Managing People and the Competitive Advantage - Assignment Example

We have to be sufficiently agile to adapt as the road winds and be foresightful about what might be ahead.” (Gratton, 1998 14).  Therefore the role of HR functions in today’s organizations can not be limited to a few traditional aspects of the management of people. The overall role of HR functions concerning managing people is to ensure that the organization achieves all its short-term and long-term objectives. To do so the HR functions must take steps, guide, and support the organization on all matters related to the workforce of the organization. One of the primary roles of HR functions is to act as a change agent. The HR function is vital in delivering cultural change and organizational transformation. Therefore the role of HR in facilitating and managing change concerning employees is crucial for an organization. The various other aspects of managing people that the HR function will play a role in training and development, performance evaluation and appraisals, developing healthy relations among the employees and, between the employees and management, designing and developing HR strategies, policies, and practices (Armstrong, 2006).

First-line supervisors or managers play an important role in managing people within an organization. First-line managers and supervisors are the gateways of communication between the management and the employees at the grass root level. It is the first-line managers who have first-hand experience of the day to conditions at the workplace. There are in the best position to sense and discover changes or routines in the employee attitude. Also, it is the first-line managers with whom the employees communicate about any issues at the workplace (Tyson & York, 2000). The employees relate to the first-line managers and their experiences with the first-line manager primarily formulate their experience with the organization. Therefore, the cooperation and involvement of first-line managers in designing HRM strategies, policies, and practices are important. Also, they are vital for the implementation of HRM strategies and policies. The management of the employees on a day-to-day basis is carried out by the first-line managers and not the HR executives. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the first-line managers to ensure the effective implementation of the various HR strategies and policies (Gratton, 1999).

The HR Director and the executives of the HR team are responsible for ensuring that all the HR policies and practices are implemented within the organization. It is their responsibility to design the HR policies and practices as well as ensure that it is implemented. But it is not possible to implement these policies and practices themselves. They need to take the assistance of various managers and supervisors down the line to ensure that these policies and practices are understood by everyone in the organization and at the same time implemented effectively to achieve the organizational goals and objectives.

The immediate responsibility for the performance of employees will be that of the line managers and supervisors. But the responsibility for the overall performance of the employees of an organization is that of the HR teams. One of the main purposes of HR teams is to ensure the full potential of the employees is extracted. It is the responsibility of the HR team to ensure the continuous improvement of the organization's performance. Therefore, the HR teams are held responsible for the poor performance of the employees. The HR teams are required to continuously assess the performance of the employees and in cases of poor performance, design strategies such as training and development to improve the performance.

From the above it is understood how human resource functions are vital and managing people gives a competitive advantage to an organization over its competitors.