The Role of the International HR Business Partner - Essay Example

What is the role of the International HR Business Partner The basic role of International Human Resource Business Partner is being resourceful in managing human capital especially in a change context. The integration of changes into business leadership teams is ensured by HR Business Partner. In the highly globalised economic scenario, the scope of such changes happening in organizational setups is high. For instance, the businesses of today face challenges like having to work in a global timing, incorporation of latest business technologies and coping up with increased global competition (Jamieson, 2007). Thus International HR Business Partners have a very important role with reference to the fast developments like these happening globally in business. For the human capital and other organizational changes to be effective, the HR system will require business credibility and the capacity to work in coordination with other business leaders. HR Business Partners will ensure that strategies to ensure these are incorporated in business decisions. Thorough functional and theoretical knowledge in diverse aspects of HR is expected in the implementation of such changes. However, with frequent developments in the area of HR and other organizational aspects, it is difficult for individual business leaders to constantly acquire the required knowledge. Here the International HR Business Partners have an important role in supplementing the required functional knowledge. Their role is spread across the areas of organizational design, change management, cultural diversity and human system alignment (Jamieson, 2007). A very important role of Business Partners is to integrate the business decisions with that of other leaders so that there are positive strategic implications in terms of the rapid changes. They design, engage and maintain the human capital to be ready to face the challenges of the open global market. How has the role changed in the last 10 years and how is expected to change in the future? In general the area of HR has undergone a lot of changes in the last two decades. It has gained more strategic importance. There had been continuous changes in the theoretical modeling and increased concentration on training and certifications. More importantly, the process of outsourcing gained importance through the time (Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005). This development gave rise to the concept of becoming a business partner. This concept has gained momentum especially in the last 15 years. This was increasingly engaged at least partly by businesses to have simultaneously handle strategies and all other HR operations. The scope of HR was initially limited to managing the activities for the day to day operations of the company. The changes in the HR arena were motivated by the requirements of the globalised business operations. It has been reported that he first generation of HR changes took shape in mid 1990s. It had its focus on restructuring the employee-employer-HRM relationship (Mare & Edward, 2007). The Human capital structure within the last decade has turned quite complex with reference to cultural diversity, non geographical operational space etc. The daily transactional work obviously became more complex. Along with this, strategic management of the HR gradually came into focus. Thus in the next generation of HR transformation it was realized that for the long term sustainability of the business, strategic management of human capital and its integration with other HR commitments were essential. Thus Human Resource Business Partners were engaged to efficiently handle the tactical areas of HR along with development of strategic policies. The incorporation of technology automated the daily transactional work. Thus though these works were important, it needed less HR involvement. As businesses got opportunity to become global, it became important that the strategic planning focusing on long term development integrate with other business leaders. Thus the role of International HR Business Partners became vital in managing human capital especially in a change context. In general, over the last decade, transformation in the role of HR has restructured HR operations and processes (Deloitte, 2008). What challenges do International HR Business Partners currently face in different HRM areas. The foundational challenge for International HR Business Partners is that they are the key elements in developing the organizational culture. Thus in any HR operation be it recruitment, employee participation, rewards or training, it is important for a HR Business partner to completely understand the existing company culture and help to shape a new culture incorporating the existing one. HR Business Partners are under increased pressure to introduce value added services in recruitment, training or any other area of strategic relevance. For instance, the latest resources to have simultaneous global trainings will have to be introduced by HR to uniformly implement the corporate strategy. In the case of recruitment, cultural diversity and change management are the key challenges that HR Partners face. It must be noted here that ethnic, racial and gender equity in its HR policy are strategic advantages for a company in a long term. Notable challenges in the current HR scenario are skills with regard to change management, risk assessment and strategic sourcing. HR professionals will also have to keep themselves updated on the emerging global treaties and policies on HR as they directly influence the international business sustainability. Being up to date with the advancements in Information Technology is also a key challenge for HR Business Partners. What influence do external stakeholders exert on the typical responsibilities of International HR Business partners? The effective management of stakeholder relationship is reported to be a key competency for a HR Business partner. Treating all stakeholders with respect and dignity, building engaging relationships with them ensuring trust, communication and teamwork, customer service, promotion of successful stakeholder relationship, ensuring stakeholder participation in the idea of organizational effectiveness and teambuilding among stakeholders have been specifically referred to be important objectives of HR Business partners (Krishna & Prasad, 2012) . It must be noted here that in a global context, many of the variables explained above are culturally subjective. Thus for an International HR Business partner who deals with stakeholders from different cultural belongings, to maintain these variables at high value is very challenging. It must be noted here the perceptions of stakeholders on professional norms will to a large extent depend on their cultural belonging. A good example for this is the concept of time management in different cultural contexts. Communication across different cultural zones also becomes thoroughly challenging for the (Krishna & Prasad, 2012). The most difficult factor is that International HR Business partners won’t be able to work with set standards on these variables as these would differ from one stakeholder the other. As an HR Business Partner how can you contribute to the strategic success of the organization? As a HR Business Partner, my key responsibility is to integrate the HR processes to focus towards a strategic trajectory. As a professional in the area, I will be able to relocate a lot of human resource which works in fragmented direction into a single direction. Taking into the consideration the multidisciplinary expectations from the employees, Talent Management is the key towards organizational success. My role as a HR Business Partner will be integral here. With the professional help, the HR Department will be able to tap the resources in terms of talent. I will be able to integrate the processes of Organizational Development and Strategic Human Resource Management. This will resultantly increase the scope for innovation and more importantly will accelerate the organizational processes. Integration of Technology will be ensured as an integral organizational policy. This will foster the global growth of the corporate strategies. The role of HR Business Partner in supporting the Stakeholders network is as lo vital in the organizational growth. References Deloitte .,2008, Global HR Transformation, Audit and Tax Consulting. Jamieson, D. W. ,2007, Strategic Human Resource Thinking in Preziosi, R. The 2007 Pfieffer Annual: Human Resource Management. San Francisco:  Pfieffer/Jossey-Bass Krishna, R., & Prasad, N.,2012., Transforming HR Professionals into Business Partners, European Journal of Business and Management 4(4) Mare Sotkiewiez & Edward W. Jensen., 2007, Workforce Performance Revolutionizing HR Transformation for Business Impact, Outlook Point of View. April, No.2, Accenture. Ulrich, D., & Brockbank, W., 2005, The HR value proposition.  Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Read More