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The Human Resource Manager Plays
a Strategic Business Partner Role

Further, employees’ energy, competence and skills are utilized towards accomplishment of the corporate objectives.

This is done by aligning the HR function and people strategies to the organization's business plan. HR is becoming more accepted as a strategic business partner.


Human Resource Manager Job Description
Make the Human Resource function more relevant by helping employees achieve the strategic intent of their jobs in alignment to your organization's overall plan.

Your job description as the HR Manager is related to the performance of the various aspects of the HR function as stated below.

• Human Resource planning
  
• Employee recruitment and selection
  
• Employment laws compliance
  
• Compensation and incentives
  
• Staff Counseling and Coaching
  
• Occupational safety and health at work
  
• Industrial Relations or Employee relations
  
• Retirement
  
• Termination
  
• Organisational development
  
• Employee training and development
  
• Performance management
  

Detailed List of the Duties and Responsibilities of the HR Manager
In order to ensure that you, as the HR Manager or HR Head, can become part of the organization's corporate planning team, you need to demonstrate that you can perform the following:

• Playing a significant role in the development and implementation of corporate strategy. This forms part of your capability in translating business strategies into HR strategies.
  
• Analysing the internal and external environments in order to identify factors that can have negative impacts and to find ways to prevent their occurrence or limit their effects.
  
• Ensuring that there is cooperation between the HR function and line management. This helps in the anticipation of HR needs in the immediate, medium-term and long-term.
  
• Identifying and implementing the right technology such as HRIS to drive the business strategy of the organization.
  
• Ensuring that anti-discrimination legislation and other employment legislation are followed.
  
• Understanding and implementing accepted principles of learning in the process of planning, conducting and evaluating training and development programs. Doing this will help your people to learn effectively and a favourable ROI of training budget supports these programs.
  
• Helping managers motivate their subordinates to perform their jobs to the standards expected.
  
• Ensuring that there is a systematic approach to compensation management to support the business strategy.
  
• Promoting and creating awareness among management and employees on the importance of a safe and healthy work environment.
  
• Helping your management team and supervisors to effectively manage diversity in the workplace.
  
• Handling all negotiations with unions or acting in an advisory role to operating managers in industrial matters
  
• Helping the organization in finding or formulating effective HR strategies when it decides to expand its business operations worldwide.

The HRM Function and HRD
In some organizations, the function of human resource management is separated from that of human resource development.

But your organization can choose to combine the two functions.

There are also organizations who create positions reporting to the HR Manager such as Recruiting Manager, Training Manager and Compensation Manager. By doing this, the HR Manager can concentrate more on planning and strategy formulation.

But additional people means higher HR overheads.

The Human Resource Manager
job description must reflect its
strategic relationship
to the Business Plan

The accepted changed roles of the HR Manager include:

1. As HR Strategic Business Partner
   This requires full understanding of the organization's business.

   This assists you in the plan to align HR strategies, policies and practices with the business strategies.

   For example, if your organization intends to use a particular technology or adopt a certain business strategy to increase customer satisfaction and higher productivity, HR must provide the necessary support.

   An example of the application of this role is in the recruitment and selection process. There is a link between the organization's objectives, those of HR objectives and employment objectives.

   How can the HR Manager become a strategic business partner?

   Ulrich states that HR Managers and other employees can become strategic partner "when they have the ability to translate business strategy into action."

   This requires HR Managers and HR professionals to develop business acumen, to become customer-oriented, and to link business strategy into HR policies and practices. Only then they can add value and HR leaders allowed toparticipate in decision making at the organization's strategic level.

2. As Change Agent
   As the Human Resource Manager, you need to identify strategies to improve commitment of employees to both customers and the organization.

   You also need to educate yourself on business principles in order to become more effective in initiating and managing change.

   Being equipped with this know-how, you can make or recommend changes in the HR function in response to new challenges.

   Doing this will make the HR function become more critical and strategic.

   We need to take note that line managers are also in the business of playing the role of change agent. When Human Resource Managers and HR professionals fail to play this particular, there is a risk that senior management will sideline them.

3. As an Administrative Expert
   This means more than merely performing the administrative tasks or taking care of the rules book.

   The Human Resource Manager and HR professionals need to identify the right technology, to redesign work processes, andcontinuously improve or recommend improvements in the organization's processes. HR efficiency is measured in terms of costs-benefits and HR effectiveness in terms of its quality.

   In doing this, the HR function can create value through HR people becoming "internal consultants."

4. The Human Resource Manager as Employee Champion
   The position also exist in order to satisfy employee needs, to ensure fair and principled management decisions, and to help employees to effectively perform their jobs.

   We need to remember that the HR Manager's position is not there to defend employees against the organization. Where necessary, he or she must take the difficult decision of terminating employees who are non-performers.

   Some writers refer to this role as 'employee advocate.'
   

5. Other Roles of the Human Resource Manager
   In some organization, the HR Manager also:
   
   • Performs corporate affairs duties
     
   • Manages communication channels
     
   • Carries out community relations tasks
     
   • Handles safety and health issues
     

or some of these.

Apart from Human Resource Managers, other key people who are HR champions are HR Heads or Chief Human Resource Officers, and HR professionals.

Others who need to concern themselves about HR are line managers and supervisors.

What does being an HR champion really mean? Search for books from Amazon.com on what HR champions are involved in.


Making the Human Resource Department More Relevant
As the Human Resource Manager, you need to make the human resource department relevant to the business affairs of the organization. It cannot afford to take the role of anuninterested by-stander.

Continue to make its role as a strategic business partner accepted by the organization's leaders.

Ensure that the Human Resource Manager's position contributes towards the realization of your organization's drive for success. And that it will continue to play that role.

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