HUMAN RESOURCE COMPETENCIES FOR THE NEW CENTURY

Below is an extract of an article I came across recently from a LinkedIn colleague, I am sharing it because i think some if not all HR folks will benefit from the content. You can log on to www.kenexa.com for the full article


Human resources departments are accelerating their efforts to change. What’s driving this? A push by enterprises of all sizes to focus on issues and opportunities related to human assets. What major changes should HR make, and how? What new capabilities and competencies will HR professionals need to succeed? This article offers practical answers to these questions by advocating for a specific functional direction, a particular set of roles, and a range of competencies HR should master to meet ongoing challenges.
All HR professionals know their departments are in a difficult position. On one hand, HR serves as an employee advocate, making sure concerns of individuals are voiced. On the other hand, HR needs to be a vital participant in formulating strategy and achieving goals necessary to push the entire organization forward. It is a difficult, but necessary, challenge to balance these two potentially conflicting positions.
An even more fundamental problem is that changing business demands have created major new priorities related to the way HR professionals work. Some years ago, we wrote, “The next few years represent a critical period for the human resource community as new roles and responsibilities in organizations are being renegotiated (Schoonover, 1998). That was true then, and is even truer now. Many competencies developed as part of our study remain important for the coming years, but the continuing evolution of business settings has created a need for updated and even completely new competencies.
Strong evidence shows many professionals have responded to new requirements with significantly new skills. However, most departments still are not keeping pace with the needed level of change. When we talk to our clients, we consistently hear the HR function needs to become better at being both a more active contributor to the business team and a more innovative protector and developer of employees. This dual mandate requires activities ranging from business strategy development to process re-engineering; from generating new staffing models to developing more sophisticated reward and recognition strategies; from capturing and distributing expert knowledge to applying technology and leveraging human assets. Most HR professionals recognize the needed changes, but they do not have clear standards or a clear path for instituting them.

THE HR FUNCTION OF THE FUTURE
Fortunately, many HR professionals have begun making the necessary changes required for success. However, HR departments still need to support these changes energetically by:
• Developing a compelling vision and value proposition for their entire organization
• Aligning the focus of their efforts on more strategic outcomes
• Renegotiating roles and relationships with operational leaders within organizations
• Committing to major, immediate competency development
These functional transformations often entail significant realignment of attitude toward a much more strategic, action-orientated stance and significant structure, process, activity and behavior changes.
In practice, different organizations design various structures and roles to meet their own needs. However, as HR departments begin their change process, professionals should focus initially on guiding principles rather than key activities or roles. These guidelines then can be applied as organizational design requirements T

IBM Smarter Workforce engages employees to drive the business kenexa.com

IBM Smarter Workforce helps build an engaged, collaborative, productive workforce, to drive positive business results.

HUMAN REOURCES FOR BEGINNERS-AN INSIDER ANALYSIS

It all started in my midyear in the university, Human Resources Management happened to be one of the functional business units that I must scale through. As it is common practice in the university system where up to three lecturers take a single course within the session, one of the lecturers for the HRM happened to be a former director at Cadbury Nigeria. His down to earth lecture on Human Resource practice captivated me so much that I made up my mind right there that for me it is either HRM or nothing among several functional business units like R & D, HRM, Finance and production management. On that note I welcome you Talent managers, the first articles on this page for HR folks and those who are interested coming to the field, you are equally welcome. Please read and comment. Constructive criticism will be appreciated as well.

 

A closer look of systems indicate that a system is made of components like structure, environment, technology; but one thing is common to all types of components is people, human elements, man power, Human resources, Capital . The evolution of Human Resources Management started with the coming of the Europeans to our soil, prior to their coming, there was no formal form of employment in Africa and indeed Nigeria. The major influences on Human Resources Management practices in Nigeria are Economic, Political, Legal and Social and Religious factors.

Human Resources Management has evolved from what Peter Drucker described as fire fighting to an era of partnership with the business. The development of Human Resources management involved pioneer work of Peter Drucker and Douglas Mcgregor, the behavioural science movement like the hierarchy of needs, organizational development movement, the corporate culture and the Art of Japanese Management. Emerging trend in Human Resources include changes in the basic values of the society, fundamental shift in ideology to the concern the whole and not a part of community, concern for the rights of the managed and not just the managers, a shift towards greater concern for the systems of the organization.

The evolution of Human Resources management has its roots in the industrial revolution, the emergence of free collective bargaining, the scientific management movement, the U.S civil service commission, private industry personnel management, and Human relations movement.

Human Resources management has gone through several phases such as file maintenance, government Accountability, organizational accountability and the latest is that Human Resources is now seen as strategic business partner.

The traditional functions of Human Resources management include; recruitment and selection of the right quality and quantity personnel-this is mostly achieved through Man power planning, induction and orientation is another vital function of the Human Resources team. Induction is done for senior staff while orientation is for the junior staff, re orientation is done for existing staff; compensation and welfare, this involved not salary and wages but also the welfare of which could be in form of loan, bonus sharing, health care, group life insurance policy etc; employee appraisal and promotion, this is done to separate star performers and encourage those who do not meet up with predetermining performance metrics. It note worthy to note that those perform poorly in performance appraisal be shown the way out of the organization. This is however, depends on the policy of the organization. This list is by no mean exhausted.

It is important to note that if you want to succeed as an HR practitioner, reading and researching is a must for you to succeed. Also joining the professional bodies will boost your credibility before your colleagues and most importantly your clients.

Welcome to the most exciting blog on the planet, your comments are welcome and would be appreciated. Till Next week ‘we are all work in progress’

                                                                                          

                                               Copyright©2015  Kuye Olusegun James (KOJ)