Today we share with you an article recently posted by HRPAB honorary member Joan H Underwood on utdsinc.com. Ms Underwood is also currently serving as president of the Human Resource Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB).
By the Human Resource Professionals of Antigua and Barbuda
I hope that you recognised our article title for the trick question that it is. Why? Because for the best results – whether you are an employer, an employee, or a human resource (HR) practitioner – you need an HR department that is both strategic and operational. Let’s define both terms to understand why this is the case.
Strategic HR management focuses on the organisation’s vision, mission and strategic objectives and identifies how the HR function can contribute to the successful execution of the overall business strategy. This aspect of HR has a long-term and big picture orientation.
In contrast, operational HR management focuses on the management of the day-to-day issues and ensuring compliance with the legal requirements of employing people.
ASQ, a global organisation devoted to helping individuals and organisations achieve excellence through quality, explains the difference in functionality of strategic level and operational level leadership this way:
Strategic leadership defines the overall vision and mission of an organisation, develops strategies, systems, and structures to achieve the vision and mission, creates both technical and social systems that are effectively integrated, and which address the needs of both customers and employees.
Operational leadership ensures that organisational processes are effectively carried out on a day-to-day basis, monitors performance, addresses constraints, ensures that employees understand what is to be done and are provided with the authority, knowledge, and skills to do it.
By now, I hope that it is even more evident that strategic and operational HR management are best viewed as interconnected and mutually reinforcing.
While the rationale for pursuing both strategic and operational HR management is evident, it is more often aspirational rather than de facto. HR practitioners continue to yearn to be embraced as strategic business partners who have a critical role to play in the C-Suite.
However, far too often, rather than having a seat at the table, figuratively speaking, we are outside the room where the decisions about vision, mission and strategy are made and then are marshalled to help ensure that the job gets done.
In a recent episode of Let’s Talk HR with HRMAB, the importance of HR having both a strategic and operational focus was explored. In a deep dive into this topic, it was brought out that as HR practitioners there are certain skills that we need to possess to be effective strategic partners.
For instance, we should be able to understand the business model and the mandates of our respective organisations and how they contribute to the national agenda. We must be able to speak the language and be business savvy especially while discussing the bottom line and those factors that affect the bottom line.
In this way, we can have proper alignment of plans with what happens operationally. We must also be able to clearly state how people issues can and will affect organisational goals such as customer satisfaction, revenues and profits.
In moving from the aspirational to the actual, we need to understand our roles as HR practitioners and realise that we serve both the business leaders and the employees and any decision made must serve the interests of both sets of stakeholders. Being effective strategic partners means that we must figure out a way to translate strategy in a way that adds value to both sets of interests.
The Human Resource Professionals of Antigua and Barbuda (HRPAB) is a registered non-profit, professional association dedicated to the advancement of the HR profession for national development. We began informally from 2009 and legally registered in 2011. HRPAB’s growing membership represents private and public organisations as well as independent consultants specialising in one or more areas of human resource management and development. Membership is offered for three categories: professional, non-professional, and honorary. You may contact us via email at [email protected] or on Facebook and Instagram @HRPro268.
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