to Boxall and Purcell (2003), it is only viable to
often adapt entire HR systems to new issues in a changing business environment where
organizations and their plans are exposed to various alternating contingencies. Some
best fit strategy by Facebook includes training practices, Employee performance
management, Employees Participation.

Training refers to a planned and systematic process of acquiring, modifying, and/or

developing skills, knowledge, and abilities with the aim of achieving and improving the
employees’ performance in an organization (Ferreira, A. P. 2016). Tannenbaum,
Kraiger, and Smith-Jentsch (2012) note that training and development is an HRM tool
that can be thought of as a set of planned, methodical activities designed to help the
acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and competencies that are needed,
in some way, both for the companies and their members. Training policies impact both
objective and subjective measures of organizational performance (Ubeda-García et al.
2013). Some studies point out that the result of training practices in organizational
performance decrease errors and increase productivity (Aguinis and Kraiger, 2009;
Salas and Cannon-Bowers, 2012;) Companies ability to train and develop employees
plays a key role in strategic HRM, contributing to the competitiveness, and business’s
success (Ferreira, A. P. 2016).

Facebook uses a best fit strategy with the goal of enhancing employees' skills, technical
know-how, and business acumen by making a sizable investment in the internationally
renowned best practice training method. Facebook engages in a six weeks onboarding
program where engineers of the company go through this bootcamp is designed to
immense the engineers into code base and giving them an overview of the culture of the
organization Alex (2022). This course of action attempts to support and maintain the
better efficiency goals while establishing core competencies in comparison to
competitors in the market and a competitive advantage.
The measure of how effective the members of an organization perform their task can be
referred to as Performance management (Sousa, De Nijs, & Hendriks, 2010). It ensures
surveilence of workers activities and is designed to acknowledge the extent to which the
employee’s performance conforms with the performance standards set by the
organization (Sewell, Barker, and Nyberg, 2011). The best fit approach utilized for the
employee’s performance. The management of employees' careers has become even more
crucial as a result of performance management. To lead the teams and employees, it is
essential to provide ongoing feedback, and Facebook excels in this area. It offers
ongoing feedback to its staff. There are two performance reviews each year (Abhijeet,
2018). It is based on the outcomes of managers' and employees' use of internet tools.
Seven people typically participate in the feedback process (Abhijeet, 2018).

Businesses can gain competitive advantage through the effective people management
strategy of increasing employees' participation and involvement in decision making that
results in successful value creation (Edralin, 2014). It is a very important of self-
management which Vanek propounded as a model in managing organizations in society
(Kalmi, 2003). This promotes innovation and directly involves staff in important
decisions like the recovery from the financial crisis (Hastings 1999). Employee
participation can be direct or indirect through representative bodies such as trade
unions, joint consultative committees and works councils (Aranea et al. 2021; Brewster
et al. 2019; Koinig andWeder 2021).

Facebook has an open-door policy whereby staff members can speak with management
directly. Flat hierarchies and little supervision create few communication barriers and
lots of opportunities for taking ownership (Milgram & Roberts 1995). Facebook has a
very high rate of employee participation in ideas for continuous improvement.

2.2 BEST PRACTICE APPROACH

According to the best practice approach, certain groups of HR activities always help
firms gain a competitive edge regardless of the organizational climate or industry
(Redman and Wilkinson 2009). This strategy is based on the premise that there is a set
of optimal HRM practices that are universal, meaning they are the best in every
circumstance, and that implementing them will improve organizational performance.

Best practices help to increase high levels of workforce competence, encourage

motivation and introduce a work design boosting employee commitment (Maloney and
Morris 2005). However, as helpful as this approach could be, it suffers from criticism of
organizations running the risk of integrating incompatible concepts such as teamwork
and individual performance-based incentives, which would worsen employee
collaboration by fostering excessive competitiveness (Delery 1998). Secondly, High
commitment management systems are frequently challenging initiatives that necessitate
thorough planning and dedication from senior management. Lastly, Exceptional, high-
performing human resources would have an impact on strategy, but lack concrete ties to
organizational plans, according to critics like Milkovich and Newman (2002). Some best
practices at Facebook are; employees education, Performance appraisals as motivational
tool, selective recruitment amongst others.

Facebook helps provide staff with skills and knowledge needed to achieve organizational
goals. Training and development can provide a competitive edge since it opens doors for
growth and self-assurance. As it opens up opportunities for development and self-
assurance, training and development might give an advantage in the marketplace. The
workforce will perform better or provide better results if they have more information
about the task at hand. Organizations should design training and development
initiatives that support staff growth, employee operational responsibilities, and
employees' personal lives (Enz and Siguaw 2000). Facebook has Bootcamp program
with a six weeks onboarding program for new engineer’s and project managers. This
Bootcamp enables the company to immerse the new hire to the company’s code Max
(2014).

The purpose of performance reviews is to demonstrate an employee's dedication to

completing assigned tasks (Performance management 2004). Facebook's performance
management system uses a bi-annual evaluation cycle. Input from all directions is
continuously being streamed in real time. This process, in essence, takes two weeks,
during which an employee must obtain peer feedback—typically from 3-5 peers—and
then generate a self-assessment. After that, "managers read all the peer feedback and
the self-assessment and determine a 'Performance Assessment,' or rating, of the
employee's performance over the previous six months as well as whether or not it is the
right time to promote the employee," according to Facebook software engineer Molly
Graham (PerformYard Staff, 2019). Therefore, Facebook's performance reviews had
been boosting employee morale and assisting their development rather than
discouraging them (since the pre-pandemic era).

Facebook ensures that it builds an inclusive workplace where all personnel have a sense
of belonging. In selecting workers, the company is concerned with recruiting employees
in technical functions. And in addition to this the company future focus is to hire
employees in order to bolster various privacy, safety, security and content review
initiatives (Annual report 2021). Facebook works to support its goals of a more diverse
workforce through recruitment, retention, people development, and inclusion. Teams
and hiring managers will always have the opportunity to examine qualified candidates
from underrepresented groups for open positions thanks to our Diverse Slate Approach
(Annual report 2021). As part of the selective process of Facebook, the company ensures
that there is diversity in the selection process.

2.3 RESOURCE BASED VIEW

According to the Resource Based View (RBV), the differential performance of businesses
is due to resource heterogeneity (Barney, 1991). This implies that the resources
possessed by a firm are the main source of a sustainable competitive advantage and high
performance (Ranjan and Read, 2016).

Dyer & Singh, (1998) therefore note that businesses tend to gather valuable resources to
gain competitive advantage. According to Barney (1991) Resources can be classified into
physical capital resources (such as buildings, machinery, and money), organizational
capital resources (such as control systems, organizational structure, Human capital
resources (skills, judgment, and HR systems) and employees' intelligence). The skills
that make up capabilities are those that a company must utilize all of its resources and
lacking such assets and capabilities have minimal worth. A resource is considered vital if
it meets certain criteria valuable, non-substitutable, rare or specific, and inimitable to
contribute to improving the performance of the firm (Barney 1991; Crook et al. 2008;
Turber and Gassmann, 2015). Consider the figure below:

Figure 1: The framework of Resource-based Theory

Source: Barney, (1991)

From the Figure above, the four conditions resources must possess to have competitive
advantage are value, being rare, immobility and sustainability.

The resource must be valuable, which refers to a condition that resource align with the
opportunities and/or threats in a firm’s environment (Utami, and Alamanos, 2022).
Facebook in this case may have unique system or formula to offer its technology services
that markets it different from other companies. Rare on the other hand implies that
there should be some level of perceived scarcity of the resource with factor markets
(Sabourin, 2020). The steeple analysis of Facebook in this case shows that Facebook has
the rare capability of delivering its service worldwide and among the top technology
companies in the world. Imitability implies that the resources owned by the business
cannot be easily obtained by other firms who do not possess these resources nor its
technique of production (Utami, and Alamanos, 2022). Imperfectly imitable occurs in a
case in which a brand is globally recognised with no equivalent capability or resource
that could be used by others (Sabourin, 2020). ) Non-substitutability refers to the extent
to which competitors cannot be strategically duplicated or substituted (Rhoads, 2015;
Utami, and Alamanos, 2022).
3.0 KEY PRIORITY HR ISSUES FOR ACTION

This section identifies key HR issues for action as well as a justification to the identified
HR issues. Some of the HR issues include:

3.1 LEADER AND MANAGER EFFECTIVENESS

Many reports affirm that leadership and manager effectiveness is a key HR issue
(Gatner, 2022; Future workforce, 2021) to various organizations as well as Facebook in
this case.

As today’s work environment changes, so must the leadership approach and ideologies.
A report by Gatner, (2022) revealed that threes environmental shifts of social and
political turbulence, flexible work environment and work life fusion have redefined the
leader-employee dynamic into a human to human relationship where leaders now have
to lead with authenticity, empathy and adaptivity.

3.2 RECRUITING

Recruitment, redundancy and compensation (minimum wages) are determined by

drivers such as the need for employees with the latest kind of technology skill set such as
(artificial intelligence, programming, cyber skills, HR analytics amongst many others),
creativity or talent and even the legislature. Tiwari and Saxena (2012) believe that HRM
Practices depend on legislations and regulations.

This becomes a key issue due to the increasing difficulty in finding the needed talents
(Maurer, 2019) in organizations as well as a result of rise in legal action and reports
from individuals on issues such as breach of Facebook privacy and rising cybercrime
activities. Facebook is an equal opportunity employer with no form of discrimination
(Metacareers, 2022) however, the need for special kind of talents in the recruiting stage
to aid the organizations growth, maintain and expand digital presences as well as
checkmate cyber-criminal activities is essential.

3.3 FUTURE OF WORK

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Facebook workers were made to work from
home in response to government restriction on movement (Maurer, 2019) bringing a
lasting change to how and where we work. Facebook sees remote work as a future
workforce norm even though some organizations are not convinced it will become as
widespread (Otto, 2020).

It is a key issue as its debate among organizations and academic fields is one that is
inconclusive. It is however noted that remote working may not necessarily reduce the
cost of operations but majorly the work model of organizations (Otto, 2020).

3.4 ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

The STEEPLE analysis showed how external factors have affected activities of Facebook.
It is thus noted in this report and in affirmation to a report by Gatner, (2022) that
continuous technological disruptions, economic uncertainty and political tensions
makes prioritizing the organizational design and change management a very important
HR issue for Facebook resulting to a high level of fatigue among workers.

Employees may tend to have a low intent to stay in a given organization if they are
experiencing increasing level of fatigue from the organizations environment.

3.5 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

It is important for employees of an organization to have well defined career paths in the
organization and as such this becomes a key HR issue. This is major driven by internal
factors affecting the organization and the ability of the management to retain its
employees over a long period of time. Gatner, (2022) assert that many employees of
organizations did not have clearly defined or compelling career paths while working in
certain job roles of organizations.

4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

The report recommends the following:

Poor organizational policies, processes, and procedures will tend to weaken the
potential competitive advantage of business as well as effectiveness of its resources.
(Barney, 2007). Hence, the businesses need to recognize the changing business
environment with more attention to key priority areas as well as adjustment of such
areas to prevent the business from poor performance and low productivity of resources.
This simply implies the continuous place of control in business.

The best fit, best practice and resource-based view show that one of the most important
factor or resource in the organization is the employee. And as such organizational HR
approach to strategy formulation should be in a way to ensure employee productivity,
increased success, and high performance or the organization (sexana, 2017).

Thirdly, as noted by Fombrun et al., (1984), the adopted HR approach to policy

formulation should be such that it recognizes the ever-evolving business environment to
ensure that businesses, employees and even the managers perform well presently as well
as in the future.

The study also recommends the need to uses a blend of HR approaches to strategy
formulation as the business environment is ever changing. The report recognizes that
each of best fit, best practice and resource-based view to strategy formulation have
limitations (Gordon and Kaswin, 2010) and as such a choice of rigidity in approach
adoption may not always yield maximum results for the organization.

Finally, this report recognizes the importance of gaining competitive advantage. This is
because the business environment is ever changing and is highly competitive. Every
department therefore, every department in the business including the HR department in
this case, must recognize that it is best to remain innovative, get quality and diverse
talents, ensure an efficient utilization of its resources (Boxal et al., 2007; Solanki, 2020;
Rodney, 2020) in order to remain competitive and relevant in the evolving internal and
external environment.

5.0 CONCLUSION

This report is based on the recent findings of a strategic STEEPLE analysis of Facebook.
The repot evaluates the different approaches to developing HR strategy (Best fit, Best
practices and Resource Based view) in the context of Facebook. The report also
identifies factors considered to be key priority HR issues for action with a justification
for each factor and offers recommendation based on the report findings.
The approaches to the development of HR strategy are all aim to increase the level of
productivity of a business and increase the business performance. These approaches
also serve to increase give a business competitive edge over other businesses in an
industry. The different approaches are not business specific or only applicable to a
particular type of business or organization.
The different approaches however have criticisms or limitations such as the rigidity of
the best practice approach, the need to continuously change strategy with changing
business conditions with the best fit strategy and the disagreement in literature on the
effectiveness of the RBV.
The report identifies key priority HR issues in the operations of Facebook and notes the
need for leadership and manager effectiveness, increasing level of efficiency in
recruiting, more attention to the changing nature of jobs, need for technical talents and
its impact on the future of work, increasing levels of organizational design and change
management amongst others. The study thus offers recommendations.
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