The Evolving Future of HR Practice, Term Paper Example

Although human resources has traditionally revolved around the administration needs of companies, it has evolved to encompass a wealth of additional applications that are able to contribute directly the success of an organization. In recent years, the three trends that have contributed most significantly to the evolving future of HR practice is due to the new roles that HR professionals have as strategic partners (Aon, 2014). These roles include acting as managers to efficiently train employees and to initiate employee development programs, conducting research to determine how the company can operate with maximal efficiency, and budgeting the company’s finances to ensure that waste is minimized (Freedman, 2012). In the past, these responsibilities have been attributed to individuals outside of the HR team, but efficiency is increased when these roles fall to specialized organizational staff.

Although HR’s role as a strategic partner is important as a whole, its role in combined hiring and training of employees is the most important factor to the future of HR practice. Since this role has previously fallen to managers, it represents and important optimization of structure and efficiency in the use of time. While many companies hire individuals who are expected to fill diverse roles, there are many aspects of working for the company that overlap. HR professionals are uniquely suited to determine what these factors are and to create effective training programs to address these issues. This helps save company time because this type of orientation is applicable across the board and will allow new employees more time to focus on their specific job functions after the initial training. Furthermore, HR professionals have a greater awareness of research that has determine the most effective ways to train employees. Therefore, it is expected that training programs implemented by HR professionals will result in a greater success than those initiated by traditional managers.

These factors have both positive and negative influences on the future of HR in general. In the finance industry, for example, this role is beneficial because companies will have a greater certainty that new employees are well qualified and adequately trained for their position. However, while these training programs are important, it is easy for HR professionals to become fail to include only the information that is necessary for a particular individuals. This results in orientations programs that include information that is redundant or pertains only to certain individuals in the company. Therefore, while this role is important, it is essential for HR professionals to review their training programs to ensure that they continue to be relevant to their audience.

If these factors are not taken seriously or ignored in terms of the future of HR in general and in the finance world, employees will be less effective. Essentially, this undermines the role of HR professionals as strategic partners because this role is meant to increase the efficiency of the company. An additional problem that can be encountered is due primarily to the preferences of the HR professionals and the management team for each division within the company. Since HR professionals are generally concerned with umbrella skills that each employee should have and the manager is concerned with skills specific to the job, it is possible that disagreements will occur between these two parties throughout the training process. It is therefore essential to maintain good communication between different divisions in the company (Anderson, 2014). Good HR professionals should consult the management team to determine their concerns so they may be addressed during the training. Ultimately, feedback is an essential component of employee orientation and training program development, and collaboration and research is a useful method to ensure efficacy.

In order for organizations to be well prepared for the future, it is essential to continue to conduct research to determine how to acquire the best employees and to train them in the most efficient manner (Heathfield, 2014). Although it is important to have thorough training programs, HR professionals must also determine how to make them time efficient so that the employees can begin attending work regularly as soon as possible. Essentially, effective training is a complex balance of time and cost, and it is the job of HR professionals to determine which combination of the two is most productive for the particular company. For example, some companies believe it is more productive to have long training programs at the beginning of employment and no follow-up training, while others believe that it is more efficient to have shorter periods of initial training and more frequent follow-up.

In conclusion, HR’s role as a strategic partner is the one that will contribute most significantly to the evolution of this role. In particular, HR professionals are able to exert control over the hiring and training of employees, which can contribute to the success or failure of an organization. In order to ensure that this process is efficient, it is important for HR professionals to continue to conduct research on the best training methods and to maintain communication with other company divisions. Ultimately, this field will continue to evolve as knowledge of optimization increases, and it is the responsibility of HR to keep up with these trends.

References

Anderson, E. (2014). 4 Ways To Become A Strategic Business Partner (And Why You Should Want To). Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2013/09/06/4-ways-to-become-a-strategic-business-partner-and-why-you-should-want-to/

Aon. (2014). Transforming HR: Becoming a Strategic Partner. Retrieved from http://www.aon.com/human-capital-consulting/thought-leadership/outsourcing/article_transforming_hr.jsp

Freedman, A. (2012). A New Way of Looking at HR. Human Resource Executive Online. Retrieved from http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=533347210

Heathfield, S.M. (2014). The New Roles of the Human Resources Professional. Retrieved from http://humanresources.about.com/od/hrbasicsfaq/a/hr_role.htm