The first component of the SWOT analysis is strengths.
Strengths can be broken down into many categories, such as: human capital,
physical capital, tangible and non-tangible items. These are positive skills or
factors that can allow a company to stand apart from their competitors and
create value within the company. This leads to a very important strength a
company can have within each department; competitive advantage. Specifically
within an HR department, competitive advantage can be made up of well developed
recruiting or training programs, ethics, compensation procedures, strategic
planning, and mission statements to name a few broad categories. Human
resources would use the SWOT analysis to identify the strengths in the follow
areas (Nestor-Harper, 2013):
·
HR team members
·
Policies and procedures
·
Work environment, communication,
·
Impact on the organization
Acknowledging the strengths allows the HR management to
create a welcoming environment for the company, productivity can rise, and the satisfaction
of the employees can remain high, thus reducing employee turnover rates. The
more strengths discovered throughout a company, the more options they have to
complete successful projects by shuffling employees through positions that
highlight their personal strengths. In the end, managing the strengths can
place a company on a more profitable platform.
A great example of a strength that occurs through the human
resource department uses offshore outsourcing. Especially now that more
companies are going international, outsourcing is a great way to begin
expanding a business. The IT industry is commonly known for outsourcing
globally, especially in areas of India. HR management can research the
strengths a company can gain when outsourcing. Strengths that can occur through
outsourcing may include (Nair, 2004):
·
Low startup cost and wages
·
Adequacy of IT infrastructure
·
Higher quality of human resources
·
Positive attitudes of the government
With India’s economy, success is due to the software
industry and is drawing more companies to use them as an outsourcing location.
The government is encouraging and supportive to the IT industry, which is a
great strength with a company developing and striving for success. The people
are knowledgeable, generate quality services and products, and certain areas of
India like Kerala, receive lower incomes compared to employees in the U.S.
(Nair 2004). For U.S. companies, its more cost efficient to outsource and still
have educated and qualified employees. The HR management of a company needs to
maintain good communication in order for outsourcing to continue to be a
strength and have strategic planning in place for the company to remain ethical
and legal in all locations of operations. With today’s constantly improving technology,
HR can easily communicate around the globe to other operations of a company and
effectively make quick adjustments to an area as it is needed.
Leadership within human resource can contribute largely to
the success and the strength of the department. HR leaders need to know how to
lead employees through change quickly and effectively (Walker and Reif, 1999).
Based on collected information from HR leaders and managers the following
capabilities are strengths leaders should have (Walker and Reif, 1999):
·
Interacting with others
·
Manages conflict
·
Builds team effectiveness
·
Organizes work
·
Acts with integrity
All these
capabilities will lead to strengths within human resources, as they are able to
establish a core group of employees to work effectively on projects. Interacting
with others is very important whether it’s communicating orally or in writing. Maintaining
a high level of integrity in all aspects of a business is a positive strength
to have, as it will reflect on your business’ mission and values. It will help
a company develop a good image and allow customers to return, as they will feel
the integrity upheld throughout a company. I have personally experienced great
leadership at my current position. The HR leader constantly checks in with me
to make sure I’m satisfied with my position and wanted to make sure there are
not any conflicts. She also makes sure my position description and goals are
organized and clear. This has become a very important factor since I have had
jobs in the past where my position expectations were unclear.
While every company may have a variety of strengths, human
resources tend to be held accountable for managing the strengths of the company
properly. Once the SWOT analysis is performed, HR will discover the talents and
skill of its HR team members (Visser, 2005). This will allow the company to
place each employee in an appropriate area of the company in order to increase
the performance overall and allow the employee to excel on a personal level.
Employees sometimes have difficulty managing their own strengths; this is where
HR can help out. The HR members can use training programs or group stimulation
activities to assist the company’s employees on developing their strengths and
placing them with other employees to offset weaknesses or to create a stronger
bond within a group of employees in order to help productivity (Visser, 2005).
HR departments need to use training at all levels, even leadership and
management positions. By using training programs, employees can learn to
develop their strengths, discover new ones, and use their strengths in
different ways (Vissor, 2005). I have taken personality tests for human
resource departments once I have been through an interview. The HR department
is looking for the kills and talents they can use to strengthen their company
while allowing myself to discover my personal strengths.
Take away points:
It can be evident that many people shy away from putting the
spotlight on all their strengths, especially during interviews as a way to
avoid sounding too confident. There is a chance that we have yet to discover
certain strengths as well. Strengths are always being developed and may be used
at different times or with different projects (Visser, 2005). The timing when
we notice our strengths can constantly change because each project or new work
environment may bring out different or new strengths. The HR department may
create opportunities for employees to help practice using their strengths with
other employees and discover how to mesh strengths of all the employees
together in order to create a successful working staff and company overall.
Sometimes as younger employees we find HR activities to be boring, but they
always contain a purpose for HR to help shape us as employees and/or employers
for the future. Also, strengths come in different sizes. With the outsourcing
example, it is easy to notice the strength of having part of a company’s
operations in other areas of the world because of the great benefits produced
from it. On a daily basis we may over look the strength in this type of
scenario because we are still working in the U.S., but, in reality, outsourcing
can create a huge competitive advantage within an industry. The leadership
example may seem obvious, but it’s the skills and capabilities leaders have
that creates business leadership as a strength for a company. The respect
between the leaders and their employees will be evident if leaders have the
mentioned strengths. In return, the company will see teams with higher productivity
and the lasting impression on the company.
Resources:
Nair, K. G. K., & Prasad, P. N. (2004). Offshore
outsourcing: A swot analysis of a state
in India. Information Systems Management, 21(3), 34-40.
Nestor-Harper, Mary. (2013). SWOT analysis for HR practices. Smallbusiness.com.
2013 September 27.
Visser, Coert. (2005). Managing
strengths in three steps. Managementsite.com 2013 September 27.
Walker, J. W., & Reif, W. E. (1999). Human resource
leaders: Capability strengths and gaps.
Human Resource Planning, 22(4), 21-32.
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