Who Can Truly Lead HR? Exploring the Qualities and Roles of a Human Resource Head

Who Can Be a Human Resource Head?

Can anyone say who can be a human resource head? What qualities should they possess? What would be their role? Should they lead a team?

This will be very useful for management, who may have wrong assumptions.

Regards,
Boona

Experience and Qualities Required for an HR Head

An HR Head should have at least 10 years of experience in core HR activities. They must possess leadership qualities as they will be leading a team, delegating tasks, and assigning responsibilities to subordinates.

The role involves designing HR strategies, leading and managing the team, coaching, training, and providing support. The HR Head should take responsibility for the team's actions.

Above all, the most important quality is the right attitude.

Regards

Could you please mention or explain the actual situation you want to be resolved rather than asking in generalities? Providing specific details will help other members focus better in their responses. Your post appears more like an exam question for which you are seeking the answer.

Regards,
TS

The Role of HR Heads

HR heads should be strategic visionaries who can extract work from their subordinates without causing dissent. They should identify chronic problems and perennial issues, and have ready-made solutions to frequently occurring problems. Additionally, they should act as a lubricant between management and employees.

Qualities Required to Be in HR

Can anyone suggest what qualities are required to be in HR? I have completed my MBA in HR, but due to a lack of experience, I have never applied for a position in HR. Please let me know and guide me.

Regards,
Murali

Please read the following article posted by me earlier. It will be an answer to your doubt.

H.R. Managers – Fundamental Qualities

H.R. Managers play a key role in any organization, company, or corporate sector in realizing the goals set by the organizations. The functional aspects of HR Managers comprise determining the quality of work, expertise in manpower, identifying manpower requirements, utilizing manpower, even distribution of work among different fields, placement at appropriate levels, performance management, identifying wastage of manpower at work points, rationalization of staff, and the "right man at the right place" concept.

For effective implementation of HR functions, HR Managers should have some fundamental qualities to suit the needs of organizational goals and objectives. The qualities of an HR Manager resemble the strategic managerial concepts of the organization. HR Managers should always explore possibilities for expanding the organizational wings to elevate the organization to compete with others. They should have a clear understanding of the aims, objectives, and goals of the organization. A broad outlook and clarity on the organization's path are necessary. The capability to understand things in the vicinity and realize goals through concrete methods and implementation strategies by inventing new outlooks, culture, and systems, overriding old fashions to set a goal for realizing objectives, are the forerunners of an HR Manager.

HR Managers should have the ability to prepare concrete plans to achieve results in the long run. Their naturality, concept, and aim should help with long-term strategies.

HR Managers are to work as mediators between the workers and management of the organization. As a matter of fact, they are the welfare officers of the employees of the organization. They should cultivate a sense of cooperation, coordination, positivity, human outlook, and helping nature, besides their primary qualities of sincerity, integrity, devotion to duty, and organizational behavior. HR Managers always mingle with employees. They should extract work from employees and subordinates through their goodness. They are the main document holders, keeping all records and personnel data and databases of employees. A negative attitude should not reach them. A positive outlook should be part of their nature. They should not be inimical. Unbiased mannerisms should develop in their minds.

Systematic programs, strategic plans, developmental activities, welfare measures, and departmental improvements must be handled with proper care and readiness, with enthusiasm, interest, and affection towards work-minded people, to improve organizational activities with team spirit and embodiment. A realistic approach, attitude, hospitality, culture, common sense, cordiality, inclination, attachment, earnestness, desirability, in-depth study, profoundness, and congenial attitude with others, confidence are some of the important qualities to implement HR functions effectively.

The primary HR activities like recruitment, selections, training & development, performance appraisal, confidential matters, wage policy, employee relations, welfare, etc., are to be dealt with utmost care. Concentration on the activity, presence of mind, application of mind, devotion, delegation, observation, supervision, and inspection are necessary.

HR Managers have to interact with different kinds of individuals and employees. The workforce will become more diverse in backgrounds, age, concentrations, and ideological philosophies. The workforce includes women, handicapped persons, and members of scheduled castes. Managers will be required to face a wide variety of demands from employees. It is a challenge for HR Managers to handle all types of people. Sound patience and endurance are essential qualities of an HR Manager.

Being human beings, HR Managers are subject to their own mental and physical limitations and understandings, philosophical commitments, opinions, concepts, reasoning, biases, prejudices, and outside pressures from various directions. However, future HR Managers should be able to profit from the increasing body of knowledge and experiences of present and past managers, so they are in a better position to serve more effectively and constructively the various sectors of people and thereby reach the goals or objectives determined by the management.

Regards.

My article pertains to an HR Manager of a big company, but not to a small organization where only one or two people are in the HR Department. In your organization, you and your boss are the only ones comprising the HR Department. In such a case, you have to act according to the situations, circumstances, and company needs. I have clearly indicated the qualities of an HR Manager in my articles. What else do you require? Please specify your question so that I can answer you.

Even though the situation you mentioned does lead to the queries you raised, it looks more like a REDESIGNATION issue more than anything else. For whatever reason(s), the management seems to have decided so—it could be the result of the individual resigning or just to give him an 'ego satisfaction' of becoming the Head of a department or anything else. Such instances are quite common in many SMEs.

And coming to your query, the necessary/desirable qualities/attributes in an individual for occupying a particular position are NOT necessarily linked in such situations. The person may end up doing the same work which he/she used to do. You may have heard a term in management parlance: 'a kick upstairs'. The situation you mentioned looks more like it.

However, please note that such decisions, when applied to those functions exposed to the outside world—vis-à-vis the company—like Sales, Marketing, etc., the logic/reason could be quite different.

Coming to your query of "Without having a team, how can a Manager be an HR Head?"—there's nothing MANDATORY that there should be a team. A company with just <10 people has a Managing Director while another company with >1000 employees too has a Managing Director. Hope you get the point.

Like Suri Babu Komakula mentioned, handle issues according to the situation(s) & company needs.

All the Best.

Regards,
TS

I believe that to become the HR head, you don't necessarily need to lead the HR department. HR stands for Human Resources, signifying that HR works for the entire company department. It manages processes related to all employees, so the HR head (who makes major decisions and contributes to strategic development) does not have to lead a large team. Even if they only have to handle two team members, a second person may not be necessary.

I work for an IT company with 20 employees, and one HR professional is enough to handle HR activities. Currently, I am an HR executive, but I aim to become a Senior HR Executive upon promotion. Unless the number of employees or workload increases, I won't have any juniors under me.

I hope my perspective is clear. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

Thank you,

Debasree

Who Can Be an HR Head?

A very general question, but it can be answered. At one point or another in our professional lives as employees, we all have had good and bad experiences with an HR Head. So here it goes... (it might seem like we are looking for a saint, but that's what it is). An HR Head should have the following:

1. **Strong Leadership** - Like that of King Solomon, guided by God's wisdom and values to lead people effectively.
2. **Very Good Communicator** - Capable of cascading policies, handing down decisions to erring employees and even superiors, and motivating and pushing people and objectives to greater heights.
3. **Very Good Entrepreneurial and Business Acumen** - Able to align people's and their department's goals with the bigger strategic corporate business objectives.
4. **Very Good Managerial Skills** - This should be one of their basic skills.

Your doubt has a meaning. Not all companies have a big HR department. In a department of two, when the existing manager resigns, his deputy becomes the Manager by default... so a one-man show. Of course, the caliber and skills required for a Manager-HR would vary across companies. In some, you need to be sharp, skillful, and energetic. In some, you need not possess anything. The second type of company is more common nowadays. So it is up to the deputy to decide what his management expects. Depending on the Manager's efficiency and experience, a team will help you to learn and get trained. I am Head-HR and Corporate HR trainer in Chennai.

Hi Pooja, SAP-HR is not always a must. End-user knowledge will do, but even if you don't have it, no problem. The software implementation team will train you. You have to be serious about it only when you go as an SAP (HR) Functional Consultant. I was once a faculty for SAP-HR in Chennai, but now I did not get to go into functional aspects.

Regards, Chandru

In one sentence, if we want to convey that an HR person should have the quality of both a head and a heart, we can borrow the language of Adi Shankara. A true HR professional should be an "Ardhanaarishwara," i.e., they should possess all the good qualities of both a man and a woman in equal measure. Personally, I feel that the concept of Adi Shankara aptly describes a true HR professional. However, they should exhibit the qualities of a man when necessary and the qualities of a woman when needed. Knowing when to display which quality at the right time is a skill that comes from rich experience. As they say, good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.

Regards,
M.J. Subramanyam, Bangalore

Actually, an HR person should put forth all of their abilities and lead the staff of the company towards the company's goals. The progress of the company should be directly linked to the growth of the staff. If a staff member is not effectively developing their qualities, the company's progress will also be hindered. Therefore, an HR person should be like a mother in a family.