The Roles of HR in an organisation

Human Resource is an evolving field of business management, which is essential for all companies. HR focus is attracting, engaging and retaining talent. The HR role in present organisation is not just about people, it is much more than that. HR made its presence in operational, administrative and strategic business partner to other functions.

If you want to build a business, build the people. 

--Brownie Wise--

Organisation cannot be driven by single function; it’s achieved by cross-functional collaboration. HR function is placed as cross-functional bridge which work with management, finance and accounting, sales and marketing, operations, legal, and IT function.

HR focuses on people related issues, connect business needs with employees needs and deliver services to other functions. To serve organisations effectively HR functions are designed / structured in many forms.

The compositions of HR team are varying by organisation size, business type and overall requirements, but in general most of the company we can see HR Leaders, HR Managers, Specialist, HR Generalists, and HR Business Partners.

Leaders: the Leader play strategic role, participate in strategy development and direct plan priorities and guide hr team. Titles may defer in organisations like CHRO, HR Director, President or vice president, HR Head, Chief People Officer.

Managers: lead a HR Functions division like talent acquisition, employee engagement, training, compensation and benefits, statutory compliance etc. HR managers plan, direct and coordinate the activities of their divisions and provide inputs to the leaders for HR strategy. They may have designations like Manager-Talent acquisition, Manager-Employee engagement, Manager-Statutory compliance etc.

Specialists: (Functional Experts) expertise in specific areas like payroll, legal compliance, recruitment, employee engagement, employee relations etc. Their role is to providing specific activities and supporting managers, business leaders.

Generalists: (HR Practitioners) are familiar with all the HR services. They may have expertise in one or more special areas; also skilled in each area of HR functions to provide services, and serves as consultant role in HR related issues to business units.

HR Business Partners: are more initiative and solution focused rather than performing daily/routine functions. Provide practical solutions to the business challenges, closely work with business leaders (division head) in order to develop HR agendas and support business needs.

HR titles and roles are more often depends upon organisations structure, business, and size of organisation. In the small and medium companies HR may have to give number of services to stakeholders especially in start-up organisations. The start-up organisations can hire third party contractors for administrative activities, implementation of specific service, and consultation for specific issues and projects.

HR role is imperative in every stage of organisation. Although HR function is supporting function and not generating revenue directly to the organisation, but providing value added services like bring talents, retaining, and motivating, protecting organisation from numerous legal issues, building harmonies relations and playing strategic business partner in organisation. 

Sources: SHRM learning system.