Hi all,

How can the Human Resource department be considered as a Strategic Force rather than a paper-pushing department ?

Even after so many years only a handful of companies have succeeded at making HR a strategic business partner..the path ofcourse is tough but can it be done? Yes..

- By re-examining HR's role in the business arena.
- Broadening HR's vision, scope and general business acumen to align HR strategies with business strategy to have a positive impact on the organization's competitive position in its marketplace.
- Positioning HR as an internal consultant to help the organization improve its long-term performance by using its people more effectively and more in alignment with the company's overall business plan.
- Applying tools to identify how best to deliver programs and services that enhance individual and organizational performance.

I would invite members to put down your words ...

Regards

Ash

Dear ash,

We can also look at this in terms of the roles (and I will do this rather erratically), with the “strategic partner role”, what the HR manager should help you do is figure out how to deal with the organization and brass to help you succeed. Are there things my branch needs to do? Are there things we can learn from other branches? Do we need to make decisions faster? Do we need a better work culture? And, how can we focus to help the branch be more efficient and effective at what I need it to do?

The HR person has to explain I am from corporate and I am here to help. The reality is the branch manager has ultimate responsibility for everything that goes in and out of his or her branch, but what an HR person does is bring in a particular expertise. For example an HR person may say: “You have a turnover rate of over 140%, so something must be going on here because you are not able to keep the people in place and, therefore, you spend a lot of your time recruiting and re-engaging people. Maybe we could go do some research and see what we could do to get that turnover down to about 30% a year, so you could spend your time doing other things.” My job as the HR person is to bring some expertise and some knowledge to the table. I am not going to do your job that is silly; but I also may have some expertise that may allow you to do your job better.

Besides, I remember reading one of the master pieces of DAVE ULRICH. This is a book called "Human Resource Champions". This crux of this whole book is "To enable every Line Manager to also be a HR Manager". Highly recommended book....and a must read to all HR.

Any more comments fellas? Pls share...this is an interesting topic and we can learn more...too.

Regards

david