HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of
an organization’s most valued assets – the people working there who individually and collectively
contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. The terms “human resource
management” and “human resources” (HR) have largely replaced the term “personnel
management” as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organizations.
Human Resource management is evolving rapidly. Human resource management is both an
academic theory and a business practice that addresses the theoretical and practical techniques of
managing a workforce. In simple words, HRM means employing people, developing their capacities,
utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational
requirement.

Human resources are one of the most important features of many businesses - especially in an
economy where there is an increasing shift towards service-based industries. Human resources
account for a large proportion of many businesses' costs and it is the people that invariably drive a
business. Management of these resources therefore is an integral part of business success.

Human Resource Management is concerned with the development and implementation of people
strategies, which are integrated with corporate strategies, and ensures that the culture, values and
structure of the organization, and the quality, motivation and commitment of its members
contribute fully to the achievement of its goals.

HRM involves all decisions and actions that affect the nature of the relationship between the
organization and its employees – its human resources. HRM comprises of a set of policies designed
to maximize organizational integration, employee commitment, flexibility and quality of work and
their execution.

HR in Current times

The changing role of HR is aimed to make the function a strategic partner in business growth.
Instead of being a support function, HR professionals need to speak a language that the rest of the
organization can relate to—in terms of business development. It has become the powerful player in
the organization that can bring figures to the table and state its point with quantifiable data.

Being a strategic function like any other function in the industry, it is impacting the business from
the standpoint of talent acquisition and talent management in view of the ‘global war’ for talent. HR
needs to understand the business drivers for the company. HR policies and processes impact the
business, particularly those pertaining to recruitment, retention and talent management. There are
three pillars in organization building—structure, processes and people. Out of which the first two are
passive without the third one, which is the people.

HR can play a significant role in getting the right people, help them learn and develop, become a
sounding board for the employees, the bridge between various management levels, create the right
environment for them to deliver, and most importantly it can act as the ‘change agent’ in these days
of uncertain external environment. HR has made significant progress in aligning and partnering with
the business. The fact that HR metrics and measurement can provide a direction, the intangible
benefits accrued can demonstrate the healthy and vibrant organization—HR is a great contributor in
this.
The increasing importance of HR in the decision-making processes in an organization has long-term
benefits for a company.

It needs a change in the mindset of both HR professionals as well as how an organization perceives
the HR function. This change has already started happening fast. However a lot of industries are shy
of giving HR heads the strategic business decision powers; though times are not far when HR chiefs
with sound business understanding will manage the show.

Ulrich’s Multiple Role Model for HRM

Ulrich’s HR model is well known for introducing mainly the aspects of Human Resources with the
highest value added. The main contribution of the David Ulrich’s HR Model was the start of the
movement from the functional HR orientation to the more partnership organization in HRM
Function. Business Partnering is not possible to implement without a major shift in the HR
Organization. The benefit was a more responsible and flexible organization of Human Resources,
which allowed many HR Professionals to become real respected business partners.

The David Ulrich’s HR Model is about defining the HR Roles and Responsibilities of HR in the
organization and setting the basic roles of the HR Function, which are reflected in the HR
Organization and the job profiles of the individual employees.

David Ulrich brought the revolution to Human Resources. He presented the HR Model, which is very
similar to the organization of the sales force. The HR Model presented several basic roles of Human
Resources and described how Human Resources should be organized to bring the best results.

Ulrich (1997) argues that HR professionals must embrace four new proactive roles as champions of
competitiveness in creating and delivering value. His model is defined along two axes: Strategy
versus Operations and Process versus People. The roles are: strategic partners helping the business
to successfully execute strategy; administrative experts improving organizational efficiency by re-
engineering the HR function and other work processes; employee champions maximizing employee
commitment, competence, and their overall responsiveness to change; and change agents delivering
organizational transformation and cultural change.
The 4 HR Roles defined by Ulrich
The HR Model defined by Ulrich brings for main criteria:

Strategic partner
Change agent
Employee champion
Administrative expert

HR Business Partner as HR Role

HR Business Partner is a part of the strong and respected HR Function. Human Resources always has
been the support function, which was purely following the business and it did not participate on the
strategic initiatives of the organization like the planning, forecasting and business strategy
development.

The HR Business Partner is the HR Role about providing consulting to the internal client. The HR
Business Partner does not receive requests from the internal client as the HR Business Partner helps
to develop the solution. The HR Business Partner understands the business of the internal client, his
or her staff and has the general overview of the biggest issues. The issues are not just from the area
of Human Resources, but all the issues connected with the business as many solutions can affect
Human Resources as well.

The HR Business Partner does not offer services automatically, many issues can be solved internally
as the client and HR Business Partners should co-operate closely to bring innovative ideas. The HR
Business Partner should be the part of the brainstorming sessions, when the management team tries
to find a solution and his or her advices are usually welcome.
The HR Business Partner is not about a deep knowledge of HR Processes, HR Policies and
procedures. It is more the sales man, who sells Human Resources to the client.

HR as Change Agent
Human Resources are responsible for the human capital of the organization and the employees are
always affected by the changes. The HR Change Agent is the HR Role to facilitate the changes in the
organization and to protect employees against the side effects of the constant changes.

The employees do not like Change; they see them as a danger. Sometimes, they are true as the
introduction of the change can lead to lay-offs. Sometimes, the change helps to introduce a
significant increase of the performance and the company can boost the sales and production
without additional costs.

The change agent facilitates the changes in the organization and is a part of all the major projects
with the potential impact on employees. Human Resources have the knowledge of the employees
and it can help to provide many useful tips during the project and its implementation. Human
Resources can include several actions to the project charter and project plan to help the employees
to understand the impact of the project on their lives in the organization.

The change agent is able to align different projects together and imagine their impact on employees.
The employees are not able to absorb many changes at one time and the change agent can prepare
the proper communication plan. The change agent can help employees to understand and the
change agent can minimize the impact. When one project results in FTE reductions, other project
can lead to creation of the new job positions and the change agent can connect those projects
together.

HR as Employee Advocate
The role of the employee advocate is one of the hardest HR Roles defined by David Ulrich. It can
bring a lot of conflicts between Human Resources and management of the organization. But the
conflicts are usually healthy and they produce better solutions for employees and the organization.

The employee advocate knows the interests of the employees and the plans of the organization and
help to find a suitable win-win solution for them. The organization can ignore employees in the
planning of new initiatives sometimes. The employee advocate sees that the employees and their
interests are part of the discussion for them to feel informed and comfortable.

The employee advocate helps to get better conditions for employees at an affordable price for the
company. When the organization plans to reduce headcount, the employee advocate represents the
employees and knows what the employer can afford to pay. The employee advocate proposes the
plan, and the employees can trust the employer that the offer for them will be fair enough.

The employee advocate and change agent HR Roles can look similar, but the change agents help to
prepare for the changes and facilitates the change process, the employee advocate fights for the
employees. Sometimes, the fighting is tough and painful, but the result can be amazing as the
employees trust the Human Resource Management team. The employees can always seek support
and help from the Human Resources Management team.

Originally, the employee advocate were the trade unions, but nowadays, Human Resources can get
better conditions for employees as Human Resources can communicate directly with the top
management and have better tools to find out about how the employees feel.
HR as Administration Expert
The Administration Expert is the last HR Role defined by the HR Model by David Ulrich. The
Administration Expert is the easiest role for many HR Departments as the HR employees are used to
working in the administration area. But the administration expert is not just about the nice papers
and a lot of administration, but it is mainly about the legal compliance and minimization of the
necessary administration that is needed by the organization and the external bodies.

Human Resources is usually seen as an administrative function in the organization and the HR Model
should fight against it. The HR Employees should set the necessary pack of documents needed and
the HR Management has to be always careful about adding a new document to the pack. The
Administration Expert does not ask for a form for every activity, but asks for the necessary
documentation, which is useful in the future. Many times, HR is about keeping track of employees in
the organization and providing the right data, when asked for.

The Administration Expert protects the organization against fees from the external bodies and it also
finds “potential risks” in the documentation of the current employees.

David Ulrich’s Model Benefits-

The HR Model of David Ulrich brings several benefits to the HR Organization in the company as it is
more driven by the business and the internal voice of the customer and HR spends less time on its
internal processes and its HR paperwork. The main benefits can be summarized as:

Quicker response to the need of the management

Quicker response to the changed conditions in the organization
Proactive HR approach towards its internal and external clients
Different HR Organization based on the job content and the needs of the customers
Better methodology for the HR Measurement

The benefits are not visible immediately, the successful implementation takes time and HR has clear
focus on the main implementation tasks to be fully successful.

Drawbacks of the model -

The implementation of the HR Model by David Ulrich is not easy, but it brings enormous results,
which can be seen in the employee satisfaction index and from the immediate feedback from the
managers about the job of Human Resources.

The HR Model by David Ulrich inspired many HR Managers to bring dramatic changes into their own
HR Departments. The employees were moved to the newly set up units, new roles and
responsibilities were defined and it did not bring any positive results, just the chaos was introduced.

The implementation of the HR Model is a heavy task and quite a long HR Project. It may be
problematic to implement this model as the HR function cannot be neatly carved into four squared
blocks to be delivered from different sources based on the first appearance of evidence of cost-
effectiveness. The intertwined nature of the HR activities and the intangible role of the HR should
not be divided simplistically, as they are the core threads that form the HR fabric of the firm. In
addition, knowledge and operational gaps exist between and within the blocks. It is unclear who
leads, who creates solutions and ensures their implementation, and who determines communication
and coordination among the four blocks. For this model to work, some links are needed to create a
seamless HR function.

HRM Sub Professions

1. Talent Acquisition-Talent Acquisition includes Identification of talent requirements for the

organization, Talent recognition, attraction, selection and induction into the organization.
Talent Acquisition describes identifying the time of need of the resource with the right kind
of expertise, sources of talent pool by assigning job to HR consultants, headhunters and
through direct hiring by the organizations recruitment team and govern the process of their
selection to ensure the right candidate for the right job.

2. Talent Management and OD – Retaining and managing the performance of individuals to

align them with the organizational objectives.It is a process of developing the skills of
existing workforce, promoting and retaining the employees. The focus is mainly on
connecting the talent with the organizational set up making sure that the person can cope
up with the organizational challenges and deliver the might. High motivation and retention
of talents in an organization is a real challenge for HR officials. Withorganizations becoming
global with overseas acquisitions, having the right people enables the organization to get
that competitive edge.

Talent management best practices are competency based and some of the competencies
are skills, personal traits, experience as well as knowledge. Talent management is for the
optimization of the resources in the organization, henceforth achieving good business
results through Performance Management, development planning, career and succession
planning and Organizational Development initiatives.

3. Learning Services – Learning Services targets development of desired competency

framework in the organization through a systematic development process. This includes
identification of training needs, managing training environment and conducting training,
evaluating training effect, managing records and vendors.

Development is a broad, ongoing multi-faceted set of activities (training activities among

them) to bring someone or an organization up to another threshold of performance, often
to perform some job or new role in the future.

4. Compensation and Benefits – The Objective of this sub-profession is to promote

competitiveness and high performance culture within the organization and with the Industry
through direct and indirect financial/other benefits extended to an employee.

Compensation is a systematic approach to providing monetary value to employees in

exchange for work performed. Compensation may achieve several purposes assisting in
recruitment, job performance, and job satisfaction. Compensation is a tool used by
management for a variety of purposes to further the existence of the company.
Compensation may be adjusted according the business needs, goals, and available
resources.

Benefits are forms of value, other than payment, that are provided to the employee in
return for their contribution to the organization, that is, for doing their job. Prominent
examples of benefits are insurance (medical, life compensation), vacation pay, holiday pay,
and maternity leave, contribution to retirement (pension pay), profit sharing, stock options,
 and bonuses. (Some people would consider profit sharing, stock options and bonuses as
forms of compensation.)

5. Employee Relations –The sub-profession entails focus on the Employer-employee

relationship, employee satisfaction, grievances and their control mechanism, ensuring
human resource compliances and regulations.

Employee Relations involve the body of work concerned with maintaining employer-
employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation, and morale.
Essentially, Employee Relations is concerned with preventing and resolving problems
involving individuals that arise out of or affect work situations. Advice is provided to
supervisors on how to correct poor performance and employee misconduct. In such
instances, progressive discipline and regulatory and other requirements must be considered
in effecting disciplinary actions and in resolving employee grievances and appeals.

Information is provided to employees to promote a better understanding of management's

goals and policies. Information is also provided to employees to assist them in correcting
poor performance, on or off duty misconduct, and/or to address personal issues that affect
them in the workplace. Employees are advised about applicable regulations, legislation, and
bargaining agreements. Employees are also advised about their grievance and appeal rights
and discrimination and whistleblower protections.

6. HRIS and Administration – HRIS is a system which seeks to merge the activities associated
with human resource management (HRM) and information technology (IT) into one common
database through the use of software for assembling and processing data related to the HR
function. As in other types of information systems, an HRIS consists of a database, which
contains one or more files in which the data relevant to the system are maintained, and a
database management system, which provides the means by which users of the system
access and utilize these data. The HRIS thus contains tools that allow users to input new data
and edit existing data; in addition, such programs provide users with the opportunity to
select from an array of predefined reports that may either be printed or displayed on a
monitor. Reports may address any of a number of different HRM issues (e.g., succession
plans, compensation plan, equal employment opportunity monitoring). HRISs also generally
include tools by which users or system administrators may generate ad hoc reports and
select specific cases or subsets of cases for display.

Administrative functions are dealt by HR professionals with a focus on facilities management

from planning, procurement, maintenance to disposal. The processes are thus monitored
and requisite actions taken as per the merit of the situation with an objective of providing
the best facilities to workforce at all times, ensuring tools of productivity are functional and
phasing out of old equipment paving way to smooth entry of new equipment constantly
enhancing productivity and efficiency.