Roles of HR Managers according to David Ulrich

Discuss about the Business Issues and Role Of HR.

Human resource management plays a critical role in the success of any organization. In this unit, we learnt about various business issues that organizations face. We learnt about various HR roles as explained by David Ulrich. These roles can be divided into that of a strategic partner, change agent, employee champion and administrative expert. We applied different theories learnt in this course to KSUMC which is a leading hospital. We conducted internal and external environment analysis which helps us in evaluating different stakeholder interests. We also learnt about steps of strategy formulation and implementation.

As a future HR manager, these learnings would help me become better aware of the human resources required for the business. If the organization is undergoing a change, then hiring would be focused on people who can act as change agents. On the other hand, senior level employees would be hired as strategic partners. Conducting an internal or external environment analysis including Porter’s model and SWOT would also help in assessing what my competitors are doing. The step by step analysis would also help me formulate and implement strategies for the growth of the firm as an HR manager.

In this unit we learnt about various human resource functions and how can managers work towards managing and coordinating between the two. We also learnt about the pros and cons of outsourced HR and in-house HR service. Another important learning of this unit was understanding various functions of small and medium enterprises as well as large multinational organizations.

As an HR manager, it is also important to evaluate the contribution of various HR functions in an organization. In order to accomplish the same, we learnt about benchmarking, balanced score cards, service level agreements and key performance indicators. I am sure as a future HR manager, these parameters will largely help me in understanding the impact of different HR functions in the organization.

A critical learning from this unit was the importance of employee satisfaction. I learnt different strategies that can be adopted to ensure and measure employee satisfaction. These include employee satisfaction surveys, one on one reviews and focus group discussions. A basic understanding of these measures will help me as an HR manager to ensure employee satisfaction in the organization and hence ensure increased levels of employee retention.

This was an extremely important unit and helped us understand what it means to be an HR professional and what are the career stages than an HR professional goes through. We also learnt about ten professional areas, eight behaviors and four bands of professional competency in the field of human resources. This model personally helped me identify a large number of skills and behaviors that I possesses and will help me in my HR career.

Internal and External Environment Analysis for HR Management

Different stages of team work were also identified and analyzed in this unit. This understanding helped me gain deeper insight about what different team members go through while working in a team during different stages. As a future HR manager, this unit helped me understand how to effectively lead a team during its different stages in order to ensure maximum output from all team members.

We also conducted several activities to understand my learning style in order to enhance my knowledge. My learning style is ‘Theorist’ wherein I tend to learn from models, conclude from experience and logically analyze different ideas. This learning at this stage of my life will guide my future role as an HR manager by tracking my learning and focusing deeply on training and development.

In this particular unit we learnt about several issues, challenges and practices in the HR of various organizations. Findings from different interviews, surveys and literature were thoroughly conducted. As future HR leaders we learnt about the importance of leadership in succession planning for any business. A great leader would always plan his or her succession in an effective manner. I also specifically learnt about various factors that might hamper the succession planning process. These factors include resistance, foot dragging and demand for performance management. Therefore, as an effective leader I will make sure that I work towards creating a positive environment for growth of employees in the business. I also learnt that as leader it is essential to recognize potential future leaders and mentor them in order to enable them to take future responsibility. I also learnt the importance of preparing future leaders for the roles that they are about to embark upon. Specifically it is crucial that the entire succession planning process is linked with organizational goals. As an HR executive I will consider efficient use of available resources and personal as well as organizational goals of the business in order to make the succession planning process a massive success.

Resourcing the right candidates for several jobs in the organization is highly essential to manage talent in an effective manner. The primary step in ensuring effective talent management involves recruiting the right candidates for the right jobs in the business. Employment contracts of different employees must also be efficiently framed and designed to legally bind employees and employers together. These contracts are aimed at safeguarding employee as well as employer rights and prevent each other from exploiting each other.

HR Functions in Different Organizations

We also learnt about conducting a gap analysis between the existing human resources and required human resources for the successful and efficient functioning of any organization. The role of the HR is to make sure that appropriate number of employees are associated with the firm at any given point of time. As a future HR leader I understood the importance of recruiting and how it forms the backbone of every successful organization.

Lastly, this unit also helped us gain insight about several laws that bind organizations and its HR practices. These laws like UK’s Equality act and Data protection act have been designed to safeguard the rights of employers as well as employees and hence an HR executive must possess sufficient information about the same.

As an HR manager, a critical role that needs to be played involves improving overall organizational performance of the business. We have learnt that establishing a high performing organizational culture is the responsibility of the HR manager. Organizational culture directly impacts employee performance and employee’s levels of satisfaction. Therefore HR executives must make sure that employee performances are effectively managed and organizational culture is motivating and performing.

As a future HR leader, I also understood various strategies that can be adopted to improve organizational culture. These strategies include setting a clear vision, creating transparent channels of communication and ensuring effective levels training, induction, appraisals and development sessions for employees. These strategies would help me in my role as a future HR leader in effectively managing employee performances. This proficient performance management strategy will also ensure a fair working practice and help me remain ethical in the performance evaluation process.

This improved organization culture is what will give rise to high performing teams and in turn high performing organizations. As a leader I have learnt about several steps that can be taken to improve organization culture and lead to the creation of high performing teams. I will make sure that I apply these strategies while evaluating performance of my team members.

Coaching and mentoring are process and strategies that are adopted by businesses to collaborate with their employees in an effective manner so as to make sure that these employees perform to the best of their abilities. This unit helped in learning that personal growth and development of employees is also the responsibility of the HR. Coaching and mentoring process will help the HR of a business in guiding employees towards setting and attaining their personal goals in line with those of the organization.

This would lead to increased employee satisfaction and improved employee performance. Such steps would also create a positive relationship between employees and employers and hence help them both in creating a culture of mutual growth and respect.

I also learnt how coaching and mentoring are different from each other while I also learnt how both of them can be mutually adopted by organizations in order to improve employee performance. There are different types of coaching in the business. This includes performance coaching, career coaching and executive coaching. As a future HR leader, I learnt the importance and the correct timing for each of these types of coaching and I am sure that the learnings from this unit will help me in creating a better learning environment for the employees of the organization.

Employee engagement has gained importance in the recent years after organizations have understood the importance of keeping employees engaged in the business in order to retain them in the longer run. Employee engagement creates a sense of belongingness for employees which is highly crucial in order to keep them motivated in the business. Increased sense of employee engagement will also create an additional level of commitment among employees and hence create a sense of ownership towards the business. This sense of ownership is highly important in order for employees to perform to the best of their abilities.

Increased levels of employee engagement can be achieved by building trust, commitment, motivation and loyalty. This improved the overall working culture of the organization. There are various drivers for an engaged workforce. This includes regular trainings, meetings and other forms of improved communication. As a future HR manager, I would make sure that I put the required efforts in increasing levels of employee engagement within the business. The unit and this entire course has been extremely helpful and will help me understand and identify my responsibilities as an HR leader of a future business.