HR Can Affect Organizational Culture

¶ … HR can affect organizational culture positively or negatively. Many HR professionals see their role a staking the form of advising or coaching within the organization. This advisory role is mostly focused on the company's leadership, whose particular style, personality, and value system will dictate the collective corporate culture pervading among the company's employees (Bersin & Associates, 2010). As such, the role of the HR professional can positively influence the corporate culture of the organization by positively influencing leadership.

This means, however, that HR professionals should be sufficiently in touch with the core values of the company to also promote this in its partnership role with leaders. This type of influence is therefore conditional in terms of the awareness of HR partners of how the values of the company can be promoted in terms of leadership to ultimately have a positive effect on corporate culture. It is possible for HR processes to become excessively invasive in the leadership and corporate culture processes (Ashkenas, 2011).

It is important for leaders to use the assistance of the HR department to help their leadership effort. However, to rely solely on HR to dictate corporate culture would remove the spontaneity and essentially human aspect of it. This would, in turn, create a negative effect upon the ability of leaders and teams to function effectively. References Ashkenas, R. (2011, Jun 21). You Can't Dictate Culture -- but You Can Influence it. Retrieved from: http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2011/06/you-cant-dictate-culture-but-y.html Bersin & Associates (2010, May 8).

What is HR's role in developing Corporate Culture? Retrieved from: http://www.bersin.com/blog/post.aspx?id=bce62ea3-1041-44f1-92dd-11e3f7546f07 2.) Why is it important for HR management to transform from being primarily administrative and operational to becoming a more strategic contributor? In the increasingly competitive business world today, no company can afford to have components that are not actively involved in promoting the business and its relationships with its customers. This is particularly so for the HR department.

According to Ulrich and Brockbank (2005), the field of HR has developed in such a way that its role has become a strategic one rather than a solely administrative one. From its initial administrative role, HR professionals have developed to play a consulting role within companies, ensuring that the value of the company and its business strategies are streamlined. In recent times, this role has also become strategic, with HR partners connecting not only with leaders and employees within their companies, but also with customers and external partners.

Still functioning in its traditional role in addition to becoming a strategic business asset makes the HR department vitally important in terms of promoting the company's goals externally while maintaining its values internally (Saleem, 2009). References Saleem, Z. (2009, Jan 5). Organizing Work and Managing Human Resources. Retrieved from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/13292643/Human-Resource-Management-as-Strategic-Business-Contributor Ulrich, D. And Brockbank, W. (2005, Jun 20). HR's New Mandate: Be a Strategic Player. Working Knowledge Business Leaders.

Retrieved from: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4861.html Chapter 2: 1.) What steps can HR professionals take to ensure that mergers and acquisitions are successful? How can HR help during the integration process? HR's function in making mergers and acquisitions successful should focus on helping all personnel involved to work through the stress and adjust to the changes that these processes inevitably create. At the heart of this is communication (Gupta, 2010). HR should ensure an open communication process between leaders and employees, as well as among employees from the different companies.

This is particularly important in the light of the fact that a merger means the conglomeration of two different sets of employees and essentially two different corporate cultures. HR can play a very significant role in mitigating any conflicts that might arise as a result. References Gupta, R. (2010). Role of HR in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&a) -- emerging HR Trends. HR Success Mantra. Retrieved from: http://www.hrsuccessmantra.com/2010/03/role-of-hr-in-mergers-and-acquisitions.html Winning, E.A. (2005). HR's Role in Mergers and Acquisitions.

Retrieved from: http://www.ewin.com/articles/manda.htm 2.) How can an organization maintain its image while dealing with a talent surplus? If layoffs are necessary, what would you recommend manager do to ensure that survivors remain committed and productive? The best way to maintain a company's image in the face of talent surplus is by means of complete, open honesty (Klein, 2009). Any communication that might considered.