HRF Managing and Coordinating the HR function

Introduction to HRF Managing and Coordinating HR function

Managing and coordinating HR function intends to introduce the learner to the tasks and activities carried out in HR. Additionally, this unit helps the learner understand the HR function’s role within the organisation’s workplace.

This unit helps the student focus on the HR professionals’ objectives to establish in the HR department to meet the organisational goals. As the organisation changes, so is the HR functions, and that is why this unit will introduce learners to tasks that HR is supposed to have to ensure success in a changing organisation.

Learners should understand different theories discussed in this unit to ensure HR services are well delivered to the organisation for its success.

Objectives delivered by the HR function

Human resource experts carry out various tasks within an organisational structure. This task includes:

Staffing: This is an activity of identifying and conducting recruitment to meet the organisation’s HR functions’ set requirements. This practice utilizes various scientific methods to acquire a high volume of applicants and filter those with high skills.

Development: When qualified and experienced personnel are acquired through recruitment, the HR function’s next task is to provide resources to ensure an organisation’s continued growth. As HR is expected to oversee continuous development, they do so through:

• Educating new employees for their role in the organisation
• Planning training seminars to ensure workers are equipped with more knowledge in their respective field
• Preparing report for organisation seniors and communicating feedback to employees( HR coordinates day to day task)

Salary and Benefits: It’s the task of HR functions to identify appropriate compensation basing their fact on different tasks, performance, and legal requirements. More activities under-compensation includes:

• Using benchmark like industry standards for a given job description to set compensation levels that match the market.
• Negotiating with third party providers for health insurance rates, retirement plans as well as other benefits
• Discussing the increase or decrease of salary with employees in the organisation
• Ensuring that all legal and cultural expectations are complied with by employees

Employee and Labour Relations: It’s the task of HR to defend the rights of the employee through coordinating with unions and mediating disagreement between the organisation and its HR. This activity includes:

• HR mediate a disagreement between employers and employees
• Resolving disagreement between employees
• Negotiating employees right with unions, top-level management, and organisation stakeholders
• HR acts as both organisation and employee’s voice depending on any broader organisational issue concerning employee welfare.
• Find and resolve claims of harassment and other abuses

Safety and Health: To bring success in any industry, employees’ safety and health come first. This activity includes:

• Implementing new safety measures as introduced in a given industry
• HR functions ensure that legal requirements are observed in any job description for safety measures
• Presenting safety compliance to the relevant legal departments
• Discussing safety and compliance with the unions

The student taking this unit should learn the HR functions and relate them to those functions required in the human resource field in any given industry. These functions are simplified in the image below.

Delivery of HR objectives to the organisation

The main aim of the businesses is to ensure that the organisational objectives are achieved. For this to succeed, the management should ensure clear communication of what an employee ought to accomplish. This communication happens from the bottom to the top management, i.e., from employees to the senior-most management.

Students taking this unit must understand senior managers’ role in running the organisation and how this senior management contributes to HR functions’ success.

Learners need to understand that HR handles detailed information about the organisation and that the senior manager provides the critical tasks beyond human resource capacity. Therefore, there is a need for a senior manager to support human resource functions to ensure the achievement of their entrusted activities.

These senior managers also ensure that HR functions are in line with the organisational role and objectives. Apart from the senior manager’s role, other staff in the organisation works to achieve the organisation’s goal and objectives.

This unit is essential to the learners as they understand different stakeholders’ role and functions toward improving the value and ensuring the organisational objectives’ achievement.

Change management theories

The organisations experience change constantly, and there is a need for HR functions to determine to what extent this change impacts the organisational objectives. To achieve this, the learner should understand the theories that are used to evaluate these changes. These theories are:

The McKinsey 7-S Framework: this model might seem to be complex, but it’s necessary for identifying the extent to which the changes impact the organisation. This model comprises seven models that are assessed how they affect each other in whatever order. This element is:

• Style: This element described how leadership is adopted
• Staff: This element address the capability of each employee in the organisation
• Skills: This element represents the competence of each employee in the organisation
• Systems: This element describes the task and procedure that employees follow to complete their task
• Strategy: This element describes the plan put in place by the organisation to increase its competitive advantage.
• Structure: This element describes the hierarchy of the organisation
• Shared Values: These are the core value as outlined in the organisation culture and general work ethics

Kurt Lewin’s change model: This theory is described in three-phase models as outlined below

• Unfreeze: This phase requires you to “unfreeze” or instead stop the current process and take time to evaluate what might be improved.
• Change: After the HR have educated everyone why change is necessary, this phase implements changes necessary.
• Freeze: This phase solidifies or instead gets to work on the organisation’s goal under newly implemented change.

Nudge Theory: This theory suggests a change and backs up this suggestion with evidence to drive employees toward these changes.

The other change theories are Kübler-Ross Change Curve, The ADKAR Change Management Model, and Bridges’ Transition Model. This theory will equip students with the knowledge they need to help analyse and implement necessary changes in any organisation.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this unit, learners should:

• Should understand the role and critical task of the HR function in an organisation
• Understand how HR objectives are deployed at a different level in an organisation
• Understand how HR functions are assessed in terms of value and how the organisation is performing
• Understand how HR relates to other fields in the organisation

Conclusion

This unit is for students who wish to develop professionalism and job opportunities in HR management and their development. This unit helps the student learn what skills are needed for HR functions, how to implement change, how to resolve conflict among employees and oversee the achievement of organisation goals.

Lastly, HR experts involved in implementing organisation strategies and policies should also take this unit to ensure smooth implementation of the organisations’ procedures.