1. Abstract
This paper examines the role of human resource (HR) professionals to the different types of organisation. The different roles very much depend on the requirement and demands of the organizations. Despite HR professionals' commitment and dedication to achieving organizational change, many in-house HR professional have simply got the wrong idea about their true role.
They often believe it is to take responsibility for change, rather than facilitate it. The need for a champion of change is now well established and rarely disputed, but the HR profession can seldom take this mantle, except in the sense of drawing attention to organizational needs and suggesting ways of meeting them.
Review of the literature also shows takes into account on what moves and motivates the employees. In this paper, I have also given several example on how Google Inc. managed to reach its' success through being an exemplary Flexible High Performance organisation.
2 Introduction
3.1 Review of the Literature - Collins (C3 Beardwell 2010)
3.1.1 Strategic Human Resource (HR) Roles
Traditionally, the human resource function has been viewed as primarily administrative, focusing on the level of the individual employee, the individual job, and the individual practice (Becker et. al, 2001).
Ulrich (1997) states that HR can help deliver organizational excellence by means of four methods. First method, HR should work hand in hand with the management of the firm in helping with strategy execution. Secondly, HR should contribute their 'know-hows' in the efficient and effective performance of work so that costs are cut and quality is maintained. Thirdly, HR should represent the concerns of the employees to senior management as well as working with employees to increase and ensure their ability to contribute to the organization through their competence and commitment.
Finally, HR professionals should continually contribute to the process of change and help improve the organization's capacity to do so (Ulrich, 1997).
Therefore, four four ways HR professionals can contribute are as follows:
a) The Role of Strategic Partner
b) The Role of Administrative Expert
c) The Role of Employee Champion
d) The Role of Change Agent
3.2 The role of the Human Resource Department:
A. In the International Organisation
One of the key departments in an International Organisation is the Human Resource Department. Thus, it is important to have an efficient Human Resource Department to assure that the needs of personnel from different backgrounds will be addressed accordingly.
Personally, having worked for an International Organisation which is Costa Cruises (Singapore branch), one of the leading leisure cruise liner in the world, I understand the significance of the Human Resource Department, especially the Director, in ensuring that the personnel hired meets the criteria and the objective of the company which is to create brand awareness in the Asean region as well as to increase the revenue of the company. On the other hand, since employees are also assets of the company, the above mentioned department have to ensure that the employees are satisfied with the working conditions and are pleased to be part of the organization. These are some of my perspective of the roles of the Human Resource Department in an International Organisation. This is further in line by what have been proposed by Ulrich (1998) that HR professional should become more proactive and strategic business partners through becoming an 'employee champion' which is to make sure that the employee feels committed and to contribute fully.
From an academic point of view as mentioned in Collins (C3 Beardwell 2010), Taylor (1996) defined the International Human Resource Management (HRM) as the set of distinct activities, functions and processes that are directed at attracting, developing and maintaining an MNC's human resources. It is thus the aggregate of the various HRM systems used to manage people in the MNC, both at home and overseas.
This further brings narrow us down to the specific role of the HR Department in the International Organisation.
According to the studies conducted by Tregaskiset. al (2005) which studies the function of international HR network within 13 international organisations, it has been proven that the seven core functions of the HR Department is to;
- develop global policies;
- implement global HR policy;
- create and share best practices;
- exploitation of the distributed HR expertise;
- creating of buy-in to policy initiatives;
- sharing of information
- socialisation of the HR community.
B. In a Flexible High Performance organisation.
The definition of high performance work organizations (HIPO) varies from a person's perspective to another. The lack of broad understanding of this concept has made it difficult for a Human Resource Department to have a standard protocol of their specific roles.
The closest definition of a high performance workforce is that it is made of productive employees that have the necessary skills and motivation to contribute to the growth of the business. In the words of Ulrich, and Smallwood (2005), the human resources function should ultimately strive to improve return to the shareholders and customers by contributing to the intangibles such as a high performance workforce.
Therefore, the core task of the HR Department in a Flexible High Performance Organisation is to;
b.1 Attract and identify talent.
HR's role is to ensure that the right people are placed in the right department within the company. This will assist the employers' to leverage on the employees best strength and so that the employees understand and truly feel they are valued contributors.
b. 2 Cultivate talent into the workforce.
As mentioned by Lawrence, the integration of talent effectively is crucial. The talent could be an existing employee within the organization or newly-hired., HR seeks to assure employees that the company will strive to meet their needs while employees actively work to excel in their jobs. If this role is done correctly, the company's culture will take on a positive tone from beginning of an employee's tenure.
One of the company's with a remarkable corporate culture from a flexible high performance organisations have been identified as Google Inc. This is why in most occasions; the corporate culture of the company is a secret weapon. Google's HR Department have succeeded creating a corporate culture in which employees want to do well and want to excel. Google have identified practices which are consistent with human nature and thus, bringing out the best out of its employees.
b.3 Develop and assess talent
b.4 Develop rewards and incentives to increase retention
Business leaders need to encourage their teams by providing genuine and regular recognition. Build in new goals once existing goals are close to being achieved, provide new challenge and competition, and introduce tangible rewards for milestones.
Personally, I have been fortunate enough to be invited in one of the seminar sessions held by Google in their Asia Headquarters based in Singapore. What I have experienced first-hand was that, true to what have been raved about - Google Inc. provides their staffs with benefits such as free breakfast and lunch, the availability of sleeping pods, resting areas, amongst many others. I also had the opportunity to get some insights from a staff of Google who shared with me Google practices open culture often associated with, in which everyone is a hands-on contributor and feels comfortable sharing ideas and opinions.
Google is now NASDAQ-listed global company with 54,000 employees. It made US$ 50.18 bln in 2014, and has proven that it's people are Google's best asset. Therefore, this shows that rewards and investments contribute to employees' satisfaction.
b.5 Implement an effective exit strategy.
3.3 Consider the role of HR Department: Facilitator of Organiser
The objective of this consideration to be made is to look at the strategic role-played by the HR Department. The emergences of HRM as well as the emphasis of HR Department's contribution have been regarded as the opportunity to improve the power and status of the HR function by many practitioners.
Implement an effective exit strategy. While this role can sometimes be a challenge, especially in the context of stewardship and preserving (or improving) a company's profile, the best HR departments are good at both identifying the best talent, and also making the tough calls on marginal contributors. Of course, there is a continuum here:
from aggressive "top grading," in which the best employees are handsomely rewarded and weak players managed out, to being endlessly patient and forgiving of poor contribution. The ideal strategy lies somewhere in between, where, guided by HR, a company establishes and abides by employee performance standards and measurements and then commits to making decisions based on them.
The desired outcome for all of these HR core processes is to create a positive, engaging company culture. To do their jobs consistently and effectively, HR professionals use several human capital metrics to do their work: they monitor attrition and retention rates, levels of employee engagement, and industry-specific salary and benefits packages. The also measure the intangibles. For example, is the company parking lot deserted at 5 p.m.? Or, are there still cars there at 8 p.m., a reflection that your associates are giving you greater discretionary effort?
Do employees seem happy, and do they say so? Do employees strive toward what Jim Collins calls "Level 5 leadership," where ego takes a back seat to company goals?
While there is no single measure within HR that conclusively points to the existence of a positive or negative company culture, HR professionals must rely on and analyze several indicators before making decisions related to their roles as company stewards.