...Change agenda THE CHANGING HR FUNCTION THE KEY QUESTIONS Introduction The HR function and its evolution have been identified as key areas within the CIPD’s research programme. Despite a wealth of information that exists on the HR function, its role and its structure, and a vast amount of literature on the link between people management practices and organisational performance, there is little definitive evidence, either from the CIPD or from academic researchers, which gives a clear indication of the impact of HR structure and staffing on organisational outcome or performance. In particular, as many organisations embrace and implement the so-called Ulrich model, questions on the extent to which it meets their particular needs and what difference it has made to HR performance, stakeholder satisfaction and HR staff aspirations, have not been answered. This Change Agenda is based on the scoping stage of a larger piece of work, and it examines what we know about the impact of new structures and roles on the HR function, on the implications for skills and development of HR staff, and on the relationships with line managers. We will also look at how HR has measured its performance against this background. The result of this exercise will be to throw up a number of unanswered questions that will form the basis for the next phases of research. Phase one For this segment of the project we have undertaken two main pieces of work: we have explored the literature around the...
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...The impact of information technology on the HR function transformation By Yu Long 0123404 Graduation Committee: First supervisor: Dr. T. Bondarouk Course coordinator: Pro. Dr. J. K. Looise Master Thesis, Business Administration HRM University of Twente March, 2009 Preface This master thesis concludes my life as a student, which is performed under the supervision of Twente University in the Netherlands. The research is the terminal of the program Human Resource Management. Doing this research not only improves my skill on literature searching, information analysis, but helps me to gain more profound knowledge about e-HR. During the research, I have got great support from several persons, and now, here is the opportunity to thank them. At first, I give special thanks to Jiajie Li, my boyfriend. He accompanies with me during the whole research period. Besides dealing with my impatient and anxious attitude, he also put great effort on improving my thesis. His optimistic and serious attitude influences me, and makes me continue the research with better and better results every time. His support is very meaningful for my research period. Secondly, I would like to thank Ms. Tanya Bondarouk, and Prof. Jan Kees Looise for their excellent support, feedback and guidance. Both of them give me fruitful advice on how to improve my work. And they always give me timely feedback on my work, which encourages and makes me belief that I can hand in a satisfactory report under the effort...
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...Survey report September 2007 The changing HR function Contents Summary of key findings 2 Introduction 4 Restructuring the HR function 5 Benefits and challenges of HR structures 10 Roles and responsibilities of HR 15 HR skills and careers 24 Conclusions 26 Background 27 Acknowledgements 28 References 28 The changing HR function Summary of key findings • Fifty-three per cent of organisations have restructured of centres of expertise were identified, the most their HR function in the last year and 81% have done common being deeper professional knowledge. so in the last five years. By far the most common Other commonly perceived benefits are in the reason for restructuring was to enable the HR consistency of HR advice, the quality of advice function to become a more strategic contributor. given to HR partners and making the function a • Three out of ten respondents whose HR function has been restructured say that it now reflects the more strategic contributor. • In general, the most common difficulties three-legged ‘Ulrich model’ and a further 28% say encountered in restructuring the HR function are that this is partially true. However, only 18% of HR in defining new roles (42%), having insufficient functions actually had in place all three elements resources (40%), dealing with skills gaps (38%), of this model (shared...
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...Running head: HR ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES PAPER HR Roles and Responsibilities Paper Letitia Newbold University of Phoenix Week 1 – MGT/431 Professor Richard Dettling March 13, 2006 HR Roles and Responsibilities Paper Human resource management (HRM) in public organizations is changing as there are numerous policies, procedural and structural reforms underway. Human resource management studies have focused primarily at the state and federal levels, with relatively fewer comprehensive views of county governments. HR has therefore become a huge investment for medium and large companies across industries. This paper will define human resource management and describe the changing roles of Human Resource (HR) management in response to trends in globalization, technology, diversity, e-business, and ethics. The function of the Human Resources Management (HRM) includes a variety of actions required by the Human Resource Department. The key goal of HRM is deciding what staffing needs, whether to use independent contractors or hire employees to fill the needs of the company by recruiting and training the best employees and ensuring they are high performers. HRM also deals with performance issues and ensure personnel and management practices conform to the various regulations when rectifying issues. Other activities include managing the approach to employee benefits and compensation, employee records and personnel policies. Small businesses (for-profit...
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...environment and developing the appropriate HR policies and strategies 18 Resourcing • • • HR Planning Internal and External Staffing/recruitment Employee Orientation and Socialisation 19 Development • • • • Training of Employees Management Development Career Development Knowledge Management 20 Motivation • Job Design • Performance Management • Rewards and Compensation • Job Evaluation • Discipline 21 Maintenance/Retention • • • • Commitment Employee safety and Health Employee Relations Industrial Relations 22 Human Resource Management Functions Human Resource 1 Manageme nt Safety and Health 23 HR’s Changing Role • The metamorphosis of personnel into human resource management reflects the fact that in today’s business environment, highly trained and committed employees are often a firm’s main real sustainable competitive advantage. 24 HR’s Changing Environment • Globalization – refers to firms’ tendency to extend their sales, ownership, and/or manufacturing to new markets abroad 25 HR’s Changing Environment • Technological advances • Nature of work – service jobs – outsourcing – human capital 26 HR’s Changing Environment • Growing emphasis on “knowledge workers” and human capital • Human capital – refers to the knowledge, education, training, skills, and expertise of a firm’s workers 27 Environment of Human Resource Management Legal Considerations Marketing ...
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...The Strategic Role of Human Resource Management The strategic role of Human Resource Management How Human Resource function has changed from past to today? Human Resource function in the past The role of the HR professional is changing. In the past, HR managers were often viewed as the systematizing, policing arm of executive management. Their role was more closely aligned with personnel and administration functions that were viewed by the organization as paperwork. When you consider that the initial HR function, in many companies, comes out of the administration or finance department because hiring employees, paying employees, and dealing with benefits were the organization's first HR needs, this is not surprising. In this role, the HR professional served executive agendas well, but was frequently viewed as a road block by much of the rest of the organization. While some need for this role occasionally remains — you wouldn’t want every manager putting his own spin on a sexual harassment policy, as an example — much of the HR role is transforming itself. Human Resource Function now The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of his or her changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change direction, and customer- centered. Within this environment, the HR professional, who is considered necessary by line managers, is a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate...
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...The Human Resource department is an integral part of any organization and their roles have changed in many different ways over the years. No longer are they considered only the aspect of the company that handles all of the hiring and firing of personnel, they are now deeply rooted in the overall goal of the firm and its employees. Today I will discuss important roles of human resources (with personal examples), I will discuss how the HR department represents the employees and the firm itself, I will also discuss how the HR role has changed over the years and how it will change even more in the future. First I will discuss the most important roles of the HR department. Personnel development and growth should be the primary focus for the HR department. This will allow the employees to always understand there are chances for advancement and new opportunities. Developing your personnel involves delegating and empowering them to perform tasks on their own. “Empowerment means that the management team of a business shares some of its authority and responsibilities with team members.” (Keefe, 2010) Another way to ensure your personnel are progressing is to provide training opportunities for them within the company. This also gives them “job and career enhancing skills” (Heathfield 2010) which will allow them to grow and gain motivation. Another way to grow your employees is by ensuring there is a good mix of employees within the company. Diversification allows individuals to come...
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...The strategic role of Human Resource Management How Human Resource function has changed from past to today? Human Resource function in the past The role of the HR professional is changing. In the past, HR managers were often viewed as the systematizing, policing arm of executive management. Their role was more closely aligned with personnel and administration functions that were viewed by the organization as paperwork. When you consider that the initial HR function, in many companies, comes out of the administration or finance department because hiring employees, paying employees, and dealing with benefits were the organization's first HR needs, this is not surprising. In this role, the HR professional served executive agendas well, but was frequently viewed as a road block by much of the rest of the organization. While some need for this role occasionally remains — you wouldn’t want every manager putting his own spin on a sexual harassment policy, as an example — much of the HR role is transforming itself. Human Resource Function now The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of his or her changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change direction, and customer-centered. Within this environment, the HR professional, who is considered necessary by line managers, is a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate and a change mentor. At the same time, especially the HR Generalist, still has responsibility...
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...HR Managers’ Roles & Contributions in Merger Processes Khalil Al Jerjawi Faculty of Business School of Management University of Western Sydney, Australia E.mail: mr.jerjawi@gmail.com Accepted: August 12, 2011 DOI :10.5296/ijhrs.v1i1.896 As companies have engaged in domestic and international mergers over the last few years in order to match the macroeconomic trends operating on a worldwide and more recently to cope with the current global financial crisis, human resource managers have been encouraged to play a more strategic role in their organizations, especially in the case of extensive and radical organizational change such as merging process. This study addresses and works on the existing research gap by investigating the roles of HR managers among the different roles which were defined at the fist by Dave Ulrich. This paper demonstrates that HR managers are an essential part of merger and that HR practices should be given an extensive emphasizing throughout such organizational change “the merger process”. Keywords: HR practices; HR manager roles; Merger process. 64 www.macrothink.org/ijhrs 1. Introduction In recent years human resource managers have been triggered to play a more strategic role in their organizations, especially in making strategic decisions and going through radical organizational changes such as merging process (Bjorkman & Soderberg, 2003). Nowadays this requirement is even more urgent and acute due to the fact that past decade has been characterized...
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...strategic role? 4. INTRODUCTION There has been a dramatic shift in the role of human resource management (HRM) in recent decades. Traditionally, the HR function has been viewed as primarily administrative, focusing on the level of the individual employee, the individual job, and the individual practice (Becker, Huselid, and Ulrich, 2001), with the basic premise that improvements in individual employee performance will automatically enhance organizational performance. In the 1990s, an emphasis on strategy and the importance of HR systems began to emerge. Both researchers and practitioners began to recognize the impact of aligning HR practices with organizational strategy. HR has now emerged as a strategic paradigm in which individual HR functions, such as recruitment, selection, training, compensation, and performance appraisal, are closely aligned with each other and also with the overall strategy of the organization. This new approach of managing human resources has introduced a more strategic role of HRM in an organization. Globalizations, technological advance, changes in the nature of work, changes in workforce demographics are the factors that demand more strategic role of HRM in management. In order to play a more strategic role as a HR manager you need to involve in many tasks like creating strategy execution role, creating formulation execution role, creating a strategic HRM system, creating high-performance-work system, translating strategy into HR policy & practice...
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...Cornell University ILR School DigitalCommons@ILR Visiting Fellow Working Papers International Programs 3-1-2005 The Role of Corporate HR Funcitons in MNCs: The Interplay Between Corporate, Regional/ National and Plant Level Elaine Farndale Erasmus University Rotterdam, farndale@few.eur.nl Jaap Paauwe Erasmus University Rotterdam, paauwe@few.eur.nl Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/intlvf Part of the Human Resources Management Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the International Programs at DigitalCommons@ILR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Visiting Fellow Working Papers by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@ILR. For more information, please contact jdd10@cornell.edu. The Role of Corporate HR Funcitons in MNCs: The Interplay Between Corporate, Regional/National and Plant Level Abstract The HR literature has been abundant in providing typologies of the roles of HR professionals in their organisation. These typologies are largely related to the changing nature of HRM over time, and the context in which empirical work was carried out. In this paper we focus on the context of the increasing internationalisation of firms and how this has an effect upon modern-day typologies of HR roles. We explore these roles by focusing on the way in which HRM practices come about. Especially in a MNC setting of increasing internationalisation of firms the issues of coordination, shared...
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...RESOURCES PROFESSION IS VERY CHALLENGING IN BANGLADESH INTRODUCTION The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with the change in competitive market environment and the realization that Human Resource Management must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization. Organizations that do not put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in dire consequences, as their competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources. The new millennium has brought about new challenges for human resources departments and practitioners around the world. These new challenges raise questions about the nature HR practices and the role of HR professionals, and imply new approaches for the HR function in product and service delivery. Organizations recognize the critical importance that human capital means for competitiveness, and ultimately survival in the modern era. In Bangladesh ‘the concept of HR’ is not very old. But within last 7 to 10 years it is widely practiced and now maximum large company keeps a department of Human Resource Management. As we move into the 'new economy', the focus on people and knowledge has steadily increased. Today, companies face new challenges in dealing with issues such as the scarcity of talent, the value of ideas/knowledge and the changing preferences of the labour market. Consequently, successful HR strategies are needed more than ever. With the increase in competition, locally...
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...Article Summary and Critical Review Human Resource Management A New Mandate for Human Resources By Dave Ulrich 1 Summary In recent times HR has been perceived as ineffective, incompetent and costly. A need has been felt for creating a new role and agenda to focus on the outcomes and deliverables enrichinhg the organisations value to customers, investors and employees. The four ways which should be adopted by the HR are ← It should partener with the management in executing the strategy ← Develop an expertise in organizing and executing administrative work efficiently. ← Become a medium of transferring employes concerns to the management and develop means to increase employee contribution. ← It should become a change agent, shaping processes and cultures for facilitating change in the organization. The primary role of transforming the HR role lies on the CEO and all line managers who have the main responsibility of achieving the business goals. Thus the line and the HR should form a partnership to make it focused on outcomes rather than activities. 1 Reasons for increase in importance of HR HR can play leadership role in meeting the following competitive challenges Globalisation – The HR must develop understanding and skills in ways of international customers, commerece and competition. It should facilitate the organization in increasing its...
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...HR Roles and Responsibilities Human resources (HR) are one of the most important departments of an organization. The human resources department usually deals with hiring, terminations, training, federal regulations, employee benefits, and anything employee related. The main part f their job is focused on the employees. The functions of an HR Professional are to make sure that all employees are treated fairly and equitably and that the needs of the business are balanced against the needs of the employees (Adamson, 2009). The roles and responsibilities of the HR department are crucial to the company’s success. This department must be resilient and adaptable because the business world is constantly changing in regard to globalization, technology, diversity, e-business, and ethics. Globalization Globalization is occurring more frequently these days than in the past and has a major impact on human resources management (HRM). When a business goes global, they need to consider these important factors: employment laws, culture, terminology, and corporate social responsibility ("How globalization effects," 2011). The HR managers are recruiting and selecting from around the world, not just nationally. Other challenges that HR managers must face are managing a diverse workforce, managing pressures for more labor rights in third world countries, managing outsourcing of employees, more part-time temporary work, managing productivity and quality, downsizing the workforce, and coping...
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...Workplace Flexibility as a Competitive Advantage Matthew R. Wilson GB520-01N: Strategic Human Resources Management Kaplan University February 28, 2012 Abstract Times are changing. Technological advances have launched radically new methods of communicating and working allowing tremendous expansion of business into a globalized marketplace. In turn, the workplace environment has become similarly complex and ever-changing bringing a vast number of challenges to the employee and employer. Workers are experiencing greater demand for their time both on the job and at home; and, this struggle to find work-life balance has quickly become a vital issue in the workforce. Thus, it falls upon the HR professional to bring viable solutions to these work-life issues while strategically working to align employee performance with corporate objectives. Workplace flexibility strategies seem to be the answer. However, developing strategies that produce measurable results and thus solicit the engagement of top-level executives as well as front line employees is not easy. This makes the role of the HR team even more critical to the success of businesses today. Workplace Flexibility as a Competitive Advantage As the business world becomes more diverse and global in nature, the necessity for workplace flexibility also grows. The generational diversity that exists today, as well as the shifting dynamics of industry in the United States, presents a greater importance on work-life balance...
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