The Role of Human Resource as a Strategic Business Partner in PWC - Case Study Example

Human Resource Project Paper Introduction The term business partner can be defined in order to cover a range of jobs that ranges from strategic, administrative and consultancy. The HR business partner works very close with business leaders so that it can put in place the strategy of the business and guide the implementation of the same. The term HR business partner was coined by David Ulrich who defined it by saying that the Human resource in an organization should assume strategic role so that it can implement the programs intended towards the support of business goals. If the organizations are considered as an legal entity then the business leader is considered as the head and the Human resources is considered as the heart of the organization. Although the function of the two departments are different but they are intertwined and a perfect balance in the organization is available only when these two departments work in rhythm. The following page accesses the role of human resource as a strategic business partner in PWC. PWC is constantly regarded as one of the best places to work in. The following pages accesses how human resource department and its function in the organization is aligned with the strategic goals of the business. Discussion Function of human resources as a strategic business partner Since long there is a call for the human resource function of the organization to be linked with the strategic business of the organization. The fact that there is a call for the human resource to be linked with the strategic business of the organization means that human resource function of the organization is still not linked with the strategic business of the organization (Mukherjee, 2009). The need to bring the human resource of the organization in line with the strategic business of the organization is more profound than ever before. The reason is the tremendous pressure exerted by the financial markets in the market related to constant growth. The demands by the customers have increased to encompass superior services at lower costs. Another factor that comes into consideration is in different companies the turnover rate of top talents has increased to a great extent. It is also important to consider in different countries the population demographics is showing a downward trend and this is causing a lack of talented professionals. It is found that PWC practice what is preaches. PWC has about 160,000 employees in the organization who are employed by the organization in the 150 different countries (Crawley, Swailes and Walsh, 2013). The main product of the organization is not the normal products that the organization can sell but the employees of the organization. Every human resource function of the organization is directed towards achieving the business strategy of the organization. The company in its recruitment takes the graduate junior professionals each year and stuffs them in the level 1 of the management function. Over the period of 4 years the staffs undergo a structured development program. It is during this time that the graduates undergo and experience a wide variety of projects that helps the people and the graduates in accessing the area in which they want to specialize. The company measures the employees on the framework that is based on 7 core competencies. The entry level employees are mainly accessed on the basis of talent and their future leadership potential. In these assessments the technical skills of the employees are taken for granted where as the skills those are given more importance behavioral and people management skills. The skills training are used in which employees are moved across several departments of the company. This helps in the fact that employees are benefitted from a range of placements. This approach by the organization helps in providing a better match between the individual employees are looking for in terms of development and the need of the PWC to expose the staffs to different business processes. For the best performers amongst the new recruits at the company, the company provides a 16 week intensive program in Washington DC. In this program the future leaders of the company meet in order to focus on the leadership. In these programs the participants who attend the program also benefit from the support and mentoring arrangements of the company. In order to create global network of leaders that are responsible the company runs a program which consists of five modules and is an eight week assignment. Another area of the human resource in which the company follows the practice of human resource as a business partner is the area of performance management and reward system. The performance management programs that are used by the company are found to be a combination of the best practices in terms of the approaches and the ideas. It is found that the performance appraisal programs by the company evolves and grows continually. It is sop that the employees of the company can be provided with the best constructive guideline as possible. The programs that are designed to measure the performance of the employees at the workplace are designed so as to ensure that there is facilitation of two way communication in between the employees of the organization and the appraiser. It is a common practice for the employee and appraiser to engage in a discussion to judge the performance of the employees and the objectives that can be focused on for future development before the employee commences his work on the assignment. After the project is completed the appraiser and the employee again sit for a discussion in order to analyze the outcomes that have been achieved and compare the same with the objectives that were set (Sokun, 2004). The result that this approach achieves is that the employees take a more proactive role in setting the goals and in achieving the same. The goals are not set by some others and forced on the employees. Rather it is the employees who have an equal participation in setting the goals and thus are part to the performance appraisal. In other words the employees appraise their performance based on the performance target set by them. The process is in turn linked to the success of the organization as the success of the employees is in turn linked to the success of the organization. So the performance management function that is followed by the PWC as part of the human resource function can be said to be the strategic business partner of the organization. The performance appraisal system that is followed by PWC is done in such a way so that the employees of the organization have enough guidance and tend to understand the particular things that are expected of them (Kinyanjui, 2013). There is enough room and flexibility that is provided by the performance appraisal system which in turn helps in nurturing the individual strengths and creativity of the employees of the organization. Additionally the performance appraisal system provides for better controls which helps people understand the things that the organization is trying to achieve. Recommendation on future Across different organizations it is found that the leaders of the organizations sometimes wonder as to why their human resources department exists at all. On their part many amongst the human resource leaders at different organizations are willing to be a part of the business and want the human resource to actually evolve as the strategic business partner. However given the fact the each of the company’s situation is unique there is little guidance that the human resource receives that guides them on how to fulfill their roles. One of the possible ways to align human resource with the strategies of the business and to make human resource as the strategic business partner is to try and answer a simple question with each and every human resource field. The question that is required to ask is that does the particular process creates friction in the business or creates flow (Mundy, 2012). Human resource practices as followed by the PWC in relation to the human resource field are in turn linked with the strategy of the company. In the context of PWC it can be found that the human resource of the organization is the strategic business partner of the organization. However, as with any task or any department there is a chance to improve further. The improvements in this field are designed to further align the human resource of the organization with the strategic business of the organization. The improvements and changes in the field are related to the fact that these changes will make the human resource to the strategic business partner of the organization. PWC as a company is often leveled as a one of the best companies in the world related in terms of best practices in human resources. When it comes to best practices in human resources then it is the name of PWC that is often taken up. The company is also ranked year on year as the company that is at the top of the human resource practice in the world. The company is also found to practice what the company preaches. It is found that in United States the workplace is a place that supports gender equality. There are 48% of the employees in the company that are found to be female (Crush, 2010). However it was found that the share of the women employees in the workplace decreased as one went up the corporate hierarchy. This situation is also changing in the recent years. It is also found that 28% of the total workforce of the company comes from minority community. The working moms also have rated the company as one of the top 10 places to work for. PWC is also found to be one of the companies that are related to research on the human research field. However under all these positive factors it is found that until recent period there was no human resource director of the company. The internal human resource structure of the organization was also not found up to the mark. The human resource of the organization was found to not performing to best way it could (Crush, 2010). The company needed that it became more effective operationally so that the company could release more people who are strategic. It was required that in order to provide the clients of the company a single holistic service it was required that the human resource department of the organization should be more aligned to the strategy of the business that it was at that point of time. The company needed that it became one function so that they everyone in the organization could understand where their bit of the human resource could fit into achieving the strategic goals of the business. Although the company introduced the concept of business partnering in the year 2001-02, it was not able to embed the philosophy quite well. The company hadn’t been able to change the behavior using HR and become a true business partner. In the mean time the transactional side of the company was being asked to perform tasks that were too complicated. It had resulted in the fact that the company had to face a gap in both the transactional side and strategic side. In the present scenario too it is found that although the human resource of the organization of the company is aligned to the strategic business of the organization. However there is always scope for further environment and no organization can be said to be proof of improvement. There is no firm that is so good where changes or transformation cannot take place that is based on aligning the human resource practices at the organization with the strategic business issues of the organization and same is the case with PWC. Impact of changes in legislation Every countries in the world poses several barriers for foreign business entre and operate such as economic, political and legal, social and cultural barriers etc. United Kingdom had been one of the attractive destination for multinational businesses for business expansion in foreign markets. It was one of those potential foreign markets that have very less extent of business environmental barriers. But recently, there have been substantial changes in these external influential aspects of business in this country. Major changes occurred in legal aspect of business where several new laws have been developed and implemented mainly in the following areas of human resource management practices. Payroll- This is the largest change that has taken place to the PAYE system since 1944. As per the changes it is required that the employers have to file comprehensive reporting each time the company pays an employee. A major portion of the compensation especially for the top ranked executives is linked to the performance of the executives. Residency- As per the rules it is required that a statutory residence test should be introduced that affects all the employees who come to and leave the country and it also increases the potential of further exposing the employees to the potentiality of a residency in the United Kingdom. Reporting and Remittance- Short term business visitors to the United Kingdom are now required by the law to be subject to United Kingdom holding and reporting obligations. Price Water house Coopers is required to follow these legislation as it is one of the companies that are listed in the United Kingdom. Since it is amongst one of the companies that is listed in the United Kingdom it has follow the legislation in the United Kingdom. There are numerous laws and regulations formulated by the UK government in governing the employment relationship. The policies and regulations are required to be abided by the HR personnel’s in order to avoid costly fines and other related penalties by the concerned company. The legislation assists the HR in maintaining the organizational reputation. The changes in legislations that affects the role of the HR in the organization mainly includes regulating the employer-employee relationship which includes the Fair labor standard act which determines the minimum wages and right to pay for overtime to certain employees or workers working in the organization. Federal civil rights restricts the employers from disparity on the basis of race, age, gender or status during the time of recruitment and retrenchment of the employees. The family and medical leave act permits certain employees to avail an unpaid leave of 12 weeks each year due to certain circumstances. The reemployment right act and the uniform service employment act create certain protections and rights for the employees (United Kingdom Legislation., 2015). The occupational and safety health act affects the role of the HR, he is expected to provide safe and healthy working environment by assisting the organization to work safely. The anti discrimination act prohibits the HR from discriminating on the ground of race, age, status. The amendment in the contractual remuneration paid to the employees also affects the role of the HR. The HR of the concerned organization is expected to provide fair payment to all its employees since the employee or the worker is assigned with the right to complaint against the employer in case he fails to pay the whole or any part of the amount to its employees. The privacy laws assign legal rights regarding the right to access the information about the job performance of the employees in case of certain jurisdictions. Under the whistle blower protection Act the protection of the employees are ensured. The changes or modifications in the exemption orders also affect the role of the HR in implementing the policies in the organization. If at any time there is requirement of agricultural wages order or collective agreement or order that is associated with providing rights to offer guaranteed remuneration , the HR can exclude those employees from operating in that section. The changes related to leave for domestic and family reasons also affects the role of the HR in the organization. The changes or alterations in the legislation in UK affect the HR policies in the concerned organization. Therefore the employers are required to adopt the recruitment and selection process in accordance with the legislation. The appropriate hourly rate is determined in relation to employee of the organization, the amendment in accordance with the fixation of the hourly rate influences the role of the HR, the wages and the salaries are also altered with the changes in the legislation (Taleb, 2012). Conclusion After analysis of the human resource practices at PWC it is found that the human resource practices at the PWC is that of the best practices. It is found through the analysis that the human resource practices of the company functions in line with the strategic business issues of the company. In analyzing the human resource it is found that human resource of the company is the strategic business partner of the company. For example the training that the company provides to the employees of the organization is related to the fact that both the organization and the employees are benefited. The company is benefitted from the fact that the employees of the organization are taken to different departments of the organization to acquaint themselves of different processes. On the other hand the benefit of the employees lies in the fact that they get a variety of experience. Similarly the performance appraisal system practiced by the company takes into consideration both the view of the employees and the organization. In the performance appraisal system the company aligns the performance goals of the employees with the performance of the organization as a whole. However there is always scope for improvements and the company should strive to continuously improve. It is also found that the legislation in the United Kingdom also has an effect on the human resource practices of the organization. References Crawley, E., Swailes, S. and Walsh, D., (2013). Introduction to international human resource management. London: OUP. Crush, P., (2010). Interview with Sally Mitton, HR leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Retrieved from http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hr/interviews/1015114/interview-sally-mitton-hr-leader-pricewaterhousecoopers Kinyanjui, S. (2013). Innovative Strategies for Managing Workforce Diversity in Kenyan Leading Corporations in Present Global Scenario. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(15), pp. 20-32. Mukherjee, J., 2009. From HR to strategic business partner. Retrieved from http://www.shri.org.sg/downloads/pub_art_strategic_partner.pdf Mundy, J. C., (2012). Why HR still isn’t a strategic partner. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/07/why-hr-still-isnt-a-strategic-partner Sokun, N., (2004). Human Resource Management of Price Waterhouse Coopers, with special reference to Cambodia. Retrieved from http://webhost.ua.ac.be/cas/PDF/ASEAN23.pdf Taleb, N.N., (2012). Antifragile: things that gain from disorder. London: Penguin UK. United Kingdom Legislation., (2015). Employment rights act 1996. Retrieved from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18 Read More