HR role is called as the "caretaker" of organizational culture (SHRM, 2020). Scholars have especially highlighted the impact of the HR role on organizational culture (Kumari, 2012). HR professionals have variety of responsibilities of HR Practices in creating and managing organizational culture (SHRM, 2020). In carrying out those responsibilities, HR professionals are required to play different roles such as line managers, architect of policies, designer of structures, and facilitator of change processes (Kumari, 2012).
Ulrich (1997) mentioned that the HR role should be defined, depend on their deliveries and outcomes that improve the organization’s value to customers, investors, and employees. Ulrich (1997) introduced four major HR roles which is very unique and able to add the highest value to HR professionals.
HR Roles defined by Ulrich (1997)
Strategic Partner
HR professionals should maintain a strategic partnership and relationship with internal clients who are the people directly engaged with the organization (Ulrich,1997). This role is tasked with identifying key top talented employees and their knowledge will be distributed within the organization, providing truthful feedback to the internal customers, helping for filling the job vacancies with matching different kind of qualified people, sharing business goals and objectives with employees (Ulrich,1997). These tasks are implanted by strategic partner across the organization to increase productivity, support innovations and develop talents to offer recommendations, make decisions, and carry out goals (Ulrich,1997).
Katy Barclay, the formal vice president of global HR for General Motors is one of the best example for strategic partner role who believes that becoming a strategic partner begins with a deep understanding of the global business environment (Brockbank & Ulrich, 2005). When she was joining with General Moters, she has continued reading widely and attending the monthly, day-long strategy board meeting of GM's top fourteen leaders and discussion with all of GM's operational leaders separately about business issues they face, whether they get what they want from HR, the issues with their future skills and abilities and whether they have made the best practice innovations (Brockbank & Ulrich, 2005). Katy held meetups and communicates with CEO Rick Wagnoner to decide which organization levers can be used to implement cultural priorities (Brockbank & Ulrich, 2005). Katy plays a strategic role like this way that detects gaps between existing and desired cultural status, gather ideas, learn from other companies, find ways to move forward and mobilize key stakeholders for developing the path and use specific metrics to avoid losses in misalignment and firefighting in General motors (Brockbank & Ulrich, 2005).
Change Agent
Change agent role supports any kind of change internally and makes positive impaction for the employees such as developing relevant skills and competencies through training and development to align with changing business goals and objectives (Ulrich,1997). In the change agent role, they get feedbacks from employees and transfer it to the others continuously to communicate the changes and adjustment within the organization (Ulrich,1997).
In 1981, newly appointed chairman of British Airways John King decided to restructure the entire business through a change management plan as he observed that the company was extremely inefficient and was wasting a large amount of valuable resources (HBR, 1995).As a result of his plan, the organization leadership took major change management steps such as they reduced considerable amount of employment including half of the board, replace old aircraft with modern jets and removing unprofitable routes (HBR, 1995).Finally, the change agent role of the chairman was able to implement a successful change management which enabled the organization to overcome the crisis and emerge as a strong competitor in the aviation industry (HBR, 1995).
Administrative Expert
Administration expert is a transactional role which is essential to build up the strategic role implements an efficient infrastructure (Mat, 2014). Moreover changes in regulation, legislation, occupational health, safety rules, labor and trade law to retain the organization compliant with those laws, this role includes the responsibilities of making efficient and optimize HR processes for staffing, training, appraising, rewarding, promoting, managing the flow of employees, dealing with the conflict of the employees and handling the database management system of employees and organizational data using new technologies to continuously track and monitor to design and deliver efficient HR processes (Mat, 2014).
FedEx is an exemplary organization that indicate the administrative expert HR role in their organizational behavior (Human Resources MBA, 2020). Their HR professionals offer annual surveys and feedback action programs to track and monitor employee relations, maintain a systematic way to get valuable feedback from employees and set management meetings to discuss results to provides an efficient way to address problems for keeping the community balanced (Human Resources MBA, 2020). FedEx Corporation believe that excellent care of employees produces excellent service and this HR role’s behavior affected to holds a track record of success (Human Resources MBA, 2020).
Employee Champion
Employee advocate/Employee champion is a core HR role who is responsible to be aware of employee interests and protect them (Brockbank & Ulrich, 2005). For making a positive culture by ensuring the fairness and equality of manager for all employees and evaluating information of the employee morale and satisfaction (Mat, 2014). Through training and development programs, employee advocate enhances skills, competencies and experiences of employees and ensure the opportunities in the organization for working employees to apply for new job roles within the organization (Brockbank & Ulrich, 2005).
Brockbank & Urlich mentioned how important of employee advocacy role is through experience which is describe by employee advocacy Tony Rucci one of the most successful senior HR executives in business (Brockbank & Ulrich, 2005). He talked about the hardness which his father had to face as an intense physical labor in a steel mill because the employer treated the employees indifferently (Brockbank & Ulrich, 2005). This unfairness and irresponsibility of work culture caused to his father’s early death from work place accident and this incident led him to become a business brilliant business strategist committed to shape the organizational culture by himself in multiple companies to reach business goals (Brockbank & Ulrich, 2005). His framework is clearly based on the belief that a high-performing organization has a commitment to the personal dignity of the people they employ (Brockbank & Ulrich, 2005).
Conclusion
Brett Walsh, global human capital leader at Deloitte mentioned that although there are different HR models, the Ulrich HR model is very practical to apply for creating wining culture as its’ validity and he sates “It’s interesting to me that after pretty much 20 years, the Ulrich model is actually not dead; if anything it’s very alive,” (Roper, 2016).
References
Brockbank, W. & Ulrich, D. (1997) The HR Value Proposition.[Online] Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Available from https://books.google.lk/books?id=6qg-MsTC1PgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed 22 Nov 2020].
HBR (1995) Competing on Customer Service: An Interview with British Airways’ Sir Colin Marshall. [online] Available from https://hbr.org/1995/11/competing-on-customer-service-an-interview-with-british-airways-sir-colin-marshall [Accessed 26 Nov 2020].
Human Resources MBA (2020) The World’s 30 Most Innovative Corporate Human Resources Departments. [Online] Available from https://www.humanresourcesmba.net/worlds-30-innovative-corporate-human-resources-departments/ [Accessed 22 Nov 2020].
Kumari, S (2012) Role of HR in developing and shaping organizational culture: a study in Geometric Limited. [in press] International Journal of Trade and Commerce. Available from https://sgsrjournals.co.in/paperdownload/p-13-IJTC%2012_sarita_done%20%281%29.pdf [Accessed 25 Nov 2020].
Mat, N.H.N. (2014). The HRM role of line managers: A Malaysian case study.[Case Study] Research Online. Available from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2088&context=theses [Accessed 22 Nov 2020].
Roper, J (2016) the Ulrich model still valid?. [in press] HR Magazine. Available from https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/is-the-ulrich-model-still-valid%2[Accessed 25 Nov 2020].
SHRM (2020) Understanding and Developing Organizational Culture. [Online] Available from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and%20samples/toolkits/pages/understandinganddevelopingorganizationalculture.aspx [Accessed 12 Nov 2020].
Ulrich, D.(1997) Human resource champions.[Online] Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Available from https://books.google.lk/books? id=qTxz6I7tNSEC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed 22 Nov 2020].
I thought it would have been appropriate if you first introduce who David Ulrich as it not all who may know him though he is a prominent figure when HR is concerned. Ulrich is a real HR Guru, who defined the most common HR Roles model, which commonly used on the market. The model is well known for introducing mainly the aspects of Human Resources with the highest value added. (Inforgraphia)
ReplyDeleteHi Malika, agree with that, human resources champion Dave Ulrich was no ordinary author. In fact, he was considered the "father of human resources." According to the journal Human Resources and this is a recognition of his contribution to the human resources industry (Mercer, 2020). The dilemma that exists today is that many will say that the Ulrich HR model of skills is impractical and unimportant in the 21st century or beyond.
DeleteAccording to (Carroll, Dye and Wagar, 2011,P.2), “Organizational culture is a complex phenomenon”. Corporate culture (HRM environment) can be considered effective as (Staff and Management) At the subcultural level, estimates of existing beneficial cultures are high. In the context of a specific study, we can conclude that an effective corporate culture promotes organizational competitiveness(Carroll, Dye and Wagar, 2011) HR Department is responsible for Provide leadership to secure organization, Attracting, motivating and retaining the best talent, While acting as a trustee of the organization, Values for promoting knowledge creation (Coleman Ato, 2018).
ReplyDeleteAgreed, furthermore the potential consequences of leadership development are enormous. Human resource professionals are often involved in formulating and implementing a leadership development strategy, including assigning business case to senior leaders and measuring return on investment (ROI) and the involvement of HR professionals in many areas of leadership development continues to grow as organizations recognize the need for strategic solutions to meet future leadership demands (SHRM, 2020).
DeleteOrganizational culture offers a shared system of meanings which is the basis for communications and mutual understanding. If these tasks are not accomplished satisfactorily, culture significantly reduces the effectiveness productivity of an organization. This is why it is important for human resource specialists to understand the concept of corporate culture and how it affects organizations (Armstrong, 2014).
ReplyDeleteAdding more to your comment, Robbins (1986) defines organizational culture as the uniform cognition of an organization, it has common features, it is descriptive, it can distinguish one organization from another, and it integrates individuals, groups, and organizational system variables and moreover corporate culture is the unique experience of an organization and the set of generally experienced and consistent characteristics of an organization that set it apart from others.
DeleteSnell and Bohlander ( 2007 ) have mentioned about Cultural Audit refers as audits of the culture and quality of work life in an organization. Further cultural audit conducts to examine attitudes and beliefs of the workforce as well as the activities they engaged in. Cultural audit discussing among top level managers of how the organization's culture reveals it self to employees and how it can be influenced or improved . ( Snell,S. & bohlander,G.( 2007 ),Human Resource Management, Thompson Higher Education,USA )
ReplyDeleteAdding more to your comment, Fletcher and Jones (1992) described the cultural audit process demonstrates a grassroots approach to creating dynamic solutions that bring about positive organizational change. Design / Methodology / Approach The version of an institutional cultural audit describes two stages. The first is quantitative in nature and serves as the basis for data collection (Fletcher & Jones, 1992), which provides a perspective on how an organization can understand its culture using a survey, and the second, the more critical phase, presenting data in its entirety allows us to give a realistic response to how others believe that the work environment is experienced, rather than assuming how the work environment is experienced.
DeleteHR includes a myriad of functional areas, encompassing responsibilities from recruitment
ReplyDeleteand staffing to compensation and benefits or training and development. Generally, HR
professionals, carrying a variety of titles (Employee Relations Manager, People Manager, HR
Manager, Human Resources Manager, etc) have many and varied roles across business and
industry. In carrying out these roles, HR professionals are required to wear different ‘hats’ as
coach to line managers, architect of policies, designer of structures, and facilitator of change
processes (Kumari, 2012). Today’s managers should create an entirely new role and agenda for
the field that focuses it not only on traditional HR activities, but also on outcomes (Ulrich, 1998).
Ulrich (1997) proposed that HR should be defined by what it delivers―results that enrich
the organization’s value to customers, investors, and employees. He identified four distinct roles
of HR professionals that may add value to organizations: (i) strategic partner, (ii) change agent,
(iii) administrative expert, and (iv) employee champion. Each role is a facet of the HR function
and has a measurable deliverable that aligns with the organization.
Further adding to your comment, published by Dave Ulrich (1997) as the “Human Resource Champion”, he talks about the importance of human resource management as a business arm that cannot function without any business. The concept of Dave Ulrich or the “Ulrich model” serves as a benchmark for many HR professionals today in their efforts to differentiate and mobilize their multiple roles in administrative, human resources and business partnerships.
DeleteI agree with you Eranga, HR professionals have a variety of responsibilities of HR Practices in creating and managing organizational culture. HR professionals are required to play different roles such as line managers, the architect of policies, designer of structures, and facilitator of change processes (SHRM, 2020).
ReplyDeleteAdding more to your comment, the organizational structure of the HR department can be valued on the basis of two premises those are HR organization should be structurally aligned with the organizational structure of the business and second as there are diversified / affiliated business models, it is important to place five roles. Human Resource Responsibilities Responding to this Organizational Model: Service Centers, Corporate, Specialist Expert Centers, Embedded Human Resources and Operational Human Resources (Ulrich et al, 2008).
DeleteAgree with you HR team have to use the organization culture to get the best out of their employees. A common interest in achieving the organization’s goals through the development of organizational cultures based on shared values between management and employees (Armstrong 2006).
ReplyDeleteAgree with you, adding more to your comment, the secret of a successful organization is to have a culture based on a set of beliefs that is supported, firmly held and widely shared by strategies and structure, further when an organization has a strong culture, three things happen: Employees know how top management wants to respond to any situation, employees believe the desired response is appropriate, and employees know that they benefit from demonstrating the values of the organization (SHRM, 2020).
DeleteShingal(2018) explained that , following basic principals of David Ulrich Competency Model.
ReplyDelete(a) Creating a unified structure that delivers value
(b) Defining a clear distinction or role HRs
(c) Creating a competitive edge for the company
(d) Measuring how a company has performed as per the defined metrics
Agree with your comment, further organizations should look at the Dave Ulrich human resource competency model as the standard but try to innovate or be creative with a design that can adapt to their own organizational structure and changing needs (Shingal,2018).
DeleteAs per Hunter, et al. (2006), Ulrich’s HR roles model has been developed adding new HR roles to each to implement this model successfully (Paphavatana, P & Mohiuddin, F 2011).
ReplyDeleteStrategic Partner + HR Executive/HRBP
Change Agent + HRBP
Administrative Expert + Shared Service Center
Employee Champion + HRBP
Adding more to your comment,Connor and Ulrich (1996) conducted an important study of the role of HR professionals and used a sample of 256 HR professionals. The research was used to develop two broadly cited classifications of human resource roles (i.e. change agent, strategic partner, employee champion, administrative expert) and the study found that the employee champion and administrative expert roles had the highest ratings, while the strategic partner and change agent roles had the lowest two ratings (Mamman, 2014). However, the factor analysis of the items failed to differentiate between the roles of the change agent and the strategic partners, suggesting that the roles could be performed simultaneously (Mamman, 2014). Connor & Ulrich's classification and its subsequent modification is the most popular framework for describing human resource roles to date (Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005).
DeleteDespite the abundance of studies that have emphasized culture's instrumental value, (Barley, 1988) there is still no comprehensive theory of how organizational culture may influence organizational effectiveness, nor much empirical evidence to support the idea (Martin & Siehl, 1988). Several authors have made compelling arguments about the ways in which aspects of culture, such as socialization or commitment, may impact effectiveness (Pascale, 1984), or the way in which values and assump-tions which once formed the foundation of an organization's culture may limit change and adaptation at a future point (Martin, Sitkin, & Boehm, 1985).
ReplyDeleteAgree with you, further none of the research we have been able to find, however, has specifically attempted to integrate false assumptions about corporate culture and effectiveness productivity into a general theory and has begun to be tested empirically (Denison, 2010).
Delete