Human Resource Department in the Context of the City of Southbridge - Case Study Example

?Short Report Executive Summary This report outlines the role of Human Resource Department (HRD) in the context the of Southbridge. The report also highlights the needs for Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) within the City of Southbridge, in order to improve its overall performance. The report also intends to identify certain problematic areas within the group related with HR functioning and attempts to make necessary recommendations in order to resolve these challenges more effectively and efficiently. Accordingly, it has been ascertained that the City of Southbridge is a metropolitan local authority wherein more than 700 employees are engaged, which necessitates a proper managerial framework to execute the operations in an error free manner. The major problems encountered by the group include poor recruitment and selection procedure, lack of precision in job description, incompetent leadership approach, lack of effective communication within the operational dimensions of the group, inadequate training and development programs, employee motivational limitations and lack of proper integration of HR strategies with the overall organisational goals. Thus, in order to resolve these challenges and issues, the City of Southbridge has been suggested to restructure its HRD and managerial approach. Addressing the rudimental flaws persisting within the organisation, along with a considerable significance towards identifying the future scope for improvements and opportunities to mitigate the limitations within the HR practices of the City of Southbridge, it is expected that this report shall be helpful for the group’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in taking requisite measures. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 The Role of a Human Resource Department at the City of Southbridge 5 The Arguments for a Strategic Human Resource Management within the City Of Southbridge 6 Identification of Potential Areas of Reform 8 Conclusion 10 Recommendations 10 References 12 Introduction City of Southbridge is a large-sized metropolitan local authority, which employs over 700 people in an array of professional, community amenity and manual roles. Mr. Brian, the recently appointed HR manager of the group, was able to identify several HR challenges during his professional tenure. In this context, Mr. Brian postulated that the group is still burdened with the orthodox HR practice, wherein greater emphasis is allocated to administration and the related transactional functions only. It has been highlighted that the HR structure within the group was principally based on its functional dimensions, including recruitment and payroll section as the primary and the largest sections. Mr. Brian further observed that none of the HR staff possessed adequate understanding regarding the strategic notion or functions followed by the City of Southbridge, which in turn caused misalignments in the execution of the HR strategies in accordance with the strategic notion followed in the City of Southbridge. With due consideration to Mr. Brian’s concern, the primary purpose of this report is to lucidly highlight the role of Human Resource Department (HRD) within the City of Southbridge. The report further strives to explain the need for a strategic approach to resolve HRM issues within the City of Southbridge. Also, the report entails identification of potential areas of scope within the group to accelerate the effective reform of the HR function in a strategic way. Throughout the report, in order to acquire considerable understanding and to draw valid and reliable conclusion, recently published academic journals and peer-reviewed articles have been utilized. Furthermore, journals containing relevant models and theories have been taken into concern for offering necessary recommendations in respect of the HR challenges identified within the City of Southbridge. The Role of a Human Resource Department at the City of Southbridge Human Resource Department (HRD) plays a crucial role that further imposes significant impacts on the overall performances of any organisation. As per the case referral, it can be argued that the HRD at the City of Southbridge is responsible for both operational and strategic activities. The HRD is most importantly liable to perform the roles of an administrative expert, which are oriented towards day to day operational activities, fundamental to the management of the organisational infrastructure. In addition, the HRD is also responsible for listening and responding to employees and stimulating their behavioural traits towards the attainment of the common goals and objectives. It is also essential for the HRD to develop high performance work practice within the City of Southbridge’s field of operations. The HRD in the group should also be held responsible for the recruitment and selection of candidates. The department should also be involved in record keeping. It is essential for the HRD to ensure that skilled and qualified candidate is recruited and selected who can render their dedicated effort towards the attainment of the determined goals. It is equally important for the HRD to ensure that the selected candidates as well as existing employees are satisfied and are effectively stimulated towards better performances. However, as per Mr. Brian’s observation, the HRD should not focus only on recruitment and payroll activities, but should also emphasize on the welfare of the employees and motivate them to contribute their best. The HRD should also collect necessary information about the employees and their performances in order to ascertain the areas requiring reform. Likewise, the HRD should also involve in preparing appraisals of employees’ performances and rewarding employees accordingly (Hailey & et. al., 2005). In other words, the HRD’s role in the City of Southbridge should also involve delivering effective administrative efficiency. It is also the prime role of the HRD in the group to act as the change agent. It can be admitted in this regard that change is a constant factor in the current phenomenon. It is thus essential to change the HR strategies and its ways of functioning in order to execute the intended operations smoothly (Boselie & Paauwe, 2005). The HRD at the City of Southbridge should also require displaying people-oriented strategic role for initiating necessary changes as per the external environmental and internal structural needs (Hailey & et. al., 2005). The Arguments for a Strategic Human Resource Management within the City Of Southbridge Strategic Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within the City of Southbridge apparently lack a systematic structure. As observed by Mr. Brian, the HR personnel are also unaware of the strategic role of HRM. Moreover, the City of Southbridge has also been practicing traditional HR practices, which can be criticised to limit the strategic alignment of the operational functions with the internal as well as external environmental requirements. Thus, it is quite necessary that the HRM structure, following in the City of Southbridge, has to shed the orthodox transactional and administrative functional framework and adopt a modern strategic role to empower its employees and thereby, assure the accomplishment of its determined objectives. It can be argued that Strategic HRM is also essential for transforming HR functions to further attract and recruit people with varied skills (Beer, 1997). Moreover, the HR functions performed within the company also lacked in motivating the employees and establishing effective communication within the various dimensions of the City of Southbridge. At the same time, the HRD had also failed to practice appropriate leadership in developing a cohesive and committed workforce. It can be argued that strategic HRM is essential for a smoother conduct of the operational functions in the City of Southbridge to achieve its determined goals and the objectives. Apparently, a stronger linkage, between the HRM strategies practiced within the City of Southbridge and with the organisational vision, mission as well as goals, is required in this context. Such a strategic role of the HRM functions practiced by the City of Southbridge will be quite beneficial to promote its focus upon the stakeholders’ interests and likewise, shall also facilitate in establishing a positive relationship with the employees. Hence, on the whole, the SHRM practices recommended above shall also contribute towards the development of an appropriate organisational culture (Harris & Ogbonna, 2001). Contextually, the involvement of HRM in strategic activities of the City of Southbridge will assist the group to implement its planning more conveniently and in an effective manner. Such practices shall also facilitate the HRD to establish strong and a transparent linkage with the top level management and other operating levels (Ali, 2013). However, the implementation of any new strategy or policy demands fundamental change in the behaviour of the group. As stated earlier, the HRD in the City of Southbridge has never been involved in the strategic activities of the group and was working as an isolated dimension of the organisational structure. As a consequent result, the HR professionals were also observed to be inadequately aware of the strategic role played by HRM. Thus, through the implementation of SHRM, the City of Southbridge will be able to mitigate its limitations in the form of strategic coherence within its various organisational dimensions. Furthermore, such an approach shall also create value to the group in the form of increased productivity through a more satisfied, motivated and competitive workforce, which is also witnessed as a major limitation of the group in the current context (Mart??n-Alca?Zar & et. al., 2005; Harris & Ogbonna, 2001; Beer, 1997). Thus, it can be affirmed that there is a significant need for a strategic approach to HRM within the City of Southbridge. Identification of Potential Areas of Reform There were numerous areas with respect to the HR functions of the City of Southbridge that would have led towards the emergence of potential trouble. For instance, it was apparent from the case that the personnel recruited, to the HRD in the City of Southbridge, were predominately from the administrative background with inadequate knowledge about the roles and responsibilities of HRM. Thus, it can be ascertained that there was no clear distinction made in relation to job descriptions and specifications in the HRM practices of the group. It was also identified that significant strategic reform is required in the areas of recruitment and selection procedures of the City of Southbridge. The HRD also lacked in maintaining a proper record or workforce data, postulating the numbers of employees and payroll costs incurred by the company within a particular time period. Furthermore, owing to the inherent limitations in the communication process within the HRD and other operational dimensions of the group, and also due to the insignificant approach taken by the management towards training and developing the recruited person in alignment with the organisational requirements, which further resulted in inadequate efficiency of the HR team. Moreover, the HR personnel recruited in the City of Southbridge from the administrative background, lacked experience and understanding regarding the vision and goal of the group. It has been also identified that there was no proper mode of communication existing between the HRD and the top management in the City of Southbridge. In this context, it can be identified that the group lacked in competent leadership directions (Beer, 1997). Based on these limitations, it can be argued that the entire HRD at the City of Southbridge was poorly structured. Thus, it has been identified that there exist numerous areas within the group, which needs to be reformed in order to make the overall HR function more strategic. More importantly, the areas related with recruitment and selection as well as staff development activities seek immediate reform in order to facilitate the betterment of the organisational performance in the City of Southbridge. Furthermore, developing an effective and efficient communication system to connect the HRD with other operational dimensions and the top management group, considerable reforms must be made within the managerial structure of the group. The aim to increase the efficiency of the employees also demands necessary reforms to be made. It cannot be denied that establishing appropriate workforce data including a proper payroll recording mechanism also needs to be duly reformed (Mart??n-Alca?Zar & et. al., 2005). Nonetheless, it can be argued that it is essential for the group to address and reform the various HR issues effectively in order to eliminate any possible trouble related with employment matters (Pinnamaneni & et. al., 2003). Conclusion The City of Southbridge is a large metropolitan local authority which employees more the 700 employees in different blue-collar roles. Certainly, managing such a large size organisation requires an effective framework, which would permit transparent communication system, precise work procedure and appropriate allocation of resources. However, it has been observed that the group has been involved in traditional HR functioning, placing significant focus on transactional and administrative roles only. This caused significant drawbacks to the organisational processes. It is in this context that the group needs to strategise reformation of its communication system, HRD structure and its HR functions including recruitment, motivation, training and development strategies so as to overcome the identified limitations. Such changes will further require the top management of the City of Southbridge to plan efficiently in respect of the allocation of resources, diversity of the employees and effective identification as well as control of the employee behaviour. Recommendations It was observed from the case that there persist numerous problematic areas concerning HRD functions at the City of Southbridge. In order to resolve these HR issues, the City of Southbridge needs to emphasize on: Restructuring its managerial approach Deliver appropriate training and development facilities to its employees in the HRD Establish efficient communication between the HRD and the top management as well as other operational dimensions Assign greater responsibility to employees Implement leadership development programs for the HR professionals Integrate HRM strategies with overall organisational strategies Pay due attention towards a transparent performance appraisal system (Mart??n-Alca?Zar & et. al., 2005; Harris & Ogbonna, 2001; Beer, 1997) References Akhtar, S. & et. al., 2008. Strategic HRM Practices and Their Impact on Company Performance in Chinese Enterprises. Human Resource Management, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 15–32. Ali, A., 2013. Significance of Human Resource Management in Organisations: Linking Global Practices with Local Perspective. International Refereed Research Journal, Vol. 4, Iss. 1, pp. 78-87. Boselie, P. & Paauwe, J., 2005. Human Resource Function Competencies in European Companies. Working Paper 05 – 08, pp. 1-28. Beer, M., 1997. The Transformation of the Human Resource Function: Resolving the Tension between a Traditional Administrative and a New Strategies Role. Human Resource Management, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 49-56. Hailey, V. H. & et. al., 2005. The HR Department’s Role in Organisational Performance. Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 15 No, 3, pp. 49-66. Harris, L. C. & Ogbonna, E., 2001. Strategic Human Resource Management, Market Orientation, and Organisational Performance. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 51, pp. 157-166. Mart??n-Alca?Zar, F. & et. al., 2005. Strategic Human Resource Management: Integrating the Universalistic, Contingent, Con?gurational and Contextual Perspectives. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 16, pp. 633–659. Pinnamaneni, N. & et. al., 2003. Strategic Human Resource Management. Troy University, pp. 1-13. Read More