Role of HR Human Resource Professionals Help

Role of HR

Human resource professionals help to develop an organization by providing valuable insight as to what resources are available and necessary for an organization to continue to be successful. Additionally, human resource management helps to achieve success through recruitment, training, and the retention of valuable employees.

Human resource must perform a number of duties including strategic and operational roles. Strategically, human resource management helps to manage people within an organization. The aim of strategic planning is to identify and exploit opportunities and mitigate risks, align goals and initiatives, and allocate resources for desired organization results (The Role of HR in Strategic Planning, 2008). As such, human resource management is responsible for traditional human resource functions including staffing, personnel retention, payment and determination and distribution of benefits, performance management, change management, and exit interviews (Human Resource Management (HRM), 2011). Furthermore, human resources are charged with the management of people so that a collective relationship between staff and management can be created and maintained (Human Resource Management (HRM), 2011). Human resource management requires that the department prove to be a valuable asset in an organization's strategic planning process and should be engaged in environmental scanning, organizational assessment, strategy development, implementation, and performance measurement (The Role of HR in Strategic Planning, 2008).

Operationally speaking, human resource management must provide functional services, serve as an employee advocate, help reduce costs and spending, and in legal proceedings. In a functional capacity, human resources must participate in manpower planning, employee selection, employee motivation, employee evaluation, employee services, industrial relations, and employee development. The reduction of costs and spending is intrinsically tied into the functional role of human resources as manpower planning requires that human resources assess an organization's present and future staffing needs. In order to figure out what these needs are or what they may be in the future, human resources has to look at the organization's present profile and adjust to anticipate future needs (Human Resource Management, 2011). In order to determine these future needs, human resources must analyze present sales and production forecasts, how future technology will impact present labor that is performed manually, changes in labor, changes in employment practices, and federal changes in labor policies (Human Resource Management, 2011). Additionally, effective manpower staffing requires that human resources make sure that an organization is not over-staffed as that may lead to a loss of revenues and efficiency, and creates workplace redundancy. To combat this risk, human resources must make sure that they employ competent workers. Furthermore, human resource management must clearly define what jobs entail to help prevent redundancy. Interviews conducted by human resources will further help to determine an employee or candidate's aptitude, achievements, and intelligence (Human Resource Management, 2011).