THE CHANGING ROLES OF THE HR MANAGER

While not all companies are recognising this yet, those that are most effective and most admired, seem to be the ones that are. As a consequence they are doing many things that make their management of human resources as effective as possible.

In doing so doing, several things are being observed: 1) the roles that the HR department and its HR professionals have traditionally played are changing substantially; 2) the competencies required of the HR professionals to play these new roles are also changing rapidly with dramatic implications for the current HR staff and leaders; 3) the HR professionals are working more closely, in partnership, with line managers, employees, suppliers and representatives of labour unions, strategic partners and members of community organisations in order to be more effective in managing the firm’s human resources; and finally, 4) the structure of the HR department and the HR function are being reshaped in order to better serve the various stakeholders of HR in order to make the management of people and the organisation more effective.

Strategic Partner

In today’s organisations, to guarantee their viability and ability to contribute, HR managers need to think of themselves as strategic partners. In this role, the HR person contributes to the development of and the accomplishment of the organisation-wide business plan and objectives.

The HR business objectives are established to support the attainment of the overall strategic business plan and objectives. The tactical HR representative is deeply knowledgeable about the design of work systems in which people succeed and contribute.

This strategic partnership impacts HR services such as the design of work positions; hiring; reward, recognition and strategic pay; performance development and appraisal systems; career and succession planning; and employee development.

Employee Advocate

As an employee, sponsor or advocate, the HR manager plays an integral role in organisational success via his knowledge about and advocacy of people. This advocacy includes expertise in how to create a work environment in which people will choose to be motivated, contributing, and happy.

Fostering effective methods of goal setting, communication and empowerment through responsibility, builds employee ownership of the organisation.

The HR professional helps establish the organisational culture and climate in which people have the competency, concern and commitment to serve customers well.

In this role, the HR manager provides employee development opportunities, employee assistance programmes, gainsharing and profit-sharing strategies, organisation development interventions, due process app-roaches to problem solving and regularly scheduled communication opportunities.

As time changes, the following list represents some possible roles that HR managers should be able to cope with:

Commitment –Reflector

In a scenario where every employee would be loyal as long his knowledge is appreciated and required, it would be required from the HR professional to be a generator and reflector of organisational commitment.

Change-Seller

In a climate where change is probably the only constant phenomenon, the workforce needs to be sold the concept of embracing and accepting change for their own betterment, the HR professional should play a lead role of selling change to the workforce.

Cross-Seller and

image builder

In face of cut-throat competition, the business expects each functional group to hard-sell the company’s image in an attempt to get aheads. In this pursuit the HR professional can play a lead role at institutes, seminars, conferences, competitions.

Strategic business partner

The organisation expects each function to align itself with the business goals and the same has to be reciprocated by the HR professional by gaining substantial and focussed knowledge about the core business, competitors etc.

Relationship manager

In a business where customers are very choosy , it would be required by all functions including the HR department to keep their focus on satisfying and retaining these key accounts. On the other hand, the new work-force who are expected to work more and more long hours need to be welded together with each other and with the organisation with good relationship management. This has got to be the role of the HR professional.

Creativity and Innovativeness Inc

In a business environment where the key to survival is influenced by the organisation’s ability to innovate continuously, it is the role of the HR professional to create and diffuse an atmosphere conducive for innovation. He should take the lead in driving away the "fear of failure" from the work-place and create strategies which would reward innovation.

The constant evaluation of the effectiveness of the organisation results in the need for the HR professional to frequently champion change. Both knowledge about and the ability to execute successful change strategies make the HR professional exceptionally valued. Knowing how to link change to the strategic needs of the organisation will minimise employee dissatisfaction and resistance to change.

The HR professional contributes to the organisation by constantly assessing the effectiveness of the HR function. He also sponsors change in other departments and in work practices. To promote the overall success of his organisation, he champions the identification of the organisational mission, vision, values, goals and action plans. Finally, he helps determine the measures that will tell his organisation how well it is succeeding in all of this.