Reference no: EM133044502

Question: Read "Strategic Insight." Based on this and additional concepts related to HR, discuss how issues facing the roles of HR managers should be resolved.

Role of HR Managers

STRATEGIC INSIGHT

What roles do HR managers play? Traditional roles have been more short-term and operational in nature including being employee champions whereby the HR manager is engaged in the more typical HR activities geared towards hiring of employees and other people processes in the organization. Traditional roles have also included being administrative experts whereby the HR manager is in charge of operational activities such as the maintaining of employee programs and updates on personnel files.

The changes in the last few decades have demanded increasingly important roles of HR managers. The changing global business environment characterized by factors such as increased global competition, increased role of emerging markets, changing values of the workplace, etc. have meant that HR managers are being expected to play more important roles in companies. As such, these changes have resulted in more long-term/strategic roles such as being a strategic partner where HR strategies are aligned with business strategy. Another important new role has included the participation of HR managers in being a change agent managing people within organizations.

Are there differences between emerging markets and Western markets with regards to HR roles? An interesting study of HR professionals of companies in five countries (Australia, Canada, and USA, and emerging markets of Malaysia and the Philippines) provides some insights. As Exhibit 14.1 shows, all five countries had moderate to high scores on the more traditional roles of HR managers. On the five-point scale, all HR managers in these countries saw the employee champion and administrative expert roles as fairly critical. However, some differences emerged for the more long-term roles. In this case, Malaysia's HR managers did not see the strategic partnership and change agent roles as critical as in Canada and the USA. Furthermore, the Philippines also showed similar importance attached to the long-term roles. Surprisingly, Australia had lower scores than all other four countries for the other roles.