Role of HRM

Administrative Role of HR Management
The administrative role of HR management is heavily oriented to processing and
record keeping. Maintaining employee files and HR-related databases, processing
employee benefits claims, answering questions about tuition and/or sick leave
policies, and compiling and submitting required state and federal government reports
are all examples of the administrative nature of HR management. These activities
must be performed efficiently and promptly.
However, this role resulted in HR management in some organizations getting
the reputation of paper shufflers who primarily tell managers and
employees what cannot be done. If limited to the administrative role, HR staff
are seen primarily as clerical and lower-level administrative contributors to the
organization.

Operational Role of HR Management
Operational activities are tactical in nature. Compliance with equal employment
opportunity and other laws must be ensured, employment applications must be
processed, current openings must be filled through interviews, supervisors must
be trained, safety problems must be resolved, and wages and salaries must be administered.
In short, a wide variety of the efforts performed typically are associated
with coordinating the management of HR activities with the actions of
managers and supervisors throughout the organization. This operational emphasis
still exists in some organizations, partly because of individual limitations of
HR staff members and partly because of top management’s resistance to an expanded
HR role.
Typically, the operational role requires HR professionals to identify and implement
operational programs and policies in the organization. They are the major implementors
of the HR portion of organizational strategic plans developed by top
management, rather than being deeply involved in developing those strategic plans.


Strategic Role of HR Management
Organizational human resources have grown as a strategic emphasis because effective
use of people in the organization can provide a competitive advantage, both
domestically and abroad. The strategic role of HR management emphasizes that
the people in an organization are valuable resources representing significant
organizational investments. For HR to play a strategic role it must focus on the
longer-term implications of HR issues.15 How changing workforce demographics
and workforce shortages will affect the organization, and what means will be
used to address the shortages over time, are illustrations of the strategic role. The
importance of this role has been the subject of extensive discussion recently in
the field, and those discussions have emphasized the need for HR management
to become a greater strategic contributor to the success of organizations.