LEADERSHIP
The Future Of Human Resource Management
By Dr . Kellen Kiambati
The Covid-19 pandemic has taught different professionals several lessons and Human Resource is no exception . HR transformation is necessary so as to ensure HR delivers business success . The role of the HR Business Partner is to make sure human resource policy and procedure throughout the organization fit the needs , goals , and aims of the organization and its top leadership . This means that changes must take place and common reasons why change does not proceed as intended addressed well in advance . Appropriate models should be used and transformation readiness assessed .
In preparing for HR transformation , one should create the conditions needed to initiate a successful HR transformation as well as have both the internal and external stakeholders understand the gap between what HR does now and what HR needs to deliver in the future and the impact of that gap . So what skills will be required of future HR managers ? They will need to be strategists , advocates , capacity builders , and change champions .
HR As A strategist : The bar has been raised and HR managers must create and showcase value in real business terms . They have to organize trends from society , technology , economics , politics , and demographics so as to craft the directorate ’ s strategies , and set the vision for the department connected to the overall corporate strategy . HR Strategist also gathers available information , identifies key stakeholders in the organization , finds other employees impacting the business strategy , designs strategic models , designs solutions teams , and delivers successfully . This connection helps in building competitive advantage and ensuring optimal utilization of employees .
HR Advocate : HR managers will be required to be advocates who care about relationship management within and outside the organization so as to have a holistic view to help tackle challenges as they come . The advocates are expected to show genuine care , balanced perspective of all emotional intelligence components , ability to pick lessons from failures and turn them into opportunities as well as high levels of integrity and transparency . This way employees and indeed all players will adapt result oriented behaviors like trust among stakeholders , simplification of complex ideas in simple and useful ways , commitment and resilience through adverse circumstances .
Capacity Builder : Capacity building is essentially the development of human capital that can occur at the individual , institutional and societal level . However , the secret is ensuring that the capacity that is acquired is able to directly support the implementation of organization strategy . Lately , the need to build HR capacity amongst front-line managers is becoming more relevant given the ongoing flattening of organizations , largely related to the gutting of middle management . Front-line managers now have more responsibility and a larger span of control than ever before , and unfortunately , they frequently receive little to no training about how to actually be effective people managers , rather than just functional experts who happen to supervise others . Change Agents
Successful organizations cannot remain static if they hope to continue with that success ; they must change in order to keep up with a changing world . Change implementation : actions taken by organizational leaders in order to support strategic renewal and maintain outstanding performance in a dynamic environment . On the other hand , strategic renewal is the change in an organization ’ s strategy through a process of creating new business models , new products , services , capabilities , and knowledge bases . Transformational organizational change seeks to create long-term , sustainable alterations in employee behaviors . The way employees conduct themselves at work impacts the bottom-line performance of the company . Behavior comes from both the individual and the organizational context in which the individual works . As such HR managers should take a lead role in becoming change champions .
The common framework applied by HR Managers to manage change is Kurt Lewin ’ s Change Model . It has the following three phases : Unfreezing : The first stage in Lewin ’ s change model in which group members become dissatisfied with the status quo ; Moving : The second stage in Lewin ’ s change model in which group members alter their patterns of behavior ; and Refreezing : The final stage in Lewin ’ s change model in which group members institutionalize the new patterns of behavior into a new status quo .
In conclusion , HR professionals are expected to innovate in the ways that they implement HR practices and ensure a shared culture for posterity .
Kellen Kiambati holds an MBA in Strategic Management from the Kenya Methodist University and a PhD in Business Administration with a focus in Strategic Management from JKUAT . She is a member of the Institute of Human Resource Management of Kenya . She can be reached via : Kellenkiambati @ gmail . com .
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