Human resource managers have many strategic responsibilities such as
1. Assessing the staffing needs
2. Recruitment
3. Training
4. Compensation
5. Appraisal and promotion
6. Training need analysis
7. Plan to motivate managers and employees.
8. Develop performance incentives
9. Empowering managers and employees
10. Making members to understand clearly how they will benefit personally if the company does well.
11. Linking company and personal benefits is a major new strategic responsibility of human resource managers.
12. Other new responsibilities for human resource managers to administer an employee to have conductive work environment,
13. Maintain life work balance,
14. Synchronize individual with organization goals etc.
Strategic Role of Human Resource Manager
The prominent areas where the human resource manager can play strategic role are as follows:
Creating Competitive Advantage
Creating and maintaining a competitive advantage in the globalized market is the objective of any organization. There are two important ways a business can achieve a competitive advantage over the others. The first is cost leadership which means the firm aims to become a low cost leader in the industry. The second competitive strategy is differentiation under which the firm seeks to be unique in the industry in terms of dimensions that are highly valued by the customers. Putting these strategies in to effect carries a heavy premium on having a highly committed and competent workforce.
Core Competency Building
The human resource manager has a great role to play in developing core competency by the firm. A core competence is a unique strength of an organization which may not be shared by others. This may be in the form of human resources, marketing capability, or technological capability. If the business is organized on the basis of core competency, it is likely to generate competitive advantage. Because of this reason, many organizations have restructured their businesses by divesting those businesses which do not match core competence. Organization of business around core competence implies leveraging the limited resources of a firm. It needs creative, courageous and dynamic leadership having faith in organization’s human resources.
Empowerment of Human Resources
Empowerment means authorizing every member of an organization to take up his or her own destiny by realizing his or her full potential. It involves giving more power to those who, at present, have little control what they do and little ability to influence the decisions being made around them.
Works Ethic and Culture Development
Greater efforts will be needed to achieve cohesiveness among employees. Employee will have transient commitment to groups. Flexible starting and quitting times for employees may be necessary. Focus will shift from outside in motivation to inside out motivation. A vibrant work culture will have to be developed in the organizations to create an atmosphere of trust among the employees and to encourage creative ideas by them.
Factors Influencing the Competence of Human Resources
An organization’s recruitment, selection, training, performance appraisal, and compensation practices can have a strong influence on employee competence. The following points should be kept in mind:
•Recruitment and selection
•Training
•Appraisal
•Compensation
1. Recruitment and selection: The workforce will be more competent if a firm can successfully identify, attract and select the most competent applicants.
2. Training: The workforce will be more competent if employees are well trained to perform their jobs properly.
3. Appraisal of performance: The performance appraisal is to identify any performance efficiencies experienced by employees due to lack of competence. Such deficiencies, once identified, can often be solved through counseling, coaching or training.
4. Compensation: A firm can usually increase the competency of its workforce by offering pay and benefit packages that are more attractive than those of their competitors. This practice enables organizations to attract and retain the most capable people.
Causes or Problems in HRD or issues faced by HRD
Strategic management system will not be successful unless proper attention is given to human resources issue or dimension.
There are three causes or reasons or issues human resources department faces while strategy is being implemented
1. Non-support or Inadequate support of top management in implementation of activities related to human resources.
2. Aptitudes mismatch of individual with implementation tasks.
3. Social and political disruption structures.
Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)
The Human Resource Management practices of an organization may be an important source of competitive advantage. For this strategic focus, should be given on the following points:
Pre-selection practices including human resource planning and job analysis.
Selection practices meant for staff at various positions in the organization. Both recruitment and selection policies and procedures should be designed keeping in view the mission and the purpose of the organization.
Post-selection practices to maintain and improve the workers job performance levels. Human resources decisions related to training and development, performance appraisal, compensation and motivation should be based on corporate strategy of the organization. Strategic human resource management may be defined as the linking of human resourcemanagement with strategic goals and objectives to improve business performance and develop organizational culture that fosters innovation and flexibility. The success of an organization depends on its human resources. This means how they are acquired, developed, motivated and retained.
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