Chapter 1 - Changing role of HR…
Hi friends this is my first post on HR front but little on human perspective worth sharing with all…
This is way back when I started as a fresher …One side it was theoretical knowledge and other it was the excitement of joining the industry for the first time… I am passionate of HR since I was doing my grads… its been almost 13 years that I am in this profession and now that I know the standard HR practice in the industry and understand the human dynamics…it is time to share the little insight what I have about HR role…
We think HR as a one stop solution provider… but how often you have seen an HOD or employee had taken cognizance of a HR representative… The common feeling about HR is the one who likes to penalize the employee for all the reasons that violate the company rules and procedures… but in reality there is lot of pressure that an HR person goes through out… one side it is the employee and the other side is the managements expectation that needs to be balanced all the time. But then they say, that’s what an HR’s job is. How many times we have seen an HR person getting a pat on back from other employees , HODs or getting an appreciation for the job that is done out of the way of his duty. I was told by one of my bosses in the early days of my career that HR job is a thankless job. Apart from all this we face the dirty politics that goes on in the office. But again this is a general perception and not to any specific industry and keeping in mind and understanding the organizations dynamics.
Never the less the HR is the one who falls pray to all the office politics that goes around in the organizations. Though we agree it is part of the job, but in recent times I have seen that organizations with long term growth plans do manage to give justice to HR role and practices but an organization with no mission and vision statement, really make the HR role worse and has no value to the people in the organization and no respect for HR representatives. I have majorly seen that these organizations work hap hazardly and focusing on short term results. But in the long run it really affects the organization culture.
In this kind of organizations the owners are concerned about the profits and the management representatives are busy to prove there supremacy. In this process the vacationers come and go while the old staff remain contained with maintaining the rapport with the bosses and saving their own existence. And again coming back to the core the HR has no road map to lead and hence the honest and top performer suffers for nothing and leave the organizations in the long run.
But there is no one really to empathize the HR role in the organization and all the HR practices has no value. So what is that we are expecting from all this, a good leader to lead the organization or to streamline the SOP’s or to value the employees in the organization. And apart from this issues an HR representative who has a professional qualification has absolute no value to add, but to fall pray to the blame game.
I have seen that HR while performing the daily operations role never the less also focus on the short term gains. The end result is the postmen’s job what is performed effectively. HR role was never to score in the power game but to focus more on the development of employees and decide a career path. I feel that the in many organizations the manager’s or the HOD’s are not clear about HR practice and management expectations and this is where all the false play begin. The functional HOD’ s need to be given the training of HR practices and procedures and also training on human values. And believing every employee can be an asset to the organization while achieving the organizations expectations and maintaining the profitability.
Traditionally HOD’s are forced to spend more time in the Hot Board Room Meetings but instead they can spend some time with the employees/staff at shop floor and not forgetting real objective of board room meetings. Board meetings are more often seen as break from the work and time to have tea and snacks during the meeting. These meeting are being less productive with no definite results are fetched.
On the background of the insight, the HR role is still seen as a person who can be of no help but just a person who represents the management. Its time for all of us to give justice to our own role and existence. No matter the size of the organizations and the mission and vision of the organization, but it is important how as an HR we develop the departments goals or decide the roadmap is crucial. We say HR has become the business partner today but I believe HR is business partner since the evolution of HR department in the organization. It is only the matter of right HR practices need to be followed (eg. Goal setting, review mechanism, T&D etc)
This is my perception about the current HR practices it may differ with others but the fact remains that it time to give justice to our own role and be more productive to the organization.
I have attended many seminars on this topic but have just remained a session to debate and with no definite results is seen. Your comments/feedback are welcome to understand the intricate s of the changing HR role in the organization in the recent time.
Cheeers!
