The human resource professionals and leaders are duty bound to manage and shape human capital by considering external factors and social conditions to improve the entire human resource process. The mission and vision of the organisation must be dynamic in order to drive the human resource programs and the entire human resource management system strategic. The strategic management of human capital means the human resource professionals or leaders should be able to align together all the essential factors of the HR system including recruitment/selection of employees, induction, training or mentoring, professional growth/development, evaluation or management of performance and salary or compensation (Odden, 2011, p.12). Part of the strategic management of human capital is to identify the knowledge, skills, and expertise of the leaders to be able to improve their roles to human resource strategy.
“The focus on human resources and the worth of the people is of the utmost importance to achieve the success of every organisation” (Du Plessis, 2015, p.15).
Part of the role of HR managers and leaders to ensure that the HR staff continues to perform its role as the service provider of the company in the sense that the organizational infrastructure in managing the flow of employees (Welch, 2012, p.605). The administrative role of the HR unit covers the tasks of maintaining the personnel database, project orientation, policy enforcement, performance management, global resourcing, improving government relations, human resource practices, implementing cultural change, participate in community building and promoting advocacies. These are only some of the traditional roles of the human resource department that every HR leader should oversee to shape the future of the company as a whole.
The role of HR managers and leader continues to evolve in order to keep up with the changing times. Thus, they have the responsibility to select the best potential employee who possesses the right skills, knowledge and aptitudes (KSAs) that will fit the identified position in the organisation. In order to do this, they should implement various strategies such as a reward system to be able to attract the best suitable employees to meet the goals and objectives of the company (Du Plessis, 2015, p.3).
The rewards system in the company will be able to encourage and motivate the employees to improve their performance. However, the direct correlation between remuneration and performance must first be established between the employer and employee. In effect, both of the parties should have to be satisfied in the exchange relationship that it becomes mutually beneficial for them. Every modern organisation must adopt a more holistic view of the value of the existing employment relationship. These can be done by giving out greater benefits and increase the base pay of the employees as well as granting of incentives. As a result, the high levels of employee engagement will be achieved and in return will improve the organisational performance. Aside from the value-added remuneration in the form of benefits and incentives, there are other external factors to consider such as wage controls, inflation, trade unions, tax advantages, legislation, and cost advantages (Du Plessis, 2015, p.3).
The HR leaders should also consider job satisfaction of employees. The happier people are within their job, the more satisfied they are said to be. Job satisfaction means that the people are motivated to enhance job satisfaction and performance method (Mosammod & Nurul Kabir, 2011, p.113).
“The increasing global nature of competition mandates organisations to use all of their available resources in order to survive and to succeed” (Du Plessis, 2015, p.15).
The companies must have an equal playing field with the rest of the international companies to keep up with the global trends. At present, the employees who possess more skills are the ones who are in the position to demand for better compensation and benefits, and be allowed to engage in decision-making by management (Du Plessis, 2015, p.15). The need to implement a new reward and salary structure system will motivate individual and organisational performance. Additionally, employee empowerment and participation is also the key to maintain a lasting relationship with the employees. As the employees are exposed towards the strategic direction of the organization, they are also motivated when they feel that participation in the decision-making is made part of their job. Studies show that it is not just monetary rewards that will make the employees stay in a company, but will also include responsibility and empowerment in the work that they are doing increases loyalty of the employees.
The HR leaders should continuously strive to improve professional development and recognize their employees for doing a good job. The employees expect not just the monetary rewards for a job well done, but also want to become part of the decision-making process of the company. It has been shown by previous studies that a very high level of employee participation and empowerment will encourage the employees to improve their performance (Du Plessis, 2015, p. 15).
The HR managers should strive to become the change agents and leaders by developing and implementing a new rewards system that will allow employee engagement. Furthermore, individual performance is also important for the employees to be able to achieve the purpose of a reward system in the organization. It is vital that the HR leaders must be able to help the employers to ensure that the needs of employees are being provided and that feedback received from employees are being seriously considered to improve the organisation.
It is expected that employers and HR practitioners are able to utilize the talents of their employees who come from different backgrounds, experiences and culture. Thus, allowing them to engage in the decision-making of the company on certain levels will result to more strategic organizational structure and improvement of individual performance of their employees.
Another way to comply with the global change in HR management is by improving the efficiency and by keeping the organisations to become more adaptable to the competitive marketplace. (Ullah, 2012, p.121). Nowadays, majority of the companies all over the world have strategically adopted changes for the purpose of improving organizational effectiveness. Thus, by bringing about successful change in today’s competitive environment will need a thorough planning, effective communication and employee acceptance (Ullah, 2012, p.121).
“Every successful organisations should be adaptive, resilient, quick to change direction and should become more customer-centered” (Ullah, 2012, p.121).
Given such kind of environment, the role of the HR professional is also evolving since they become strategic partners, change mentor, employee advocate, and administrative expert to adopt the global changes. The rapid innovation in technology is another factor that drives changes to the organizational processes and systems. Due to the reliance on the internet, there is faster and easier access to knowledge by the employees. They now have increased expectations of the employer since the employees will demand for more freedom in the working environment.
As globalization tore down the past international market barriers, change is inevitable within the organization (Ullah, 2012, p.121). As a result the HR professionals are expected to properly utilize the company’s human resources to achieve the goals that they have set. It is a known fact that the success or failure of every company is greatly dependent on the competence of its people. Part of the biggest role of the HR professionals is to be able to effectively manage the human resources. However, managing human capital or resources and at the same time implementing organisational change can be a very challenging task for HR professionals. The role of managing change in an organization is not an easy task due to increase in competition, both in the local and global market. To manage the changes, every organisation are advised in becoming more adaptable, resilient, agile, and customer-focused to become successful (Ullah, 2012, p.121). It bears to stress that change is inevitable in the company in these modern times.
The HR Professionals are required to play the role of becoming transformational leaders in the sense that they actively participate in the planning stage by instilling bold strategic changes to modernize the future of the company. They should be the driving force who should articulate the mission and vision of the company. Such being the case, they are duty bound to assist the employees to improve on their performance by putting an emphasis on the individual positions to have clearer picture of the change within the organization. The role of the HR leader is to be able to educate the employees of the role to keep up with the changing times. It is part of the learning process of the companies to be ready for the unknown challenges that they have to hurdle in the future. It is imperative to inform the employees of this possible scenario to keep them prepared for what they may encounter in the coming years.
One of the ways to make these challenges to become easier to overcome is having the ability to recognize that a problem exists. Most of the employees have the same reaction when it comes to change by becoming resistance. It has been known as the common behavior among employees who demonstrate natural aversion to change, even of these changes are only minor. Since majority of the HR professionals know that such attitude is inevitable, they should be able to come-up with a roadmap that will guide the employees through these difficult and trying times (Ullah, 2012). Some of the common scenarios are mergers, mass lay-offs or change of management.
The most important role of the modern-day HR professionals and leaders is to maintain a good communication with their employees to avoid occurrence of misunderstandings on the upcoming change. The best way to sell the change among the employees is by having a dialogue with them. Another suggestion to assist the employees to accept the change is by showing them how success will appear by allowing them to see it through symbolism or a tangible thing. The role of the HR leaders is also to be able to assess the skills and abilities that will ensure that there is a compatible fit with the roles that they have to perform in the company (Waldeck & Leffakis, 2007, p.169).
“There are three additional roles for HR leaders or managers which are critical in managing the inevitable changes within organisations in these modern times and they are: strategic partner, employee advocate and change champion” (Ullah, 2012, p.8).
In the modern organizations, the role of the HR leaders is to guarantee they make an important contribution in the viability of the change by becoming strategic partners of the employer. Such role will help the human resource department to contribute to the development and accomplishing the business plans and objectives of the organization.
Given such kind of environment, the role of the HR professional is also evolving since they become strategic partners to adapt to the global changes. With the fast-moving innovation in technology, the organizational processes and systems also have to keep up with the pace. With the vast information and data found on the internet, employees get an easy access to knowledge, thereby increasing their expectations from the employer. In these modern age, the employees demand more freedom and to have a say in the working environment.
The HR managers should strive to become the change agents by creation of improved rewards system for the employees. The HR professional should be deeply knowledgeable about the design of changed work systems to allow the people succeed and contribute in the decision-making process. It bears to stress that individual performance is the key to achieve the objectives of the new reward system in place. Assuring the employees that their feedback, comments and suggestions are being considered by the management to improve the organization will strengthen their relationship. The selection and hiring process now becomes part of the improved system to allow reward, recognition, performance development and appraisal systems to give the employees what is due to them. The organization must also provide them a seminar on career and succession planning and employee development to inspire them (Ullah, 2012).
It is also important to have a constant evaluation on whether the company is implementing effective policies to test whether the mission and vision of the organisation are met. Thus, the HR professionals must also play the role of champion change. This simply means that they have adequate knowledge and the ability to execute successful change strategies. It is by becoming knowledgeable on how to connect change to the strategic needs of the organization that will reduce any instances of employee dissatisfaction or becoming resistant to change (Ullah, 2012, p.9).
Finally, employee empowerment and participation is also the key to maintain a lasting relationship with the employees. When the employees are being exposed towards the strategic direction of the organization, they will become motivated to work since they are allowed to participate in the decision-making of the organisation. It bears to note that it is not just monetary rewards that will make the employees loyal to the company, but giving them empowerment in the work that they are doing will encourage them to perform better.
References:
Cromwell, S. E., & Kolb, J. A., 2004. An examination of work-environment support factors affecting transfer of supervisory skills training to the workplace. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 15(4), pp. 449-471.
Du Plessis, A.,J., 2015. Evidence of the Changing Activities, Goals and Roles of HR Practitioners, Journal of Community Positive Practices, 15(1), pp.3-16.
Mosammod, M. P., & Nurul Kabir, ,M.M.., 2011. Factors Affecting Employee Job Satisfaction of Pharmaceutical Sector. Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, 1(9), pp. 113-123.
Odden, A., 2011, Manage “Human Capital” Strategically, Phi Delta Kappan, 92(7), pp.8-12.
Welch, C. L. & Welch, D. E., 2012. What do HR managers really do? Management International Review, 52(4), pp. 597-617.
Waldeck, N.E. & Leffakis, Z.M., 2007. HR perceptions and the provision of workforce training in an AMT environment: an empirical study, Omega, 35(2), pp. 161-172.
Ullah, M., 2012. The Emerging Roles of HR Professionals In Driving Organizational Change, Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology, 2(3), pp.121-132.
