Role of HR in developing talent at work - Essay Example

Role of HR in developing talent at work Table of Contents Introduction 2 Role of HR in developing talent- Critical Analysis 2 Conclusion 5 Reference 7 Bibliography 9 Introduction In this world of cut throat competition, organizations have been increasingly feeling the pinch and the need to represent them as places where people would want to work and work to the best of their abilities. The ability to attract talent, retain them and develop them accounts for few of fundamental roles of HR and a determinant of the degree of competitive advantage the company enjoys in the market. The common mindset is primarily based on the assumption that every individual has a potential and that the proper approach must be applied to release that potential. However, dynamic organizations try to identify the top potentials in the company and try to leverage their capabilities. It is the competence that organizations must possess for attaining sustainable competitive advantage. The main aim of this research is to study the views and arguments that researchers have put forth with regards to the topic. It would present both favorable arguments of researchers which support the fact that HR pays a major role in the development of talent at the workplace, as well as arguments against the same (Morton, Newall & Sparkes, p.16). Role of HR in developing talent- Critical Analysis There have been contradictory views regarding the contributions HR has made towards developing and managing talents. According to the findings of the research conducted by the Corporate Leadership Council (CLC), only 30% of the organizations were found to apply disciplines of managing talent apart from their regular functions like recruitment, selection, training, compensation management etc (Hunter & Saddler, p.4). According to another survey conducted by the same institution in 2006 on the critical skills that the HR staff must possess, the HR functions rated themselves according to the functions that they considered themselves best at applying. 41% of the organizations were of the opinion that they were best at applying methods associated with recruiting new staffs in the organizations. The survey clearly reflected the fact that only 25% of the organizations surveyed were good at applying talent development strategies at the workplace (Hunter & Saddler, p.4). The tendency of HR has always been inward-looking. Also it has been particularly over conscious about its role in adding value to businesses. According to Ulrich (1900), when he tried to push HR towards attaining a more strategic role, people belonging to HR functions were reluctant to working in a strategic manner. Their focus was more on themselves rather than on the business. Thus issues like development of talents in the workplace with the aim of growing the business took a backseat and the emphasis was more on developing themselves independently (Hunter & Saddler, p.5). Researchers have also commented that HR independently cannot influence talent development considerably. It widely depends on systems and the organization on the whole. According to Wright & Snell (1992), recent works conducted on firm performances revealed that HR practices can be effective only if they exist as a highly coherent system. The researchers have commented that strategic human resource management needs a highly coordinated stream of HR activities throughout the various sub-functions in order to be effective (Barney & Wright, p.10).Wright and McMahan’s (1992), have particularly recommended for a ‘horizontal integration’ of all the human resource activities rather than viewing them in isolation. MacDuffie (1995), conducted a study on automobile manufacturing firms and the results showed that employees performances were maximized when the various HR practices were associated with the flexible production systems and the participative work systems (Barney & Wright, p.10). However, positive feedback regarding the role of HR in developing talent at the workplace has also been identified. According to a research conducted by Lash & McMullen (n.d.) on organizations of different sizes line managers were found to have the most significant impact on the performance of employees in the organization. In fact, according to a research conducted by the Hay Group research, more than 30% of the differences in business results were because of the work culture and climate and the talent development processes that HR line managers created in the organization (Berger, Berger & Berger, “The Role of Line Managers in Talent Planning”). Some of the important roles in which HR managers were found to significantly have impact on and which reflected through the business results were assessment and selection of the right talents, performance planning, development of talent and coaching and reviewing and rewarding (Berger, Berger & Berger, “The Role of Line Managers in Talent Planning”). According to Tregaskis (1997), as per a research conducted on UK and French private organizations, it was found that the formalized strategies in the UK organizations for monitoring, evaluating and delivering of training and management to employees were highly effective in terms of employee and consequently organizational performance. However the French organizations did not demonstrate such contribution of HR towards the development of employees. This was because a major difference was noted between the kinds of HR strategies that the two organizations used. UK organizations were found to be much formalized and less restrictive in terms of the management tools they used for monitoring, evaluating and providing of training. Differences between the two nations were also noted in terms of the diverging approaches towards education and skill development (Tregaskis, “Abstract”). Thus it can be said that the nature of HR strategies applied do have an impact over the extent of performance of the organizations and employees. Researchers have particularly focused on the use of HR practices in attaining employee commitment and human capital. According to MacDuffie (1995) and Wright et al. (1996), HR practices play a crucial role in the development of human assets which provide competitive advantage in the market (Barney & Wright, p.17). The success of HR strategies considerably depends on the extent to which they understand the specific values that people provide and in response the value that HR can provide to them. According to Delery & Doty (1996), recent research has actually uncovered a positive relationship between the HR practices undertaken in firms and the financial performance of the same as well (Barney & Wright, p.17). Researchers have particularly focused on the development of rare skills for the firm’s attainment of competitive advantage in the market. Since most organizations commonly posses the same skills, it is critical that such skills must be developed which contributes differently to the organization’s performance and productivity. In this context, training and developmental activities have been especially emphasized on by researchers and practitioners (Ryan, p.126). Conclusion From the above analysis it reveals that HR does play a significant role in the developing talents in organizations which consequently go on to define the competitive edge of firms over and above the others. However, criticisms have also been leveled against such facts on grounds that today's HR strategies are more objected towards developing their own businesses rather than enhancing organizational performance. Moreover writers have stressed on the fact that formalized and integrated HR strategies can only have any significant impact on the human capital in the organization. HR strategies in isolation would fail to do so. Additionally, the importances of rare talents have been recommended by researchers rather than attracting a large talent pool and developing them. It is the rare talents which would account for the competitive of a firm over other competitors in the market. However, researchers have also put forth their findings as to the favorable contributions of HR in developing talents at the workplace. The finding of a positive relationship between HR strategies and firms’ financial performance supports the above fact. Also that fact that the climate and culture developed by HR managers at the workplace contributed towards employee performance and productivity supports the fact that HR strategies have a positive role on employees and organizational performance. Reference Barney, J. B. & Wright, P. M. Understand the economic consequences of the human resource practices in a firm. 1997. On Becoming a Strategic Partner: The Role of Human Resources in Gaining Competitive Advantage. October 25, 2011. < http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1149&context=cahrswp&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3Drole%2Bof%2Bhr%2Bin%2Btraining%2Band%2Bdevelopment%26gs_sm%3Dc%26gs_upl%3D1361l5517l0l10650l14l13l0l0l0l1l1961l7870l0.1.8.1.8-3l13l0%26bav%3Don.2%2Cor.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.%2Ccf.osb%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D933%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN%26tab%3Dws#search=%22role%20hr%20training%20development%22>. Berger, L., Berger, L. A. & Berger, D. R. 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