Bus301 Human Resource : Assignment Answers

1. The organizational role of human resources has changed considerably over the years, from one providing services to one providing advice and counsel. How can a human resources department play a vital role in partnering with an organization to achieve its strategic objectives?

2. What are different ways the HR department can measure whether its strategic partnership is adding value?

1.Human resource department has an important role to play in partnering with an organization. Partnership working is essential for any business organization. Working in partnership enhances the technical skills of the business organization that is entering into partnership (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Moreover, the partnership working incorporates various organizational strategies that could be adopted from the other organization. The role of HR department has a critical role to play in partnering with an organization. The HR department needs to collaborate with the partnering organization such that the employees might work together in developing the organizational goals and objectives. The HR needs to monitor that both the organization entering into partnership adhere to the terms and conditions that has been agreed upon. Violation of these terms and conditions might hinder the partnership relations. The training needs of the employees of both the organizations has to be monitored by the HR department and the required training needs to be given, such that they are competent enough to work successfully in partnership. The strategic objectives that the organizations agree upon needs to be beneficial for both the companies (Bucker et al., 2016). This needs to be monitored by the HR, that the agreed strategic objectives are essential for both the partnering organization. The compensations and benefits provided to the employees of both the organizations needs to be similar. Discrimination in compensation and the benefits of the employees might result in unsuccessful partnership. Strategic decision making is an important activity for the HR department. The decision making process needs to be taken care by the HR department such that the partnership working is successful and effective.           

2.The various ways in which the HR department can measure that strategic partnership is adding value to the organization are as follows:

Profitability: The increase in the profitability is a measurable parameter that highlights whether value is being added due to the strategic partnership (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang, 2014). If the HR department observes that the profitability has been increased significantly, then the partnership is considered as a successful one. However, if the profitability of the business organization is decreased then the partnership relation is an unsuccessful one.    

Employee satisfaction: The job satisfaction is essential for any employee and these results in employee retention. If the HR observes that the employee satisfaction is significantly increased after the strategic partnership, then it could be concluded that the partnership was a successful one, and value has been added by working in partnership (Snell, Morris & Bohlander, 2015). However, decrease in the employee satisfaction and employee deflection highlights the fact that working in partnership was not an effective one. Thus, employee satisfaction and employee retention is a measure of the effectiveness of the working in partnership.   

Objective fulfillment: The fulfillment of the objectives of the organizations highlights the fact that the partnership is a successful one. If it is observed that the organizational goals are not fulfilled successfully, then the partnership does not add value to the organization. The partnership is indented to enhance the business of the organizations, hence objective fulfillment highlights that the partnership has added value to the organization.  

References

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's Handbook Of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Bucker, J., Van Der Heijden, B., Benschop, Y., Peters, P., Schouteten, R., & Poutsma, E. (2016). Sustainable Organizations And The Role Of HR: HR Related Interventions Towards Sustainable Change Processes.

Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Jiang, K. (2014). An Aspirational Framework For Strategic Human Resource Management. The Academy Of Management Annals, 8(1), 1-56.

Snell, S. A., Morris, S. S., & Bohlander, G. W. (2015). Managing Human Resources. Nelson Education.