This essay deals with relevance between Miles and Snow (1984) model of designing a strategic human resources management and a chosen company Bitstudio. Bitstudio, Ltd. operates in Slovak republic in field of information technology. Miles and Snow (1984) say that it’s crucial to have a fit between business strategy and human resource management system. The data show that Bitstudio has got this match and performing well. I have found this model as working by evaluation all the accessible information by describing its background, business strategy, human resource management system and its performance.
Relevance between Miles and Snow theory and Bitstudio, Ltd This essay is based on evaluation and appreciation of theory developed by authors Miles and Snow published in 1984. Miles and Snow (1984) describes how important is the fit between human resource management /HRM/ and business strategy. As a first step I will describe the background of Bitstudio, Ltd, the company I have chosen to evaluate against Miles and Snow (1984) theory. Following that I will present a brief description of mentioned model just enough to get the basic overview.
I will use this model to examine and evaluate my chosen organization’s degree of fit between its business strategy and HRM practises and discus these impacts on its performance. Following that I will give some considerations to the value of the theory itself and its age as well. Then I will develop analytical discussion from which I will be able to draw some results responsive to the topic. In the conclusion I will show my findings about my company Bitstudio regarding the strategic human resource management system. Bitstudio, Ltd. has been operating in the Slovak market since 1991.
Bitstudio provides complex solutions enabling deployment of an efficient, timeless and high-quality communication environment. It designs optimal solutions customised for customers from various sectors such as public institutions, banks, hospitals and retail chains. Bitstudio is one of the leading communication systems integrators and data and telecommunication services providers in its country. Bitstudio is one of few IT companies in Slovakia, which employs CCIE specialists /Cisco Certified Internetworking Engineer/. This represents the highest possible level of certification of individuals awarded by Cisco Systems.
The main areas of activity roughly include information system design, advisory service, system integration, authorized trainings, data service management and maintenance. These days company is employing around 80 workers from top management to technicians (www. bitstudio. sk). Miles and Snow theory (1984) is based on observation of three large companies and giving us a conceptual framework, which links together business strategies and human resource management system. They argue that ‘human resource management system must be tailored to the demands of business strategy’ (Miles and Snow 1984, p. 37).
They have come up with three basic business strategies and they have called them the Defender, Prospector and Analyser. They also developed kind of guidelines for these types of business strategies and described its properties (Miles and Snow 1984, p. 48). The experiences of three large companies suggested that a strategic human resources management can be constructed using principals as Miles and Snow (1984) say. Defenders create a secure market share with rational and steady growth. These companies heavily rely on internally developed human resource management and employees are carefully selected and trained.
They expect them to stay with company as long as possible if not all of their careers. The compensation is oriented toward position in organization hierarchy (Miles and Snow 1984, p. 49) Prospectors are characterized by rapid growth and continual resource deployment. Human resource department perform an enterprising role, helping to identify and quickly develop crucial human resources. They can be brought from outside or developed internally if necessary. The compensation is oriented toward performance and values developed within company.
