It is a greatly overused cliché to say that âthe only constant is change itselfâ but it is very clear that business keeps changing and that the HR role within business is changing in many ways.
           Business has always changed, of course. The main point today is that change is so rapid. Some industry commentators call the Human Resources function the last bastion of bureaucracy. Traditionally, the role of the Human Resource professional in many organisations has been to serve as the systematising, policing arm of executive management.
           In this role, the HR professional served executive agendas well, but was frequently viewed as a roadblock by much of the rest of the organisation. While some need for this role occasionally remains – you wouldnât want every manager putting his own spin on a sexual harassment policy, as an example – much of the HR role is transforming itself.
           In most large organisations, HR is still responsible for ensuring all departments harness the potential of their people and engage them in the successful delivery of organisational objectives.
           HR achieves this responsibility not only by providing world-class services and support for individuals, but by working in partnership with the business to execute people strategy, maximising employee engagement, and leading and managing change.
           More recently the focus in many cases has been around efficiency and value for money. However, in addition to driving down costs, HR needs to lead departments in improved people management by enhancing and developing skills and capabilities. Providing effective leadership, and helping managers achieve more by working smarter rather than harder.
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           It is a greatly overused cliché to say that âthe only constant is change itselfâ but it is very clear that business keeps changing and that the HR role within business is changing in many ways.
           Business has always changed, of course. The main point today is that change is so rapid. Some industry commentators call the Human Resources function the last bastion of bureaucracy. Traditionally, the role of the Human Resource professional in many organisations has been to serve as the systematising, policing arm of executive management.
           In this role, the HR professional served executive agendas well, but was frequently viewed as a roadblock by much of the rest of the organisation. While some need for this role occasionally remains – you wouldnât want every manager putting his own spin on a sexual harassment policy, as an example – much of the HR role is transforming itself.
           In most large organisations, HR is still responsible for ensuring all departments harness the potential of their people and engage them in the successful delivery of organisational objectives.
           HR achieves this responsibility not only by providing world-class services and support for individuals, but by working in partnership with the business to execute people strategy, maximising employee engagement, and leading and managing change.
           More recently the focus in many cases has been around efficiency and value for money. However, in addition to driving down costs, HR needs to lead departments in improved people management by enhancing and developing skills and capabilities. Providing effective leadership, and helping managers achieve more by working smarter rather than harder.
           The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of the changing organisation. Successful organisations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change direction and customer-centred.
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           There are an incredible number of pressures in today’s organisations including:
           Within these pressured organisations, there is a need for (and opportunity for) the Human Resource function to play a critical role in helping organisations navigate through these transitions. In order to play this role, however, HR has to enjoy a real and perceived value thatâs appreciated by managers and workers alike.
           The role of Human Resources has been evolving for some time. The shift from “personnel” to “human resources,” for example, was part of the movement to acknowledge the value of employees as an organisational resource, and was an attempt to remove some of the stigma that was associated with slow, bureaucratic personnel departments.
           This shift in label was accompanied by a call for HR to become a strategic partner with the leaders of the business – to contribute to significant business decisions, advise on critical transitions, and develop the value of the employees.
           Interestingly, the trend of companies outsourcing Human Resource functions continues to gain steam. There is talk that by 2008 outsourced HR departments will be common.
           The mere fact that outsourcing is an option, is prompting some people to reassess traditional HR job functions. And, in itself, thatâs not a bad thing. After all, being an HR professional is no longer exclusively about handling payroll issues, negotiating contracts and benefits or training supervisors and executives.
           It’s more about sitting next to the chief executive, making recommendations about what functions to outsource, developing long-term recruitment and retention strategies and finding ways to save the company money.
           HR professionals today need to understand what the products and services are, who the customers are and who the competitors are. It’s essential for the HR professional to get out of the office and be involved in making things happen in the business.
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The changing face of HR
           Earlier an HR managerâs position was considered to be a highly authoritative position. Every employee developed a sense of tremor in their fingers when they were called into the HRâs cabin. If anybody was asked earlier that who is the HR ? they said that the person âwho hires and firesâ. The role of the HR manager earlier was to select the right candidate, review the performance of the candidates and dismiss the employees who are inefficient or disloyal to the company.
           But the role of an HR manager has changed drastically now. An HR manager of a firm has multiple responsibilities. The main objective of the HR department today is to retain the employees of an organization. Even if the candidate wants to quit from the job a number of questions are imposed to the candidate such as â why does he want to quit the job? Or what factors made him dissatisfied about the organization? Or if he is resigning due to his genuine reason, then is he ready to join the company again when needed? The factor of attrition is become a very important to the organization. The companies suffer losses if they loose the candidate.
           But today, due to the factor of recession some of the companies are again laying off the employees. But until this September, the opportunities in a business organization were flooding but they were not finding candidates in an organization. Lets hope that the job opportunities again come to the same pace and the employees find jobs easily.
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Here are five survival strategies:
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Maximize Team Meetings.
           Productive team meetings are essential to share logistically and emotionally demanding workload for the HR manager and his or her staff. Meetings should to be more than time and task-driven staffing; build in a 15-minute “wavelength” segment. Use this segment for the group to grapple with emotionally tough personnel issues – dealing with pink slips, reorganization uncertainty, turf battles with other departments.
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Letâs begin with a list of HR-related stressors:Â
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           The HR Manager may become the messenger, helping employees and supervisors interpret reorganization pronouncements from the management mountaintop. Sometimes the HR leader must assume the Moses mantle while the employee tribes wander for a period in the transitional desert. Anyone for the training class on “Parting Really Large Bodies of Water?”
When downsizing trauma evoked racial tension and threats in a federal government division – pulling a KKK Web site off the Internet and playing a Louis Farrakhan tape in public – HR called me in. As a critical incident specialist, my role is clear: to stop the vicious cycle before it turns violent and to lay the groundwork for productive conflict resolution and team building.
           A specific stressor came to my attention recently: confidentiality. One particular incident involved an HR manager who was unsure of how to respond to a supervisorâs breach.Â
           This supervisor unprofessionally, if not illegally, shared with her employees that a colleague had been hospitalized for mental health reasons. Such a breach is like a computer virus that can contaminate everyoneâs operating system and security. The HR managerâs standing as a leader was on the line, not just the supervisorâs.Â
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With policy, there are always ever-changing requirements or cultural diversity/gender issues mandated by the likes of Congress or the EPA. But letâs not overlook the rapidly changing constrictions from the corporate headquarters to field operations. All these systemic forces can undermine a sense of control for the everyday HR functioning.
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HR managers as change managers
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           The role of HR managers has grown from the ambit of payroll, recruitment and training, to more mature and broader areas like competency mapping, succession planning, and crisis and change management. Renuka Vembu asserts how HR managers need to be good change agents themselves
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The ‘change’ factor
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           As the idiom goes, ‘Change is the only thing that is constant’, it is pertinent more-so-ever in the modern day and age, where organisations have to cope up with a host of factors on the lines of dearth in specialised skill sets, battling attrition, changing business demands and employee needs, increasing competitive edge, etc. The word ‘change’ in itself plays with the psyche of a person. It is certainly not an easy task to change; but then the graver concern is to understand and accept the fact that there is a need for change, and then to embark upon the transformation process. People, the underlying torch bearers and the campaign spear-headers, often contribute to being the key impediment factor. It is about their attitude and mindset towards acceptance, willingness to execute, and readiness to acknowledge the end result.
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From crafting to carrying
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           The concept of leading by example is not restricted to the immediate supervisors of a team, the middle-level cadre or the senior management. It is something that needs to be extended, penetrated and shown prominent evidence across all hierarchical levels, in all job functions and departments. Since the HR is thrust with the job of recruiting, managing and developing the work force, it is of utmost significance that they not only craft a particular process, but also carry it; they have to make the shift from being a distant observer to becoming an active participant.
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           With the changing business dynamics, the traditional role of the HR team has become more evolved, with concepts like succession planning, change management, crisis management, etc. are coming to the foray. Almost all of these factors have a key role of line and strategic HR personnel in it. Given that, it is important for HR managers to be good change managers themselves such that they can in turn guide the process.”
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The organisational impact
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           As it is rightly said, no organisation can grow without the growth of its employees. Likewise, no effort bears fruit without complete approval and participation of the task force engaged in it. Sharma viewed, “Organisational impact of the failure of HR managers to be effective change managers varies directly with the business impact of the change. Some of the manifestations of such failure can be seen directly in terms of poor business performance, reduction in efficiency and fall in productivity.
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Equipping for the transformation phase
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           When embarking on a change programme, what are the tools that HR personnel should be well-equipped with? Sharma explained, “I believe it starts with an understanding of the business-HR professionals need to be business professionals first-to be in sync with the business so as to understand the before, during and after of any change (planned or unplanned) in a business process. Then would be understanding how much of this change can be impacted or managed. This would be for three groups that go together viz. the strategic think tank involved (need not be the top guys), the line managers and HR.
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Conclusion
           In todayâs 24/7, merging, consolidating, âdo more with lessâ work environment, the letters âHRâ could as easily stand for âHub of Reorganizationâ as for âHuman Resources.â In fact, itâs the intersection of the two organizational dynamics, human exchange and systemic change, that accounts for the challenge and performance pressure for the HR manager and other human resources professionals.Â
   A person, over time, is confronted by rapidly changing requirements and responsibilities especially related to the welfare, safety and rights of others. He or she may lack sufficient control, authority or autonomy to deal with such demands. When this happens, the result is chronic stress.Â
C.Pavithira,M.Phil Scholar, periyar University, Salem-11