Axmohan
What is the scope of an HR manager? Does CSR come under HR activity? Please reply.
From India, Mumbai
shailendra_deshpande
39

Dear Friends,
CSR is a part of HR Mgt. and HR manager has to provide resources and guidelines to top mgt. to contribute the organizational profit for welfare for society at large.
CSR = Corporate Social responibities.
regards,
Shailendra

From India, Pune
Jeevaneyan
6

Dear Shailendra,

CSR does not come under the scope of HR Management. There is no reason why someone should even think that CSR could come under HR, unless people think HR is the only department that has plenty of time to take any additional work load. HR like any other department is aligned with the company's business goals and has no free time to do social service. If CSR is important to the company, then they can create CSR department. Few companies have done that. Don't be carried away by what visibilty (or CEO's attention or your initial image as a social architect) you may get within the organization by taking CSR under HR fold.

If your company still insists for pushing CSR into HR purview, then ask for an exclusive infrastructure and executive manpower for doing that job.

CSR is a serious business. You need someone doing it as fulltime job. Otherwise, you may get a bad name for not doing it properly. Also, your other HR priorities will suffer and you may earn bad name in your primary area of responsibilty also.

People may say that HR should go beyond the organization and touch the society, serve the society, so on and so forth. Such philosophies advocated do not give HR a good compliment. Such talks only mean that HR contrbutions are not measurable. While other departments can boast of their tangiblity of contributions, HR should take any non-related job thrusted by the CEO to compensate for the intangiblility of its contributions.

If you want to take CSR into your scope, then

1. Don't take it for the initial good image you may get inside or outside the company.

2. Check whether you are really inclined in terms of aptitude for CSR. Aptitude for HR does not automatically mean the same for CSR.

3.Ask for infrastructure for CSR and also an exclusive budget.

4.Ask for an exclusive executive subordinate for doing the job. Do not accept any volunteer from your dept. if he/she is going to expect promotion for doing CSR.

5. Assume that your involvement is only for start up activities and gradually CSR should become a separate dept. if possible and if CSR really becomes serious in your company.

6.Also check if your CEO wants to do CSR with real intention of doing it for a good cause or just to show off. Your decisions and actions should depend upon this main factor. But, even if your CEO wants to do it just for the sake of image, you do it seriously once you undertake. Your CEO would appreciate that.

7. Do not expect a promotion / mileage for doing CSR as an additional responsibilty. Use that as a good experience for improving your HR competencies and internal social outlook.

8.Do not accept any additional remuneration for doing CSR job, even if it is offered.

Jeev.

From India, Bangalore
Axmohan
Thank you very much for the information.
Could you please tell me about the responsibilities of an HR manager apart from recruitment, training, goal setting, appraisals, compensation?
Does man power allocation department (or resource management) come under the domain of HR?
Is it a sub group of HR???
Please reply

From India, Mumbai
ANITA_SINGH
hey i had a presentation on CSR-Infosys... am attaching my ppt for you..
From India, Delhi
Attached Files (Download Requires Membership)
File Type: ppt info_582.ppt (657.5 KB, 623 views)

Jeevaneyan
6

Well.

There could be different views about the HR's role in CSR.

When I gave my opinion, my presumption was that your company does not consider the employees as a small society, part of and representing the big society they come from. Many companies are not clear about what is CSR.

Manpower allocation on day-to-day basis is not HR's role.

HR has to prepare manpower budget after analysing the manpower needs of the company with forecasts and once the budget is frozen you should stick to the budget. The budget allocation must be done by HR in consultation with other dept.heads and CEO's approval. Once that is done, you have to see the manpower adequacy is there as per the budget agreed and approved.

HR Manager's role depends on company. The role generally includes -

1.Recruitment and Selection

2.Induction of employees.

3.Manpower Planning (This, of course, precedes recruitment.)

4.HRIS - Human Resource Information Systems.

5.Compensation Management and Payroll.

6.PMS (Perfroamnce Management Systems).

7.Training and Development.

8.Career Planning and Management.

9.Employee Relations. (Industrial Relations - Management, Union Relations.)

10.Employee Welfare and Services.

11.Statutory Compliance in HR area.

The following could be part of HR Manager's job depending on the organization -

1.Facilty Management / Administrative Services (Travels, Security, Office Equipments etc.)

2. Events Management

3.Organizational Development (Here I mean special focussed efforts by engaging OD specialists.)

etc.

I am also giving hereunder few views of others about HR's role in CSR. These articles are from Management Issues News, UK.

Jeev

Article1: CSR is all talk

''The majority of employees feel betrayed by employers who talk the talk when it comes to corporate values but fail to deliver on their rhetoric, according to Business in the Community.A survey of 1,000 employees across Britain carried out in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) and the Future Work Institute found that more than half of employees (55 per cent) complain that the recruitment spiel about values and Corporate Social Responsibility which helped attract them to their employer is never actually implemented.The findings come just days after business think tank Tomorrow's Company warned that the CSR bandwagon is in danger of becoming a compliance-led ‘box-ticking exercise' in which real conviction gets lost amid a mass of reporting frameworks, jargon and corporate structures.

The BUPA-sponsored BITC report, 'Responsibility: driving innovation, inspiring employees' found that an increasingly socially-aware workforce wants to see the organisation's values practised throughout the business - from corporate social responsibility through HR to products and services.Employees are convinced that a talented and diverse workforce enhances creativity and innovation and contributes to increased focus on customers, improving competitive edge.The BITC findings reflect a growing trend for employees to be much more discerning about who they work for. Earlier this year, an online poll by Select Appointment found that more than three-quarters of people would not choose to work for an organisation that was considered to have unethical products and services.

Crucially, employees identified high-quality, inspiring, visible and connected leadership as being crucial in influencing the extent to which an organisation lives its values. But the majority said that their own management did not rate highly in this regard.The BITC says that organisations seeking to translate responsible practice into improved bottom line results should listed to what employees identify as the characteristics of a responsible employer.According to staff, these include treating individuals fairly and responding to the changing needs of individual employees over time, providing good quality products or services, listening to employees and understanding the importance of values.Six out of ten identified work-life balance issues, listening and acting on employee ideas, developing potential and promoting on merit as being signs of a good employer. But only four out of ten said that their own employer met their expectations in these areas.It also emerges that attitudes to responsible business practice evolve as peoples' careers develop. The financial package is the more important aspect in deciding on an employer, particularly for younger recruits, but once in employment, sharing the employer's values becomes crucial to staying with the organisation."

Article 2:HR minus CSR = PR

HR practitioners have a crucial role to play in embedding a responsible approach to business in which employers 'live' company values rather than pay lip service to CSR. According to Corporate Social Responsibility and HR's Role, a new report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), effective implementation of HR policies on employee consultation, diversity, fair treatment and work-life balance are fundamental to projecting the image of a responsible employer.

HR departments are responsible for many of the key systems and processes, including recruitment, training and communications, on which effective delivery of CSR initiatives depends.

Mike Emmott, Head of Employee Relations and the report's author, said that CSR must start with getting the relationship with employees right. Without this, it is unlikely that the organisation will be able to discharge convincingly its obligations to the wider community.

'In our view, CSR minus HR equals PR,' he said. 'Research evidence shows that employees have relatively high levels of trust in their line manager but very low levels of trust in senior management. HR practices are heavily underpinned by ethical beliefs so good HR is the obvious basis for building trust levels across the organisation and providing a solid foundation for CSR.

'HR can give substance to company aspirations to be - and be seen to be - a good employer by championing policies on diversity, work-life balance, employee involvement and training and development,' he continued.

'Successful practices of this kind not only build credibility and trust with customers and employees but have other positive effects such as improved recruitment and retention rates.'



Article 3: CSR must be part of HR agenda

A new paper from people management experts, The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), argues that if it is to be credible, corporate social responsibility (CSR) must be positioned as a strategic issue for organisations – and human resources specialists need to be closely involved. Mike Emmott, CIPD Employee Relations adviser and the author of the latest issue of Perspectives says that HR professionals need to play a key role in supporting corporate social responsibility initiatives by developing effective people management practices.

Says Emmott, 'Despite being increasingly critical to business performance in many sectors, CSR remains of marginal interest to the HR profession. In fact the HR department is ideally placed to develop an organisation's approach to CSR, which must involve promoting trust-based relationships with employees as well as other stakeholders. CSR does not change, but it certainly broadens, the HR agenda.

The paper says that the way a company treats its employees will contribute directly to how willing it is to accept its wider responsibilities. Emmott says that the challenge of CSR for organisations goes much wider than undertaking some non-commercial activities in the hope of improving corporate image. 'CSR requires management to address strategic issues about the aims, purposes and operational methods of the organisation. It has little time for departmental boundaries and means taking a holistic view. It is not simply a matter for the public affairs department.'

Key points in the report: ·

If employees don't see the point of CSR initiatives, or understand the message, initiatives are unlikely to be effective. ·

People are increasingly hoping to align their personal values with corporate ones - they want to feel a deeper sense of motivation than has previously been understood in business. ·

The credibility of CSR is dependent on delivery - not on rhetoric. HR is responsible for many of the key systems and process (e.g. recruitment, training and communication) on which effective delivery depends. ·

HR has a role in ensuring that corporate policies are effectively implemented and applied. ·

It should also monitor the practical application of corporate culture and values and engage with issues about corporate governance, risk management and employer brand – all of which impinge heavily on CSR.

Article 4: CEO's slow to learn the CSR lesson

Only three out of ten companies have a CSR strategy, according to new research, and more than ten per cent don't even know what CSR is.Despite all the damage done the recent spate of corporate scandals, business leaders still appear not to have grasped that they are losing the confidence of their communities and customers.

A new report on corporate social responsibility (CSR) by the Work Foundation shows that, despite the advantages of CSR in generating public trust, almost six out of ten (58 per cent) of the 277 organisations surveyed have no strategy for social responsibility or corporate citizenship. Of these, a third (32 per cent) say they have never thought of a CSR strategy; just under a third (27 per cent) say it is not a business priority, and 13 per cent have never even heard of CSR.

Moreover only three out of ten of responding companies currently have a CSR strategy, with a further 11 per cent planning one in the future. Most organisations also seem to think that the value of strategic CSR mainly lies in PR.

An overwhelming 82 per cent of those with or planning a CSR strategy saying that they see it as important for creating a positive public image. This reinforces the claims of NGOs who argue that CSR is predominantly corporate spin. However CSR strategies are also seen as important to building relationships with stakeholders (76 per cent) and giving something back to the community (68 per cent). Theo Blackwell, policy specialist at The Work Foundation, says: 'The number of organisations currently lacking a strategic approach to CSR indicates that social responsibility is often, or has often been, seen as an ad hoc activity rather than a strategic priority.

A socially responsibly approach needs to be more than an 'add-on' if it is to deliver benefits to an organisation and its stakeholders.' Most respondents who did have some form of CSR policy don't know if their organisation uses or will use any recognized system or standard to manage its impact.More encouragingly, director-level commitment is an overwhelming feature of respondents whose organisations are active in CSR in some way, whether strategically or not. In 88 per cent of these CSR activity was driven at director level in some way.

Within organisations, responsibility for CSR is more often linked with corporate governance or human resources, and is largely devolved through the management line. In 27 per cent of organisations that are active in CSR, prime responsibility for its implementation lies with the HR team. Only 17 per cent have a dedicated social responsibility team.

From India, Bangalore
Jeevaneyan
6

Hi, The PDF file attached suggests that CSR is the job of the PRO - Public Relations Officer. Jeev
From India, Bangalore
Attached Files (Download Requires Membership)
File Type: pdf corpsocresp_lh_803.pdf (169.2 KB, 255 views)

prachi_singla
18

The engagement of CSR

Defining engagement

To clear up the confusion let’s define engagement as “a personal state of authentic involvement, contribution and ownership”.

A policy engages a person or a team when they actively support it and promote it to others. Engaged employees may sell the idea of participation in a program just by their enthusiasm for it. They take ownership of the policy and its rollout then contribute ideas readily or without prompting. They may also be quick to sign up for any policy functions or activities. A policy engages an organisation when this behaviour occurs at many levels.

Why use CSR policies as examples of engagement?

In engaging organisational power brokers, champions of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program can face greater challenges than promoters of other people policies.

An HR initiative, while removing staff from the frontline of the business and costing some dollars, often has identifiable, if not tangible business benefits such as an enthused and better trained workforce for example. Unlike HR, the concept of a corporation’s responsibility to the community is relatively new. Acceptance can be particularly difficult if the community partner has no direct connection with the corporate business at hand or the focus of an organisation is a lean bottom line. In some cases the benefits of a CSR policy may be less obvious and only apparent when the program has been in place for some time.

Introducing CSR at Cisco, Lend Lease and AGL

Cisco, Lend Lease and AGL are three very different organisations with one thing in common: they have successfully introduced CSR policies and achieved this through fully engaging the organisation.

Global IT services provider Cisco launched its program in partnership with the Smith Family. Property developer Lend Lease has a staff volunteer Community Day, now running globally. Energy provider AGL has recently introduced its ‘Energy for Life’ program, which encompasses employee volunteering, matched donations to a selection of approved charities, ‘Warmth in Winter’ where AGL pays the energy bills for shelters for the homeless, and ‘Energy Matters’ which uses energy efficiency know-how for the benefit of employees, customers and the community.

How to engage the audience

While the best staff want to be engaged, there are some elements a program must offer its audience in order to be successful.

Both management and promoters of the program need to be knowledgeable and support it. Staff must see benefits for their performance, their career and the company’s performance. A program can be engaging if it’s a forum for ideas and more so if those ideas are acknowledged, if not carried through. It also needs to provide challenge and tasks outside participants’comfort level, depending on the program.

Lend Lease’s Community Day offers most of these elements. Each project has a coordinator who organises staff and is given a budget to manage for the day. Community Day projects also offer employees opportunities to work in other areas and take up more challenging roles. Melissa Vieusseux explains by how the day empowers staff by example: “One time the staff were painting a cubbyhouse that they designed and built and the media came out and approached a manager for a quote. The manager directed them to the staff member who had organised the day. Speaking to the media is something this person wouldn’t normally do.”

As teams span different departments and levels, the result is often better communication and teamwork. Vieusseux sees the benefits of the program as relationship building and a great leveller. On any one project “you can find a senior manager asking an IT staff member, ‘What do I do now?’”

She quotes an email from a participant as being typical of staff feedback: “I’ve been with the company for six years and remember every single project. I’ve met new people and the day after Community Day, there’s always a bit of a buzz – a sense of what we can do when people pull together.”

Engaging at multiple points

Cisco, Lend Lease and AGL have adopted a multi-contact approach as an effective way of communicating their activities.

Cisco’s Scope believed it was possible to organise 150 hamper packers with one email, as many employees have worked on Smith Family tasks. “It’s a matrix of relationships. The head of sales has links with The Smith Family in Victoria. The CEO of Cisco has a strong relationship with the CEO of The Smith Family and different business units have interconnecting relationships.”

AGL uses multiple contact points for its volunteering and donating program. “We have a champions’ network,” Bentley says. “There are 80 champions in the program scattered across the country, who provide updates, information and opportunities to staff.”

Lend Lease also used a coordinator’s approach. “Initially there was confusion about the meaning of the program,” Vieusseux found. “We then selected teams of coordinators who explained what our intention was and that we wanted people to pick projects. Now the day is part of the culture and there is no need to explain.”

This article is copied from the URL: http://www.humanresourcesmagazine.co...0&Category=903

Try this YRL to get full article.

Regards,

Prachi.

From India, Mumbai
prachi_singla
18

Scope of HR Manager:

Human Resources encompasses five areas:
  • benefits,

    compensation,

    employment and employee relations,

    human resources information systems, and

    training and development.

The scope of human resources management background spans 15+

years and the entire HR function from talent acquisition and

retention, corporate merger integration, staffing, benefits, employee

relations, training and development, succession planning, performance

management, and productivity improvement within diverse global

corporate environments. I am adept at achieving strategic results in

complex, changing work environments and offer proven abilities in

high-pressure or crisis situations (e.g., 9/11, 8/03 utility black-

out, terminating senior executives, etc.). I have developed and

implemented global job descriptions and performance management

systems, improved tiers of communications across domestic and

international conglomerates, and developed severance, retention and

termination plans upon major M&A initiatives.

Human Resources Director Requirements

Broad knowledge and experience in employment law, compensation, organizational planning, organization development, employee relations, safety, and training and development.

Above average oral and written communication skills.

Excellent interpersonal and coaching skills.

Demonstrated ability to lead and develop Human Resources staff members.

Demonstrated ability to serve as a successful participant on the executive management team that provides company leadership and direction.

Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with the company Board of Directors.

Excellent computer skills in a Microsoft Windows environment.

Must include Excel and skills in database management and record keeping.

General knowledge of various employment laws and practices.

Experience in the administration of benefits and compensation programs and other Human Resources programs.

Evidence of the practice of a high level of confidentiality.

Excellent organizational skills.

Education and Experience

Minimum of a Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Human Resources, Business, Organization Development.

Ten plus years of progressive leadership experience in Human Resources positions.

Specialized training in employment law, compensation, organizational planning, organization development, employee relations, safety, training, and and preventive labor relations, preferred.

Active affiliation with appropriate Human Resources networks and organizations and ongoing community involvement, preferred.

Possess ongoing affiliations with leaders in successful companies and organizations that practice effective Human Resources Management.

Work Environment

While performing the responsibilities of the Human Resources Director's job, these work environment characteristics are representative of the environment the Human Resources Director will encounter. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable people with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the Human Resources Director's job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to moving mechanical parts and vehicles. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate.

Conclusion

This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of the Human Resources Director's position and it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of skills, efforts, duties, responsibilities or working conditions associated with the position.

Hope it will help you.

Chalo Bye

Take care

Prachi

From India, Mumbai
P.K.JHA
35

Dear Axmohan,

I have gone through one article and same i am posting below. I hope it would be useful for you.

The future of the HRD manager, in my view, should be:

Business driven:

Business driven does not necessarily mean that he should work only in profit-oriented organizations. Over a period of time, the distinction between profit and non-profit organizations is becoming thinner. Non-profit organizations are becoming profit-oriented and profit-oriented organizations are becoming philanthropic. Irrespective of the organization he/she works for, the HRD manager should be driven by the business or the purpose or the activities for which the organization was set-up. When I say business driven, I mean he/she should be concerned single-mindedly with the goals and missions of the organization. He should become a partner in the business or a shareholder of the dreams of the founders and others who have set up the organization. Without the single-minded devotion to goals and the mission of the organization, the HRD managers cannot do perfect justice to their role.

The following is a checklist of indicators of the extent to which the individual is business driven:

Short-term and long-term awareness of the goals of the organization.

Feel an integral part of the mission and vision of the organization.

Awareness of all products and services of the organization.

Awareness of the financial details of the organization where the income or the money is coming from and where it is going, etc, able to read the balance sheet of the organization.

Awareness of the technology used by the organization (its various functions, departments, SBUs, etc, if it is an NGO, the pedagogy used, methods of intervention used, philosophy, etc, if it is an educational institution, various methods of learning forms, including online learning, distance education, etc, and its location in world trends)

Aware of the costs of technology and finance.

Sources of technology and costs.

Future potential for business and organizations’ market share or contributions to society.

Awareness of the future market potential of the organization.

Research driven:

Even if HRD managers do not undertake research themselves, they should be willing to base their judgments and strategies on scientific enquiry and research findings. They can make a lot of difference.

Know research and its potential in raising the right kind of answers.

Use research as a strategic tool to enhance the output of human resources.

Use research to motivate and develop competencies of people.

Use research to find out human capacity enablers, change management tools and efficiency and effectiveness of individuals, roles, teams and the organization.

Process sensitive:

He/she should be aware of the internal processes and mechanisms. The internal processes may include the work organization, organizational structure, its functionalities and dysfunctional ties, etc. He should be sensitive to the processes and their costs as well as benefits. The processes may include the decision-making culture, values, norms, etc.

Aware of the way the tasks are allocated.

Aware of the people processes and their strengths and weaknesses.

Understanding the character of the organization.

Aware of the internal structure.

Aware of the way similar organizations are structured.

Aware of the process and process dynamics.

Knowledge of organizational structures and their positive and negative consequences.

Sensitive to process dynamics.

Aware of conflict and their sources.

Aware of the way that structures interact with people and produce dynamics.

Aware of the meaning of synergies and the way synergies can be built.

Aware of the way the organization does its business and the culture of the organization.

Aware of the norm values and other internal processes.

Aware of the way the organization functions.

Systems driven:

Highly systematic, believes in systems as strengths.

Understands the limitations of systems, specially people systems and at the same time, appreciates their utility.

Sees a system as enhancing predictability and controllers of costs and overheads.

Sees systems as simplifiers of life and enhancers of organizational effectiveness.

Should be a promoter of all systems.

Should appreciate the need for HRD systems. Aware of a variety of systems dealing with other functions and their advantage: TQM, ISO, MIS, SAP, ERP, HRIS, Financial Information Systems, etc.

Thinks in a positive way about systems and their use.

Strategic thinker

Aware of company strategies.

Participates in strategy formulation.

Thinks long-term for the company.

Strategic thinker.

Aware of the best practices in different functions and of different companies globally in related businesses. Knows the structure of organizations. Aware of strategies used by competitors and collaborators.

HRD Managers as CEOs

GOOD HRD managers are potential future CEOs. This is so for a variety of reasons:

1. Competent people and thereby HRD is going to be the driver of future organizations in all sectors. The contributions of IT and the ability to leverage IT and other technological innovations will be in the minds and hearts of people. So HR is going to be the future driver of corporations and nations. Good governance is HR, good governments will be due to people and good politicians will be people. Those who spot, motivate, develop and utilise people, therefore, are in a unique position to be CEOs.

2. In any corporation, HRD, and Finance and Accounts are two functions, which flow through every part of the organization. Thus, those who head and handle HRD are in a unique position to know the entire organization and steer it.

3. The past experiences of HR people successfully managing corporations have indicated this. Experience at L&T (N M Desai, S R Subramaniam), TISCO (Rusi Modi), SAIL (M R R Nair), Escorts-JCB (Arvind Agarwal), etc, have demonstrated this beyond doubt.

If this has to happen, HRD managers aspiring to be CEOs should belong to category 1. They should be business partners, change managers, system-driven people and above all, people with leadership qualities (trustworthy, vision-driven, value-driven, transparent, etc.)

CEOs as HRD Managers

A corollary to the above is that all CEOs need to become HRD managers in order to be successful. This in fact, is the case as demonstrated by several Indian CEOs (N Murthy, Azim Premji, Kamat Bhatt, etc).

Evolution of HR Role

Mid-1990’s Mid-2000’s Evolution of Thinking

Employee champion Employee advocate (EA), human capital (HC) developer Employees are increasingly critical to the success of organizations. EA focuses on today's employee; HC developer focuses on how employees prepare for the future.

Administrative expert Functional expert HR practices are central to HR value. Some HR practices are delivered through administrative efficiency (such as technology), and others through policies, menus, and interventions, expanding the "functional expert" role.

Change agent Strategic partner Being a strategic partner has multiple dimensions: business expert, change agent, knowledge manager, and consultant. Being a change agent represents only part of the strategic partner role.

Strategic Partner Strategic Partner As above.

Leader The sum of the first four roles equals leadership, but being an HR leader also has implications for leading the HR function, collaborating with other functions, ensuring corporate governance, and monitoring the HR community

From India, Bhubaneswar
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