HR Management: Role, Competencies, and Functions Essay

Introduction

Because of the necessity to coordinate the work of the staff, making it more efficient and increasing the productivity of the company, Human Resource Management has become increasingly important over the past few decades.

Helping to allocate the human resources so that people could work with maximum efficiency, Human Resource Management is a part and parcel of the modern entrepreneurship and business sphere in general.

However, it must be admitted that nowadays, a number of conflicting issues concerning the sphere of Human Resource Management has to be tackled with due to a number of factors (Kesler & Law, 1997).

Considering the above-mentioned obstacles and offering the models of coordinating the workforce efficiency, one can come up with the solutions for the current problems, which means that the sphere of Human Resource Management has to be considered thoroughly.

Define Human Resources Management

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the concept that focuses on staffing of, administration of, and providing the course for the community who labor in the organization.

Usually coordinated by the company managerial, Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers (Snape & Redman, 2010).

Human Resource Management is the managerial purpose that deals with issues associated to people such as payment, hiring, presentation running, group growth, security, wellness, reimbursement, worker incentive, message, supervision, and preparation.

Human Resource Management is in addition a planned and complete move toward running people and the office behavior and surroundings (Snape & Redman, 2010).

Effectual HRM enables staff to add successfully to the whole corporation way and the achievement of the organization’s goals and objectives.

Human Resource Management is currently steering away from customary staff, management, and transactional roles, which are more and more outsourced.

HRM is now anticipating the increase in value to the planned consumption of staff and that member of staff programs crash the business in quantifiable ways.

The new role of HRM planned direction and HRM metrics and measurements is supposed to reveal the significance of the issue.

A human resources section is a grave constituent of worker interests in any trade, no matter how tiny it is.

HR tasks comprise managing payroll, reimbursement, employing, dismissal, and maintenance and keeping these issues updated according to the circumstances and national tax laws.

Hence, any jumble regarding these issues can be the basis of major law issues for a big company, as well as great dissatisfaction of employees.

However, small businesses frequently do not contain the personnel or the financial plan to correctly handle the essential particulars of HR. For this reason, extra and smaller businesses are starting to subcontract their HR wants (Snape & Redman, 2010).

A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) assumes complete accountability for any company’s HR management. It becomes a co-employer of a company’s personnel by taking complete lawful blame of your staff, as well as having the last say in hiring, sacking, and the quantity of money workers create.

The PEO and business proprietor become associates, fundamentally, with the PEO managing all the HR aspects and the business usage all other aspects of the corporation.

To put it more precisely, a service becomes merely a PEO after it starts cooperation with workers.

However, it is required to take note that some HR outsourcing services like to use the renowned term “PEO” when they grip the main aspects of HR like payroll and settlement, yet don’t take this lawful joint venture.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a wide word referring to outsourcing in all fields, not just HR. A BPO differentiates itself by either including fresh technology or applying accessible technology in a fresh way to get better a procedure.

Specifically in HR, a BPO would make certain a company’s HR scheme is supported by the latest technologies, such as self-access and HR data warehousing.

Application service providers (ASPs) produce software and lease it to users as some ASPs host HR software. Some are famous packaged applications (Tapomoy, 2006), while others are customized HR software urbanized by the seller. These software programs can run payroll, reimbursement and more.

E-services are those HR services that are web-based. Both BPO’s and ASPs are often referred to as e-services.

What responsibilities and roles do HR departments perform?

Smit (2007) observed the following: If you happen to meet the HR Head of a large organization, just ask him what his biggest challenge is. He will say ‘retention of people’.

The same person after a few minutes for the same question will answer ‘attracting talent’. Probably his answer the next day will be ‘staff motivation’.

Different answers from the same individual at different times does not mean that he is not sure of what his problem is but it depicts the fact that the priority of HR challenges keep changing from time to time. (p. 104).

There are a bunch of diverse roles and responsibilities to facilitate performance of the HR subdivision depending on the dimension of the association, the demographic outline of the workforce schedule, the manufacturing where the production belongs, principles and business civilization common inside, and the priorities of top administration, and in the case small business is in question, the priorities of its owner. In his research, Smit (2007) further noted that:

The biggest challenge for HR in the 21st century is to identify its biggest challenge. Most of the big companies’ values are tied up in intangible assets.

The study of intangible assets breaks them into three components. The first is processes. Processes are important for any industry and they determine the output of any activity. (p. 104).

The HR in diminutive organizations might obtain complete liability for every fraction of human resource activities. Whilst in others, it might split the roles and errands of further departments such as the funding or management.

While in the rest of the cases, it acts as an interior advisor and makes the entire HR-related decisions in maintenance of calculated company guidelines. Smit (2007) went further and stated the following:

Companies should manage their processes well and derive maximum results out of them. Next important intangible is the customer base, or the brand value. Over the last one and a half decades, companies are focusing more on driving maximum value for existing relationships. (p. 104).

In the present days, it is obvious that more and more organizations consider HR professionals as their planned associates in excellence supervision, business preparation, business operations, and business productivity.

HR organization now takes the front position in pre-meditated development and expansions in habits that augment the illustration and significance of the group.

According to Smit (2007), the key result areas that any HRM section ought to convey consequences and enlighten everybody concerning its genuine roles and responsibilities are:

• Employment and recruiting: Interviewing, recruiting, testing, temporary labor coordination, training and coordination.
• Orientation, performance management, skills training, productivity enhancement, compensation.
• Wage and salary administration, job descriptions, executive compensation, incentive pay, job evaluation, Benefits.
• Insurance, vacation leave administration, retirement plans, profit sharing, stock plans, employee services.
• Employee assistance programs, relocation services, outplacement services, employee and community relations attitude surveys, labor relations, publications, labor law compliance, discipline, personnel records.
• Information system records, health and safety: Safety inspection, drug testing, health, wellness and planning: International human resources, forecasting, planning, mergers and acquisitions.

What competencies do HR professionals need?

Competencies are those behaviors or sets of behaviors that explain fineness in presentation in a fastidious employment background. They can be helpful in descriptive labor principles and prospects, assist focus assessment and prize systems, and bring into line persons with the institutional or subdivision assignment.

According to Tapomoy (2006), scientists have recognized a figure of contemporary areas and competencies we consider to be the structure blocks and necessary skills wanted to be victorious as a human resource professional.

While specialists may be extremely experienced in a specific narrow field, generalists, the existing knowledge base requires broadening. The specialists in question ought to have a wider viewpoint on the issues and the place of work surroundings.

In a review conducted in USA (Burke & Terry, 2004), an HRM employee is supposed to:

• change his/her focus of attention from interior to exterior clientele in case for working for high-performing companies;
• captivate superior accountability for disseminating educational reinforcement all through their organizations;
• rise as planned associates who recognize evils, provide option insights and lift the principles “intellectual rigor”, for commerce choice creation;
• understand competencies i.e. job knowledge/competency;
• demonstrate the facts and skills essential to do the work successfully;
• understand the prediction of the deal and probability in attendance relating to new developments in areas of liability;
• perform tasks in agreement with job measures and policies;
• act as a supply person upon whom others rely for aid.

Quality/Quantity of work: HR employee must (Tapomoy, 2006)…

1. Complete coursework in a methodical, precise, and opportune way that achieves predictable outcomes;
2. Exhibit concern for the goals and requirements of the section and others that depend upon services and labor yield;
3. Handle numerous errands in an effectual manner;
4. Use work time effectively.

Planning/Organization: HR employee must…

1. Establish obvious objectives and organizes duties for self, based on the goals of the division, division, or organization centre;
2. Identify funds essential to rally goals and objectives;
3. Seek direction when goals or priorities are uncertain.

Initiative/Commitment: HR employee must…

1. Demonstrate individual liability when performing duties;
2. Offer aid to hold up the goals and objectives of the section and division;
3. Perform with negligible management. Meets work schedule/attendance outlook for the location.

Problem Solving/Creativity: Identifies and analyzes troubles. HR employee must…

1. Formulate other solutions;
2. Take or recommends suitable actions;
3. Follow up to ensure any trouble is determined.

Teamwork and Cooperation: HR employee must…

1. Maintain pleasant-sounding and successful work relations with co-workers and constituents;
2. Adapt to shifting priorities and stress;
3. Share information and assets with others to promote positive and mutual work relationships.

Interpersonal Skills: HR employee must…

1. Deal absolutely and successfully with co-workers and constituents;
2. Demonstrate admiration for all persons.

Communication (oral and written): HR employee must (Smit, 2007)…

1. Effectively convey information and thoughts equally verbally and in script;
2. Listen cautiously and seek explanation to make sure understanding.

A characteristic expert profession description outlines the growth of the beginner into a completely accomplished personnel practitioner inside a profession area of expertise or family of specialties.

Through prime of life, knowledge and expert growth, individuals would widen their professional viewpoint and cognize essential issues concerning the human resources management.

Due to the natural origin of the variety of demands located ahead HR departments, a lesser number of managerial units lean to develop “generalists”, while better departments have the require and assets to develop “specialists,” according to what Smit (2007) says.

Basic Competencies for a HR Professional irrespective of his/her title are as follows (Smit, 2007):

• Relationship Focused: developing communication skills; relates easily to varied groups and persons; builds and develops relationship.
• Customer Focused: paying attention on all aspects of service and product delivery; emphasizing that customer is the key priority.
• Organizational Skills: ability to set priorities; time and meeting management skills; ability to delegate.
• Problem Solving: the ability to interlace through essential channels to achieve outcomes in multifaceted settings; consideration of processes and excellence development.
• Assessment of Talent: ability to develop the skills of a moderator and tax talent, employing and choosing staff suitable to present and prospect organizational wants; approval for and stress on increasing a varied personnel.
• Integrity: being up-front; straight; extensively trusted.
• Intelligence: ability to clutch multifaceted concepts and making decisions concerning courses of accomplishment.
• Energetic: the ability of action leaning; being industrious; the ability to face challenges.
• Active Listening: possessing the skills to attract and interpret others’ statements into purpose responses and proceedings and the skills to give and get criticism in a suitable manner.
• Composure and Professionalism: possessing the skills to uphold professional manner in complicated or demanding situations; maintaining endurance with customers; possessing the skill to disperse annoyance and contract with hard customers.
• Presentation Skills: possessing the skill to present and express information in a broad range of settings.
• Flexibility: possessing skill to manage successfully by means of alter and doubt; skill to reprioritize rapidly; demonstrating the aptitude to uphold a fair viewpoint and see all sides of a subject.
• Vision: possessing the skill to see the ‘big picture’ inside the production, the group and the purpose now, and in the prospect, as well as the skill to interpret a future condition for others and inspire a sense of dream in them; skill to stimulate others.
• Political Awareness: being responsive to political situations; talented to evaluate political weather and how it affects every day jobs.
• Personal credibility: being believable to both the contemporaries and the employees the HR serves, knowledge of most excellent practices.

Competencies necessary in information based trade (Smit, 2007) incorporate understanding the business corporation. To be the key players in the association, HR professionals must recognize their organizations and the industry in which they work.

Nevertheless, being employed in significant business is not sufficient.

It has been proved in a variety of studies conducted all in excess of the world that HR professionals in high-performing organizations know as a great deal concerning the commerce as their complements in the low-performing organizations.

The dissimilarity lies in the practice of that information. The HR professionals of high-performing organizations use their facts to make tactical payment.

With regards to transformation, there is need to have the skills to run civilization. The ethnicity of any association is a significant feature; hence HR professionals completion of expertise.

Technology is used increasingly often as a release vehicle for HR services. It is required for an HR professional to be able to use HR Technology and web-based channels to deliver services to workers.

The capability to deliver the HR services encompasses the HR behaviors that are conventionally linked with HR functions. There are six main factors within this area (Tapomoy, 2006):

• Recruitment;
• Growth;
• Managerial structure;
• HR dimension;
• Legal fulfillment;
• Presentation organization.

The Way HRM Functions Change

Some trade commentators call the Human Resources purpose the previous stronghold of a government system. Customarily, the role of the Human Resource expert in a lot of organizations has been to dole out as the systematizing, policing arm of decision-making administration.

In this role, the HR professional served decision-making agendas fine, but was often viewed as a street obstruct by the rest of the association.

While a number of people require for this role infrequently relics – one would not desire every boss putting his personal spin on a sexual pestering rule, for example – much of the HR role is transforming itself.

The role of the HR manager ought to correspond with the requirements of his/her altering organization norms. Within this setting, the HR professional is considered a partner, a member of staff sponsor or advocate and an amend counselor.

In today’s organizations, to certify their feasibility and aptitude to add, HR managers need to think of themselves as calculated associates.

The HR production objectives are recognized to hold up the achievement of the general premeditated business preparation and objectives.

The considered HR envoy is intensely well-informed about the plan of job systems in which people achieve something and develop their professional skills.

This tactical partnership impacts HR services as the plan of work positions; hiring; prize, credit and planned pay; presentation expansion and assessment systems; career and succession planning; and member of staff growth (Watson, Rainer & Koh, 1991).

As an employee support or devotee, the HR manager plays a vital role in organizational achievement via his information concerning the encouragement of people.

This advocacy includes proficiency in how to generate work surroundings in which people will decide to be aggravated, contributing, and happy (Watson, Rainer & Koh, 1991).

Nurturing effectual methods of ambition setting, statement and empowerment through duty, builds employee possession of the organization.

In this role, the HR manager provides opportunities for the staff’s career, offering staff assisting programs, gain division and profit-sharing policies, organization growth interventions, providing procedure approaches to trouble solving and frequently listed statement opportunities.

The steady appraisal of the value of the organization results in the need for the HR professional to regularly champion amend. Both facts concerning the skill to perform victorious change strategies make the HR professional remarkably appreciated.

Knowing how to connect amend to the planned needs of the organization will reduce member of staff displeasure and battle to transform (Tapomoy, 2006).

The HR professional adds to the organization by continually assessing the efficiency of the HR purpose. To endorse the largely achievement of his organization, he champions the classification of the organizational assignment, dream, principles, goals and deed plans.

Finally, he helps resolve the procedures that will advise his organization how well it is ensuing in the current issues.

An HR Manager has to carry out usual organizational assessments on the issues like disburse, reimbursement, work surroundings, administration and promotional opportunities to evaluate the growth more than the extended time (Watson, Rainer & Koh, 1991).

There is also the need to expand appropriate measuring gear to measure the collision of variety initiatives at the organization during organization-wide criticism surveys and other methods.

Without appropriate management and assessment, some of these variety initiatives might just fizzle out, without resolving any genuine problems that may appear due to place of work assortment.

Competitive challenges influencing Human Resource Management

The function of the Human Resource Manager is sprouting with the alteration in the spirited marketplace surroundings and the understanding that Human Resource Management ought to play an extra premeditated responsibility in the accomplishment of an organization.

Organizations that do not place their importance on drawing and preserving talents may discover themselves in terrible consequences, as their competitors may be outplaying them in the planned service of their human resources.

With the boost in rivalry, close by or internationally, organizations ought to develop into more flexible, elastic, supple, and customer-focused to achieve something.

And in this amend in surroundings, the HR professional has to develop to become a tactical associate, an employee support or advocate, and an adjust counselor within the association. In array to do well, HR must be a trade ambitious purpose with a methodical thoughtful of the organization’s big picture and be competent to persuade people in making key decisions and policies.

In a broader concept, the centre of today’s HR Manager is focused on tactical workers preservation and talents expansion (Tapomoy, 2006).

HR professionals may be coaches, counselors, mentors, and sequence planners to help inspire organization’s members and their devotion.

The HR manager should also encourage and brawl for principles, morals, attitude, and spirituality inside their organizations, particularly in the organization of agency assortment.

The prospect achievement of any organizations relies on the capability to run a sundry body of talent that can carry pioneering thoughts, perspectives and views to their effort.

With the combination of talents of varied enriching backgrounds, genders, ages and lifestyles, an organization can react to business opportunities more quickly and imaginatively, particularly in the global arena (Tapomoy, 2006), which should be one of the significant organizational goals to be attained.

Moreover, if the organizational setting does not hold up variety largely, one risks losing the employee to competitors.

The above-mentioned is true for multinational companies (MNC’s) who have operations on a worldwide scale and use people of diverse countries, moral and edifying backgrounds.

Thus, a HR manager requires being watchful. The test of workplace variety is also common amongst most Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

With a populace of only four million people and the nation’s struggle towards most high technology and knowledge-based economy, talented expert immigrants are lured to share their knowledge in these areas.

Thus, many confined HR managers have to experience cultural-based Human Resource Management teaching to advance their abilities to inspire a group of professional that are extremely fit but culturally sundry.

Furthermore, an HR professional must guarantee the local professionals that these far-off talents are not a risk to their career growth (Onyemah, Rouzies & Papandopoulos, 2010).

In lots of ways, the usefulness of workplace variety running is dependent on the skillfulness of the complementary act of the HR manager (Delbridge &Whitfield, 2009).

Offering a successful way of running workplace variety, Kamoche suggests that a HR manager desires to alter from an ethnocentric view, suggesting that the way of a certain nation is the optimum one, to an ethnically comparative viewpoint, and offering to follow the best way of the variety of the offered ones (Kamoche, 2002).

This change in attitude has to be embedded in the executive structure of the HR Manager in his/her preparation, organizing, chief and calculating of organizational resources.

The progress of a suitable organizational prize scheme is certainly one of the strongest motivational factors, since it can pressure mutually job approval and worker incentive.

The prize scheme affects job approval by building the member of staff more at ease and pleased as a consequence of the plunder established. The prize structure influences inspiration chiefly during the apparent worth of the plunder (Burke & Terry, 2004).

To be successful, an organizational recompense scheme should be based on resonance understanding of the inspiration of people at employment. There are many poignant notions on the some of the more well-liked methods of payment systems, gain-sharing (Suda, 2007).

Gain-sharing programs usually refer to inducement tactics that engage employees in an ordinary attempt to advance organizational performance, and are based on the idea that the consequential incremental financial gains are communal among workers and the corporation (Snape & Redman, 2010).

In the majority of cases, personnel contribute willingly in management to admit responsibility for major reforms. The given type of payment is based on the organizational issues and factors (e.g., productivity or costs).

Gains are calculated and distributions are made regularly with the help of a prearranged method. Since the payment is only implemented when gains are achieved, gain-sharing tactics do not affect unfavorably the corporation costs (Kesler & Law, 1998).

Concerning the gain-sharing agenda that meets the smallest amount supplies for victory to be in place, authoritative sources have recommended a few pieces of advice for an efficient running of a gain-sharing program. According to Smit (2007), they are as follows:

• A HR manager ought to make certain that the people who will be participating in the arrangement are influencing the presentation calculated by the gain-sharing formula, taking account of the changes in their day-to-day actions. The major idea of the gain sharing is to inspire members to augment output throughout their behavioral changes and operational attitudes. If the boost in the presentation measurement was due to exterior factors, it would have beaten the reason of having a gain-sharing program.
• An effectual manager should make certain that the gain-sharing targets are taxing but lawful and within the reach. In addition, the targets must be precise and demanding, yet sensible and acceptable given the past presentation, the trade policy and the spirited surroundings. If the gain-sharing participants distinguish the target as an unfeasibility and are not aggravated at all, the whole program will be a disaster.
• A manager ought to present helpful advice as leadership to the gain-sharing participants relating to how they need to alter their behavior(s) to understand gain-sharing payouts; the response should be frequent, objective and obviously based on the members’ presentation in relation to the gain-sharing target.
• A manager should have an effectual device for permitting gain-sharing participants to start changes in job measures and methods and/or requesting novel or extra resources such as new technology to advance presentation and comprehend gains. Though a manager ought to have a firm manage of company’s possessions, sensible and reasonable requests for supplementary resources and/or changes in work methods from gain-sharing participants should be well thought-out.

Executive Information System (EIS) is the universal expression used for the amalgamated collections of computer hardware and software that track the necessary data of a business’ every day presentation and in attendance to managers as a relieve to their setting up and decision-making (Smit, 2007).

With an EIS in place, a company can follow inventory, sales, and receivables, which contrasts today’s data concerning chronological patterns.

In addition, an EIS assists in spotting important variations from “normal” trends approximately as long as it develops, giving the company the utmost quantity of occasion to make decisions and put into practice obligatory changes to put your big business back on the correct track.

This would facilitate EIS to be a helpful instrument in an organization’s tactical preparation, as well as day-to-day organization (Boela, 2005).

Speaking of the foundation of decision making in an association, one must mention the necessity for effectual managerial manage. A high-quality manage scheme would make certain that the community could take punctual proceedings.

When running an Executive Information System, a HR manager is required to first discover precisely what information decision-makers would be fond of to contain obtainable in the field of human resource management, and comprise it in the EIS further on.

In addition, the manager ought to make sure that the use of information technology has to be brought into position with planned business goals (Leinder & Elam, 1993-94).

The responsibility of the HR manager must parallel the requirements of the shifting organization. Within this environment, an HR professional must study how to direct successfully through setting up, organizing, leading and scheming the human resource and be well-informed of up-and-coming trends in teaching and member of staff development.

Conclusion

Hence, it cannot be denied that the issue of HRM in the modern entrepreneurship sphere is rather versatile. Incorporating various elements that include financial, economical, law, and sometimes even political issues, HRM needs thorough studies and careful application in a certain company.

Following the emerging trends in the sphere of HRM and taking into consideration various innovations that arise in the HRM sphere, like Executive Information System application, or the list of basic competencies for an HR specialist are required to address both when tackling certain issues in the given entrepreneurship and when drawing the plans for running the company (Smit, 2007).

With the help of well thought-out scheme of HRM, one can both enhance the favorable atmosphere in the company and increase the company productivity, thus, making companies prosper.

Therefore, without the development of the HRM sphere, the normal functioning of a certain company is impossible.

References

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