Role of HR Beyond Hiring and Firing

Human Resources is an integral part of business management and organizational development. Recruitment, executing compensation policy and implementing exit formalities are considered to be some of the conventional roles of HR. In fact, HR personnel have been primarily associated with hiring and firing only. However, owing to changing economic and management scenarios, these traditional roles of HR have undergone a metamorphosis. Modern day HR personnel are more involved in the 'strategic' part of business management.

Scope of HR Beyond Hiring and Firing

The primary objective of HRM is to create an employee-centric work environment. As HRM is a connecting link between management and workforce, its focus should be on improving the employee-employer relationship and create a conducive environment for employees to work. To achieve this, an HR professional must shed his traditional image and adopt newer ways to devise and transform his conventional profile of hiring and firing. Given below are some of the job responsibilities of HR beyond hiring and firing.

Employee Development and Training

An HR professional must constantly look out for newer ways to enhance the personal and professional growth of employees. Implementing training programs is a good way of achieving this. The training topic can be specific, pertaining to an organization's intrinsic strategies or it can be generic such as communication, business ethics etc.   

Devising Compensation Plans

Although HRM has traditionally being associated with only the 'execution' of compensation policies, modern day HR personnel are expected to get involved in 'formulation' of compensation plans as well. An HR must be able to devise a fair compensation and benefits plan that is competency based.

Implementing Performance Evaluation Methodologies

An HR must upgrade his knowledge regarding the latest performance evaluation tools and techniques. It is important to establish a common ground for evaluating the performance of employees to develop a sense of trust. HR and OD consulting firms are extremely efficient in this area. 

Ensuring Employee Welfare  

This is the gist of all HR roles and responsibilities. An HR must never ignore the 'human' part of Human Resources Management. An HR should supervise all the policies related to employee health and safety at workplace. An HR should also ensure compliance with all the mandatory employee welfare policies, such as ensuring there is a committee to address issues such as sexual harassment, racial discrimination etc. 

Thus, the roles and responsibilities of HR have become even more critical from the point of view of an organization as well as employees. 

Management Role in Encouraging Leadership Skills

An employee is as good or bad as his manager. A manager is as much responsible for an employee's performance as the employee himself. Great managerial skills go beyond mere assigning of duties and supervising them. In fact, manager has a far bigger role to play than these activities. A manager is responsible for employee motivation, retention and extracting the desired performance from him. However, a good manager goes beyond these traditional roles and works towards creating future leaders for the company. 

Motivating Employees to Become Leaders 

Motivated, inspired employees can deliver miraculous results for an organization. A role of a manager is to inspire the employees to push their limits and perform better. Aligning the organization's goals with the professional goals of employees helps them to achieve success. However, being content with the present performance of an employee, no matter how excellent, is not enough. The efforts of management should always be focused on creating and mentoring new leaders who can take the organization further. An organization can always rely on the judgment of HR and OD consultants, who are equipped with tools and strategies for creating future leaders.

Identifying Potential Leaders

A manager is better tuned in with the strengths and weaknesses of his employees. An employee, though performing excellently may not always be a good leader-material. Similarly, an under-performing employee may sometimes make for a great future leader. It is the skill of the manager to identify the qualities of his employees that can make him/her a future leader.   

Harnessing the Leadership Qualities

The next step after identifying a potential leader is to harness his/her leadership qualities. This can be done by assigning him tasks that can put his leadership skills to test. It is a good idea to let the employees lead assignments that can do justice to their strengths. If they succeed, it can boost their confidence tremendously. Besides, they will learn the art of managing people, meeting deadlines and controlling execution, which are critical qualities of a leader.

Mentoring Future Leaders  

Once, you are confident about the choice of potential leaders, the next step is to mentor them according to the needs of an organization. A manager is a source of inspiration for the employees and often a role model too. Hence, it is imperative for you to practice what you preach. Demonstrate exemplary leadership skills so that your employees can follow in your footsteps.

Management should always treat an employee as a human first. His strengths and weaknesses are a part of his entire persona. Hence, no prejudices should be made based on just one aspect of his personality. A great leader is born only when there is a great manager to guide him.

Impact of Goals on Organizational Development

Organizational development is a continuous process which aims at improving the organization's overall performance. It is essentially a series of deliberately planned activities which help an organization in achieving its strategic goals. In fact, setting a strategic goal is critical to the organizational development. It is interesting to see how goals can affect organizational development.

Goals as a Means of Employee Motivation     

Goals give a definition to all organizational activities. They provide a framework upon which an entire business can function. When the goals are clearly defined everyone in the organization is informed about their respective roles and responsibilities. This helps the employees in realizing what is expected out of them. As a result, everyone can target their efforts towards achieving the goals. 

In this regard, communication of goals is an essential factor. If the goals are not communicated properly, it can result in ambiguity. The employees will be confused as to what is expected out of them, and where should they focus their efforts. As a result, the efforts will not be streamlined and lead to mayhem. In such a scenario, an organization can never achieve its goals, which can constrict the organizational development. Formally publishing the goals through print medium or on the website is a good way of ensuring that the employees are educated about the goals. Direct communication of goals to the employees through their reporting authorities is the most reliable way of communicating goals. 

When the goals are achieved, it gives a sense of accomplishment to the employees, motivating them to perform better in future. It also forges a feeling of unity amongst the employees, as its the teamwork that is getting paid off. This is a critical factor for the success of any organization. Thus, one of the most essential processes of organizational development is setting up of realistic goals and formulating strategies to achieve them. 

For more info about setting goals refer Setting SMART Goals for Your Organization

Many organizations seek help from business strategy consulting firms to set goals and re-align their organizational development activities. Such agencies are well versed with the implications of goals on OD and thus devise intelligent strategies that can help an organization to achieve goals and significantly improve its performance.

Training - A Means for Motivation and Retention

Employee morale is a deciding factor for an organization's success. Employees who are insecure, low on morale often suffer from low productivity. If for some reason, an entire organization's performance is lackluster, then there might be a serious issue underneath. Such underlying problems can be resolved with appropriate training programs.

Training for Employee Motivation and Retention  

Although, training is an integral part of an employee's growth and an organization's development, not many companies feel the need to invest in good training programs. In fact, any prospective plan for training often counters resistance from employees and managers. Both feel that training will consume a lot of their productive time. In reality, training is crucial because it improves productivity. There are some scenarios in which training becomes absolutely essential. Some of these are:

• Employees show dismal performance.
• Employees lack certain skills.
• Organization adopts a new technology, for which employees need to be trained.
• Employees are to be assigned different role/responsibility.
• To test a new Performance Management System
• Certain event, activity has had an unpleasant effect upon the morale of the employees.

Types of Training Topics  

Training topics are often organization-specific. However, there are some general topics upon which every organization should provide training. These include:

• Communication
• Ethics
• Public Speaking
• Workplace Safety
• Sexual Harassment

An organization can take the help from HR and OD consultants to chalk out an appropriate training program for its employees. They can either invite an external trainer to impart training or ask one of its members to contribute. One great idea is to assign the responsibility of training to its own employees. Employees can share their skills or knowledge acquired at seminars, conferences that they attended. This gives an opportunity for employees to enhance their knowledge base. Besides, they also develop a respect for each others skill set. Such training programs boost employee morale to a great extent. After the training, it is a good idea to save the training material on a shared network or company's intranet, wherein all employees can have an access. 

For any training program to succeed, it is imperative that all concerned individuals must actively participate. Employees must be convinced that the training program can add value to their profile and enhance their career prospects. Besides, they will get a feeling that the organization is willing to share information with them. This results in better performance and a healthy employer-employee relation.