Role of HR Flashcards
HR’s strategic role
Recognizes the potential for upside (opportunity) and downside (threat) aspects of risk, plans for threats and opportunities
Participation in creating the organization’s strategy
Aligning the HR strategy with the organization’s strategy.
Supporting other functions in their strategic roles.
HR Administrative role
Recordkeeping and managing compliance, “Transactional activities”
Using technology to capture and analyze data
Using technology to reduce transactional time
Focusing on core capabilities
HR Operational Role
Knowledge management
Targeted talent acquisition and development
Incentive systems
Employee engagement and development programs
Developing an HR Service culture -
McKinsey 7S Framework
7 elements must be considered in order to have sustainable organizational change:
Strategy
Shared values - communicated during meaningful times
Structure - empowering HR professionals to make changes to meet customer needs and to correct mistakes quickly
Systems - supporting the way people do their jobs
Staff
Skills
Style of leadership
How HR interacts with Exec Management
contributes to the development of organizational strategy,
advising on the human capital implications of strategic decisions.
advise on executive compensation and matters of governance and with other members of the C-suite
What does finance do?
focuses on how the organization uses its financial assets to operate in the short and long term. Finance activities include:
Supporting operations and strategic initiatives through creating operating and capital expenditure budgets.
Providing financial analysis used in strategic planning.
Managing the organization’s “treasury” through short- and long-term investments and borrowing.
What does accounting do?
Tracking financial transactions and reporting financial information to finance (to support its strategic planning and management decisions) and to external stakeholders (to support compliance and demonstrate governance).
Accounting activities include:
maintaining records of finances and arranging periodic audits.
Producing financial statements, such as the income or P&L statement,
Complying with financial requirements and reporting information to government agencies (e.g., for taxes), regulatory bodies overseeing publicly traded companies, and investors/stockholders.
Marketing push strategy
getting products/services in front of customers. For example, companies may have showrooms or create a strong point-of-sales presence at the retail level.
Marketing pull strategy
attracts customers to the product
Research and Development function
also known as new product design and development
responsible for products and future revenue
Operations function
develops, produces, and delivers products and services to customers.
The operations function is responsible for building the products and services that marketing and R&D define and that sales monetizes. It is therefore the source of the revenue for the enterprise.
IT
manages the storage, access, exchange, and analysis, security of information across the enterprise through hardware and software systems
Integration of data in ERP (enterprise resource planning) system
How HR can help IT
Providing a good pipeline of qualified employees.
Biggest concern: data security
develop and communicate technology policies, such as safeguarding the organization’s networks from unauthorized access.
Role of marketing
Understanding customers and competitive threats and producing revenue
4 Ps of marketing
Price, product, promotion, place
HR Leader
Part of senior leadership in organization, report to CEO/COO
Bring information about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the organization’s strategy
Develop and direct the strategy, priorities, and focus for their HR team.
Titles: chief HR officer (CHRO), HR director, or vice president of HR
HR Manager
Responsible for units within the HR function, such as employee relations, talent acquisition, and organizational development.
Plan, direct, and coordinate the activities for their unit and provide input to the leader for HR strategy.
HR Specialist
Expertise in specific areas such as compensation and benefits design, talent management, metrics, IT, occupational health and safety, organizational development, and workforce relations.
Their role is to apply best practices in their discipline to advance the HR strategy.
HR Generalist
May have expertise in one or more specialty areas of HR but are generally proficient enough in each area to provide sound advice and direction to employees and managers.
Work closely with their specialist coworkers to ensure that the information and programs they are providing to their employees are accurate and complete.
Generalists may also be embedded within countries or business units.
Also known as practitioners
HR Business Partners
More experienced generalists who are assigned to represent HR services directly to other business functions.
Use a deeper understanding of the business—both the organization and the function—to find ways that HR can help functions achieve their goals.
These individuals can be key to demonstrating HR’s value throughout the organization.
Centralized HR
All HR personnel located within HR department; delivers services to entire organization.
Advantages: Provides more control and consistency across organization.
Disadvantages: Can inhibit flexibility and responsiveness; can decrease effective communication.
Decentralized HR
HR staff within each function, business unit, or location carrying out required activities.
Advantages: Allows for more direct contact between HR and other functions and facilitates communication and responsiveness.
Disadvantages: Lack of consistency among HR policies and standards.
Functional HR
Headquarters HR is staffed with specialists who craft policies. HR generalists, who may be located within divisions or other locales, implement these policies, adapt them as needed, and interact with employees.
Advantages: Facilitates consistency between headquarters policy and practices and implementation in business units.
Disadvantages: Can isolate headquarters HR from business realities perceived by all staff and employees.
Dedicated HR
“Corporate HR” at headquarters articulates basic values and tools to be used by the organization.
Each business unit’s HR uses corporate’s “basics” to develop their own policies and procedures based on their unit’s needs.
Advantages: Promotes strategic alignment between headquarters and units.
Disadvantages: isolation of dedicated HR units and loss of shared knowledge and experience; may lead to duplications and inefficiencies.
