Strategic Human Resource Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Strategic Human Resource Development - Essay Example However, there are areas of significant importance - like training - that have been excluded from the control of Personnel Department and are organized into separate units within the organization. Due to the above phenomenon as well as to the delays in the firm's development - which have been caused by the dysfunction of the Personnel Department - the examination and the evaluation of the role of the latter has been considered as necessary especially given the extremely competitive conditions that characterize the UK market. Current Personnel Function of Highway Stores Ltd is based in the firm's head office in Midlands. Furthermore, the specific department comprises a Personnel Manager, a Personnel Officer and 3 Personnel Administrators. The main duties of the staff include the control of all issues related with the firm's human resource management except the payroll sector which has been incorporated in the Finance Department. The Personnel Function reports directly to the Legal Director. Another significant problem is created by the fact that there is not a specific provision for the training of the head offices' personnel (training programs as designed and developed by the Training function involves only the employees of the store network). On the other han On the other hand, the Personnel function has not proceeded to the design and implementation of a specific problem-solving procedure but there is a standard internal policy that whenever a problem arises, a guidance is issued. The absence of control over the training procedure as well as the failure of designing and applying an effective personnel policy can be considered as major problems for the Personnel function. Moreover, the lack of appropriate qualifications of the Personnel staff can be viewed as a severe disadvantage of the specific department while due to this fact; most of the problems arising in the human resources field have to be faced by the only qualified person of the department, its Manager. It's for this reason that Personnel Manager is not available for his managers whenever his intervention is requested by the Personnel staff. At a next level, a major weakness of the Personnel function is the procedure related with the sickness of employees. The Personnel function keeps records on employees including health certificates as well as notices on the employees' long term absence of work (six weeks or more) due to sickness. In this way, the department is not informed for the employees' short or long term absence of the work (except the above mentioned case) with all the consequences that this fact can have for the effectiveness of the firm's human resource management. Another problem involves the extension of the role of the Personnel function is the recruitment process. The specific process is designed and implemented by the Managing Director, while the responsibility for the recruitment of new staff belongs to Area managers. It should also be noticed here that