HR executives tend to influence the flow of the business processes in the organization, as they are the critical figures, which determine the flow of the business processes by distributing the workforce (Sullivan, 2004). However, their way to success is rather challenging and filled with various obstacles due to the complexity of the processes in the organization. Nonetheless, the primary goal of the paper is to conduct an interview with the HR executive and evaluate the findings. In this instance, the following topics are incorporated in the history of success, the strategic contribution to the organization, and the determination of the potential organizational and professional challenges in HR. In the end, the critical aspects and findings of the interview are assessed to determine their significance to the HR practices.
Interview
Firstly, the chosen HR executive has to be introduced, and his movement on the career ladder has to be assessed to determine his/her set of skills, which are required for the operations in this field. I have interviewed via phone, as Mr. Smith does not have time for the personal meetings. Mr. Smith worked in the organization in the HR department for several years before he became an executive. Nonetheless, he has been working in the marketing department at the beginning, but soon he understood that it is not his path. After that, he continued working in the HR department as a recruiter due to the availability of the vacancy. “HR was always an interesting field for me, but I did not associate it with challenges and high responsibility, which I have to face now”, Smith claims (S. Smith, personal communication, Jan. 22, 2015). Today, he considers his work as important and challenging due to the interactions with the other departments while monitoring the KPIs of the workforce.
Furthermore, the strategic contributions to the organization, which HR makes to the organization, were also discussed in the interview to examine the role of HR in the business operations. “You have to understand that other departments and the success of the firm is dependent of the HRM”, Smith mentioned regarding this matter (S. Smith, personal communication, Jan. 22, 2015). In this case, Smith underlined that all of the actions of the HRM establish the flow of events in the business area, as it influences the dynamics of the finances and personnel in the departments within the company. It could be said that this aspect cannot be underestimated since it influences the company’s future and its ability to function in the business field, and Smith highly underlined the significance of this matter in the interview.
Lastly, the challenges, which have to be faced organizationally and professionally, were revealed to determine the future of the HR practice in the coming two or three years. “Firstly, I have to state that the HR practices will evolve as more and more innovational and technological aspect become a vital part of business operations” (S. Smith, personal communication, Jan. 22, 2015). Additionally, he stated that the new software will make the distribution of the resources more efficient, as it eases the process (S. Smith, personal communication, Jan. 22, 2015). In this instance, the HR executives will have to pay attention to the maintenance of the software, as it will complicate the process. Lastly, as for the professional challenges, high attention has to be paid to the understanding of the particular professional aspects such as leadership, as they define the ability to coordinate people in the working environment.
Assessment of the Interview and Reflection
The primary goal of this section is to conduct the relevant assessment of the interview and determine its value in understanding the trends and practices in HR. In this instance, the correlation of the interview results with the business theory has to be established to understand the application of the principles in practice. As for the first aspect related to the career path, it revealed that it requires some time to understand whether the chosen sphere can be discovered as the right choice for career development. It could be said that it is widely known, as the HR is a complicated practice, as it vehemently affects the performance of the organization (Paauwe, 2004). It could be assumed that it is a valuable finding, which will help me determine my professional orientation in the future.
Speaking of the second aspect, the role of HR was revealed in the interview, and it is highly connected with the theory. Nowadays, HR actively interacts with the other departments, as it designs the strategies, which are relevant for the implementation (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). In turn, it is widely known that the HR department tends to consider other departments as consumers of their services (Porter, Smith, & Fagg, 2006). In the end, all of these aspects were highly emphasized in the interview and found approval in the theory, as Smith paid vehement attention to the functioning of the organization from this perspective.
As for the future projections, it was revealed that the interview showed that the HR practices would tend to evolve due to the technological improvements. Nowadays, innovation has a high influence on the functioning of the organization, as it is used to establish new approaches to the new leadership styles (Adair, 2009). Nonetheless, one of the primary challenges is the operation on the international level (Reilly & Williams, 2012). In the context of the interview, Smith mentions that innovation and technology could be considered as future challenges, and these aspects could be defined as valuable due to their novelty.
As for the value of the interview, it could be said that it cannot be underestimated due to the significance of the understanding of HR principles and practices in the modern world. In this instance, the interviewee provided critical insides about the future of the principles of the HRM in the recent future. In turn, it helped me determine the role of this department in overall organizational performance due to its interdependence with the other departments. Additionally, discovering the issue from a different perspective assisted in the understanding of whether I want to pursue a career path as an HR executive.
In the end, it could be said that the interview assisted in the cultivation of the understanding the HRM plays an essential role in the organization while defining its strategic flow and distributing the human resources efficiently. In turn, the interview helped discover the career path, which the individual has to follow to become a successful executive in the HR field. Lastly, following the trends and projecting the future might help avoid adverse consequences while implementing the leadership styles and HR practices in the organization.
References
Adair, J. (2009). Leadership for innovation: How to organize team creativity and harvest ideas. London, UK: Kogan Page.
Mathis, R., & Jackson, J. (2010). Human resource management. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Paauwe, J. (2004). HRM and performance: Achieving long-term viability. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Porter, K., Smith, P., & Fagg, R. (2006). Leadership and management for HR professionals. London, UK: Elsevier.
Reilly, P., & Williams, T. (2012). Global HR: Challenges facing the function. Surrey, UK: Gower Publishing Limited.
Sullivan, J. (2004). Rethinking strategic HR. Chicago, IL: CCH Incorporated.