Human Resource Management's Role in the Modern Organisation - Essay Example

Human Resource Management Name Institution Lecturer Course Date The Role of the HR Practitioner in the Modern Organisation and its Relevance in a Changing Global Environment Introduction The contemporary business environment is characterized by increased competition due to increased globalisation and deregulation. Recent developments in transportation and communication, alongside breakage of trade barriers, which previously acted as trade barriers, have resulted to organisations extending their operations, products and services to foreign countries. This has resulted to a more competitive market than before, which requires strategic changes. Human resource management is considered the epicenter of business success (Welch and Welch 2012) and its roles, in the changing global environment cannot be ignored. This paper outlines the various roles of human resource practitioners in the modern organisation evaluating its relevance in a changing global environment. The paper uses Urlich’s theory to outline the four key roles of human resource practitioners, which include administrative experts, employee champion, change agent and strategic partner. The paper then evaluates the relevance of human resource practitioners in the changing global environment by relating the four roles of human resource practitioners with the current market changes and demands. Key words Human Resource: organisational workforce Human resource management: management of the organisational workforce Human resource practitioners/managers/professionals: people concerned with the management of organisational workforce Human resource development: developing workforce in terms of skills and experience Globalisation: shifting to global levels Roles of Human Resource Practitioners in the Modern Organisation Various frameworks have been used to outline HR roles. Chiu and Selmer (2011) present the four HR roles framework that was proposed by Ulrich in 1997 in which the HR roles fall under four distinct categories: administrative experts, employee champion, change agent and strategic partner. Similarly, Welch and Welch identify five key roles of human resource practitioners, particularly in the contemporary world of business globalisation. These roles include service provision, policy establishment and enactment, change initiation and execution, officiating organisation welfare, and strategic partnership (Welch and Welch 2012). The modern organisation operates in a highly competitive environment requiring a high level innovation and strategic changes geared towards organisation competitiveness and success. The four roles, in particular the strategic business partner role, require HR professionals to be proactive and future-focused to contribute towards business strategy and success in terms of organisational capabilities, human capital and overall organisational readiness. A similar argument is given by Wang and Niu, who indicate that the HR is the epicenter of organisational success (2010). The HR has the responsibility to establish new and effective processes and models that enable organisations to attain global agility and increase their effectiveness for increased competitiveness and ultimate success. Wang and Niu (2010) explicate the Ulrich framework of HR roles by outlining the specific roles of human resource professionals, which are aimed at ensuring organisational competitive and success. These roles include: managing strategic human resources, managing infrastructure, managing employees and their contributions, and initiating and managing transformation changes in organizations within organisations, all of which lead to organisational success. The human resource capital (or employees) plays an exceedingly crucial role in any organisation. It is worth pointing out that almost all activities and processes in an organisation, including innovation, strategic changes and transformation changes, are dependent on employees. Therefore, the management of employees and their contribution is paramount to the success of an organisation, which makes HR professionals to be considered as strategic business partners. Each of the four roles of human resource practitioners, as outlined in Ulrich’s HR role framework, has its unique deliverables. As strategic business partners, human resource practitioners should clearly understand organisational strategic goals to align human resource initiatives with the goals (Friedman 2007). As a strategic business partner, organisational stakeholders (investors, executives and employees) expect a human resource manager to create and execute HR strategies that add value to the organisation particularly increasing efficiency, competitiveness and market success (Chiu and Selmer 2011). The second HR role of HR practitioners, according to Ulrich’s framework, is change agent. This role requires human resource managers to initiate and execute strategic changes in their respective organisations that transform these organisations to more efficient and competitive organisations. These changes, according to Friedman (2007), should be in line with changes in the competitive landscape of the market, changes in the global economy and changes in government regulations especially regulations affecting employment. It is the responsibility of human resource managers to study the changes taking place on the aforementioned aspects so that they can plan and implement strategic changes that serve to cushion their respective organisations from adverse effects of the changes. Further, timely and appropriate planning and implementation of strategic changes, due to changes in the aforementioned business aspects, ensures that their respective organisations are always on track, which makes them competitive in the market. The third role of human resource managers, administrative experts, is concerned with the delivery of efficient organisational processes, particularly on human resource development and management, aimed at organisational efficiency and enhanced competitive advantage (Friedman 2007). These activities include human resource planning, employee recruitment, selection training, performance improvement, human resource development and employee compensation among others (Renckly 2004: 93-94). This role is closely associated with the two roles already mentioned. The administrative role requires human resource managers to have a clear understanding of organisational goals so that their administrative role is in line with the goals. As a change agent, a human resource manager requires administrative capacity that gives him the necessary voice to implement inevitable changes (Francis and Keegan 2006). For example, deterioration in the global economy may require employee downsizing, a strategic change that requires administrative role to execute. Finally, as an employee champion, a human resource manager is expected, by the stakeholders of the respective organisation, to work towards maximizing employee productivity and commitment. This they do through listening and addressing employee concerns while working towards developing the skills and knowledge of employees through continuous training (Sparrow, Brewster and Harris 2004: 4). In short, human resource managers serve as a link between employees and the organisation to ensure that both sides are satisfied leading to increased organisational efficiency, competitiveness and success in the market. Evaluating the Relevance of Human Resource Practitioners in the Changing Global Environment In the contemporary business world, businesses are experiencing numerous and rapid changes internally and externally, which requires numerous strategic changes and extensive innovation to ensure a business remains competitive. In particular, increased globalisation, in the contemporary world, has resulted to increased competition. Globalisation has resulted to increased movement of goods between geographical and physical boundaries, which previously acted as barriers to trade. Increased development in communication (particularly Information and Communication Technology) and transportation has enabled organizations to extend their operations and delivery of products & services to international levels. Consequently, according to Friedman (2007), completion for customers, among multinational and local organizations, is increasingly intensifying through quality and cost strategies. Human resource professionals have a significant responsibility of equipping organizations to face the changes occurring in the contemporary business world. For instance, globalisation and deregulation are encouraging more companies into the market, thereby increasing competition (Malik and Aminu 2011). Human Resource managers have to respond to such changes by ensuring that their firms respond well to the competition, as well as the customers. As a way of minimizing production costs, to participate in price competition effectively, modern organizations are increasingly embarking on outsourcing (Gupta 2008: 169). Outsourcing is two pronged. A firm may decide to give another firm, or individuals, some or all of the activities of a given operation. This firm, or individuals, may be located within the same country, as the outsourcing firm, or in a different country. A typical example of a firm employing this approach is Nike, a market leader in the sportswear industry, which uses subcontractors to manufacture their various products (Van Dusen 1998). A second approach is where a firm decides to carry out its operations but from a different country where the cost of production, in particular human resource, is abundant and at a cost lower than the firm’s mother country. This strategy is widely used by, for example, Unilever, which shifts its manufacturing to regions where human resource is abundant and cost efficient (Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2002). Such regions include, for example, Asia and Africa. Outsourcing, a modern business strategy, has numerous implications on human resource management, which give HR practitioners additional roles. For instance, outsourcing leads to human resource diversification considering that organizations deal with employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. Employee management, one of the roles of HR professionals (Chiu and Selmer 2011), becomes paramount for organizational success. Employee management, including employee contribution to organisational success, is crucial in ensuring that organisations enjoy the benefits of human resource diversification particularly in gaining a competitive advantage over other local and multinational organisations. Another trend in the modern world of business (in fact a threat) is technological, product and service imitation, which can be considered a demerit of outsourcing. Imitation is a significant issue facing business in the modern business world, where new and lagging organizations are imitating market leaders as a way of gaining recognition and competitive advantage (Gupta 2008: 170). Employees, particularly employees working in Research and Development (R&D) activities, can contribute to imitation if they leak such information to competitors. The role of human resource professionals, especially human resource management, is crucial since they must prevent loss of crucial organisational information through employee movement out of the organisation to be hired by competitors. On the other hand, when imitation has to be used for organisation advantage (in case of new or lagging organisations), human resource professionals become crucial in attracting key employees. These employees, such as software developers and engineers, carry along crucial information from their former organisations to be used in their new organisations, which makes their new organisations more competitive. The role of human resource practitioners, in preventing or utilizing imitation, lies on the ability of an organisation to retain key employees or, on the contrary, attracting key employees from their competitors. Human Resource management professionals are experiencing radical changes arising from the call for value addition in firms. Recent economic recessions and downturns have resulted to various employment issues with several organisations making difficult decisions in relation to the HRM policies. In addition, the economic downturn is increasingly calling for improved productivity of the workforce. Consequently, all these trends are requiring the HRM to make every effort and adapt their organizations, as well as the workforce, with the current dynamism and increased market competition. Conclusion Ulrich’s framework has been used to describe the roles of human resource practitioners in modern business. The framework outlines four key roles of human resource practitioners, which include administrative experts, employee champion, change agent and strategic partner. As strategic business partners, human resource practitioners should have a clear understanding of the strategic goals of their respective organisations to align human resource initiatives with the goals. As change agents within organisations, human resource professionals are required to initiate and execute strategic changes in their respective organisations that transform these organisations to more efficient and competitive organisations. As administrative experts, human resource managers are expected to deliver efficient organisational processes, particularly on human resource development and management, aimed at organisational efficiency and enhanced competitive advantage. Finally, as employee champion, human resource managers are expected to work towards maximizing employee productivity and commitment through listening and addressing employee concerns, as well as working towards developing their skills and knowledge. All the four roles, as seen, are geared towards improving organisation efficiency, competitiveness and success, particularly in the contemporary business. Modern organisations are operating in highly competitive markets arising from increased globalisation and deregulation, which has resulted to increased competition as firms are increasingly extending their customer base and operations to the global level. Strategic changes and innovation, all which are aimed at increasing product (and service) quality while reducing cost, remain the most crucial competitive strategies. This is made even worse by unfavorable global economic performance. Human resource practitioners then become exceedingly valuable, through the four main roles, in ensuring improved organisational performance. Bibliography Chiu, R. & Selmer, J. 2011, ‘Are Human Resource Professionals Strategic Business Partners? Evidence from Hong Kong’, International Employment Relations Review, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 75-95. Francis, H. & Keegan, A. 2006, ‘The Changing Face of HRM: in Search of Balance’, Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 16. no. 3. pp. 231-49. Friedman, B. A. 2007, ‘Globalisation Implications for Human Resource Management Roles’, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, vol. 19, pp. 157-171. Gupta, A. 2008, Outsourcing and Offshoring of Professional Services: Business Optimization in a Global Economy, Information Science Reference, pp. 169-170. Malik, N. & Aminu, M. 2011, ‘The Role of Human Resource in New Globalized World’, Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, vol. 2, no. 11, pp. 318-330. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 2002, Strategic Outsourcing & Alliances in the Supply Chain, Accessed 18 August 2012, from Renckly, R.G. 2004, Human Resources, 2nd Edition, Baron’s Educational Series, Inc., pp. 93-94. Sparrow, P. Brewster, C. & Harris, H. 2004, Globalizing Human Resource Management, NY: Routledge, p. 4. Van Dusen, S. 1998, The Manufacturing of the Footwear Industry: Nike vs. the Competition, Accessed 18 August 2012, from Wang, Y.D. & Niu, H.J. 2010, ‘Multiple Roles of Human Resource Department in Building Organizational Competitiveness-Perspective of Role Theory’, International Management review, vol. 6, no.2, pp. 13-19. Welch, C. L. & Welch, D.E. 2012, ‘What do HR Managers Really Do?’, Management International Review, vol. 52, pp. 597-617. Read More