Introduction
In the contemporary, highly competitive business world, human resources in general and talent, in particular, are considered companies’ most significant value and asset. With an emphasis on innovation and creative, sustainable solutions, large corporations prioritize their prospective employees’ competence, skills, and knowledge to form resilient, reliable, and highly efficient teams capable of fulfilling organizational missions, visions, and goals. For that matter, the use of precisely selected human resource management (HRM) practices and strategies plays a decisive role in the overall performance of a business entity. In particular, General Motors as a leading automotive vehicle manufacturer on a global scale, is a curious case for HRM analysis since it allows for exploring and critically evaluating the application of HRM for gaining a competitive advantage over the rivals in the industry. Thus, this paper is focused on the HRM practices utilized by General Motors to recruit, engage, and motivate the right talent in their workforce to achieve performance excellence across the business process cycle.
The Purpose of HR Functions and Their Implications in Achieving Business Goals
The scope of global presence and the effectiveness and success of the business performance of large corporations is largely reliant on the workforce behind the technologies and decision-making. The people, ranging from leadership to managers, engineers, and workers, constitute the core of any organization. General Motors is one of such large corporations that depend on their workforce in terms of their talent, competence, skills, and determination to serve organizational purposes. General Motors is a multinational organization specializing in the manufacturing of automotive vehicles. According to the official statements of the company, it employs a diverse population of 155,000 individuals across six continents (“About us,” 2022). The whole workforce of the company is motivated to fulfill the organizational goals and vision. In particular, the vision of General Motors is “a world with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion” (“About us,” 2022, para. 2). Such a vision entails employees’ commitment to innovation, sustainability, and resilience, which are highly valued in the company.
As a company with a large population of employees globally, the alignment of the corporate culture with values and goals allows for shaping the HRM practices that enable recruiting and development of necessary talents. The ultimate goal of General Motors’ business performance is “to deliver world-class customer experiences at every touchpoint and do so on a foundation of trust and transparency” (“About us,” 2022, para. 1). In order to achieve this goal, the company utilizes a specifically designed HRM strategy that allows for attracting the right people capable of driving effective change in the company. In particular, General Motors strive “to create a Workplace of Choice to attract, retain and develop top talent by adhering to a responsible employer philosophy, which includes, among other things, commitments to create job opportunities, pay workers fairly, ensure safety and well-being, and promote diversity, equity and inclusion” (“Form 10-K,” 2020, p. 10). Thus, the company’s HRM practices are aligned with the goals, vision, and values of the organization.
Overall, the function of HRM strategies and practices is to drive the continuous development of talent in domains necessary for fulfilling organizational goals. According to Boon et al. (2018), HR practices “are considered as a bundle or system that collectively enhances the skills and motivation of the workforce” (p. 38). In other words, for a business entity to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage in the market and in its respective industry, it should ensure that the employees are motivated, engaged, competent, skilled, protected, and driven by company success perceived as a manifestation of their own advancement. Within General Motors’ organizational culture, the functions of the HRM practices are defined by their key role in selecting and recruiting talented employees and their ongoing training and development to grow their skills for the benefit of their professional advancement and organizational outcomes (“Form 10-K,” 2020). Therefore, the selection of the HRM practices and their diligent implementation across the international divisions of the global corporation predetermine the quality and commitment of the workforce, ultimately shaping the image of General Motors as a strong competitor.
The Impact of HRM Practices on the Overall Performance of General Motors
As discussed above, General Motors’ vision and goals are achieved by means of the HRM practices the company has meticulously designed and implemented throughout the recruitment and development lifecycle. In particular, firms with high levels of performance invest in “human capital to increase firm performance, by using systems and practices aimed at developing and managing an organization’s human capital” (Boon et al., 2018, p. 35). In the case of General Motors, human capital is directly identified in Form 10-K (2020) as the main asset and most valued resource of the company. Overall, company performance is based on the performance indicators of each employee in its collective perspective of the ability to achieve the ultimate goal. For that matter, General Motors utilize effective HRM practices, including deliberate talent-oriented recruitment policies, performance management approaches, as well as compensation and engagement incentives (Armstrong, 2020). These practices contribute to the performance of the company in a long-term perspective by enhancing the company’s workforce’s resilience, engagement, motivation, and determination.
In particular, recruitment policies have an immediate impact on organizational performance due to the attraction of people with an available set of skills or aspirations to the company, which ensures their loyalty and commitment in a long-term perspective. The accuracy of recruitment using both internal and external sources of forming the human capital helps General Motors create professional teams that are capable of driving the firm’s competitive advantage (Anwar and Abdullah, 2021). In addition, the system of benefits and compensation at General Motors predetermines the identification of each employee’s contribution and key performance indicators, which serve as a strong motivating factor for gaining performance excellence (Erbas and Demir, 2020). The employees’ work and deliberate contribution and initiatives are appraised and appreciated through compensation incentives, which ultimately encourage creative decisions and employee engagement. It serves as a fundamental basis for sustaining high standards of performance and successful achievement of company goals by means of each employee’s recognized contribution.
Moreover, the engagement of employees is reinforced through the use of retention HRM practices. In particular, Genera Motors indicates that “we invest significant resources to retain and develop our talent” (“Form 10-K,” 2020, p. 11). Safety and well-being measures are essential parts of the HRM practices that contribute to employee engagement and their ultimate high-level performance. Indeed, since the company operates in the industry of automobile production, safety is considered one of the core values and priorities of both customers and employees. According to the company’s official statement, “we pride ourselves on our commitment to live values that return people home safely – Every Person, Every Site, Every Day” (“Form 10-K,” 2020, p. 11). Such an approach reassures the workforce in the reliability of the employer and helps retain talented professionals for the sustained achievement of company goals and its long-term competitive advantage in the industry of automotive vehicle manufacturing. Thus, the identified HRM practices significantly contribute to General Motors’ organizational performance and deem effective in the context of a highly competitive industry reliant on human capital.
HR’s Ability to Provide Talent and Skills and Ensure Organization’s Profitability
Acute attention to talent management and investment of the company in its human capital presupposes the anticipation of the management to ensure the return on such investments in the form of the ultimate obtainment of profit and gaining of competitive advantage. Indeed, General Motors capitalizes on its workforce’s talent by continuously developing their skills via specifically designed HRM policies and practices. In particular, the educational efforts aimed at providing talent and skills for the company’s needs are highly effective and yield significant positive results in terms of performance excellence, company profit-making, and competitive advantage (Erbas and Demir, 2020). Indeed, General Motors has initiated “the Technical Education Program, which offers our employees an opportunity to complete corporate strategically aligned degrees and certificate programs at leading universities” (“Form 10-K,” 2020, p. 11). Moreover, it has designed a Learning Management System for ongoing talent and skill development of professionals, as well as enables technical employees’ participation in the GM Technical Learning University (“Form 10-K,” 2020). Such incentives help grow talent and ensure their long-term contribution to the company’s goal completion.
Apart from the overall organizational initiatives aimed at talent development, General Motors implements HRM practices at an individual level to meet the developmental needs and fulfill the potential of each employee. Indeed, the development of individual development and career-building plans within the company is one of the influential tools that allows for investing in the employees to ensure their high level of skills and competence to perform in the interests of the organization. Indeed, according to Erbas and Demir (2020), at General Motors, newly recruited individuals undergo training, orientation, and rotation procedures to value their talent and potential contribution to a position within the company’s structure. In such a manner, the company is capable of developing highly competitive and competent professionals who are valued and engaged in organizational performance with the guarantee of monetizing the developmental investment in the form of company profit-making.
Conclusion
In summation, the overview, analysis, and critical assessment of the HRM practices applied within the General Motors company demonstrate that the organization values and objectively justifies its HRM approaches by the company goals. The performance of the firm as a leader in the industry of automotive vehicles is based on the individual striving for performance excellence of each employee, whose talent, skills, and competencies are developed throughout their employment at the organization. In particular, the prioritization of safety and wellbeing, engagement, and compensation allows for retaining the best talents inside the company, thus winning the competition in human capital over the rivals. In addition, General Motors actively design and implement such HRM practices as continuous training and education of employees, talent-based recruitment approaches, learning programs, networking, and labor association to ensure that skilled and talented people are attracted, retained, and developed for the benefit of the organization. Therefore, General Motors’ HRM practices align with the company’s vision and values and allow for the successful achievement of its organizational goals of driving safe, sustainable, and technological change in the automotive industry.
Reference List
About us. (2022) Web.
Anwar, G. and Abdullah, N.N. (2021) ‘The impact of human resource management practice on Organizational performance, International Journal of Engineering, Business and Management, 5(1), pp. 35-47.
Armstrong, M. (2020) Handbook of strategic human resource management: improve business performance through strategic people management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Boon, C. et al. (2018) ‘Integrating strategic human capital and a strategic human resource management’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(1), pp. 34-67.
Erbas, D.G. and Demir, B. (2020) ‘Talent management and career planning alignment: a model from an automotive factory’, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 39(2), pp. 1-26.
Form 10-K (2020) Web.