Dear All, Most of the Company does not have the HR department.Where as other functional department having .Why they do not give the importance of HR Functions. MK Verma
From India, Ahmadabad
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9From India, Ahmadabad
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I guess those company owners have a better understanding of HR matters, and they can manage them more effectively. Otherwise, the company's resources will be less, or they may believe they can handle everything and save money.
From India, Gurgaon
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From India, Gurgaon
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Good question! Owners should know about sensible assets (human). If an asset is lost, the loss will be of the asset alone. However, if the human asset is affected or lost, it will impact everyone.
Thanks and regards,
Madesh M
From India, Namakkal
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Thanks and regards,
Madesh M
From India, Namakkal
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Dear MK, Could you share with me how many companies do not have an HR department? I think only small-scale industries do not have a separate HR department, but the Accounting department also looks into HR functions.
The Importance of the HR Department
The significant issue is why the HR department is not given much importance. In business, profit is crucial, so how can the HR department, being a strategic partner of the business, be the main issue?
Currently, the HR department acts as a data bank or clerical department, or deals with labor contractors or labor departments. How can the HR department overcome this situation and synergize with the business to gain more importance?
Thanks,
Manish
From India, Bangalore
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The Importance of the HR Department
The significant issue is why the HR department is not given much importance. In business, profit is crucial, so how can the HR department, being a strategic partner of the business, be the main issue?
Currently, the HR department acts as a data bank or clerical department, or deals with labor contractors or labor departments. How can the HR department overcome this situation and synergize with the business to gain more importance?
Thanks,
Manish
From India, Bangalore
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I guess only small companies or those companies which deal in conventional business, but not in knowledge-based business or knowledge-essential business, may subscribe to such a view since they may be operating in small or limited markets which everyone shares. There may not be competition, and business comes to them on its own.
Regards,
Saikumar
HR & Labor Law Advisor
Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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Regards,
Saikumar
HR & Labor Law Advisor
Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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The statement has no universal application and may be a subjective perception or perhaps true for small-sized companies. Companies engaging in competitive products and services like telecom and FMCG, and operating their business in markets both locally and globally that challenge their survival constantly, need not only to safeguard their market shares but, if necessary, also to snatch some from their competitors. If they remain complacent, someone may move their cheese. It is common knowledge how market shares are switching among big players in the telecom business.
The Role of HR in Competitive Markets
Then who provides this cutting edge to the companies over others? It is the people. When there are people, there shall be HR. Here is why:
1) Though the vision and goals of the companies are spelled out by the Board of Directors or the senior leadership, they can be achieved through people's collective and collaborative work.
2) HR has to recruit people with the right talent, traits, and competencies to realize these goals. For this, it uses HR tools like job design, skills design, and knowledge profiles to identify the right talent and facilitate the entry of people with the right job fit and culture fit.
3) It provokes business ideas by pooling the best minds in the company through various HR initiatives like quality circles or employee engagement activities.
4) HR keeps itself abreast of changes taking place in business, markets, and customer behavior so that it can equip people with the right skills through HR initiatives like training and coaching, ensuring the company is fit to take on sudden challenges.
5) It endeavors to retain and manage talent well by:
- Sustaining their motivation on a continuing basis through various HR initiatives like rewards, incentives, and promotions;
- Empowering them through the delegation of authority and responsibility;
- Developing them in leadership traits by making them participate in the decision-making process through employee engagement and other HR tools.
6) Thus, through its talent acquisition, retention, and development strategies, it endeavors to save hiring costs, minimize idling costs by reducing absenteeism due to satisfied employees, improve ROI on training, ensure customer satisfaction by better customer service, which means drawing more customers to the company, and maintain peaceful industrial relations, which means uninterrupted production and delivery of goods and services. Thus, HR is trying to shed its cost center image and don the profit center image by directly impacting operations through aligning its HR strategies to corporate goals.
Thus, there is increasing awareness and recognition among progressive companies about HR's ability to add value to their business as a strategic business partner, and they are hunting for HR talent.
Given the range of critical functions explained above carried out by HR, it is hard to visualize a company in the thick of break-neck competition ever venturing to do away with HR.
Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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The Role of HR in Competitive Markets
Then who provides this cutting edge to the companies over others? It is the people. When there are people, there shall be HR. Here is why:
1) Though the vision and goals of the companies are spelled out by the Board of Directors or the senior leadership, they can be achieved through people's collective and collaborative work.
2) HR has to recruit people with the right talent, traits, and competencies to realize these goals. For this, it uses HR tools like job design, skills design, and knowledge profiles to identify the right talent and facilitate the entry of people with the right job fit and culture fit.
3) It provokes business ideas by pooling the best minds in the company through various HR initiatives like quality circles or employee engagement activities.
4) HR keeps itself abreast of changes taking place in business, markets, and customer behavior so that it can equip people with the right skills through HR initiatives like training and coaching, ensuring the company is fit to take on sudden challenges.
5) It endeavors to retain and manage talent well by:
- Sustaining their motivation on a continuing basis through various HR initiatives like rewards, incentives, and promotions;
- Empowering them through the delegation of authority and responsibility;
- Developing them in leadership traits by making them participate in the decision-making process through employee engagement and other HR tools.
6) Thus, through its talent acquisition, retention, and development strategies, it endeavors to save hiring costs, minimize idling costs by reducing absenteeism due to satisfied employees, improve ROI on training, ensure customer satisfaction by better customer service, which means drawing more customers to the company, and maintain peaceful industrial relations, which means uninterrupted production and delivery of goods and services. Thus, HR is trying to shed its cost center image and don the profit center image by directly impacting operations through aligning its HR strategies to corporate goals.
Thus, there is increasing awareness and recognition among progressive companies about HR's ability to add value to their business as a strategic business partner, and they are hunting for HR talent.
Given the range of critical functions explained above carried out by HR, it is hard to visualize a company in the thick of break-neck competition ever venturing to do away with HR.
Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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B’coz, they consider it as non productive department, but, you can check the growth of such company, it’s restricted till some extent.
From India, Nasik
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From India, Nasik
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I would like to thank you for raising the question about why most offices do not have an HR department. Yes, some offices and organizations do not have such departments; their HR functions are carried out by their Accounts department.
Reasons for Lack of HR Departments
There may be many reasons for this:
- Due to a small budget.
- The company/organization/firm is small in size.
- Few employees.
- Limited knowledge about the HR department.
However, gradually, many organizations are starting to understand the importance of having an HR department.
Regards,
Meenu
From India, New Delhi
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Reasons for Lack of HR Departments
There may be many reasons for this:
- Due to a small budget.
- The company/organization/firm is small in size.
- Few employees.
- Limited knowledge about the HR department.
However, gradually, many organizations are starting to understand the importance of having an HR department.
Regards,
Meenu
From India, New Delhi
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The majority of the company does not understand how important an HR function is. Accounts and HR departments work closely with each other, but neither department can be a substitute for the other.
But this trend is changing. A practical example would be that in my organization (FMCG), the entire HR activity was outsourced, but gradually the management realized that a dedicated in-house HR department is required.
Regards,
Sheeja Nair
From India, Ahmedabad
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But this trend is changing. A practical example would be that in my organization (FMCG), the entire HR activity was outsourced, but gradually the management realized that a dedicated in-house HR department is required.
Regards,
Sheeja Nair
From India, Ahmedabad
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The 4 Ms of Management
The 4 Ms of management to steer the business of any organization are: Money, Materials, Machines, and Men (includes Women). Even to manage the first three (Money, Materials & Machines), human resources (Men) are needed. It is strange that this simple concept is not understood or appreciated by the owners of some businesses.
If 'Men' constitute a vital resource, you can't manage a business profitably without making this resource effective. To make them effective, there is a definite need for a Human Resource department in each organization. In small setups, HR & Admin can be combined into one department.
The discussion initiated by Mr. M K Verma deserves attention, but unless these views expressed by experts can reach the owners, the status quo may continue by default. The need, therefore, may be to discuss how to drive this awareness.
From India, Delhi
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The 4 Ms of management to steer the business of any organization are: Money, Materials, Machines, and Men (includes Women). Even to manage the first three (Money, Materials & Machines), human resources (Men) are needed. It is strange that this simple concept is not understood or appreciated by the owners of some businesses.
If 'Men' constitute a vital resource, you can't manage a business profitably without making this resource effective. To make them effective, there is a definite need for a Human Resource department in each organization. In small setups, HR & Admin can be combined into one department.
The discussion initiated by Mr. M K Verma deserves attention, but unless these views expressed by experts can reach the owners, the status quo may continue by default. The need, therefore, may be to discuss how to drive this awareness.
From India, Delhi
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Dear Members,
How many employees should a company have before there is a need for an HR Department? As companies grow, there is a need to administer the HR function, but that doesn't necessitate an HR Department. In fact, past experience has shown that until the company has at least 50 employees, that "department"—really a function—can consist of or be handled by one person, often much to the dismay of that one person.
Between outsourcing such things as payroll and the initial writing of an employee handbook, and with the plethora of software for HR today, one person should be able to develop and administer the function.
Of course, there are variations to this theme. In some companies where recruiting has been a major activity, there may well be a need to have an HR administrator or "Benefits Clerk" and a recruiter. But in most small companies, an Office Manager can suffice.
Historically, what necessitates an HR Department are the functions and responsibilities which no one else either wants or is capable of doing. From recruiting to orienting new employees, from writing job descriptions to tracking attendance, and from instituting and monitoring policies to monitoring benefits, there has been a need for an HR generalist to assist senior management in both establishing a structure and holding down costs of administration. In fact, I have felt for some time that the initial title for the HR person should be "Administrative Manager."
Regards,
Shubha
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]
From India, Patna
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How many employees should a company have before there is a need for an HR Department? As companies grow, there is a need to administer the HR function, but that doesn't necessitate an HR Department. In fact, past experience has shown that until the company has at least 50 employees, that "department"—really a function—can consist of or be handled by one person, often much to the dismay of that one person.
Between outsourcing such things as payroll and the initial writing of an employee handbook, and with the plethora of software for HR today, one person should be able to develop and administer the function.
Of course, there are variations to this theme. In some companies where recruiting has been a major activity, there may well be a need to have an HR administrator or "Benefits Clerk" and a recruiter. But in most small companies, an Office Manager can suffice.
Historically, what necessitates an HR Department are the functions and responsibilities which no one else either wants or is capable of doing. From recruiting to orienting new employees, from writing job descriptions to tracking attendance, and from instituting and monitoring policies to monitoring benefits, there has been a need for an HR generalist to assist senior management in both establishing a structure and holding down costs of administration. In fact, I have felt for some time that the initial title for the HR person should be "Administrative Manager."
Regards,
Shubha
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]
From India, Patna
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All the progressive, top-notch, and goodwill companies understand the value of Human Resource Management and having a full-fledged HR team. There may be some small-scale or informal companies running their business without HR management. Such companies are unprofessional in nature, work without objectives and targets, and also contribute minimally to their annual turnover.
Importance of Empowering HR Personnel
Having an HR department in a company is not only important; what is crucial is empowering the HR personnel.
Thank you.
From India, Gurgaon
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Importance of Empowering HR Personnel
Having an HR department in a company is not only important; what is crucial is empowering the HR personnel.
Thank you.
From India, Gurgaon
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To know the origin of HR, we have to go back in time. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the focus temporarily shifted to mass production machines. However, very soon, people who pioneered the study of human behavior understood the importance of people in the well-being of an organization. While machines, money, methods, etc., had their prominence, the focus shifted to men. In the last century, several names evolved before HR became established. All progressive companies have HR departments. Even if they do not have one, they would soon start one.
Regards,
V. Raghunathan
From India
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Regards,
V. Raghunathan
From India
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HR Functions Beyond the HR Department
HR functions can be monitored or handled by different departments, as there are options beyond the HR Department. In running a business, management typically focuses on Sales, Purchasing, and Accounting as active departments.
There seems to be a misconception about HR, as their roles can be effectively carried out by other departments. As HR professionals, we must ensure that we are effective in delivering profitable results for the organization. Only then will each company see the need to recruit HR personnel.
Keep posting...
From India, Delhi
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HR functions can be monitored or handled by different departments, as there are options beyond the HR Department. In running a business, management typically focuses on Sales, Purchasing, and Accounting as active departments.
There seems to be a misconception about HR, as their roles can be effectively carried out by other departments. As HR professionals, we must ensure that we are effective in delivering profitable results for the organization. Only then will each company see the need to recruit HR personnel.
Keep posting...
From India, Delhi
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If one company is able to engage an HR professional, I believe it is sufficient for them. By using software, the HR professional can efficiently manage operations. However, the management needs to provide a workstation and other necessary facilities for the HR personnel, which they consider a costly expense. They seem to overlook the benefits of having an HR professional on board. Nowadays, HR professionals also handle TDS work effectively, which is advantageous for the management in tax-related matters. Ultimately, it is up to the management to determine their need for HR support.
Regards,
HRKPATI
Sr. Manager (HR & Legal)
From India, Guwahati
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Regards,
HRKPATI
Sr. Manager (HR & Legal)
From India, Guwahati
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