Transforming role of HR Managers

Transforming role of HR Managers

The role of Human Resource Managers are transforming these days.  Gone are those days in which HR function was viewed as a support function and today, it has become the major differentiator for organizations and HR department is more aligned towards the strategic goals of the organizations.  This article would focus on the transformations that had happened in the roles of HR managers and how budding HR professionals can adapt to these new roles.

Style of Reporting:

Earlier HR managers were to report to single boss but today in organizations HR Managers are supposed to report to more than one boss. It may be his/her functional head and administrative head, who may be present in different location and sometimes in different country. Each boss may have different personality styles so HR manager should be very careful so that they do not hurt the ego of their boss and see to it they satisfy both their bosses.

Managing Time:

The role of HR managers has changed substantially today; he/she is supposed to wear multiple hats in and out of the organization. HR Mangers should attend meeting with the employers, which is inevitable, spend face time with the employees to understand and address their grievances, and participate in personal and professional success of employees such as wishing on their birthday and anniversary.  Finally, HR managers should maintain a proper work-life balance.  

So, HR managers should be proficient in handling their time and they should organize their calendar effectively.  They should plan their daily activities and prioritize the task. They can follow the simple to-do-list which would aid them to manage time effectively and efficiently.   

  

Managing Teams:

Organizations expect HR Managers to be trainer, mentor, motivator and effective communicators. They should be accessible, constantly educate and retain the team to deliver excellence. HR managers should maintain a good balance between employee and employer interests. HR Managers should provide feedback effectively or else employees would be demotivated.   Here’s an example for providing an effective feedback- “You have done a good job and here’s how to get better and best…”  

HR managers should take great attention in goal setting. You should set SMART goals and clearly define the parameters and never micromanage- let the team to perform.  HR managers should be buddies with the employees and at the same time you must command respect and lead.  HR managers should be capable of managing multiple teams from different geographical locations. Clear communication of the policies to various strategic business units should be given top priority.

High Adversity Quotient:  

HR managers should possess high adversity quotient because they act as a key player in implementation of strategies, policies, new ideas. They design these considering the current environment but unprecedented events happen which makes everything chaotic.  So, HR managers should be prepared to face unprecedented adversities with positive attitude, motivate themselves and teams and they should create high level of energy and endless enthusiasm.

Understand the business:   

  

HR managers should possess business acumen and partner with core functions of the organization.  Understanding the business nuances would help them to recruit the best talent, renders deeper knowledge about competitors and so on.

So, the budding HR professionals should understand and adjust to this system at a faster pace to succeed in the HR profession.

Author : Subburam N.N

College : Amrita School of Business, Bangalore

Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com

                                      How to deliver an Effective Performance Review

Performance review is an excellent opportunity for employees to know their strengths and weakness, but it is the responsibility of manager to effectively deliver the review in such a way it reinforces the star performers and redirects the poor performers.  During the appraisal, if the manager tell positive things about the employees and sugarcoat the negative qualities this would lead to mixed message in the mind of the employee and lead to disappointment. The article helps us to know the various strategies that aid the appraiser to deliver productive and stress-free performance appraisal.

Many experts state that, face-to- face performance review is the toughest one for employees and for the managers because it requires a person to stand in judgment of other. James Baron, the William S. Beinecke Professor of Management at Yale School of Management articulated that, performance management is a process and it involves significant amount of real-time for rendering feedback to the known employees.

Setting up clear expectations at the beginning of the year or at the commencement of a project with your employees and learning their person’s goals and explaining your expectations is paramount importance because it helps the employees to know their accountability. James Baron also stated that, understanding the ambitions of the direct reports would help managers to know their career ambitions which would enlarge their professional experiences. Before the face-to-face review ask the employee to jot down few best things he/she has done in the company. The appraiser should have detailed note about employee such as the targets achieved by him/her, missed deadlines, clients’ feedback and so on.  When the appraiser discusses the performance review in personal with the employee, he/she sometimes tend to churn out emotions (glad, sad, mad or scared) , so to avoid such emotional outburst, give a copy of the appraisal to the employee a couple of hours before the interaction so that, they can have their own time to think about it.

Often during face-to-face review managers tend to provide sandwich feedback, this would sometimes demoralize the star performers and encourage marginal or low performers. So the appraiser should take a clear stand for both star performers and marginal performers, so that they would know exactly where they are playing right and where they are not, this helps them to excel in their career and motivates them to do better.

 After discussing the strengths and weaknesses with the performers, ask them how they feel and listen to their concerns.  Use a “stop, start and continue” model- what the employee doing now which is not working, what they are best at and what kind-off actions they should do in future. Give specific advice and not general advices.  Core issues associated with performance review is the money and rank. The appraiser should be clear with the amount that is to be allotted and ranking is the most challenging part of the system. The appraiser is dealing with highly selective group of people, so he/she should be clear with the ranking, under-ranking of a good performer would let the person down and ranking everyone in the average is also not a good sign. Ranking and conveying the message is the greatest leadership challenge.

So finally summarize the core message with two or three strengths to be carried and important areas of development. These are the principles would help the managers to deliver an effective and stress-free performance review.

Reference:

http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2011/11/delivering-an-effective-perfor.html

Author   :  Subburam N.N

College  :  Amrita School of Business, Bangalore
Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com

Importance of Competency Mapping

In the world of management professionals, the term competency mapping has gained more importance today.  Organizations are vying globally and they wanted to create a competitive edge over the other. Companies are investing tremendous amount of time and money to have competent employees or they develop ordinary employees to extra-ordinary employees by developing distinguishable competencies.  Managers and HR professional have realized the importance of competency mapping and they believe that, the future belongs to competent people and competency based organizations.

Introduction to Competency:

Before studying about competency mapping, one should know the definition of competency at work place. It refers to the characteristics required by an individual to perform a given role, task or an activity successfully. In simple terms, it refers to a person’s fitness to his or her job. Competencies can be grouped as following

• Technical competencies or Functional competencies 

• Managerial competencies

• Human competencies

• Conceptual competencies

Competencies take the following forms such as 

• Attitude 

• Skill

• Knowledge

• Motives

• Values 

• Traits etc.

Adapted from Competence at Work by Lyle Spencer & Signe.M.Spencer

Identification of competencies

The competencies are identified using competency mapping methods such as

• Interviews

• Questionnaire

• Group work

• Task analysis workshop

• Performance Appraisal Format etc.

These competencies are identified by Experts, Psychologists, HR Specialists, Job Analysts, Supervisors, Industrial Engineers, Reporting and Reviewing officers and others. After the identification of the core competencies there should be a core competency acquisition agenda. Continuous learning should be provided for building core competency and later it should be deployed to attain and maximize competitive advantage. Finally, there should be a proactive business plan through which core competency skills are protected and defended. 

In this new economy, every organization should perform consistently to remain successful; this can be achieved by multi-skilled, possessing high self-esteem work-force, who is highly competent. The absence of these competencies would lead to increased premiums and undesirable results. 

Author   :  Subburam N.N

College  :  Amrita School of Business, Bangalore

Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com

For more articles visit: http://hrmaniacs.blogspot.in/

History and importance of Human Resource Management

History and importance of Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management or the HRM is considered as the heart of any company. For any organization small or large, the employees are the biggest assets.  Some of the important principles of human resource management were found since the prehistoric times.  During 1000 B.C to 2000 B.C, the selection of tribal leaders was based on the knowledge on hunting, health and safety. Later Chinese used the employee screening techniques during 1115 B.C.

Human Resource Management has seen numerous naming from its history, based on its vital function. It was known as “Personnel Relations” then evolved to “ Industrial Relations” , “Employee Relation” and then finally to “Human Resources”.  I think this is the most apt name since it demonstrates the importance of human beings in the organization.  Earlier human resource management was followed as a social welfare approach.  They helped the immigrants to adjust to their jobs and American lifestyle. They assisted the immigrants in learning English and helped to get housing and medical care. These approaches were used to promote supervisory training to ensure an increase in productivity.

After the advent of the labour unions during 1790, the responsibilities of the employees increased tremendously and accelerated at a rapid pace during 1800s and 1900s. This made the HR department more effective. By the end of 1970, the HRM became famous all over the world and most of the large and medium scale industries have a separate department to manage their recruitment, record-keeping, training, employee relations, salaries and wages, etc.  During the 1980’s the importance of Human resources extended to increase the skilled labour, training, regulation, dismissal, etc.   The HR manager plays a vital role in recruiting and dismissing the employees.

In the current trend, the importance of HR has increased in corporate. Their responsibilities have multiplied substantially and they are accountable for converting employees into valuable asset for an organization.