Is HR a pure administration function or is there more to it? Does the organisation determine the role of HR or does the person that heads the function within the organisation decide?
Sure, the organization that hires you will have a predetermined plan for the role, unless it is a start up function, where you could be asked to design the direction. If you join an organization that already had a predetermined route to follow, which is primarily administrative, how can you steer it in a direction that can influence the future of the function and ultimately the organisation in a more strategic way?
While HR’s administrative responsibilities are a necessary evil and needs attention and oftentimes urgent attention, it is how these responsibilities are handled that makes the difference. Sure, there will be policies and procedures spelt out for most processes, like, leave, absences, discipline, salary increases and bonus payments and we are expected to follow it to the “T”. However, we need to remember that we are dealing with people and there are bound to be exceptions and varying situations that do not fall within these policies. What do we do then? Do we bend the rules or break it to accommodate the exceptions? What would you do?
