Hi Guys.
I am new here and in South Africa. Maybe the way that you guys do things is different from us. However, I belief that HR is HR regardless where you are.
My understanding is that you are starting an HR department from scratch right? I hope my insights will provide some inisght.
1. As you have learnt from your studies, you probably have to understand the role that HR plays within an organisation. There is TRANSFORMATIONAL and TRANSACTIONAL HR.
The two complements each other. With Transformational HR you deal with HR as a Strategic Partner - The Dave Ulrich's model - HR as Strategic Partner, Human Capital Developer, Employee Champion, Functional Expert. I will briefly explain
Strategic Partner - You will have to develop an HR Strategy that will drive the overall Business Startegy and Business Objectives. Your MD is probably interested in seeing how much your division will bring to the overall business. The first thing will be for you to understand what the strategy of the business is. Once you do that, you are home free. My experience has taught me that the Business Executive needs someone who speaks their language. For example, if we talking leave maladministration, you need to quantify how much it cost the company etc. I have attached a file that will guide you through the HR strategy development session.
HR as a Human Capital Developer - Focus will be on Talent Management, Succession Planning, Organisational Structure etc. Still driven by the Overall Company strategy and Objectives.
HR as an Employee Advocate - that deals largely with how you will keep your employees happy, motivated etc. This will be informed by your HR policies
Lastly, HR as an Administrative Expert - As much a other people within the organisations are experts in their field of specialisation, what's stopping us from being the same? Make sure that you use HR Best practices. I call it "Cradle to grave"- We should be expert in the processes involved from recruitment to exit (retirement or termination)
The Trancational HR will be that dealing with issues such as your Administrative processes. Your HR Maintenance - most of the things our collegues have metioned in the preceeding responses.
I hope this helps.