HR management is driven by several business principles, particularly the "Ten C" collection of HR management principles developed by HR management expert Alan Price, author of "Human Resource Management in a Business Context." Price's 10 principles of human resource management are "comprehensiveness, credibility, communication, cost effectiveness, creativity, coherence, competence, control, change and commitment."
Ten C and the Harvard Map
Central to HR management and the Ten-C model are four primary guiding principles distinguished as the "Harvard Map." These principles of HRM are particularly useful for practitioners to determine how HR strategic management affects three separate stakeholders: individual employees, the organization and society, or the community the organization serves. The four "Cs" Harvard Map principles as "commitment, competence, cost effectiveness and congruence."
Commitment
Job security acknowledges the intrinsic need that employees have to demonstrate their commitment to the business and their job duties. HR management fulfills that need through ensuring staffing levels are consistent with the business needs and that employees can reasonably expect they can be long-term employees.
The organization illustrates its commitment to workers and invests in their success by providing training opportunities, performance evaluations and goal-setting activities. Society or the surrounding community benefits from an employer's commitment to providing employment opportunities that sustain the economy.
Competence
Competence is a principle that supports business development. It is also a factor in employees' job satisfaction and how the organization affects society. Successful businesses rely on competent workers who understand their employers' performance expectations. HR management sustains workforce competency through providing training and orientation to upgrade and improve employees' skills and job knowledge.
The impact that competence has on society is the production of safe and reliable products and services. Without sufficiently high competence, the organization exposes itself to potential legal claims against the product it sells or the service it renders.
Cost-Effectiveness
Budgets for HR departments often are insufficient to support all the necessary HR activities, especially in areas such as recruiting, training and development and employee relations. HR is not a revenue-generating department, which is one reason budgets for HR departments might be the first cut.
HR typically is held to a higher standard for illustrating return on investment in its activities. For example, the expense of outsourcing administrative tasks may be a cost-effective solution for small businesses that don't have the capital or resources to support a full-time HR staff. The return on investment includes efficient, high-quality services for employees, such as benefits administration, payroll processing and retirement savings programs.
Congruence
Attainable workforce management goals must be congruent with the overall goals of the business. Goals such as becoming an industry leader require an HR focus on recruiting talented workers capable of innovative research and development of company products. This part of the "Congruence" principle addresses the individual employee and the organization. Its effect on society is an employer that provides career opportunities for the surrounding labor market and high-quality products for its consumers.