Human Resources as a Strategic Partner

Human Resources as a Strategic Partner
Alexandria Feasby
HRMT407
January 16, 2013






The human resources department oversees many aspects of a business. This department is essentially the middle-man, or the core of a business. All information, policies, and procedures go through the human resources department to ensure all employees, ranging from top management to the bottom of the totem pole, are on board. It is the job of human resources to ensure everyone is on the same page. Everything revolves around the human resources department, and everything goes through the human resources department. In order to run a business successfully, it is not only important to have an administrative aspect of the human resources department, but also to be able to use them to an advantage by seeing them as a strategic partner. The human resources department essentially pulls the strings of the company, therefore making them a powerful partner.
In 1833, one of the first forms of human resources emerged as what was called industrial welfare. During this time, human resources were utilized to limit the total amount of hours a woman or a child could work per week. Having male factory inspectors was also mandated at this point in time (Kaizenlog, 2006). A large portion of human resources is the recruitment and selection process of candidates that may be future employees of a company. It is the job of human resources to validate all of the candidates' work experience, previous education, references, letters of recommendations, resumes, and so on to ensure they will be a good fit for the company and have a successful tenure.
Once human resources have selected qualified candidates to enter the company as a new employee, the next step is understanding that the newly hired employees need training. Depending on the type of job the employee will be doing, the training could be very labor intensive, require many hours, days, weeks, or even months of training, and may be very costly. Because of the excessive amounts of cost essential to specially training new employees, an effective retention strategy is necessary, and probably will come in handy at a future point in time. This will prevent the loss of large sums of money that have been invested in training the employees.
The human resources department is one of the most important departments within a company, if not the most important. Although this department is technically a part of a business, it should be considered an ally, or a strategic partner. When looking through the eyes of a successful corporation or company, it can almost be guaranteed that the human resources department had a role in that company's success. Senior leaders, such as the chief executive officer or top level management, should not see human resources strictly as an administrative feature of a business.
Rajeev Peshawaria brings up a very good point. He asks what the percentage of the total quantity of a company's stock consists of intangible assets. The answer may be surprising to some people. Not all companies are made up of purely land and capital. Intangible assets are often the most precious aspects of a company. Some intangible assets are name brand value, innovation ability, reputation, culture, and even the quality of the management team. Within his research, he shows that 65 percent of people who buy a company's stock base their purchase off of the intangible assets of a company. Therefore, not considering the human resources department as a strategic partner could have detrimental effects on a company, and no company deliberately wants to cause this effect on itself.
Take Intel Corporation for example. James Harwood from Total HR Management talks about this corporation and how it has implemented its human resources department into a strategic partner. He speaks about how the human resources department is usually seen as a definitive road block to new ideas and innovation of managers, so it is ironic that human resources should be labeled as a partner. He goes on to say that human resources can increase the value of a business by being a part of strategic processing. There are many ways this can be accomplished. One is by assisting in the development of the success of an organization. A second way of being a team member in the process of strategic planning is by revamping what human resources already do, recruiting new employees. By looking for the best of the best and retaining talent when possible, the human resources department can significantly add to a value of a company (Harwood, 2010).
When implementing workplace safety laws, human resources also show that it is a part of adding to the strategic plan of a company. Think of the Occupational Safety and Health Act for a moment. It was passed in 1970, and its entire purpose is to keep employees safe in the work place (Dias, 2012, pp. 295). Does the human resources department not add to the strategic plan of a company by offering training to keep the employees updated on the latest and greatest training and outreach sessions? This act was put in effect to keep employees safe, thus in turn keeping the productivity of a company continuing on.
As we have seen, the human resources department of a business quite literally plays a role in all departments. Human resources have a say in the legal department, accounting department, sales department, marketing department, and even the management department. Without human resources, each of these departments would not know how to effectively, efficiently, and professionally communicate with each other. Without this proper channel of communication, a company can easily break down. Every company needs someone, or a department, to keep them all on track and progressing forward to a common objective or goal.
References:
Dias, L. P. (2012). Human Resource Management. Flatworld Knowledge. 295.
Harwood, J. (2010). Total HR as a Strategic Business Partner. Total HR Management. Retrieved from: http://www.totalhrmanagement.com/hr-as-a-strategic-business-partner.
Kaizenlog. (2006). The Historical Background of Human Resource Management. Retrieved from: http://www.webpronews.com/the-historical-background-of-human-resource- management-2006-09.
Peshawaria, R. (2011). Why Companies Need a Strategic HR Partner. Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders. Training Magazine. Retrieved from: http://trainingmag.com/article/why- companies-need-strategic-hr-partner.




STRATEGIC PARTNER 5