Mohammad Mosaddek Hussain :
Actually the function of human resource management (HRM) is encompassed of various issues and problems because people/human capital management processes are changing frequently along with the situation and age and for the types of organizations and enterprises. Framing HRM processes are also depend on the vision and mission. Without consistency in work method and vision the whole programmes may be in vain after having a good plan and process. In this connection, the new focus should be in the changing situations and its probable outcomes. Strategic execution and methods for coping with the changing situation in the management of employees can play a vital role in eradicating emerging issues and problems.
On the other hand, the present role for HR instigates dramatic changes in the processes how HR professionals think and behave to practice the strategic dimension in the new situation. A focus on results does not only change HR responsibilities, practices, and departments, it also changes the competencies and skills necessary for HR professionals in the organization. In this connection, Dave Ulrich highlights in his book “Delivering results” five essential competencies that emerging HR professionals need to follow for better outcome. This include: Knowing the business properly, mastering HR practices, managing change processes, creating cultures and workplaces that build individual capability and organizational commitment, and finally they need to demonstrate personal credibility. Besides, George C. Tokesky states in his article “Strategic HR management is vital” that, in order for HR professionals to be taken seriously by senior management and accepted as partners in the planning and execution of business strategy, both general business skills and HR management skills must be excellent. If line management does not have complete confidence in HR expertise, it will always doubt and check HR recommendations.
Moreover, technical knowledge will be the basis that can move HR to form a passive-dependent role to full partnership with line management. As a full partner in strategic thinking, HR professionals will have to sharpen their skills in achieving expertise in leading-edge HR technologies, learning about the current business environment and the pros and cons of organization’s business strategies and business ethics. Sycophancy and critical politics are no longer adequate to gain favour from top management. Needless to say that HR professionals need to change their traditional roles as followers, helpers, and firefighters and must be prepared to play strategic role for leading the way toward establishing competitive business advantage.
In other words, to play the strategic role effectively, HR professionals must master the theory and practice of forming and implementing strategy to this end. They must be able to engage managers in discussions of vision, methods, strategies, values, purpose, and intent of the organization. They must help to define fit between organizational activities. They should know and understand who formulates strategy, what form strategy statements should take, and how to turn strategy into action for both the organization and its employees as a whole.
Besides, HR professionals need to have a certain ‘attitude’ for challenging managers, making informed decisions about how to exert in HR practices to assure outcomes with confidence. Attitude combined with the needed competence makes an HR manager a full professional.
Cyndi Tebbel in her article “Selling the concept of Strategic HR” highlights some points how to build a strategic partnership with the management: These include:
1. Don’t wait for your CEO to extend the role of HR; make HR the agent of change
2. Do find out what the CEO believes is important for the future of the organization’s success and then build your strategy along those lines
3. Don’t expect attitudes about HR’s role within the company to change can become a strategic partner and contribute to the entire team
4. Do provide the CEO and senior management with concrete evidence of how the HR department contributes to the company
5. Don’t be afraid to disagree with the CEO
6. Do develop long-term strategic plans for HR in the same way that other managers do for their departments
HR also requires to consider the notion of seniors on what they expect from HR and how they behave toward the HR staff, as their involvement in strategy is dependent on the level of regard for the personnel function in the organizations.
HR professionals need opportunity to show what they could do, to show that they can think strategically, to provide strong and convincing evidence that HR could contribute to the goals on a long-term basis, and build respect for the HR department so that HR is considered a full strategic partner in top management, only then they will be included in the bigger scene of the company.
In the current competitive world, rethinking business processes started a wave of restructuring and outsourcing has become a solution to re-engineer the organization and to reduce expenditure in many ways. Outsourcing of functions could be recommended to be outsourced. What is going to be left of the HR function is the strategic management of human capital, of which HR should be given full responsibility in the present days. The functions of staffing, selection, training, placement, induction and development, and reward systems will need to be repositioned depending on the organization’s mission, objectives and business strategies and how the organization is managed, organized and what the priorities are in the marketplace.
(To be continued)
Besides, downsizing is if HR departments contribute to ‘quick-fix’ solutions, without considering the critical people issues, as then the organization can end up with a demotivated and scared workforce. This can create complexities in organization and ultimately difficult and creates structural problems. In this situation an appropriate leadership focus of organizing tasks and new motivational techniques can be helpful.
As critics recently argued that the cutting process has gone by. It denotes that delayering or downsizing have led to ‘dumb sizing’. Organizations have stood by employees to the point where they are denuded of the skills needed to grasp new opportunities and remaining staff are demoralized and overworked. So, some employees may be frustrated with their works and become tired to their job. In this point, Mr. Reyer A. Swaak commented in his article “Are we saying good-bye to HR?” on what the future will bring that a reduced and altered HR may be just one HR executive reporting to the CEO, who will be in charge of HR planning to ensure that people and organizational decisions are aligned with the business plan. This new HR executive should “act as the tough but fair-minded keeper of the corporate conscience and provide strong direction on all HR-related issues.”. Further Mr. Swaak states that HR’s key activity should be participating in the formulation of a mission and the translation of that mission into realistic objectives and strategies. Finding, developing, measuring, and rewarding talent will become part of a line manager’s job with guidelines coming from HR. Most or all of HR administration, including compensation and benefits, will probably be outsourced. Compensation administration and delivery could become an activity performed by finance, and benefits could be taken over by the treasury function.
Many top executives have a negative attitude towards the HR function, but some also see the strategic advantages of having a well-functioning HR Department. So, it is recognized that there are some specific functions that can be performed well only by the competent department of HR. Without this, proper human management functions would be hampered in many ways.
Need-based strategies and integrated practices sound fine in theory, but how are they to be translated into action? In this connection Tony Miller states in his book “Redesigning HR for Strategic Advantage” how HR departments can deliver measurable value. He further states that “The concept of HR being a major business player really goes without saying. Either HR plays with the players or it needs to be outsourced to someone who can perform the task. To succeed in the future, the most important change for the HR function to achieve is the move from a process manager to become a strategic player.”
To move from process provider to a true strategic player within the organization, there are several steps to follow in order to succeed in the transition.
First, an audit of the HR department’s skills – what they are and how to measure them – needs to be done. Then HR has to assess what it has to offer to the business so that it can become a viable strategic partner of the company and also to get a strategic advantage for itself. Services provided need categorizing into processes and added value activities. When this is completed HR professionals can review how they spend their time and in which of the two areas most of their effort is focused.
Last, the techniques to form a strategic long-term partnership need to be implemented. This is the main part of the transition, where the HR professional has to gain a much wider view of the business area. Working at the strategic level is a vital requirement for HR functions if they are truly going to be seen as adding value. The challenge is to gain enough credibility to get involved in the process at the early stages.
As Tony Miller describes that the whole process of having a vision and turning it into actions can be broken down into seven levels:
The first level concerns the vision, where we have to define the direction for the future.
The second level is formulation of the mission statement that should give every employee a clear understanding of values, targets and output expected. It should contain a formulation of the firm’s objectives that enables progress toward them to be measured.
The third level is the strategy which is the key element for what needs to be done, what the company needs to focus on (i.e. business growth, improved productivity, higher quality, etc.). This is where HR comes in. There needs to be a plan specifically for the HR function, a strategic plan on how to add value and how to measure HR’s success.
The Level four concerns the business, operating, and budget plan including all that is needed to contribute to the strategic plan, the processes of HR, the function of training and the all day-to-day running costs.
Th Level five – creating departmental plans – is vital to ensure that the results you have predicted is produced by the strategy of the operating/business plan. There are always two strategic plans: the organizational plan and the plan for the HR department.
The Level six and seven concern team and individual plans. If you want to achieve maximum results from employees the minimum they need to know is what’s required of them, to what quality standard, time frame, cost and end result. This also needs to be in context with the overall objectives so that people are not working in isolation.
For the success and the achievement of measurable results, monitoring and performance review systems need to be in place in order to help identifying problems at an early stage and to put plans or actions in place to keep expected results on target.
As knowledge is considered one wing of the bird, action is the other. It needs both to fly.
Formulating the strategy ‘properly’ is the key of business success. The HR manager can only contribute to the strategy if he/she is a strategic player.
Miller further opines that the success of being a key strategic partner within the company depends mostly on three factors: a) the perceived value of HR, b) the ability to deliver promises made, and c) producing results without errors. Putting actions into manageable processes and standardizing the work method is very important for producing expected outcome. Moreover we should not forget that everything we do can be measurable by specific scales.
Focus on Outcomes
As per Guest’s theory regarding HRM, four HR outcomes are emerged, that include political goals: strategic integration, commitment, flexibility and quality. These political goals are all related to HRM policies and need to be achieved to create expected organizational outcomes.
Strategic integration can be happened through by ensuring that HRM is fully integrated into strategic planning, that HRM policies are coherent, that managers use HRM practices it to their everyday work as well as through effective policies of managing change.
Commitment is the goal to reach by ensuring that employees relate to the organization and are committed to high performance. This can be achieved through competent recruitment, selection and policies. Flexibility is necessary for ensuring an adaptable organizational structure, and functional flexibility based on situation. This adaptability of employees can be ensured through appraisals, reward systems, training and development.
The Final goal is to reach quality by ensuring a high quality of goods and services through high quality, competent, committed and flexible employees as a whole.
As per recommendation of Dave Ulrich in his article ” A new mandate for Human Resources” by four ways senior managers can create an trend in which HR is focused on outcomes instead of activities.
The first step for senior managers is to demonstrate their belief and respect in HR and to
communicate to the organization that the soft side of HR – like culture change and intellectual capital – is critical to business success.
The second step is to explicitly define the results expected from HR and to hold HR accountable for these by setting specific goals and then track, measure, and reward performance.
The third step should be to invest in innovative HR practices to signal to the organization that HR is worthy of the company’s money and attention. As theses new practices are identified, line managers should expect HR to adapt to them by focusing on learning how a new practice should work in the company’s unique competitive situation.
Finally, what senior managers can do to drive forward the new mandate for HR is to improve the quality of the HR staff itself by, because when more is expected of HR, a higher quality of HR professionals that know the business, understand the theory and practice of HR, that can manage culture and make change happen, and have personal credibility must be found or the existing staff must be trained.
It is true that HR cannot expand its role in an organization without the necessary expertise in this field. Becoming a strategic partner demands a degree of knowledge on the strategy, markets and the economy. Becoming an administrative expert demands some knowledge of re-engineering, as well as the details of what the line actually does. If HR is to happen real change, it must be made by the expert and confident employees who have the skills and relevant knowledge to work.
Senior executives who understand the value and the benefit of intellectual capital and organizational capability need to demand more and invest in the HR function and permit it to show its full potential to every level. To meet the growing expectations, HR professionals must focus more on the deliverables of work and less on just getting their work done. Their role would be in terms of the value creation and find the mechanisms that ensures good results promptly. “They must measure their effectiveness in terms of business competitiveness rather than employee comfort.
A View into the Future
Nowadays, the HR function has increased its influence in the executive functions and its dimension. Reported by most companies, senior management is committed to having a strong HR functional activities, that top HR executives have regular access to CEO and boardroom, and that senior line executives view HR as growing in importance relative to other staff specialties. Firms are using downsizing and re-engineering not just to reduce the number of staff members, but to allow HR to focus on higher-value activities such as change management, organizational development, communications and information management and succession planning as a whole.
James Down, an expert states ” that HR is shifting from a ‘micro’ to a ‘macro’ view of its managerial mission and that the function now focuses on company wide issues such as change management, leadership development and culture building, rather that on individual case management. Line managers and employees usually take responsibility for routine HR issues, while various administrative tasks are handled by a centralized service unit or outsourcing vendor.
The result is that HR functions are concentrating their intellectual and organizational strength on a few components with priorities. They want to enrich the depth of knowledge in HR function, practice and work closely to the corporate strategy and communicate their enhanced capability to top management. This approach is considered as the future for the HR function in the organizational setting.
In this connection Les Pickett in his article “Human Resources: A Focus into the Future” presented extracts from a paper presented during the Annual National Conference of the Australian HR Institute held in Canberra in 1998: the extract highlighted the following:
“The successful companies of the twenty first century will have a clear vision and create a culture and organization structure that motivates and develops people and encourages them to achieve. They will possess values, behaviors and standards that put the words into action. They will identify and develop core competencies and work towards the creation of an environment which encourages their people to share knowledge and recognize learning as a personal responsibility and a lifelong process.
They will value reciprocal relationships and recognize that by focusing on and learning from all those who contribute to the business, it will be best able to improve returns to shareholders. They will recognize that resistance to change has been identified as one of the leading causes of business failure over the past decade and that managers who do not embrace change within every level of their organization will not survive in the increasingly competitive global economy.
This is why the tendency towards a strategic dimension of HR is so important and should be embraced by every company, where people management – a key responsibility of HR – makes all the difference when delivering a high standard of service.
Considering the above views, it is important to understand that attitudes, motives and focus of employees are greater factors in achieving goal of an organization/company or commercial enterprises in this competitive business world. In forming positive attitude towards the growth of an organization, HR department should be given due importance and responsibility to form positive attitude, focus on the goal, OD practice, embracing change and appropriate re-engineering practice that fit with the organizational work method in line with the organizational vision and goal.
