LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The new role of the human resource professional

Monday,  August 29, 2005

Dear Sir,

At a recently held conference by the Cayman Islands Society of Human Resource Professionals, the President indicated that the days are gone when the primary functions of human resources were hiring, policing, and paper pushing. She added that human resources now has to facilitate mergers and acquisitions, improve productivity and quality, and continuously improve the company’s return on its greatest asset, its people.

This position spells out clearly some of the new functions of human resources in the complex economy of today. It means that the HR professional has to equip herself with the knowledge, skills and dispositions required by this new role, since HR has become central to economic progress and company competitiveness. With this new training, the interests of the company and the individual are realised.

In a wider sense, however, the new role of the HR professional is that of knowledge manager. She has to undertake a survey of the kind and quality of knowledge that exists in the company, and utilise it for the latter’s benefit. There is the formal knowledge that is possessed by individuals who have pursued a course of studies, and there is the knowledge that is contained in the company’s data base, which includes reports, issues that have arisen and the decisions that were made, and memos.

There is also tacit knowledge, based on the experiences of individuals, which is not written down. The HR professional therefore has to access this knowledge and deploy the skills of individuals in appropriate job areas so that they could become more effective and productive. There is then a match between the job and the knowledge and skills necessary to perform it.

The HR professional has also now become an internal consultant. She sits on the company’s Board and presents the concerns of employees. Connected to this is the fact that the HR professional is engaged in restructuring the organisation, developing its vision, and helping to sell it throughout the organisation, so that employees live it in their daily activities.

The management of the company’s culture is another new HR function. Here, the HR professional uses the positive aspects of the culture to motivate employees, recognise their contribution, and allocate additional tasks to stretch their capabilities. This means that greater responsibilities could be entrusted to selected staff members later. Culture has to do with how things are done in the company and how to improve them. It is not static.

Human resources could therefore create a new set of cultural values in the company, to offset those negative aspects of the culture that have kept the company from realising its true potential. Transformation training is important here, where individuals are exposed to cutting edge knowledge and best practices, and also are encouraged to create their own strategies to solve problems. Continuous learning therefore becomes the ethic of the company.

The HR professional has therefore now become a more proactive agent of change and renewal, and not merely the person who reacts to developments.

Another change in the HR professional’s role is that of taking a more strategic stance in acquiring competences in business and financial matters, and in building the capacities of the company. Whenever there are issues regarding recruitment or expansion, with this business knowledge, the HR professional will have more credibility in presenting cases for consideration to the Board involving additional expenditure, and will be able to justify it in terms of how it brings in additional revenue.

HR then becomes a business partner and revenue earner for the company, rather than being perceived as a cost. The department would not be the first to experience cuts when productivity slows, but will be able to show how earnings could be increased. It would even be capable of staving off down turns by mobilising and encouraging staff, and involving them in the decisions about company policies. The staff will then buy into new strategies for growth, since the company will be seen as a family, and not as an exploiter of labour.

The HR professional is also now engaged in promoting work/life balance, enhancing workplace literacy, and dealing with legal issues and performance management. All of these new responsibilities mean greater recognition of, and respect for the function. It also means that the HR professional now becomes an integral part of top management, as well as the resident consultant to the company.

Oliver Mills (M.A., M.Ed.)

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