Question

Why human resource department plays such a significant role in organizational strategy?

Answer 1

By definition, resources or workforce which make an organization, industry or business sector, sometimes even an economy are human resource. The department which performs tasks such as screening, recruitment, training (Initial and ongoing) onboarding, offboarding, creating or providing inputs for employee benefits, overseeing various aspects of employment such as conflict resolution, compensation benefits are HR (Human resource) department. Now all the above activities are related to talent or resources within an organization structure.

An organization strategy is developed to achieve short term and long term goals that have been created to become valuable and profitable. Today when we are seeing a dynamic shift in the organization's strategy, the HR department plays an ever-important role in achieving them as resources or talent of an organization are the key to the success.

Let me explain the significance through a small example. Today when we see a shortfall in Data scientists in the market, its the human resource department's priority to train their existing workforce in this domain so that they are job-ready and do not face an existential crisis.

Many organization have changed their strategy to compete in the current market. For example, IBM which had a very low reach or share in the cloud market is now developing and investing hugely in the cloud as the current market has moved from traditional data storage to cloud and look for up and ready services. Let me list out a few of the activities performed by the HR department which plays an important role in achieving the strategies set out:

1). Recruiting the right talent - We know that productivity, service, and quality of services delivered are few issues that organizations face today. HR plays an important role in recruiting correct resource which has the skill sets, knowledge and right attitude to perform the tasks of a job.

2). Alignment of organization vision - It happens regularly that top management focuses too much on productivity, profits, and revenue that the core vision and value of organization can be lost. HR departments play the role of making sure that the values and vision get reflected in the way operations work through regular communication.

3). People component - An successful organization strategy would have a greater focus on people as they are the driving force behind its success or failure. As profitability and income takes center stage, these components would need to be included regularly so that top talents are retained and recruited.

4). Kepp resources engaged - Many employees can sometimes lose focus and would not have alignment to the organization's strategy. HR departments' role becomes ever more important to keep the employees engaged through regular communications, feedback, ideas and so on to keep the focus on what's important.

5). Regular training and engagement - Today when the world is inventing new technologies every day. It becomes an important aspect that the employees are up to date and trained to these technologies. This can only happen when there is regular learning and training.