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Management
of Strategic Human Resources – Strategic Partner
The strategic HR role
focuses on aligning HR strategies and practices with business strategy. In
playing this role, the HR professional works to be a strategic partner, helping
to ensure the success of business strategies.
By fulfilling this role, HR
professionals increase the capacity of a business to execute its strategies. Translating business strategies into HR practices helps a business in three
ways.
First, the business can adapt to change because the time from conception
to the execution of a strategy is shortened.
Second, the business can better
meet customer demands because its customer service strategies have been
translated into specific policies and practices.
Third, the business can
achieve financial performance through its more effective execution of strategy.
Management
of Firm Infrastructure – Administrative Expert
Creating an organizational
infrastructure has been a traditional HR role. It requires that HR
professionals design and deliver efficient HR processes for staffing, training,
appraising, rewarding, promoting, and otherwise managing the flow of employees
through the organization.
As a caretaker of the corporate infrastructure, HR
professionals ensure that these organizational processes are designed and
delivered efficiently.
While this role has been down-played and even disclaimed
with the shift to a strategic focus, its successful accomplishment continues to
add value to a business.
Management
of Employee Contribution – Employee Champion
The employee contribution
role for HR professionals encompasses their involvement in the day-to-day
problems, concerns, and needs of employees.
In companies in which intellectual
capital becomes a critical source of the firm’s value, HR professionals should
be active and aggressive in developing this capital. HR professionals thus
become the employees’ champions by linking employee contributions to the
organization’s success.
With active employee champions who understand
employees’ needs and ensure that those needs are met, overall employee
contribution goes up.
Management
of Transformation and Change – Change Agent
A fourth key role through
which HR professionals can add value to a firm is to manage transformation and
change.
Transformation entails fundamental cultural change within the firm; HR
professionals managing transformation become both cultural guardians and
cultural catalysts.
Change refers to the ability of an organization to improve
the design and implementation of initiatives and to reduce cycle time in all
organizational activities; HR professionals help to identify and implement
processes for change.
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