One of the principal users of HR services is a line manager. The key demands that a line manager addresses to HR service reside in an adequate evaluation of the employees’ needs and their sustainable training. From this perspective, it is expected that HR service performs an organizational function trying to create an environment that would be favorable for employees’ effective working. This includes maintaining good relationships within the workforce and resolving the conflict situations that essentially appear between colleagues. The second demand made on HR services on the part of a manager resides in assuring constant development of the professional capacity within the personnel. Another need of a more personal character that a line manager is likely to experience is the desire to receive a reward for his team.
Another user of HR services is an employee. This type of user has numerous needs, among which the dominant requests reside in being timely paid and objectively rewarded. These users are less interested in the team appraisals and more focused on the individual results and the prospects they might bring.
Finally, the last user of HR services is a potential employee. In other words, it is a person that is currently undergoing a probation period. These types of users are the most demanding as they expect HR service to provide them with challenging tasks and, at the same time, they require that every single achievement is essentially noticed and rewarded. In the meantime, these types of users might be more concerned about team rewards than official employees.
On the whole, all the users of the HR services expect timely service delivery.
From this perspective, HR services have to perform a large scope of functions simultaneously. To address the needs of a line manager and satisfy them, the service representatives have to maintain a stress-free atmosphere within a team and provide it with essential development facilities if necessary.
In the meantime, the situation is much more complicated in terms of assigning rewards. That is one of the key demands that each of the enlisted users makes on the HR service. From this point, HR professionals deal with a conflict of needs that are highly problematic to prioritize. Thus, for instance, the needs of a line manager should be considered more significant than those of a potential employee. Nevertheless, it might turn out that the achievements of the latter are more considerable in terms of a company’s prosperity.
Ideally, the HR service should find an alternative solution so that each interested party assumes that its interests are given the highest priority. Though, in practice, finding such a solution is sometimes literary impossible. Then, it is most reasonable for HR professionals to set priorities by corporate benefit and organizational profit. In other words, the rewards should be assigned to those users who perform the largest contribution to the company’s development without a reference to the hierarchical positions. One of the first steps that an HR professional should make is to study the key behavior patterns of all the users and find the most effective approach to fulfilling their requests. Otherwise, it would be hard to identify what motives underpin each user’s need.
To fulfill the needs of each user, the HR service has to search for alternative ways and effective communication methods. A large scope of variants exists in the relevant context. Thus, for example, the simplest and yet, one of the most beneficial ways of communication is a face to face dialogue. The relevant method might be employed to resolve urgent problems at any level.
The key advantage of a face to face dialogue resides in the fact that it allows receiving an immediate response from one of the parties that is often critical in dealing with urgent problems. It is essential to note, that, in a broader sense, a face to face communication does not only imply a dialogue but might comprise group meetings as well. Therefore, it turns out that this type of communication is appropriate for addressing all types of users.
In the meantime, the method has some disadvantages. Thus, in case a manager needs his collocutor to remember the details of some important case or order, he or she will essentially have to repeat this information in a written form so that a supplementary communication method will be required.
Another communication method that should be mentioned is a written communication that includes sending reports and letters directly to the service user. This method is particularly beneficial in terms of significant documents and in the course of discussing some crucial decisions. From this perspective, its principal advantage resides in the fact that both parties have printed evidence of the agreement or refusal to do something. However, it should be admitted that this method is considered old-dated due to the widespread of electronic resources that surpass the efficiency of this method by any definition.
Lastly, the third method of communication available to HR service for addressing its users is electronic communication – in particular, the employment of electronic mail. This communication method is almost similar to the one described above except for the fact that it is much more efficient and productive in terms of time-consuming. Thus, within a single click, an addressee receives all the necessary information that can be safely stored for the intended period. Meanwhile, large amounts of data circling through electronic resources create certain risks to information security.
As it has been already mentioned above, the main request set for the HR service resides ineffective service delivery. However, a closer examination of this demand shows that to fulfill it, the HR service needs to carry out a series of related activities. Hence, they, first and foremost, are supposed to maintain stable and good relationships not only with their external clients but within the internal users of the service as well.
Whatever paradoxical it might seem, but it is not only clients that the epithet “difficult” might be applied to – the resolutions of inner conflicts, as well as handling the complaints of managers and employees, require a lot of time and effort on the part of the HR service. Moreover, the service professionals are also responsible for ensuring timely service delivery that is directly connected with increasing the company’s profit. Thence, the service’s activity is, to a certain extent, associated with budget management as well. Finally, the last element of effective service delivery is the assurance of continuous improvement. From this perspective, the work of the HR service is critical for the company’s prosperity as it helps to increase its competitive advantage.