INDIAN BUSINESS - WINDS OF CHANGE (HR) - HR Roles And Responsibilities Today

HR Roles And Responsibilities Today :
• Personnel Administration : This is largely an operational role, dealing with welfare activities, administration of company, workers, staff, security, well-being and upkeep of people policies.

• IR (Industrial Relations) : Deals with labour union interface, negotiations, litigations if any, pro business labour policy design and implementation. This HR function is probably the most challenging. Yet, it is usually under-estimated to be a merely operational function, though it plays a strong and critical role in company’s labour strategies. With the outsourcing of major processes under this umbrella, there is a popular notion that IR is an unimportant and unattractive career option. However, if one wants to be an HR professional of repute, one needs to spend a fair amount of time in IR as an HR professional; there is no other function which teaches you real people skills at the grassroots level.

• Human Resource Development : Largely a role which caters to skills, competency and talent development in the company by tapping the inherent capabilities, attitude and behaviour of people and making sure the gaps between required levels and present levels are mapped scientifically. This is a highly specialized field today and is considered a science (I still don’t know why, because to me it is just a study and interpretation of human behaviour to make it better suited to the business environment). However, with the reality of Assessment Centres, Behavioural Training and Competency Modelling, HRD as a function is on an unending journey of discovery and exploration.

• Learning & Development : This, to me, is the lifeline of any Company and the sooner we realize this, the better. From a business perspective, there still exist companies where training is seen as an expense. But we are soon approaching a ‘Mutual Understanding Arena’ where training will be understood as important as the job itself. There are companies where the concept of a learning organization has come of age and they have made training and learning a concrete part of their existence, for e.g., HLL, P&G, Castrol, etc.; and yet there are companies which are hugely successful and yet, have not realized the value of what they can achieve by training their employees. Finally, to come back to the point, learning is now like ‘breathing’ for the business world. No business today will remain unaffected by opportunities to learn / develop. Here are just a few refuting facts -- almost 40 per cent of the companies which comprised the fortune 500 list a decade ago, no longer exist. Of the 1970 Fortune list, 60 per cent have disappeared (either acquired or out of business). Out of the 12 companies which comprised the Dow Jones Industrial Index in 1900, only General Electric survives as a giant. Of course, GE itself made learning and development and Six Sigma a way of life quite early, when in our country we had probably not even thought about it. The results are for everyone to see - with GE’s huge success and its pride - now famous boundaryless organization, and workout methodology.

• Knowledge Management : With e-business becoming a reality and the Internet coming of age, all businesses and related functions including HR have been affected. Gone are the days when ‘what you already know’ was sufficient to ensure that you have arrived. Information today has grown in magnitude and proportion and its impossible to know everything; yet, from a business perspective, it is critical to ensure that we know what we need to ‘at the right time and at the right speed’.

With market giants in ERP, implementations like PEOPLESOFT, ORACLE, SAP, etc. e-HR has come of age. Imagine, sitting here in India, I can find a replacement for a position in Egypt; or, I can ensure that a person from the US who is excellent in a particular function or skill with respect to my business processes can come down and train my employees; or better still, I can arrange a Video Conferencing and put my batch of people to learn from the person himself!
Knowledge is infinite and it is up to us to explore the relevant and required portions of it. In many companies, HR has successfully transcended from a ‘Limited Knowledge Sharing’ towards ‘available to all for use’ and better for ‘Innovation Capability’. HR Intranets today play a big role on the platform of ‘Knowledge Sharing’ and ‘Knowledge Management’.
What we know will always be less than someone else out there who knows better; so it is up to us to share and explore knowledge. If you look at Indian businesses, you will realize that we are bad planners but excellent executors.

We are also extremely good at Theorizing Change, though in practical context we give up easily on the implementation. We, Indians, need to be inspired, motivated and retained to give our best. Look at any MNC’s business statistics in India; if they are doing good, it is as much because of our ability as it is their failures too. Indian business still has a long way to go. The seeds of change, though, have already been sown in many places -- due credit to some people and organizations. Change is being justified to the ‘T’ in many ways by some and totally denied or faked by others.

Let’s understand the simple phenomenon from the following : If you put the frog in cold water and start heating the water slowly, the frog will eventually let itself boil to death, since the change is gradual. By the time it realizes what is happening, it is too late. We too will not survive if we are not ultra sensitive to the radical way in which the world is changing. From now on success will come to those who understand the ‘Boiled Frog Syndrome’. Change today, is worldwide issue, which, naturally affects our country too. In the context of a larger framework, we too are rapidly emerging as a Knowledge Economy from a Skilled Manpower Economy.
At the same time the challenges confronting the Indian HR Fraternity today, are multi- dimensional and multi-focused fight inconsequential labour practices and ineffective labour legislations, cut through bureaucracy, unethical behaviour and red-tapism ...... the list is endless.