Developing Yourself as an Effective Human Resources Practitioner Essay Example

their own role is and how it contributes to the overall organisation strategy. The Eight Behaviours There are eight behaviours which describe how HR people should carry out their activities.

Each behaviour and professional area has four levels of professional competence, called bands or transitions. Service Delivery and Information This professional area is about providing managers and staff with accurate data, information and human resource services. The skills, knowledge and behaviours required for this professional area are also essential in the role of Human Resources Business Partner. The HR map states that you need to do specific activities and have specific knowledge. The below details the skills, knowledge and behaviour needed to deliver the area at band 1. Activities

The skills needed for the role and that relate to this area of the map to enable the HR person to carry out the activities are as follows; computer and IT skills to enable data to be collected and recorded and analysed and to implement new technology changes and feedback the effectiveness on the new systems. Having these skills will ensure a quicker more efficient service. Good influencing skills to encourage managers and staff to think the way the HR people think and gain there buy in with change. Effective communication skills would be used to ensure the correct delivery information to their customers.

They would need management skills, to make decisions and to plan and organise. Knowledge To ensure that the activities are carried out effectively there needs to the right level of knowledge. In this professional area you must know the way the organisation is structured, what products and services the

organisation provide to enable the understanding about the way the company works and the goals it has. This is to ensure the service provided is accurate and effective. Has the knowledge of relevant employment law and discrimination law to minimise risk to the organisation.

Behaviours The behaviours required to deliver a successful HR service are also specific. The HR individual needs to be positive to communicate messages in the positive way and keep the organisation motivated to perform well. Needs to have a fair un-biased view and be non-discriminatory. Be assertive, curious and have the confidence to challenge. Be approachable to colleagues and managers. Lead by example and act as a role model. So in conclusion this report has briefly summarised the HR profession map. Explained, that it has 10 professional areas, 8 behaviours and 4 bands.

Discussed what it is used for and who it can be useful for. Talked about the professional area of Service delivery and information and how the activities, knowledge and behaviours of this area relate to an identified role. Activity 2 With reference to the role of Human Resource Business Partner for New Look, this report will outline how an HR practitioner should ensure that the services they provide are timely and effective and add value to the organisation. Look at three different customer groups and their needs giving an example where customers needs, may conflict and need to be prioritised.

Explain three different communication methods and advantages and disadvantages to them. Then finally describe how to build and maintain an effective service. Customers and their needs As a HRBP for new look one of the

direct internal customers would be Store Managers. They would require advice and support with disciplinary, grievance and investigations and sometimes need help holding these meetings. A HRBP would help in any big recruitment drives, such as ones for new store openings and would aid in the training and development in the new team.

They would write and development training and recruitment materials keeping them up to date. Another direct customer group would Regional Managers. Along the same lines as the Store Manager the Regional Manager would need similar support, such as managing vacancies for the Regional Manager for management level, assisting with the performance appraisal process. HRBP’s would aid with store closures and redundancies. They would provide the Regional Manager with statistics such as sickness and absence percentages. A direct external customer group would be a Recruitment Agency.

Whilst conducting the recruitment for the company the HRBP often may use a Recruitment Agency. They would need to communicate vacancies to them and keep up to date with what progress they are making on filling the vacancy. Provide them with job descriptions and person specifications for the role being recruited for. Dealing with different customer groups can be demanding. Sometimes people think their needs are the most important. A HRBP may have to prioritise and decide what task they would do based on the importance to the overall business strategy and organisation.

For example, a Regional Manager may need an absence report for the region pulling together. But a Store Manager may need support with carrying out a long term sick home visit. The HR person would have to decide how they would

manage this and who to support first. A long term sick person has been away from the business for more than 4 weeks being paid full pay so the HR person would support with that first as it is directly costing the organisation money for the short term and support could be given to get the employee back to work eliminating the need to cover the employees position with another employee.

Although managing absence is equally important and would also have a longer term impact on the business strategy. The first task would have an immediate impact. Communication In order to communicate with customer groups different communication methods are used. The best method must be utilised appropriately to convey messages to minimise cost to the company and increase effectiveness. Whilst communicating the receiver takes in 38% of what they hear, 55% of what they see or feel and only 7% of what is spoken. This surely points people to communicate in certain ways to increase chances of the messages being received accurately.

There is face to face communication; used to pass more sensitive information where the receiver may not like the message they are receiving. This is a quick, direct way of passing information. If done correctly can be used effectively as body language skills can be used to comfort the other person. A disadvantage to face to face communication is information could be left out of the message as too much focus is being put on body language. Written communication could be used to pass more formal messages, such as changes to contract.

This means there is written proof; it is

more formal and professional and can be an effective way of communicating with a lot of employees. Disadvantages to this are, the receiver may not understand terminology used in the letter and as they open it in private their reaction can not be managed. Also the time the letter takes to be received can not be controlled so the letter may arrive late and affect a deadline, such as an invitation to a disciplinary has to give 48 hours notice but posting is not guaranteed to arrive with enough notice.

Technological communication is probably the most cost effective as it is so speedy. Emails can be used to communicate with internal and external customers. Although quick and direct, emails could be sent to the wrong person or incomplete emails be sent. Not everyone is able to use email through lack of training or they may not have access to it. Store Managers for New Look do not have email access. Building and Maintaining an Effective Service To ensure as a HRBP for New Look you were giving a valuable service to the customers the first thing would be to identify what the customer needs are.

Communicating with the customers you would find these needs out and ask for feedback on the service you do provide. This would result in good relationships being built with customers through networking and delivering a fit for purpose service. This could be done face to face, on the telephone or maybe through surveys if a lot of information needed to be gathered. Sometimes customers may have a complaint when things don't go there way or when they have

not received what they needed to carry out their role, or maybe had some unwelcome news such as redundancy notice.

It is important to deal with these complaints in the correct way and not let it affect future performance, organisation or own reputation. Listen to what the customers are saying; talk calmly and politely to them acknowledging the details of the complaint. Respond to the complaint, notify them of what action you are going to take and let them know the outcome of the complaint, either if it can be resolved, or needs to be passed to someone else. A complaint may be the result of poor communication. Other things that may affect the service that a HRBP provides is time and costs.

Outside things would need to be taken into consideration. This would look at future risks and how to minimise them and identify barriers and give opportunity to overcome them. In conclusion, above is an outline how a HR Business Partner for New Look would build and maintain an effective service and continuously look for ways to improve their service. Detailed are three customer groups and how their needs may conflict and have to be prioritised. What best methods of communication could be used to communicate with these customers, to minimise risk of complaints, and how best to deal with them.