ABSTRACT
According to Armstrong (2006: 115), strategic HRM is ‘an approach to the strategic management of human resources in accordance with the intentions of the organisation on the future direction it wants to take’. Strategy is the means of transmitting an organisation’s objec tive, vision and mission into an organised and systematic operational activity. Within a small scale enterprise the strategy might just be in the brain of the boss or owner and be a simple set of means of meet ing targets. Within large organisations, and especially in the West, the strategy is usually incorporated in a plan often stretching three or five years ahead. However, in some industries, such as oil and gas extraction, petro chemicals or utilities, the strategic plans might seek to work over two or three decades. Such long term orientation is dif ficult to achieve in a domestic national or regional context but in the global economy that has developed in recent years it requires much time, effort and information to construct and monitor a strategy. Within a strategy there are regular reviews to ensure that obstacles are dealt with and sufficient resources are allocated to enable the strategy to remain on track or are adjusted to meet changes in circumstances.
