Discussion Board 15

Assume that you are a recently hired department manager within a sizeable health care provider organization. You came from a small organization where you and other managers enjoyed a cooperative working relationship with a two-person human resources department. In your new position, you quickly became dismayed at the adversarial relationship that seems to exist between many department managers and most members of the fifteen-person human resources department. You have heard several other managers speak disparagingly of the HR department, and in your first few contacts with HR you encountered considerable defensiveness.

Explain how you might be able to go about establishing an effective working relationship with human resources in the prevailing environment.