Discuss About The Lean Management And HR Function Capability?

Introduction

Business entities need physical resources, financial resources, and human resources to be effective and efficient. In most organizations, the role played by the human resources is not appreciated as it should be. Organizations need to realize that human resources in the organization control all the other resources in the organization and this means that the firm should have a well-functioning human resource department that is responsible for managing employees in the organization and ensure compliance with employment laws and standards in the organization (Armstrong, & Taylor, 2014). This report is written to highlight the differences between transactional HR and transformational HR, the contribution of HR to the organization’s success and skills needed to effectively manage human resources in a firm.

Differences between transformational and transactional HR.

Transactional functions of HR is an organization includes day to day running of the organization by ensuring that employees have reported to work as expected and that they have performed the roles according to their job descriptions. The roles are repetitive and they include selection, recruitment, performance appraisal, administration of payroll, employee training and motivation (Sparrow, & Otaye-Ebede, 2014). The roles are performed by strictly following a schedule that is developed to ensure that tasks are performed according to the set policies and procedures. The transactional roles also include supervising and monitoring the workforce to ensure that they adhere to the set policies. The other transactional role is to reconcile the management and the workforce due to having conflicting goals and objectives due to poor organizational communication.

Transformational roles of HR in an organization are not repetitive as the HR takes a step back from the routine activities and focuses on the strategic goals of the organization. The roles include aligning the HR management goals and the strategic goals of the organization to avoid conflicts that may affect the organization. Another role is performing transactional roles of HR in a transformational way such as recruiting the best talent needed in the organization to ensure that the firm will be able to achieve its strategic goals instead of just filling a vacancy in the organization (Cohen, 2015). The roles also include ensuring that human resource department is proactive to human resource issues to ensure that employees are well motivated and satisfied to minimize employee turnover which will affect the operations of the business.

Aligning the workforce goals to suit the organization goals

The HR should ensure that as the human resource department achieves its goals, the goals of the organization are also achieved. This will be ensured by frequently communicating the goals of the organization to the workforce (Pritchard, 2010). This will help to minimize the conflicts that exist in organizations due to conflicts between the goals of the workforce and the organization.

Recruiting the best talent.

Recruiting the best talent will ensure that the organization has qualified employees who will help the organization to achieve its goals (Pritchard, 2010). The qualifications of the employees will enable the organization to save a lot of resources that could have been used to train and develop staff.

Employee repositioning and retention.

HR should ensure that employees are monitored all the time to determine where they can be more productive. The HR will then place the employee where they are best suited, and this will improve productivity (Caldwell, 2008). HR should also ensure that employees are well remunerated and motivated by researching what employees in the industry need. This will ensure employee retention which will save the organization costs associated with recruitment and opportunity loss.

Increase transactional efficiency

The HR employs innovative ways of conducting transactional tasks to create more time to him so that he can focus on the strategic goals of the organization (Caldwell, 2008). The efficiency will ensure that all the duties of the HR are performed in time and this will help the organization to achieve its goals

Knowledge gained.

My impression on the roles of the human resources was that HR is only concerned with selecting and employing people in a firm, paying them and dismiss them if they did not perform their roles effectively. From the findings, I have realized that HR should not only fill a vacancy but ensure that he recruits the best talent, ensure the employee is satisfied and well-motivated, place the employee in a position that will ensure that he is productive (Caldwell, 2008). The other role of HR I have learned is that he should align the goals of the workforce with those of the organization and improve the efficiency of the HR department.

HR management skills.

For efficient HR management, one should possess the following skills; organization skills so that he can provide the required information urgently for decision-making. Negotiation skills that will help in negotiating employment terms with employees (Storey, 2014). The other skill is communication to communicate organizational goals to the workforce effectively. Change management skills are also needed to ensure a smooth transition. The other skill is conflict management to ensure that people work effectively in teams.

Conclusion.

The organization should allocate to the HR department the needed resources so that human resources can be managed effectively and ensure they contribute towards achieving the organizational goals. The HR should recruit the best talents and align the goals of the workforce with those of the organization to minimize conflicts.

References

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Caldwell, R. (2008). HR business partner competency models: re?contextualising effectiveness. Human Resource Management Journal, 18(3), 275-294.

Cohen, D. J. (2015). HR past, present and future: A call for consistent practices and a focus oncompetencies. Human Resource Management Review, 25(2), 205-215.

Pritchard, K. (2010). Becoming an HR strategic partner: tales of transition. Human Resource  Management Journal, 20(2), 175-188.

Sparrow, P., & Otaye-Ebede, L. (2014). Lean management and HR function capability: the role   of HR architecture and the location of intellectual capital. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(21), 2892-2910.

Storey, J. (2014). New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.