A process evaluation of a HR model for business excellence

Rhinesmith (1996) is of the opinion that no business can prosper without a business strategy that needs proper implementation. This implies that organisations need to be managed as a system where the traditional loose practices should be integrated. This further implies that Human Resources (HR) should manage HR as an integrated system that integrates with organisations as a system. Traditionally, HR has focused on human resource practices. This means that they, for example, manage HR as “loose units” by focusing on staffing, training and development, performance assessment and rewards as practices to be dealt with separately. These practices are seldom integrated with a business mindset. One can categorise these traditional practices as administrative practices and nothing more. These “separate” administrative practices often lead to inflexible and scattered support to line. The reason is that legislation on training, employee equity, employment practices, industrial or employee relations and remuneration is implemented without a process where stakeholders in organisations talk to one another to understand how it should be integrated. The other challenge for organisations is to integrate the HR practices mentioned into a single process flow that integrates all HR practices into one single HR system. The HR training provided to students at tertiary institutions does not solve the above challenge for those who intend to become HR practitioners. Sources on HR by authors such as Lussier (1996), Beach (1980), Dubois (1996) and others mostly focus on HR practices. However, these sources are excellent literature on HR practices. For example, these resources may refer to management of employees, and the personnel field, philosophies, principles, and policies. Literature on strategic HR most often informs the researcher about using business processes as the drivers for all HR practices. In reality, it means that HR needs to bridge the gap between business principles, commerce, resource development and employee utilisation. The result is that HR often approaches the value that they need to add to a business with a non-business mindset. They normally provide contributions as a business partner who adds no focused business value. HR further adds to the problem by leaving the integration of the various HR functions to individual managers who manage these human resource practices from their own perspective. This often results in a disorganised HR function that mostly focuses on administrative and controlling issues of the various HR practices. For example, employee equity (EE) is driven as a number game. This may result in the inability to recruit needed scarce skills such as those of engineers. Furthermore, remuneration surveys are concluded and the results are implemented with the aim of reducing the human cost in organisations. Such approaches often add to lack of commitment and an outflow of employees who should rather have stayed due to their competency levels. Training courses on leadership often do not support the culture and leadership style required by a specific organisation. This results in HR functions being weak in implementation or understanding of the real needs of organisations. This situation creates a non-business approach to HR practices and procedures. Business-driven HR practices need to be integrated by closing the gap between business principles, commerce, resource development and employee utilisation. The Corporate Leadership Council (1995) is of the opinion that the role of HR is to build and develop the organisation of tomorrow in today’s terms. Successful organisations master the ability to put strategic plans into practice with the focus on implementation. HR must stop being good in developing business or strategic plans (the “what to do”). They must develop the ability to integrate the various HR practices into a system that integrates with business processes and practices to become real business partners in the true sense of the word. Ulrich (1997) said in this regard: “As champions of competitiveness, HR professionals must focus more on the deliverables of their work than on doing their work better. They must articulate their role in terms of value created. They must learn to measure results in terms of business competitiveness rather than employee comfort and to lead cultural transformation rather than to consolidate, reengineer, or downsize where a company needs to turn around. To achieve these goals, HR must reorganise and correct its position. The HR function traditionally has spent more time professing than being professional” (Ulrich, 1997, p. 17).Prof. J.E. Coetze