The benefits or disadvantages of Human Resources

This essay is to write a discussion paper which argues the benefits or disadvantages of Human Resources being a strategic business partner giving consideration to the impact of Human resources polices and practices on strategy, people and organizational culture.

Strategic human resource is considered as a term to describe an integrated approach to the development of human resources strategies within a business, which will enable the organization to achieve its goals.

(Kramar et al., 1997) It is an approach for making decisions on the intentions and plans of the organization concerning the organization's recruitment and the employment relationship, training, performance management, development, reward and employee relations strategies, policies and practices.

HR is also important to being a strategic business partner because it considers as the use of planning, a coherent approach to the design and management of personnel systems based on an employment policy and manpower strategy and often underpinned by a 'philosophy', matching HRM activities and policies to some explicit business strategy and finally seeing the people of the organization as a strategic resource of r the achievement of competitive advantage.

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The importance of HR being a strategic business partner

The major importances are attracting potentially qualified job applicants, retain desirable employees, and motivate employees. Furthermore, it uses to improve productivity, improving quality of work life, and ensuring legal compliance. It basically is to developing and implementing people strategies that are integrated with corporate strategies, which link practices together with business strategy and it is the pattern of planned human resource deployment and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals.

The other importance are the following:

To understand the composition, skills and diversity of the workforce better

Effectively working with the work force to take the organizations forward

To ensure employees are informed as to know what they are required to achieve and set a clear direction for staff so they can see how the role they undertake fits into the corporate target

To provide staffs with the skills and confidence to be innovative, to lead them to think differently and imaginatively in relation to delivering the better services

Impact of HR policies on strategy

1. Human resource planning and job analysis: It uses a special team to plan human resource needs and analyze what do they need in the future in order to come up with plans for this company.

2. Recruitment and selection: It uses media and "special applicants category" to locate and attract qualified job applicants. Test and interview are combined in selection strategy.

3. Training and development: There is a training system in this organization.

4. Performance management: evaluate individual's performance on the jobs in order to improve organization's performance and achieve the goals.

(Kramr et al, 1997)

Impact on people

The aim of Human Resources being a strategic business partner is to generate strategic capability by ensuring the organization has the skilled, committed and well-motivated employees it needs to achieve sustained competitive advantage.

1. Leadership

In the development and achievement of the organizations vision and Corporate Objectives, they invest in leaders for training who develop values required for long-term success, and implement these via appropriate actions and behaviors. Thus, manage the workforce in a fair and supportive manner. It helps to1) ensure those leaders have the appropriate skills, knowledge, confidence and support to fulfill their responsibilities, 2) ensure those leaders engage in a process for measurement, review and improve the performance at the projects, 3) to encourage leaders to review and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their own leadership and 4) improve the communication between members, managers and employees in order to have the efficient outcomes.

2. People

HR being strategies business partner is not just impact on leader, it also impact all employees within the organization. To provide all individual, team and organization level people training and skills needed to meet service requirements in the changing environment. Firstly, it achieves equitable access to training and development opportunities for all employees in order to help them to meet their targets. Secondly, it encourages greater flexibility to meet the service demands through equitable rewards.

Impact Organizational culture

Human resource strategy links to the wider goals in organizations. It relate to changes in structure and culture, organizational effectiveness and performance, matching resources to future requirements, the development of distinctive capabilities, knowledge management and the management of change. It is concerned with both meeting human capital requirements and the development of process capabilities, such as the ability to get thing done efficiently and effectively. Any major people issues, which affect or are, affected the strategic plan of the organization. An organizational culture should help to 1) protect the employees' health, safety and welfare by using a clear policy, which meets the legislative requirements, 2) ensure that all policies, procedures and guidelines are clearly understood by all employees and 3) continuously develop to support and enable employees to deliver quality and cost effective services.

Conclusion

In conclusion, HR being strategies business partner has its basis in rational thinking. It is extremely useful area of concern to all executives. The excellence of a business strategy means nothing without people to carry it out. But in practice, strategists have accepted that there must be a place for unexpected. In my opinion, human resource strategies being business partner obviously can benefit the organization development in long term, but the importance of implementing the right human resource to the right place at the right time in order to achieve and effectiveness outcome.

Reference

Compton, Fobert & Nankervis, Alan (1998) Effective Recruitment & Selection Practices, 2nd Edition , Australia: Australian Print Group.

Miner, J.B. and Crane, D.P.(1995) Human Resource Management : The Strategic Perspective, HarperCollins College Publishers.

Newman, N and Hodgetts, R. (1998) Human Resource Management, United States: R.R Donnelley & Sons Co.

Kramar.R., Mcgrew. P & Schuler. R (1997) Human Resource Management in Australia, 3rd edition, Longman, Australia