Strategic Human Resource

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Strategic Human Resource Management

Chapter 4: The Strategic role of the HR function

Bailey, Mankin, Kelliher, and Garavan

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Learning objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Explain how the evolution of HR functional roles has influenced the HR department today
• Outline the elements of the CIPD HR Profession Map
• Critically evaluate the main frameworks and models that have been developed to analyse the role of the HR function
• Develop an insight into the role conflict experienced by HR professionals
• Understand the different structural arrangements available to HR departments and recommend alternatives
• Appreciate the factors that influence structural decisions
• Evaluate the factors that impact on the changing role of the HR department
• Weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of adopting e-HRM.

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Ulrich, 1997

“Should we do away with HR? ... It is often ineffective, incompetent and costly; in a phrase, it is value weakening. Indeed, if HR were to remain configured as it is today in many companies, I would have to answer the question above with a resounding, ‘yes, abolish the thing!’” (p. 24).

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The scope of the HR function in the 1960s

• “Personnel administration. . . . is largely a collection of incidental techniques without much internal cohesion. As personnel administration conceives the job of managing worker and work, it is partly a file clerk’s job, partly a housekeeping job, partly a social worker’s job and partly fire- fighting to head off union trouble or to settle it . . . . [they] are necessary everyday jobs. I doubt though that they should be put together in one department for they are a hodge-podge(mixture). (Drucker, 1961: 269–70)

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The scope of the HR function today: CIPD’s HR Profession Map

• Organization design: including job design, organization structure, and change
• Organization development: including culture management and development
• Resourcing and talent planning: including resourcing, succession planning, and induction
• Learning and talent development: including training, development, and coaching
• Performance and reward: including performance management and reward management

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CIPD’s HR Profession Map (contd.)

• Employee engagement: ensuring a positive employee working experience aligned with organizational objectives
• Employee relations: including union relations, disciplinary and grievance procedures, welfare, and legal compliance
• Service delivery and information: including the provision of management information and data, and HR service delivery to the line
• Leading HR: including acting as a role model leader, maximizing the contribution of HR.
• Insights, strategy and solutions: including the understanding of the organization and its context and the tailoring of solutions to meet organizational needs.

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The origins of HR

• It is generally accepted that the HR function as we know it today has its roots in the development of industrialized organizations that has taken place since the 1800s (Ogilvie and Stork, 2003)
• Since then it has been influenced by a range of factors including: the development of employee welfare, scientific management, and employment legislation

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The evolution of HR

• The notion that HR management can make a direct contribution to a firm’s performance emerged for the first time in the 1980s
• Whilst the idea that people should be managed strategically was not new, the notion that an organization’s HR policies and practices could themselves contribute to the creation of advantage was
• Alongside the move to make the HR function ‘strategic’ came the idea that HR departments should also be contributing much more to the management of organizational change programmes

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The implications for HR practitioners

• This has created particular challenges for HR practitioners, as operating at a strategic level is about shaping rather than supporting business strategy.
• To do this successfully, HR practitioners need to develop a range of interrelated skills and an ability to think strategically
• This, in turn, needs to be underpinned by business or commercial acumen which includes business understanding and cross-functional experience

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Typologies of HR functional roles

There are five widely known models:

• Legge’s (1978) model of HR power and intervention
• Tyson and Fell’s (1986) building site analogy
• Storey’s (1992) strategic/tactical model
• Ulrich’s original ‘HR Champion’ model (1997) and his updated typology of HR roles (Ulrich and Brockbank, 2005a)
• Caldwell’s (2001) change matrix

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Summary of HR roles

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Storey’s HR functional roles

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Tyson and Fell’s (1986) building site model

• Tyson and Fell (1986) argued that HR functions could essentially be regarded as playing three possible roles:
• Clerk of works: this role provided the least opportunity for choice and discretion and was essentially concerned with paperwork and administration
• Contracts manager: the role was found where there was a significant union presence in the workplace and where the role was focused around systems and procedures
• Architect: in some cases, HR departments could play a strategic role integrating the management of people into the core of the business
• Each role could potentially be found at each level in the organizational hierarchy, although Monks (1993) later argued that the roles should be regarded as cumulative rather than discrete

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Ulrich’s Typology of HR functional roles

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Ulrich’s typology of HR functional roles

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Ulrich and Brockbank’s model

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Calwell’s (2001) HR roles

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Caldwell’s model

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Strategic Partnership

• The term ‘Strategic Partner’, also referred to as ‘Business Partner’, derives mainly from Ulrich’s use of the term in his 1997 model to describe the partnering of HR professionals and executives with senior and line managers in the strategic management of the organization

• This can involve both the development of HR policies and strategies aligned with business objectives, and HR’s involvement in the overall strategic direction of the organization. Whilst most applicable in private sector firms, the term is also used within the public sector

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Competing pressures on the HR professional

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Conflict experienced by HR professionals (Caldwell, 2003)

• Inter-role conflict: where carrying out some roles may lead to conflict with other roles; for instance, applying employment legislation which may run counter to the organization’s strategic imperatives
• Intra-role conflict: where the expectations of what the HR professional can achieve are in opposition
• Value-role conflict: where the individual’s own values or professional values are in conflict with the demands of the job
• Old–new role conflict: where a change of role brings new pressures that may conflict with existing demands

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Structuring the HR department

• Shared services: a single unit handling all routine HR services in areas such as resourcing, payroll, and absence management
• Centres of excellence: teams of HR experts with specialist knowledge, leading innovations in areas such as reward, engagement, and talent management
• Strategic business partners: senior HR professionals working closely with line managers at a strategic level in areas such as long-term talent management planning and the management of change

Source: CIPD, 2008

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HR departmental structural changes

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Potential advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing HR

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• E-HRM has been defined as ‘configurations of computer hardware, software, and electronic networking resources that enable intended or actual HRM activities … through individual and group-level interactions within and across organizational boundaries’ (Marler and Fisher, 2013: 21).

What is e-HRM?

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• Electronic HRM systems are today in almost universal use, whether to handle specific aspects of the HR role such as recruitment or payroll, or as an integrated holistic system used to manage the entire HR process.
• More sophisticated e-HRM systems include functions ranging from advanced employee communications interfaces, self-service facilities enabling employees to update their own personal details, right through to HR metrics and dashboards

e-HRM

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One study (Parry and Tyson, 2011) found that five factors were influential in the successful achievement of e-HRM goals (pp. 349-50):

HRM skills in the areas of consultancy, strategic thinking, analysis, advanced communication, negotiation, process engineering, project management and business writing.

Training in e-HRM use.

Engagement with e-HRM on the part of managers and employees.

Optimal design of the e-HRM system.

Familiarity of users with technology.

e-HRM

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• Employers have to deal with questions of potential misuse and abuse of e-communication technologies, or ‘cyberdeviancy’ (Van Gramberg et al., 2014: 2237).

• There are risks of lowered productivity, ‘cyberslacking’, or the overuse of the internet for personal use, and cultural risks such as, ‘cyberbullying’, or the use of emails and other forms of electronic communication to bully or harass others (Van Gramberg et al., 2014: 2237).

e-HRM: challenges

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• The CIPD HR Profession Map outlines ten core HR functions.
• HR’s role in today’s organization has emerged piecemeal over time.
• These strands of work often lead to experienced role conflict for today’s HR practitioners in balancing the competing needs of employers, employees, professional norms, and ethical requirements.
• Several models of HR functional roles have been proposed, many of which differentiate between a strategic and a tactical role for HR practitioners.

Summary

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• Although HR practitioners have been exhorted to perform a more strategic role, evidence of uptake is equivocal.
• Various structural options exist for the HR department, and the choice depends on a variety of contextual factors.
• HR managers today need to be technically aware, both in terms of the use of e-HRM but also in developing and implementing policies relating to staff use of the internet and social media.

Summary