Four Circles of HR Professionalism - Assignment Example

Four Circles of HR Professionalism Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to convey my professional understanding of as to what it takes to be an astute HR manager. This report also enunciates my personal development plan as an HR professional, an assessment of my strengths and weaknesses as an HR professional, and the steps that I envision taking to continually keep on improving myself as an HR professional. Table of Contents Executive Summary.......................................................................................................2 1.0 Introduction..............................................................................................................4 2.0 Personal Conduct as a Professional..........................................................................4 3.0 Four Circles of HR Professionalism and me............................................................5 4.0 Practical Scenarios...................................................................................................7 5.0 My Approach to CPD...............................................................................................8 6.0 Conclusion.................................................................................................................9 References......................................................................................................................10 1.0 Introduction Simply speaking HR pertains to an array of activities associated with the people in an institution or organization. This involves having a knack for managing people and conducting activities which may include hiring and recruiting the staff, managing work culture and job performance within an organization, training the personnel working within an organization, assuring that the staff complies with the rules and regulations in an organization, and the overall management of the behaviour of personnel at the work place (Sartain &Finney 2005). Thereby in a professional context, any HR manager does need to be astutely aware of as to how to conduct oneself at the workplace (Kulik 2004). There stand to be some predominant professional considerations related to the workplace that an HR manager does need to hold sacrosanct. 2.0 Personal Conduct as a Professional As an HR I am well aware of the fact that within a professional environment it is not only the sacrosanct ‘best practices’ but also an array of rules and regulations that my conduct needs to be subservient to. I am well aware of the fact that for the personnel I manage, I am the actual company. Not only the staffs that I manage view me as the management, but in the courts of law I will also be considered to be the actual employer (Muller 2012). This realization has a serious impact on my professional conduct. I am well aware of the fact that as an HR manager I will always be directly held responsible for the things I do or fail to do for the employees (Muller 2012). The other thing that I always keep in my mind is that employees never leave organizations; they mostly tend to leave bosses. Thereby I also keep in my mind that every employee that comes to work in the organization is not a passive toolbox, but rather a complete person with a heart and a mind and a soul. My approach towards employees is always imbued with concern and I hold very human expectations from them. I well understand the fact that employees do always need a feedback. Whether they are doing a good job or are not doing well, the employees are mostly not able to ascertain it until they are evinced an honest feedback (Slade 1994). I have also realized that extending a timely feedback to the employees does go a long way in assuring organizational efficiency and thereby as an HR professional I make it a point to be thorough and prompt with the feedback I extend to the employees. As an HR manager I make it a point to never to violate or stand on the wrong side of the employment laws. I am well aware of the fact that equal employment is the law of the land and thereby while hiring employees I also consider it my cardinal duty to not to discriminate against any employee on the basis of one’s age, gender, colour, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, etc (Muller 2012). I also make it a point to look to it that I never violate the legal and human rights of the employees I manage. In also proactively keep myself aware of the company policies pertaining to varied HR issues and never do violate these policies during the course of my duty. 3.0 Four Circles of HR professionalism and me As a professional I am well aware of the relevance and importance of being affiliated to the CIPD HR professional map on a continual basis and the importance of upgrading and augmenting my professional abilities within the purview of four concentric circles of HR professionalism. With regards to the first circle of HR professionalism it is my duty to remain affiliated to the organizational culture, norms and values and to contrive the requisite strategies and policies in the light of these essentials. I make it a point to support my superiors and colleagues with the routine administration and processes and to come out with innovative solutions and strategies that remain grounded in the organizational norms and values. I am well aware of the importance of customer priorities and opinions in the current business environment. Thereby I make it a point to assure that the policies that I contrive remain customer centric and go a long way in furthering customer interest and needs. In a way I consider myself to be a liaison agent between my colleagues and the employees I manage and the organizational customers. With regards to the second circle of HR professionalism I am conversant with the fact that it is my duty to extend leadership in the management of HR issues. In that context I have realized that the scope of the HR leadership goes much beyond the ambit of the organizational HR domain. As an HR I am required to hone and polish my interpersonal communication and soft skills as an HR manager. No doubt effective communication is an essential aspect of HR leadership. Besides an HR manager is many a times required to serve in a leadership role in the resolution and management of organizational conflicts. With regards to the third circle of the HR professionalism I look to it that the employee relations in the organization remain streamlined and smooth. I am a firm believer in the value of communication within organization and I look to it that the vertical and horizontal channels of communication with the organization remain open and unhampered so that the requisite information could flow freely. I also make it a point to see that there is an honest and apt performance assessment policy in place and the employees do get promptly and duly recognized and awarded for the good work they do. With regards to the fourth circle of the HR professionalism it is my firm belief that decisiveness in the matter of taking decision and correcting policies is the hallmark of good HR professionalism. In the end it is the HR professionals who are able to take decisive decision during the course of the organizational activities that manage to keep the organization efficient and successful. Lack of decisiveness on the part of an HR professional could very soon make things lackadaisical, unwieldy and unpredictable. 4.0 Practical Scenarios I can readily present some professional scenarios where I could act as a thinking HR to ameliorate the incumbent situation and achieve the desired results. Scenario 1 For instance consider a scenario where an employee who is otherwise nice and easy to work with and who is committed to and sincere with the organization does come late to office every day. This is a scenario that is faced by the HR personnel many a times in their life. If I were to deal with this scenario, I will make it a point to separate the issue from the individual. I will first help myself realize that it is only the late coming of the employee that is the real issue and that otherwise he is a good employee. This will help me envisage the scenario in the right perspective and will allow me to deal with the employee in an amicable and effective manner. I will than call the employee to my office for a one on one talk. The objective of the talk will be to appraise the employee about this issue unless it vitiates the entire work culture within the organization and cast a negative impact on the otherwise good service record of that employee. I will be well aware of the fact that as an HR manager it will be my duty to hold sacrosanct the performance norms within the organization and to look to it that the employees remain sincere to them. Thereby, I will convey to the employee that but only for his late coming, he is an asset to the organization and I will really appreciate if he gets prompt and punctual from now onwards. I will also convey to him that in case he fails to do this on a sustained basis, I will have to take strict disciplinary action against him. Scenario 2 There is an employee within the organization I work who has got into the habit of calling in off at the last minute. She just gives a call in the morning and conveys that she cannot come to work. This has become a pattern with her on Fridays and Mondays. You also know that she has a problem with alcohol since the past few months. If I were to solve this problem, I will do consider the fact that a timely feedback from me to this employee and the conveying of the fact that what one considers to be an acceptable behaviour could go a long way in rectifying this employee. Thereby, it will be imperative for me as an HR professional to confront this employee as soon as possible and to convey to her my objections to her recent work behaviour and the way she is undermining the organizational culture and values. I will be well aware of the fact that such an action could lead to confrontational behaviour on the part of the employee, thereby I will make it a point to retain my cool during the meeting. Besides, I will also evince sympathy with the employee regarding the issue she is facing and will boost her moral by conveying that she could certainly get over this issue if she set her mind on that. I am certain that a timely, assertive and sympathetic action in such a scenario will certainly achieve the desired results. 5.0 My Approach to CPD As an HR professional I do believe that there is always a potential for improvement as far as the opportunity for professional growth is concerned (Arthur 2004). Thereby I plan to engage in such activities while being on the job that will help me evolve, improve and better myself as an HR professional. I know that as it is with the employees, in case of an HR manager one simply could not grow without being appraised and getting a sincere feedback from the people one manages. There I want to be aware of the lacunas that hamper my job as an HR professional within the organization I work. Thereby I will request the employees I manage to furnish a personal self assessment regarding their skills, attitudes and job performance. This self assessment will not only allow me to get the employees’ vision as to the way they consider and evaluate their performance, but will also allow me to track deficiencies in my role as a leader, mentor and evaluator. With the help of the feedback I get by correlating the personal assessment I get from the employees and the assessments I prepared over time, I will find the lacunas inherent in my leadership, mentoring and evaluation roles. On the basis of this self collected evaluation I will set the personal development goals in the areas of leadership, mentoring and evaluation, which I believe are the areas that I need to work on. Not only will I strive to bolster these aspects of my professional makeup by seeking the requisite academic courses, but will also make it a point to attend the seminars, presentations and workshops conducted by the experts in this area. 6.0 Conclusion The profession of an HR manager is such that one can keep on improving over one’s span as a professional and career person. The challenge before any HR professional is not only to keep on developing oneself as a professional, but also to make sure that one grows and evolves as a professional in a balanced and holistic manner. The role of the theoretical inputs and professional maps simply cannot be underestimated in such scenarios. Thereby I look forward to having a positive and mutually beneficial relationship with this organization, if it selects me as an HR manager. References Arthur, Diane 2004, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, American Management Association, New York. Kulik, CT, 2004, Human Resources for the Non HR Manager, Lawrence Erlbaum, London. Muller, M, 2012, The Legal Side of HR Practice, American Management Association, New York. Sartain, L & Finney, MI 2005, HR from the Heart, AMACOM, New York. Slade, S 1994, Goal Based Decision Making, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994. Read More