Developing the human resource strategies with the approach to Strategic Reference Points (SRP) (Case Study: The Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality)

Codification and implementation of human resource strategy are practiced to make a bridge between policies and human resource methods, on the one hand, and strategic goals of the organization, on the other hand. Therefore, the present research was undertaken to develop human resource strategies with an approach to strategic reference point (SRP) in Deputy of Civil Affairs of Isfahan Municipality via a hybrid (qualitative and quantitative) method. The model adopted in this research was based on the integrated model proposed by Bamberger and Meshoulam. In the qualitative part, purposive sampling was used to achieve data saturation, while census method was utilized in the quantitative part. The quantitative data was collected via a descriptive survey approach through two researcher-constructed questionnaires, while qualitative data was collected via interviews. Following the analysis of the obtained data, strategic coordinates of the jobs were determined and appropriate strategic model for each set of the jobs was identified. Research findings showed that paternal strategies are appropriate for management, technical, and specialized jobs, secondary strategies are suitable for administrative jobs, and contractor strategies well fit to servicing jobs. Finally, as components of a framework for achieving organizational goals, strategic goals, human resource strategies, and human resource subsystems (human resource supply, performance evaluation and rewards, employee relations) were developed. Mahdi Shahsiahi (Iran), Amirreza Naghsh (Iran) BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES LLC “СPС “Business Perspectives” Hryhorii Skovoroda lane, 10, Sumy, 40022, Ukraine www.businessperspectives.org Developing the human resource strategies with the approach to Strategic Reference Points (SRP) (Case Study: The Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality) Received on: 10th of August, 2017 Accepted on: 19th of February, 2018

Developing the human resource strategies with the approach to Strategic Reference Points (SRP) (Case Study: The Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality)

INTRODUCTION
A comprehensive human resource system enhances organizational performance and plays a crucial role in sustained competitive advantage. Hence, the present study has addressed formulating Human Resource strategies of the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality which has caused linking policies and practices of human resources with the human resources strategic objectives of the Isfahan Municipality, and also, according to previous research, is considered as a fundamental pillar of organizational performance; so that the organization can pay attention to its human capital as a competitive advantage by adopting appropriate strategies in the field of supply and development of human resources, performance evaluation and employee relations and reach its major goals. For this purpose, "integrated model" by Peter Bamberger and Len Meshoulam presented in 2000 proposes strategic reference points for developing human resource strategies. The need for strategic look at human resource is something undeniable which importance is growing over the time and changes in environment (Deslr & Gari, 2005). By considering what was expressed in this research the present study tries to help managers in the process of moving from the status quo of human resources and human resource subsystems to desirable situation by identifying optimal strategies and human resource subsystems with the strategic reference points approach for different jobs in the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality, including managerial, specialized-technical, administrative and service jobs. Therefore, the main problem of this research is to develop appropriate strategies for human resources in the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality with the strategic reference points (SPR) approach in the human resources supply, performance evaluation and employee relation sub-systems.

The main question
What are the appropriate Human Resource strategies in the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality using the SRP approach?
The secondary question • What are the Human Resources supply sub-system strategies in the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality using SRP approach? • What are the performance appraisal subsystem strategies in the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality using the SRP approach? • What are the employee relations sub-system strategies in the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality using the SRP approach?

Strategic human resource management
Human capital of the organization is made up of its employees and the organization success also depends on them. Bontis et al. (1999) have defined human capital as follows: "the human capital means the human agent in the organization and the combination of talents, skills and expertise which gives a unique feature to the organization". It can be argued that the most distinctive capabilities include knowledge, skills, expertise and commitment of the staff. This concept forms the basis for the strategic management of human resources.
Today, the successful managers know the success of their organizations consists in the employment of educated people and believe that they are valuable asset to achieve competitive advantage and it is only human beings that make us leading in the competition. Formulating strategy is a systematic process to design the comprehensive, long-term and structured plan on human resource which does not comply with a unique method; however, no leading organization ignores it (Qolipoor, 2006).

The theory of strategic reference points (SRP)
The strategic reference point theory by Feigenbaum et al. (1996) is one of the newest and most efficient strategic management theories (Bamberger & Feigenbaum, 1996). Strategic reference points are considered as goals and reference points that the managers use in evaluating options, make strategic decisions, and communicating organizational priorities to key people (Baron & Kerpes, 1999). The integrated model, based on strategic reference points and the two main variables of interest and emphasis on internal or external labor market (SRP1) and the quantity and quality of control on the process of labor or the labor force product (SRP2), introduces four main strategies (Table 1).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The present study is a mixed or combined research (qualitative and quantitative). With regard to the questions raised by this study, the method of collecting data is quantitative and among the descriptive-survey studies; target population includes senior managers, operational managers and well-educated and experienced experts. Therefore, at the qualitative level, 15 managers and planners of the Planning and Civil Deputies of the Isfahan Municipality were selected as the statistical population with the purposeful method. The population at the quantitative level includes all the managers, experts, officials and practitioners of the civil department of Municipality (66 people).
In this study, sequential or continuous sampling is used to determine the experts' population of the research. The data collection method was the library and documentary techniques for literature and theoretical basis, the field method was also used to collect information on the research questions.
Taking notes was used in this study to collect library data and interviews, Delphi and researcher-made questionnaires were used in the field study (Tables   2 and 3). To collect qualitative data related to the research questions (field studies) and to divide the jobs of Department of the Isfahan Municipality, a structured interview (predefined questions and topics) with the experts was used. After interviewing, all the jobs at the civil department of the Isfahan Municipality were categorized in four groups, including (1) management jobs, 2) specialized technical jobs, 3) administrative jobs, and 4) service jobs. In this study, the research questionnaire face validity was confirmed by a number of respondents and the content validity was approved by supervisor and a group of experts in strategic management. The validity of the interview was also approved by reversibility method. In addition, some respondents were re-interviewed and the validity was approved using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for each of the dimensions of the questionnaire that achieved over 0.7 for all aspects of the questionnaire. Since census method was used in this study to collect quantitative data, so it requires no inferential statistical analysis. Therefore, data analysis, descriptive statistics, frequency tables, mean and standard deviation were used using SPSS and EXCEL software. The lack of need for employees' freedom in activity 4 The lack of need for diversity in employee skills 5 The lack of need for higher education 6 The lack of need for experience and skills of employees 7 The lack of need for employee flexibility 8

Labor market: SRP 2 No. of index SRP2 Source
Expected features of employees The abundance of good quality labor force 1 Bamberger and Meshoulam (2000) Predict the positive impact of globalization on the labor market and labor migration on jobs 2 Arabi (2003) The unimportance of permanent jobs for volunteers 3 Arabi (2003) The use of specific knowledge in other organizations 4 The speed of technological change in IT-related jobs 5

Business features
The lack of need for commitment and loyalty of employees 6 Bamberger and Meshoulam (2000) The lack of need to comply with corporate culture 7 Bamberger and Meshoulam (2000) The lack of need to learn staff 8 Arabi (2003)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The main questions are as follows: What are the appropriate Human Resources strategies in the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality using the strategic reference points (SRP) approach? What are the key indicators of the type of control and the labor market jobs (see Tables 2 and 3). The degree of importance (weight) of each of the key indicators of the labor market and type of job control? Table 3. Secondary SRPs (indices) divided by category (HR sub-systems)

Supply and development
The importance of being less experienced as an indicator of ending cooperation 9 Arabi (2003) Performance appraisal and reward The importance of the characteristics of job (instead of employee) as a basis for determining salaries and benefits 10 The limitation of dimensions of performance evaluation in terms of direct supervisor 11 Bamberger and Meshoulam (2000) Employee relations The possibility of drafting a job description and performance standards 12 The need to control directly the activities of the job 13 The lack of influence of corporate culture to enhance employee self-control 14 The lack of a spirit of teamwork and cooperation in work teams 15 Arabi (2003) Labor market: SRP 2 No. of index SRP2 Source

Supply and development
The cost-effectiveness of absorb from external labor market against the efficiency flexibility resulting from their work 9 Arabi (2003) The need for knowledge of the external labor market to attract for the vacancy 10 The attractiveness of the organization from the short-term contracts volunteers 11 The importance of knowledge, skills and competencies for currently recruiting volunteers 12 Bamberger and Meshoulam (2000) The need to interrupt cooperation immediately, with surplus staff 13 Arabi (2003) Performance appraisal and reward The lack of restrictions on the maximum payments to employees according to their efficiency and added value 14 The importance of the material for the spiritual payments 15 Bamberger and Meshoulam (2000) The rate of performance-based pay (rather than job experience) 16 The amount paid based on individual performance 17 Disclosure of consequences and the results of performance in the short term 18 Arabi (2003) Employee relationship The lack of need for employee participation in corporate decisions 19 Bamberger and Meshoulam (2000) Lack of efficiency of auxiliary services to employees and their families 20  After collecting all the answers, including the questionnaire answers, the degree of importance of each indicator of the labor market and the type of job control (Tables 4 and 5) and the questionnaire of formulating human resource strategy have been inserted in the spreadsheet (EXCEL), and the average responses (X) and standard deviation ( ) δ were calculated for both questionnaires.

Determining the indicators' scores
The mean and standard deviation of SRP1 and SRP2 questionnaires for all jobs, and the response difference from the average of each of the respondents were calculated (Table 6). To increase the accuracy of decision-making while determining the type of strategic integration model, the Delphi method was used and in the second round, Delphi consensus was reached (Table 7).  After collecting the Delphi final round questionnaires, determining the weighted average and standard deviation in SPR1, SPR2 and identifying the type of labor market and job control, the jobs were determined according to final data (see Table 7) of SRP values in the coordinate plane, and the strategic type of each of managerial, specialized technical, administrative and service jobs of the civil Department of the Isfahan Municipality was determined based on the integrated model of formulating human resource strategies.  Determining the strategic objectives of human resources Therefore, the targets by more than 60% of experts' agreements were verified and other purposes were excluded, and finally, the strategic objectives of the Human Resources Department of the Isfahan Municipality were determined according to the jobs ( Table 8).

The secondary questions
In this section, with respect to the determined objectives, the research literature (on the features of human resource subsystems), the Municipality perspective in the field of human resources and experts community opinions (final interview and the implementation of the second round Delphi), the strategies of the human resource subsystems were developed so that they were linked to the defined strategic goals set by the experts (Table 8), and then, the strategies with more than 60% experts' agreement were approved and the other strategies were removed and finally, the human resources subsystem strategies were determined based on jobs as a means of achieving the explained objectives (Tables 9, 10, and 11).   The performance-based payments at the individual and group levels

Helping employees greatly in regulatory framework
The use of extensive and long-term performance evaluation system The use of high and variable payments and evident and spiritual rewards Performance appraisal and reward subsystem strategy, specialized technical jobs The internal and external equality principle approach (by category) The performance-based payments at the individual and group levels Helping employees greatly in regulatory framework both The limited use of performance appraisal system in the long term and short term The use of medium variable payments and evident and spiritual bonuses Performance appraisal and reward subsystem strategy, administrative jobs The external equality principle approach

Performance-based payment and supervisor view -based payment
The limited employee assistance The wide use of performance appraisal system in the long term and short term The use of low variable payments and material and apparent bonus Performance appraisal and reward subsystem strategy, service jobs The external equality principle approach

Performance-based payment and supervisor view -based payment
The limited employee assistance The moderate use of performance appraisal system in short term

CONCLUSION
Strategic management is one of the factors that can contribute to the success and the competitive advantage of the organization in the present and in the face of environmental change. As organizations grow under complexity and dynamic environments, managers need to draw wider perspectives for proper management and target them accordingly. This is what strategic management is looking for. On the other hand, we know that the main factor in organizational processes is the human resources of those organizations. Therefore, to implement strategic management in the organization, one of the elements that can have dramatic and significant effects with itself is human resources. In the present study, the integrated model with the Strategic Reference Points approach was used and the municipality of the Isfahan was considered as the main organization and policymaker. The study also analyzed the Deputy of civil territory as a place of study, referring to the 2021 Perspective Document based on "efficient, capable, committed, and enthusiastic human capital to serve the city and citizens with a meritocratic and participatory organization". The reason for choosing the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality as the study object is that in the cities and metropolises there is a category called development, development and development, which has a direct relationship the social and cultural parameters of that city and in this regard, the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality with the slogan "Implementation of development projects with time control approach, quality improvement and cost control" is a step in this way. Therefore, pursuing this slogan, except in the context of dedicated human resources, will not be feasible and effective, and access to such resources is not possible other than by identifying appropriate strategies. So, determining the coordinates of each of the four jobs of Civil Deputy in the integrated model (Table 7), Paternalistic Strategy, Secondary Strategy and Contractual Strategy were selected for managerial and specializedtechnical positions, administrative positions, and service jobs, respectively. The results obtained from the data suggest that Paternalistic Strategy in the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality is the right strategy for managerial and specialized-technical occupations. It is worth noting that, contrary to other previous studies, management occupations in this research were not within the scope of committed strategies because the study (the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality) is a public organization and its managers have no full authority and should decide in accordance with the rules and regulations of the state (by the governorate), so, it is expected that commitment strategy will be the appropriate strategy in the near future with the growing complexity of the jobs, as well as changing government policies to increase the authority of government agencies, and especially municipalities. In other words, managerial and technical jobs in the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality are the jobs that senior managers do not fully understand because of being specialized; therefore, they have to trust the experts and only assess the process efficiency. Jobs using this strategy use a constant technology to control the haphazard phenomenon in the conversion process, and hire people with specific behaviors and do not cause any kind of malady in the production process. On the other hand, the right strategy for administrative positions is determined as the Secondary Strategy, because these jobs are simple, repetitive and standard. Therefore, the labor required for them is adequately available on the labor market, and also, because of the possibility of determining the performance results and the actual consequences in the short term, process control is also possible for these jobs. In other words, jobs that have very repetitive work, low costs, and conversion processes as the main source of competitive advantage, govern the strategy of secondary human resources. For the service jobs, Contractual Strategy was determined, because these jobs are also simple, repetitive and standardized with the exception that these jobs can be so simpler than the administrative jobs as a result of future changes in IT; therefore, service jobs can be fully entrusted to the contractor and given that controlling the work process of contractor includes time and cost, the work guaranties can be used to control the contractors work processes efficiency. For many employers, the most efficient way is to buy specialist services to eliminate the hesitation that is in the process of transformation and try to avoid such a process as a normal process. After determining the appropriate strategy for each of the strategic jobs in the Civil Deputy of the Isfahan Municipality, it is necessary to formulate the functional strategies of human resources (as the main stage of the formulating process). According to the hierarchy of attributes in the integrated model, the proposals resulted from the data analysis were provided in two dimensions of the strategic objectives of human resources (ideal characteristics of the employees in strategic jobs) and human resource strategy (for each strategic jobs group, separated by subsystems of human resources, performance appraisal and reward and employee relations) as the results of the research. In this regard, according to strategic and broad views of respondents, the research literature and the expert opinions, the strategic objectives of jobs were determined; so it can be stated that the determined targets (Table 8) have the necessary credit to be implemented at the Civil Department of the Isfahan Municipality because it has been clarified consistent with the vision and mission of the Isfahan Municipality in the field of human resources as well as some of the opinions of a group of operation managers who are implementing the strategies. The formulation of expert opinion suggests that the strategic objectives determined for managerial positions are in line with the mission of the municipality; but since compliance with legal requirements is very important and indispensable in the municipality, so having discretion and autonomy in these jobs will be possible with regard to the municipality regulatory framework. According to the strategic type and expert opinion, the availability of salaried employees (labor market), a high level of creativity and innovation, different skills, the freedom to operate vastly, and in the framework of the municipal regulations, a small number, competence and commitment to the organization as well as the flexibility and optimal adaptability speeds were determined as strategic objectives of management jobs. Also with regard to specialized-technical jobs, given that the duties and core services of the deputy are done by these jobs, so desirable commitment, organizational commitment, and high creativity and innovation are considered among the integral expectations of these jobs; however, paternalistic strategy proposes the moderate level of expectations. In other words, given the strategic nature of specialized technical professions, as well as the management of paternal strategy, and also given the fact that these occupations have fewer powers than managerial jobs and also specialize in affairs, the need for different skills in these jobs is not seen because different skills in each career category (for example, the electric power industry) are responsive to the jobs of these businesses. Due to the increasing complexity and rising expectations from the municipality and the Civil Deputy, the complexities have relative impact on the administrative and services jobs as well; so, it cannot be certainly said that all features of the paternalistic and contractual strategies are appropriate for these jobs; therefore, in determining strategic objectives by experts, some exceptions are considered for these jobs. For example, the municipal service jobs, due to contracting rules in municipality, cannot act autonomously. The features related to the hu-man resource subsystems (instruments) are considered as the appropriate organizational tools to reach the target (employees expected features) and the human resource was designed based on these three subsystems. In other words, tools for achieving human resource goals for quadruple business, human resources subsystems include human resources, employee performance evaluation, and employee relationships. For example, in order to have salaried employees (the internal market) with a high level of creativity and innovation, different skills in the field of business, the freedom to operate at the headquarters level and, of course, in the framework of the municipal standards, the number of middle (relative), decent and committed to the organization as well as with the speed of flexibility and optimal adaptation in specialized technical professions (Table 8), there should be a high-level selection and absorption process, the development of a business route on average, internal transfers with strict observance (Table 9), taking into account the principle of internal and external equality (according to the career), the use of variable payments to the extent of Medium and spiritual rewards (Table 10), multi-tasked occupations, participation in mid-level decisions and the formation of specialized councils (Table 11). As it was mentioned in the previous section on determining the strategic objectives of the jobs, since determining the human resources strategies is subject to the rules and policies requirement and the policies of the Isfahan Municipality, so in that case, the experts confirmed the formulated strategies of human resource subsystems by consensus in the Civil Deputy. According to the research literature, the scope of employee relation strategies includes working systems, programs to help families and staff and systems of workplace governance. In this regard, the Union for managerial, administrative and contractual positions is not included in the framework of the municipality; but since specialized-technical Jobs are the main pole of serving of this department, establishing specialized councils in the regulatory framework as well as participation in enterprise-wide decision-making on the average level for these occupations can play an important role in improving the performance of these jobs and reducing human errors. Also, according to literature, the scope of performance appraisal and reward strategies include: core selections, internal equity, external equity and equality of staff and evaluation system. In this regard, the principle of internal or external equality can be justified with regard to the labor market type (internal or external) that is the source of other sub-components of performance appraisal and reward; so, the only thing that was discussed by experts for managerial positions is the amount of employee assistance, which should be within the regulatory framework of the municipality. Also, according to the municipality's mission in the area of compensation, justice orientation must be emphasized in this area; so given that the specialized technical jobs are considered as the core of the deputy, depending on the category (civil, electrical, mechanical, etc.), internal or external equality principle approach should be examined. Regarding the type of rewards, experts also recognized the use of secret bonuses in administrative and service jobs (according to the Strategy type) outside of this range according to the policies of rule of law, accountability, and transparency in the municipal area of human resources. According to the literature, the realm of human resource strategies includes the labor market, range supply efforts, delivery methods, supply standards, the scope of participation in the process of supply, staff development, and internal transfers. In this regard, according to the direct impact of the main core (specialized-technical jobs) and management pole in organizational decision making (managerial occupations) on positive performance of the Civil Deputy and the closeness of the coordinates and the range of opinions in the SRP model in these two jobs, rigorous selection process, and career development and flexibility were emphasized by experts; however, since the emphasis on stability in the organization will be considered for managerial positions, internal transfers of these jobs will be performed appropriately and based on the managers merit. Also, observing the category was emphasized by the experts in the transfer of specialized-technical jobs because of the requirement of direct relationship between higher education and these jobs (based on the general policy of the municipality in the area of human resources, which represents the targeted transfers). About the administrative and service jobs, since the type of the labor market was considered external labor market, so the selection process is less sensitive than the specialized-technical jobs, because the goal is not to adhere to the organization. In order to create motivation to the desired level, and to provide appropriate services by these jobs, career development on limited level was considered for the administrative and service jobs.