Human Resources as a Strategic Partner - Essay Example

Human Resources as a Strategic PartnerTraditionally, the roles of the human resource manager have been systemization of general employee activities in an organization, formulation as well as implementation of organizational policies and serving as the executive arm of the management. Conventionally, most companies’ HR needs to act strictly in matters related to personnel and administrative functions. This is because the general HR participates in hiring of employees, their remuneration, dealing with employee benefits as well as their welfare at the workplace.

For long now, employees in most organizations have been viewing their HR as a threat. This has been due to the strict managerial role that the HR department in these organizations engages in relation to their employees. Recently, most HR departments have been criticized on various grounds, which have called for the need for transformation. Some of the reasons why HR has been criticized include misleading of employees, poor professional ethics as well as the failure to keep employee information confidential as it should be. Dr. Dave, one of the best writer and thinker in this line of HR proposed three new roles the human resource managers of an organization should adopt to elevate the above problems (Kearns, 2009).

These new functions include HR managers acting as executives to their companies, strategic partners as well as employee advocate or mentors. All these, as described by Dave, will improve general employee performance and hence that of the organization. Various functions of HR directly support the general strategy of an organization. To begin with, the staffing function; the HR manager(s) have the responsibility of choosing the right persons to work for an organization. It is also the responsibility of HR to develop the capacity of these persons such that they perform their roles best towards the achievement of the goals of the said organization.

Secondly, HR ensures that the performance of employees in an organization is optimum. This is accomplished through employee motivation programs, training and development as well as disciplining of errant employees. Where there is the need for change –management, HR is involved first in line in communication and implementation of these changes. Lastly, the HR administrative function ensures that organizational activities run smoothly and harmoniously to the objectives of the organizations they work for (Kearns, 2009).

The insights that I have gained from this course will positively impact my career as a human resource manager. Having learned of the changes that have taken place in this important department of any organization, I can confidently use the ideas learned in this course to package myself as a modern HR manager.ReferencesKearns, P. (2009). HR strategy (2nd Ed.). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.