Solution
Background
In the contemporary business environment, which is evidenced by a high-level change, appreciating distinct issues and contexts of HR is critical for leveraging on competitive advantage and market dominance. This assessment evaluates the business environment issues (internal and external factors) affecting the HR function and best practices in HR function regulations. Further, the function of data in guiding an organisation operation has been analysed in line with the HR function for achieving their set objectives. HR function department is critical as it establishes the competitiveness level of an organisation and the level of improvement of profitability and market dominance.
1.1 Analysis of Key Forces Shaping the HR Agenda
Background of the Organisation and HR Function
XXX is an organisation that operates in the UAE oil and gas industry as a significant play in this sector regionally and internationally. Its operations are anchored in the sectors of exploring, producing, refining, and petrochemical product distributions. Hence, the organisation operations are identified as being sustainable and in alignment with how they are promoting and improving the UAE population. To guarantee their success in this market, they operate a stable and progressive HR function. The rationale of this is to ensure the right talents are selected, offered with capacity development opportunities, retaining them effectively in tandem with the best organisation practice. The existing policies also influence the HR function in XXX. For instance, the ICV or In-Country Value policy, which demands that the majority of the locals are engaged in the workforce, has a significant impact on how the HR function is implemented. Hence, in the organisation, the HR function is identified as a meaningful and most valuable player in ensuring the existence of an innovative and strategic value of the available resources. This is also inclusive of technology integration in achieving the overall demands in the oil and gas sector, evidenced by the existence of increased changes.
The fundamental forces shaping the HR Agenda hence include;
Models of HR Function
The models of HR function are informed by the need to establish a transparent and interconnected HR function in a consistent change. According to Pritchard (2010), in the past, HR function has passed through immense transformation and change processes. For instance, the HR function has transitioned from an operational function to an HR service center, which is integrated into the overall organisation operations. As noted in figure 2, a consistent change has been evident in the HR function. The XXX organisation can be ranked as Phase 3. This is since its HR agenda includes the need to establish the interconnectedness of the business environment to attract and retain the most productive employees. Also, the organisation HR function is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the attainment and retainment of productivity employees. Through this, an employment brand is established, with XXX being categorised as an employer of choice. Part of this includes a reference on the most recent L&D process and resourcing strategies.
Figure 1: Evolving Nature of HR Function
Source: CIPD (2015)
The first model is Ulrich’s Model of HR (Mamman & Al Kulaiby, 2014) which strategically shape the HR agenda. The model is based on the assumption that the HR function operates in distinct compartments with different segments. In this case, this model notes that the most strategic approach of the HR function in the modern business world is to implement various business environment changes in the areas of social, political, and technology in the globalised business environment. The compartments of this model include strategic partner, change agent, administrative, and employee champion (see figure 2). For instance, using this model in the XXX operations, shared services are used in the customer care department in technology usage in the provision of the most demanded support and administrative roles in the overall organisation. For this strategy implementation, the different factors identified in this report background, such as ICV is put into account.
Figure 2: XXX HR Function Ulrich Model
Another model that shapes the HR function change agenda is the HR Business Partnering (HRBP) model (CIPD, 2019). This model is informed by the view that the HR business partners, which represent the modern HR function are aligned for and working closely with the business leaders for enhancing the workforce performance, fostering and nurturing strategic people enablers. These enablers include talent, leadership, and culture, and developing relevant people functions for achieving an entity set objectives. This model further points out that HR function effectiveness is dependent on such an organisation size, culture, and its prioritisation of activities determining the role implementation of HR function.
HR Strategies
According to CIPD (2019a), HR strategies entail the activities that are involved in the integration of organisation culture, HR roles, and systems for promoting the ability to achieve organisation goals and objectives. As illustrated in figure 3, the HR strategy is categorised into the dimensions of people, organisation, culture, and HR systems.
Figure 3: HR Strategies
In the case of XXX organisation, the people factor is comprised of employees who are recruited based on skills and knowledge possessed and their capabilities. The changing nature of this factor has contributed to an aspect that is currently identified in the modern HR function as a best-fit strategy to ensure the best employees are engaged. The traditional practice was inadequate in terms of prioritising on the factors of culture, organisation and HR systems, with the focus being biased toward the leadership and HR strategies.
Insights and Solutions to Support Business Performance
In the CIPD HR Professional map 2018,
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