EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
B/T3/08
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
With human capital increasingly acknowledged as an organizations
strategic asset and competitive advantage, the HR function is
increasingly under pressure to create value for the business. This
statement has been repeated so often that it has almost become
clichs for the HR community. But there is more: todays businesses
are also constantly operating across borders, helped by advances in
technology and logistic infrastructure. For the HR practitioner,
this means dealing with a growing number of employees moving across
borders for periods ranging from a few days to several years.
As part of an organization then, HRM must be prepared to deal
with the effects of the changing world of work. Managing people in
international settings requires human resources to address a
broader range of functional areas. It requires more involvement in
the employees personal life. The firm should establish different
human resource management systems for different geographic
locations. It must closely watch the moves made by external
constituencies including foreign governments, political and
religious groups. A host of other issues relating to employee
compensation, health, safety, welfare etc., need to be monitored
carefully. Employees on international assignments represent
valuable assets and hence need to be managed systematically and
strategically so that they can easily adapt, survive and flourish
in diverse cultures and environments.
All this requires an understanding of the implications of
globalization, work-force diversity, changing skill requirements,
corporate downsizing, total quality management, reengineering, the
contingent work force, decentralized work sites, and employee
involvement.
ROLE OF HR IN BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
________________________________________________________________
Should we do away with HR? This is a silly question and
senseless debate. Of
Course, we should do away with HR if it fails to add value and
impedes performance. If, however, it creates value or delivers
results, we should keep HR. As there should be more focus on what
HR professionals deliver than what they do, HR practices have been
modified to incorporate this new concept. Current HR thinking
reflects what HR people do: staffing, development, compensation,
benefits, communication, organization design, high performing
teams, and so on.
So, the role of HR department in organizations covers the
following aspects:
1. The role of the HR professional
2. Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)
3. The relationship of HR roles and management functions
4. Dimensions of change in the HR profession
A. Managing projects
B. Managing change
C. Managing third - party contractors
D. Managing technology
THE ROLE OF THE HR PROFESSIONAL:HRM Definition
It is the design of formal systems in an organization that
ensures effective and efficient use of human talent, in order to
accomplish organizational goals.
Historical view of HR roles
Current HR Roles
HR Dimensions of Change
Business partnering
Long-term, strategic perspective
Organizational change
New technology
Diversity and work/life balance
Shift in responsibilities to line managers
Decentralization of HR
Outsourcing of operational and administrative HR
Off shoring
Measurement and quantification
Lateral movement
Social responsibility
Development of intellectual capital
Mergers and acquisitions
In general, the focus of todays HR Manager is on strategic
personnel retention and talents development. HR professionals will
be coaches, counsellors, mentors, and succession planners to help
motivate organizations members and their loyalty.
WHAT IS BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION?
Business transformation is a key executive management initiative
that attempts to align People, Process and Technology initiatives
of a company more closely with its business strategy and vision to
support and help innovate new business strategies. Business
transformation is achieved through efforts from alignment of
People, Process and Technology strategies towards a strategic
end-state.
Business transformation can be achieved through new technology,
business models and management practices. Business transformation
is now considered an essential part of the competitive business
cycle.
HR PRACTICES IN DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT
Organisations and their HR departments are open systems and are
affected by the external and internal environment in which they
operate. There are a number of critical trends affecting the
employment relationship that further affect how organisations need
to manage their employees. The functional areas, structural
changes, specific cultural issues peculiar to a unit, HR systems,
corporate policies and a lot of other factors influence the way the
HR function is carried out.
External and Internal Factors Influencing the Personnel
Function
1. Technological Changes:
The impact of technology on HR can be profound. New technologies
can decimate organisational layers, low-end jobs and make existing
employee skill absolutely obsolete. Internet and intranet
revolution have changed the way business is carried out worldwide.
HR managers need to handle the people impacted by such sweeping
changes carefully.Impact of technology on HRM
a. New skills required: They need strong interpersonal and
communication skills as well as ability to handle customer
complaints in a flexible wayb. Downsizing: it means the planned
elimination of jobs. The wave of merger and acquisition activity,
in recent times, has often left the new, combined companies to
downsize operations ruthlessly.Managing a human resource
surplus
Why downsizing?
Automation Restructuring Mergers Acquisitions Competitive
pressures Managing survivors of downsizing
Bitterness, anger disbelief and shock need to be handled
properly Give information as to why the action had to be taken Tell
how it is going to help the firm and employees in long runc.
Telecommuting: the rapid advances in technology have led to the
relocation of work from office to home. Companies have been able to
increase the applicant pool through this mode.
d. Internet and intranet revolution: In HR, internets and
intranets are being used to handle training, benefits
administration, performance management and outplacement functions.
Managing virtual corporations and virtual workers in this
technology driven world is going to pose tough challenges for HR
managers in the year ahead.Role of HR in a Virtual organisation
A assume virtual organisation is a network of companies of
employees connected by computers. Virtual workers work from home,
hotels, their cars, or wherever their work takes them. The human
resource function plays a unique role in a virtual
organisation.
Psychological fit: the lack of face-to-face interaction in a
virtual organisation virtually compels HR professionals to
determine the psychological fit between different units initially.
System alignment: given the lack of physical proximity, it becomes
even more critical that an organisations mission, vision and
measures be aligned and that all parties are familiar with these
issues; the HR function can play an important role in this task.
Reconsider rewards: in a virtual unit, very few permanent positions
exist. In many cases, the organisation will be staffed with workers
having different motivational forces. So rewarding each entity in
an effective way becomes an important job.
Reconsider staffing needs: in a virtual organisation, most
employees work on a contractual basis. Finding people with
requisite skills, knowledge, and motivation levels becomes an
important activity.
Build partnerships: virtual teams have to be built from scratch,
paying attention to their unique requirements. The concept of
employment needs to be replaced by the concept of partnerships,
especially when most tend to work independently, away from the
permanent employees or owners of the organisation.
Develop leaders: leaders become the major forces for building
trust, creating a mission and instilling a sense of belonging to
the organisation. HR can play a major role in ensuring that leaders
these responsibilities and meet them in an effective way.
e. Total Quality Management: A way of creating an organisational
culture committed to the continuous improvement of skills, team
work, process, product and service quality and customer
satisfaction.
f. Improving productivity through HRIS (Human Resource
Information System)
A computerized system offers current and accurate data for
purposes of control and decision making. For e.g. most employers
probably still write their own job description, but more are
turning to the internet to find the desired job title.
2. Economic, political, social and local factors also influences
the way in which HR managers meet their objectives.
3. Workforce diversity: workforce is becoming increasingly
diverse and organizations are doing their best to address their
employee concerns and to maximise the benefits of different kinds
of employees with diverse educational, cultural and religious
backgrounds.
4. From specialized to enlarged jobs
Job enlargement means assigning workers additional same level
activities, thus increasing the number of activities they
perform.
Why managers dejobbing their companies?
Whether specialized, enlarged or enriched, however, workers
still generally have had specific jobs to do, and these jobs have
required job description. In many firms today, jobs are becoming
more amorphous and more difficult to define. In other words, the
trend is toward dejobbing.
Dejobbing- broadening the responsibilities of the companys jobs,
and encouraging employees not to limit themselves to what is on
their job description.
Here is a sampling of organizational factors that have
contributed to this weakening, and to encouraging workers not to
limit themselves to narrowly defined jobs.
Flatter organizations: instead of traditional, pyramid shaped
organizations with seven or more management layers, flat
organizations with just three or four levels are more relevant.
Work teams: managers increasingly organize tasks around teams
and processes rather than around special functions.
Boundaryless organization: organization marked by the widespread
use of teams and cross-functional task forces that reduce and make
more permeable the boundaries that typically separate departments
and hierarchical levels.
Reengineering: The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign
of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical,
contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality,
service and speed. HR can play a great role in improving commitment
of employees by hiring competent people, offering the right
incentives and installing effective two way communication
practices.5. Competency based job analysis
Competencies are demonstrable characteristics of a person that
enable performance of a job. Competency-based job analysis means
describing a job in terms of the measurable, observable,
behavioural competencies an employee must exhibit to do a job
well.
Why use competency analysis?
There are three reasons to describe jobs in terms of
competencies rather than duties:
First, traditional job descriptions (with their lists of
specific duties) may actually backfire if a high performance work
system is your goal.
Second, describing the job in terms of the skills, knowledge,
and competencies the worker needs is more strategic. Third,
measurable skills, knowledge, and competencies are the heart of any
companys performance management process for e.g. as at Canon,
achieving a firms strategic goals means that employees must exhibit
certain skills and competencies.Performance management is basing
your employees training, appraisals, and rewards on fostering and
rewarding the skills and competencies he or she needs to achieve
his or her goals.
6. Replacing job description with the Skill Matrix
Modern, competency-based job analysis/job design techniques can
help companies implement high-performance strategies. In one firm-
British Petroleums exploration division the need for more
efficient, flexible, flatter organizations and empowered employees,
inspired management to replace job descriptions with matrices
listing skills and skill levels.
HR prepared a matrix for each job or job family such as
(drilling manager). The matrix listed (1) the basic skills needed
for that job (such as technical expertise and business awareness)
and (2) the minimum level of each skill required for that job or
job family. As you can see, the emphasis is no longer on specific
job duties. Instead, the focus is on specifying and developing the
new skills (technical expertise, business awareness, and so on)
needed for the employees broader, empowered, and relatively
undefined responsibilities.
THE HR CHALLENGES OF INTERNATIONALIZATION OF BUSINESS
Deployment: easily getting the right skills to where we need
them, regardless of geographic location. Knowledge and innovation
dissemination: spreading state-of-art knowledge and practices
throughout the organization regardless of where they originate
Identifying and developing talent on a global basis: identifying
who can function effectively in a global organization and
developing his or her abilitiesInternal transition
People within the organization face a greater challenge during
the restructuring, mergers & acquisitions. They have to handle
trust issues, learn new roles and get the job done. Empirical data
indicates that managers with task rather than people focus tend to
get recognized in the short run. Most merger/acquisitions ail from
this malady; bright managers who want to get on with the job when
what they need to do is to pause, listen to people, communicate and
integrate. Most merger/acquisition/restructuring efforts fail
because the people side has not been handled properly. One to one
career coaching helps them to reflect, identify sensitivities and
key competencies required to become successful.
Role of HR During Change:
A.Showing personal commitment and positive attitude.
B.Involve people in the change process.
C. Ensures that top management is supportive.
D. Communicating with employees and top management
E. Reinforce change with incentives
F. Anticipating resistance and finding ways to deal with it.
Mr. Brian Carroll, Director, Brian Carroll and Associates Pty
Ltd, an Australia based learning, training and development co.,
suggests the following strategies which can be used by the managers
to assist employees through the change process:
Managers to consult with employees through the
planning/implementation stages and to explain the benefits/reasons
for the changes.
Staff to reassured that adequate training will be provided.
Managers to encourage staff to raise their concerns and to make
suggestions for improvements.
The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with the
change in competitive market environment and the realization that
Human Resource Management must play a more strategic role in the
success of an organization. Organizations that do not put their
emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in
dire consequences, as their competitors may be outplaying them in
the strategic employment of their human resources.
HR PROFESSIONALS HANDLING BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION THROUGH TALENT
MANAGEMENT
. How to Drive and Achieve Measurable, Sustainable Business
Results Talent is imperative in todays economy and the increase in
globalization means the competition for global talent is rife. At
Infosys, we recognize the importance to invest in skills globally
and provide opportunity for future business leaders to understand
the changing dynamics of a flat world.
Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys Technology
We need to define talent. We need to measure talent. We need to
measure peoples' talent. We need to hire people with the right
talent. Talent is what we bring to the job. We need to define
talent. We need to measure talent. We need to measure peoples'
talent. We need to hire people with the right talent. Talent is
what we bring to the job.
Developing And Retaining Human Assets Through Talent
Management:
Talent Management, often referred to as Human Capital
Management, is the process of recruiting, managing, assessing,
developing and maintaining an organizations most important
resource-its people! Talent Management is the end-to-end process of
planning, recruiting, developing, managing, and compensating
employees throughout the organization. The 4 pillars of talent
management are: recruiting, performance management, learning
management and compensation management.
Talent management implies recognising a person's inherent
skills, traits, personality and offering him a matching job. Every
person has a unique talent that suits a particular job profile and
any other position will cause discomfort.
It is the job of the Management, particularly the HR Department,
to place candidates with prudence and caution. A wrong fit will
result in further hiring, re-training and other wasteful
activities. Talent Management is a strategic approach to Managing
Human Capital- the most valuable assets of your company.
"PUTTING THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN THE RIGHT JOBS".
1. Overcoming Talent Drain:People often speak of organizations
and the management of organization without first thinking about the
employees who form the core of organization.
Reasons cited by employees for wanting to leave a company:
Better compensation package Better career opportunities to
utilize ones skills Better benefits More meaningful workThus, apart
from addressing- theall-essential-issue-of-retention, companies
need to foster a deep level of employee commitment by offering
opportunities, teaching new skills, providing inspired leadership,
effectively communicating and introducing competitive pay package
as their first step towards creating an Engaged Organization
1. Managing Ineffective Workers
Dilbert Principle:
The most ineffective workers will be systematically moved to the
place where they can do the least damage, i.e. Damage management is
the central principle of Dilbert. The foibles and fallacies of the
modern business world and rampant management fads which include
such aspects as management incompetence, overbearing egos, a
cubicle view of bosses, a bottomless bureaucracies, petrifying
performance reviews, long hour meetings, confusion of information
super highways, ineffective teams, downsizing to grow sick, absurd
corporate re-engineering, quality free total quality, employee
empowerment drama, fictions styled vision statement, unplanned
business plans. This implies that a large number of people agree
with salient observations of Dilbert principle. Therefore, top
managers in general and HR managers in particular must see that
their organizations will not become victims of this principle.
Hence, the transition of employees moving out as well as staying
in is a huge challenge. In the western world which have been long
inflicted by the aftermath of mergers/acquisitions/restructuring,
and employee service called career transition support is well
established. This involves providing a coaching service for
emotional and intellectual support to employees to handle their
transition challenges, take right career decisions and in effect
convert a crisis situation into a life changing opportunity. In
India this service is still nascent.
PEOPLE CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL (P-CMM):People Capability
Maturity Model has emerged in middle of last decade and is called
in short as P-CMM. Prior to this, there was no clear yardstick for
measuring peoples development in an organization. Branding the
organizations human capital processes and instituting best
practices in management is the key to corporate success in
skill-intensive industries like software and information
Technology.
The aforesaid model P-CMM was appreciated by leading and
progressive organizations as one of the best guidelines for
building organizational success through best practices of human
talent processes. The CMM provides an organization with a clear cut
vision to improve resource value through systematic application of
global practices in high tech talent management. There are quality
consultancy firms that are helping organizations to get P-CMM grade
certification. Club Mahindra, L&T, Siemens are a few among the
firms to obtain the grade very early.
P-CMM not only provides a blueprint for talent acquisition,
motivation and development, but also list out important parameters
through which organizations can evaluate the effectiveness of their
own human resource policies and practices. This is done by
categorizing into five levels of HRM that give a feedback to the
organization about its performance in HRM. Level 5 is the highest
and best possible grade.
SEI announced the launch of version 2 of P-CMM in Bangalore in
2001.Organizations in India started responding in numbers.
Initially, it was the software majors in India like Wipro, Infosys
and others who stepped up for P-CMM assessment by external
evaluators. Some of these software service companies even obtained
a level 5 the highest possible grade under this model that
signifies an optimal level of learning and maturity in the
organization. In the software industry, P-CMM has become a standard
and a hygiene factor for getting into the big league
Now the trend is moving away from software, slowly and surely
and the future is promising. The concerned agencies or
consultancies who are authenticated for issuing P-CMM certification
are working with industries
At the same time, P-CMM as an issue has not received a lot of
attention among organizations. Due to fast-expanding nature of
software businesses, the shelf life of an assessment has not been
very high. But changes have been proposed in the method of
assessment and there can be a lot of discussion and debate about
P-CMM very soon in the near future.
Importance and the need of P-CMMMicrosoft has never gone in for
P-CMM assessment and neither has Oracle, outside of India. So why
should any good organization need it?
Experts opine the primary driver for acquiring P-CMM
certification is getting greater volumes of business. An assessment
certification provides an objective view to organizations and helps
them strengthen themselves. It also helps a company communicate to
the external world that its HR processes are stable, and hence the
output that they receive is more likely to be consistent. Clients
of such companies who are worried about getting a consistent output
are satisfied that their source of supply is having a certification
of P-CMM and may even be willing to pay a premium for the work they
outsource from them.
When certification becomes the entry condition, it helps
companies obtain business. It also builds the companys brand with
customers. This is why software companies have been very meticulous
about getting themselves assessed, since a large number of their
clients are in the US. However, experts also believe that when
going in for certification, the driving motive should be to take
human capital human practices to increasing levels of
sophistication where learning, and not the achievement of
perfection, is the main objective. This certification will
definitely create strong brands internally and externally. If
organizations do it just for the sake of it without proper
implementation they may not derive the benefits from it in the long
run.
WORKING STRATEGIES OF TALENT MANAGEMENT COMPANIES:
Centralize talent management data with integrated best-of-breed
capabilities
Reduce time and costs of performance reviews by automating the
talent management process in an on-line, easy-to-use solution
Identify and close employee skills gaps by immediately turning
automated performances appraisals into training development
plans
Reduce time and money spent on non-strategic training by
directly aligning training demand with performance needs and
strategic goals
Increase productivity by focusing employees on critical tasks by
clearly communicating goals implemented by a centralized goal
management platform
Monitor progress of review metrics and goals by analyzing
performance dashboards at any time
Identify and reward top performers and strategically develop
employees by implementing integrated succession and development
plans that ensure success in filling talent gaps
Implement consistent, unbiased pay-for-performance
initiatives
CONCLUSION
HR activities abroad comes not just from the vast distances
involved, but also from the cultural, political, legal, and
economic differences among countries and their peoples. Studies
show how such cultural differences can influence HR policies.
HR managers seeking to standardize selection, training,
appraisal, compensation, or other HR practises world wide will
always meet resistance from local managers who insist, You cant do
that here, because we are different culturally and in other ways.
The local HR managers should be treated as partners, not as
implementers.
Differences in economic systems also translate into differences
in HR practices. For one thing, some countries are more wedded to
the ideals of free enterprise than are others. For instance,
France- though a capitalist society-imposed tight restrictions on
employers rights to discharge workers, and limited the number of
hours an employee could legally work each week. The codetermination
laws, including the Works Constitution Act, largely determine the
nature of HR policies in many German firms.
HR must act as facilitators. HRs role is to facilitate the
management of talent and to act as coaches and consultants to the
line managers. For it to be truly successful, talent management
cannot be seen as simply an HR initiative. The main responsibility
of HR, therefore, is to develop the organization as an 'employer of
choice' and a 'great place to work'.
Looking Ahead
Change management comprises of many different factors. However,
there are some key solutions:
Involve all employees, from junior staff to the CEO, through the
change process.
Encourage staff to make suggestions to assist with the smooth
delivery of the changes.
Provide training and clarification of any changes as they occur
so that there are no surprises for the employees.
Introduce some workplace fun activities for staff to enjoy the
ride through the changes.
Utilise the services of specialist recruitment and training
companies to assist employees with managing change.
Provide guidance, career transition, counselling and
outplacement services to retrenched employees, to assist them to
move on and find new work opportunities
If the organization has invested time and money in training
people, try not to let valuable talent go.
Find a place for them in the organisation and the will help the
organisation grow and prosper.
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