Future of Human Resource Management

PRACTITIONERS WHO MASTER THE BUSINESS SKILLS NEEDED FOR DEMANDING

NEW ROLES WILL TAKE FLIGHT AS HR UNDERGOES FUTURE METAMORPHOSIS
Human resource management is undergoing a massive transformation that will change career
paths in as-yet uncertain ways. Employers are placing greater emphasis on business acumen and
are automating and outsourcing many administrative functions, which will force many HR
professionals to demonstrate new skills and compete for new, sometimes unfamiliar roles.
Today's HR leaders have built new strengths and won new influence--and they have a solid idea
which talents the profession will need to develop in the coming years to maintain its strategic
momentum.

Changing “HR” Roles: Some Generalizations

Past
HR Role was clearly Differentiated
 Mechanistic (Personal Admin)
 Ritualistic, legalistic (IR)
 CEO’s eyes and ears with people
 Distinct professional career paths
HR is HR’s responsibility
Future
People’s Leadership Role is distributed and
diffused
 Knowledge Management
 Relationship Management; teamwork
 Change Management
 No distinct HR Profession- no hybrid
roles emerge
People/Leadership is everyone’s responsibility

When 65 senior HR leaders were asked, in a series of executive forums held throughout the United
States, what the core HR functions will be in five years, most put talent management--defined as
recruitment, development and retention of talent--at the top of the list. One participant noted that
his competitors had access to much the same technology, channels and marketing that he did. "The
only differentiating factor," he said, "is people."
To meet the new challenges, the HR executive of the future will look somewhat different, they
said. This new breed will be tougher and will have a deeper understanding of the company's
business. Said one participant: "A lot of us [today] are effective at reading and reacting. But I've
met extraordinary HR people who can pull the wagon around the curve--they understand the
business that well. They're at the table, and they can pull operational people away from certain
decisions."
Future HR leaders will be noted for their mastery of the so-called "soft skills" as well. As one
participant put it: "An extraordinary HR person can go into executive meetings and mediate the
senior team" as they discuss and disagree on critical issues.
Job titles and functions will likely remain in flux for some time, say business leaders, academics,
HR consultants and HR professionals. But they say that some of the standard niches--such as HR
generalist and benefits specialist--will become less common and less important, giving way over
time to new ones such as HR financial analyst.
Those who aspire to leadership roles within the profession will have to become more strategic,
more proactive; more involved in the overall business of their employer.
But there is an upside to this upheaval: HR people who develop business competencies and
embrace the new roles--in the process redefining themselves and their profession--can aspire to
greater and much more rewarding careers than were possible for HR people a generation ago.
In this new HR, professionals are expected to know the business well enough to align human
capital with business needs, either developing the needed talent or going outside the organization
to get it. HR is proactive. HR goes looking for problems to solve. HR doesn't just have a seat at the
table; HR helps set the agenda.
Though the job picture is still developing, experts see several possible critical roles on the horizon
for HR professionals. Among them:
* The CFO for HR. This number cruncher can apply the metrics to demonstrate the inherent
economic value of HR and to analyze the cost-effectiveness of various practices HR proposes or
implements: How much do certain employees contribute to the bottom line? How much does the
right training help the business? Which functions or programs do not add value and should be
eliminated?
* The internal consultant. This person helps spread HR competencies through the organization,
empowering line managers to recruit, interview, hire and retain the talent that they need while
counseling the managers on crucial legal and ethical matters such as disability and age
discrimination laws.
* The talent manager. This person is responsible for finding, developing and keeping the best and
the brightest workers to meet the needs of the organization. He or she will manage learning and
succession planning, moving people through the talent pipeline.
* The vendor manager. He or she determines which functions can be handled better and less
expensively outside the organization. This professional monitors quality and costs, stays on top of
trends in this business, and maintains a close working relationship with outsourcing firms and
other vendors.
* The self-service leader. This person works with internal and outside information technology
specialists to establish and run web-based portals for many automated functions, such as benefits
and pension administration, that employees can access from their desktop computers.
In these and other possible HR jobs of the future, HR leaders "have got to create a product at the
right price and with certain characteristics that the buyer needs," says David Rhodes, a principal at
consulting firm Towers Perrin. The product is the contribution of the workforce to specific
business goals. The buyer is senior management.
Skill for survival
People are finally realizing that, to be successful in HR, you need more than HR knowledge. The
primary missing link, and other experts, knows business and its language.
Once considered a bonus for an HR worker, business literacy will be a prerequisite for almost
every desirable HR job
There's a technical skill set and a strategic skill set that you're going to need to survive. One should
be able to put forward a business case as strong as any other put before management.
E-creativity
“Creativity is a fragrance of real health. When a person is really healthy and whole, creativity
comes naturally to him, the urge to create arises.”
With the era of strategic management, Organizations of domestic origin as well as global presence
fight for the survival amidst the fierce competition. Developments in information technology and
communication are breaking the boundaries and converging the markets into one.
Currently when the entire world is facing economic crisis, creativity and innovation are the only
survival keys.
Why paradigm shifts to creativity management?
 Today, employees are termed as knowledge workers with an increased level of education
and awareness, with high expectations.
 With tremendous potentials and capabilities these knowledge workers are highly mobile
and dynamic in nature.
 With newer technology adoption and competency based approach towards managing
people leads to creative thinking on the part of mangers.
 It is proved that creativity management initiatives lead to simplification of work processes
and higher efficiency.
 Managers are ready to give freedom and autonomy to nurture creativity amongst
workforce.
 The end results of encouraging creativity in management are twofold i.e. committed and
motivated workforce and organizational effectiveness.
Creativity and HRM
Creativity in Human Resource Management practices is the need of an hour with dynamic and
strategic business units. The role of strategic human resource management is well acknowledged
as strategic partner by top management makes it a crucial function.
Strategic HR managers have greater say in strategic planning and strategy formulation based on
their creative thinking to align HR strategies with business strategies.
Any-Time promotions
YESTERDAY'S innovative practices are routine today. This is true for employee performance
measurement and reward tools. Traditionally, promotions were an annual affair, but given the
competitive scenario, companies can't afford to make their people wait too long to be promoted.
To provide a solution to this, Nina Fernandes, Head- Human Resources, Mastek Ltd. unveiled the
concept of 'any time-promotions'. As the name suggests, this practice allows employees to
nominate themselves for a promotion at any point of time. It’s not as simple as it sounds. What
comes between asking for a promotion and getting one includes grilling sessions with review
teams, which are set up to judge whether you actually deserve a jump. So, you have to make a list
of your achievements in your present capacity and define your vision for the future before
approaching the review committee with a presentation. It is, but obvious that your immediate boss
will sit in on the meeting and validate/ run down claims that you make in the presentation. But if
the panel thinks you live up to your claims, you win.
Outsourcing Explosion
These changes will take place in different ways, and at different rates, in various organizations.
However, they are being accelerated by the furious phenomenon of HR outsourcing, which was
roughly $60 billion business in 2001 and could soon top $100 billion per year, say industry
insiders.
Simply put, the economies of scale allow an outside firm to do most transactional HR functions
more cheaply than the organization itself. What started with a trickle in payroll outsourcing during
the 1980s and 1990s has become a flood, with some large corporations moving toward "total HR
outsourcing" to vendors such as Exult Inc. Exult has signed billions of dollars worth of long-term
HR contracts with large multinational corporations and is being challenged by other aggressive
outsourcing firms.
Outsourcers, and many of their clients, say that the big upside of outsourcing routine HR functions
is that it frees HR to do more strategic work within the organization. But taking advantage of that
opportunity requires the right background. A master's degree in business administration is ideal,
but an undergraduate business degree or community college courses can help.
The goal is to be able to understand financial statements and gain insight about executive
compensation issues--the visible, marketable skills of the new HR.
While business knowledge is a significant way to advance the profession and the careers of
individual professionals, certification programs can help as well; say many in the HR field. Many
HR professionals, organizations and academics note that current HR professionals and young
entrants can gain a competitive edge through certification.

Experts Views:
Hunt Partners
Change management is a strange paradox and a relevant question. Sunit Mehra, Managing Partner,
Hunt Partners, and moderator of the second panel on HR's role in change readiness, gave an
example of how the nature of work has changed drastically, "Once, we talked about salaries in
thousands and lakhs. Post 2000, it's in crores, or even greater than that."
Reliance Retail
So what are some of the elements of change-readiness and organizational agility? Training
processes figured prominently on the list. Bijay Sahoo, President-HR, Reliance Retail said,” We
look at training as a continuous improvement process for change management."
Marico Ltd.
Hiring the right people is another mantra. Pankaj Bhargava, Chief- HR, Marico Ltd., said, "You
need to recruit people who are comfortable with change. Also, you have to create a culture where
people are free to experiment." Swaran Sehgal, Vice- President & Head HR, Edelweiss India had
some interesting insights to share on the subject, "People have different reactions to change. Many
think they can't change at all, but everybody has a limit to change." Added Unmesh Pawar,
Recruiting Lead, Accenture Delivery Centre for Technology, India, "Agility means staying
relevant in a changing business environment."
i-Flex Solutions Limited
Mona Cheriyan, General Manager- Employee Engagement & Europe Liaison, i-flex Solutions Ltd.
recounted the time i-flex faced its first and perhaps its biggest challenge - leaving their comfort
zone and venturing out independently, "When we moved away from Citibank, we were entering
unknown territory. But we gave employees a choice - they could either stay or come away with us.
At that point, we found out that people hate change!"
Essar Group
Organizations must be able to make employees dance to forms of music yet to be heard" was the
view that Dr. Sujaya Banerjee,Chief Learning Officer, Essar Group presented at the HR Forum
during her talk on 'Innovative HR Practices'. The HR profession, according to her, needs to
reinvent its own role in order to accomplish its goals effectively. To illustrate this, Dr. Banerjee
talked about a case study from the agency Lowe, which used themes like Bollywood and erotica to
emphasize that employees were welcome to speak to the HR department any time they had a
query. The firm put up posters which looked like the ads of the 'friendship chat lines' one sees in
public places, accompanied by a speech bubble that stated that the HR department was waiting for
employees' calls.