The Chartered Strategic Human Resource

By Zulk Shamsuddin

Strategic human resources management involves aligning the HR functions of a company with its long-term corporate objectives. It goes beyond administrative duties and daily communications with employees. Instead, strategic HR marries that position's traditional role with the organization's standards and practices. While some HR personnel love maintaining administrative HR tasks making sure everyone’s getting what they need on a basic level others want to be involved in executive meetings and to contribute to the company’s business strategy.

The Chartered Strategic HR credential is a professional certification that demonstrates the attainment of a defined level of technical knowledge and experience associated with organizational human resources strategies, professional practice, and ethical behaviour. It forms the basis of the assessment that applicants must pass to gain the Chartered Strategic HR credential and inclusion in the Register of The Global Academy of Finance and Management® Certified / Chartered Professional. Individuals with several years of experience in human resources strategic planning are encouraged to acquire this certification.

This book is the primary source of reference for the Chartered Strategic HR online examination that is administered by the GAFM Academy Certification Services.
Stand out above the rest with the world-class Chartered Strategic HR certification and get noticed by top recruiters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781678103163

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 Zulk Shamsuddin, PhD / GAFM ACADEMY

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6781-0316-3

INTRODUCTION

Strategic human resources management involves aligning the HR functions of a company with its long-term corporate objectives. It goes beyond administrative duties and daily communications with employees. Instead, strategic HR marries that position's traditional role with the organization's standards and practices. While some HR personnel love maintaining administrative HR tasks making sure everyone’s getting what they need on a basic level others want to be involved in executive meetings and to contribute to the company’s business strategy.

The Chartered Strategic HR ™ (CSHR) credential is a professional certification that demonstrates the attainment of a defined level of technical knowledge and experience associated with organizational human resources strategies, professional practice, and ethical behaviour. It forms the basis of the assessment that applicants must pass to gain the Chartered Strategic HR ™ credential and inclusion in the Register of The Global Academy of Finance and Management® Certified / Chartered Professional. Individuals with several years of experience in human resources strategic planning are encouraged to acquire this certification.

This book is the ultimate reference for the Chartered Strategic HR online examination that is administered by the GAFM Academy Certification Services. Stand out above the rest with the world-class Chartered Strategic HR certification and get noticed by top recruiters. 

Benefits of becoming a Chartered Strategic HR

Personal recognition from your peers in Organizational and HR strategic planning and other related professions.

Enhanced CV to stand out in the job market.

A framework for the development of your career.

International recognition.

Assurance for clients of high standards and ethical practice.

Use of the post nominal CSHR or Chartered Strategic HR ™

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Benefits of Certification

Certification helps in learning new technologies, skills, and abilities for a specific promotion.

Earning a new certification or an advanced certification in a particular area of expertise can help in advancing your career.

Professional certification shows consumers and potential employers that you are committed to your profession and are well-trained. It gives them confidence in your abilities and knowledge.

Certification makes you more valuable to employers, so you can expect to earn more than someone without certification.

Certifications can give you the chance to learn needed skills and be a quick way to show employers you have those skills.

Get your name registered for everyone else to see particularly for future employers to verify the authenticity of your credential.

A Chartered Strategic HR is an experienced human resources professional who has earned the accredited gold-standard Chartered Strategic HR ™ credential from The Global Academy of Finance and Management®. This credential is offered to the individual with several years of experience as a strategic human resource management professional.

Strategic HR Role

The Strategic HR Professional would have a seat at the executive table (senior management) and be seen to be an equal partner in making strategic decisions about the business. They would be making contributions to organizational design, strategy development and planning and organizational change. There would be substantially spent less time on a maintenance role for example, hands-on recruitment, maintaining services and records, and auditing.

The distinction can be drawn between being reactive and being strategically responsive both leading and following. At senior levels, Strategic HR Professionals are proactive.

They influence those who make the business strategies, working alongside or as part of the business planning team to develop strategies together. Strategic HR Professionals need a good understanding of the business and its changing context. They need to be clear about the organization’s goals, needs, values; aware of gaps in culture and capability; to be able to translate business goals into operational strategies.

They need to be able to influence decision makers. Good negotiation and interpersonal skills, as well as resilience, may be required. Strategic HR Professionals are often described as ‘knowledge rich’ but poor in application. Being strategic alone is not enough. Chief Executives want HR professionals to be able to translate the organizational issues into business language, and vice versa. They need Strategic HR Professionals to help them understand what must be done with regard to people if business strategies are to be achieved.

Some of the key functions of the Strategic HR Professional are:

Strategic planning

Organizational development and design

Improving organizational productivity and quality

Facilitating mergers, acquisitions and partnerships

Scanning the environment for new products/potential new partnerships

Recruitment and selection; strategy rather than implementation

Employee development; training/education; management development; performance appraisal; career planning; competency/talent assessment; strategy and advice on these areas

Compensation and benefits; reward and recognition initiatives; retirement programmes; redundancy programmes

Management of HR information systems

Responsibility for legal and regulatory requirements

Responsible for equal opportunities policy and practice

The difference between an operational HR role and a Strategic HR Professional goes beyond changing job descriptions to looking more carefully at the skills required and the capacity for individuals to influence change at a strategic level.

Strategic Human Resource Management

Strategic human resource management involves a future-oriented process of developing and implementing human resource (HR) programs that address and solve business problems and directly contribute to major long-term business objectives.

HR management has changed dramatically in recent decades. It was once largely an administrative function focused on day-to-day responsibilities such as employee recruiting and selection and managing employee benefits. Changing labor market conditions and new business thinking call for HR business strategies that include recruiting and retaining the right people, as well as providing ethical and cultural leadership.

Strategic planning presents great challenges and opportunities for HR professionals. Nearly all HR leaders in the largest global companies are involved in strategic decision-making and participate on the organization's strategy team, and a majority of HR professionals report that strategic planning is part of their function. In contrast, HR professionals in many medium and small organizations are not often involved in organizational or functional strategic planning. Consequently, to achieve long-term strategic HR objectives and to be a key player in the organization's strategic planning process, some HR departments may need to overcome stereotypical negative views of the HR function.

HR's role includes developing a plan of HR initiatives to achieve and promote the behaviors, culture and competencies needed to achieve organizational goals.

Human Resource and Organization Business Strategy

The closer the alignment between HR and an organization's overall business strategy, the better the company's ability to anticipate and respond to customer needs and to maintain competitive advantage. Rigorous research, planning and development involving workforce culture, behaviors and competencies promote the successful execution of business strategy.

Particular benefits of HR strategic planning include the following:

Avoiding costly and disruptive surprises that interfere with achieving goals.

Addressing key issues in a timely manner to avoid crises.

Promoting employee productivity and overall organizational success.

Providing a sense of direction to positively affect how work gets done.

Keeping employees focused on organizational goals.

Providing a strategic focus to guide training and development initiatives.

Giving leaders tools to help focus and implement their strategic initiatives.

Strategic HR Professional - Skills & Qualifications

Business partners obviously form the bulk of those working in a close relationship with managers, but there are also those in the corporate office, including the HR director him/herself, who may need the same skill set. At a generic level Strategic HR Professionals will need a number of competencies:

communicating

facilitating

coaching

influencing

interpersonal

negotiating

However, they will have to be deployed in a particular context. This includes operating as a broker of HR services in the matrix structure, described earlier. This will test negotiation skills, and political skills will again be demanded: balancing corporate and local needs, satisfying both to the extent that is possible. Given, too, that Strategic HR Professionals will be part of a team, relationship building is important. They may have to act as a coach to senior management, not just in advice and guidance on people's practices, but also on a one-to-one basis, providing feedback and support. HR also has to have the ability to influence without formal authority.  They may not be in as much control of resources as past HR managers, but they must know how to influence the top team. And, as we pointed out earlier, Strategic HR Professionals will need to be aware of the power dynamics. They will have to be capable of mobilizing those in favor of their views and dealing with those against them. Business partners will require well-honed political antennae, able to pick up signals of support or opposition. They will know the method to choose to achieve their objectives. This will be true not just in relation to dealing with business colleagues directly, but also in the interrelationship between HR and business management.

None of these competencies should be new to HR managers, but, because Strategic HR Professionals are supposed to operate in a strategic manner, they will have to demonstrate a high level of ability. What, according to some of our respondents, may be more challenging to Strategic HR Professionals is to use effectively the data emerging from improved management information systems. They will have to be sufficiently numerate to understand what can be done with statistics. They will have to be good at diagnosis: spotting trends, seeing issues from a variety of sources, making connections in a broader integrative way. By that, we suggest examining whether the organization is growing human capital by improving the skills and engagement of staff or allowing it to depreciate. They will have to connect the data to their employment model of what drives high performance through people. The good analysis then needs to be turned into action.

Individuals will need the qualities to perform a survey of the problem from a distance, yet dive into the detail if necessary, the ability to Analyze, a sense of Imagination and a sense of Reality so those good ideas are well-grounded in what will work in practice. All of this takes place in a business context. So, knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of the business are vital. This is likely to mean being at ease with financial, marketing, sales and production terminology, and issues. Problems will have to be discussed in the language of business, not in HR-speak. The latter can put offline colleagues with its particular terminology. And this should be tailored to the particular audience. Some managers want hard, precise, data-driven arguments. Others want to be convinced at the intellectual level. But both want their problems solved in business not HR terms.

Strategic HR Professionals need to be able to act as internal consultants, working with line managers in problem-solving ways, concentrating on reality, demonstrating business acumen and ensuring that HR and business goals are the same. They need to be externally focused, in touch with current thinking, having extensive networks and able to apply insights gained practically. They need to be able to work effectively with colleagues in shared services and centers of excellence, ensuring the highest-quality client delivery.

The Strategic HR Professional should be self-motivated, extremely organized, and have strong communication and project management aptitude. Employers typically seek candidates with a bachelor’s degree preferably in human resources, business administration, or equivalent, and the following skills:

Human Resource – Strategic HR Professional needs a strong understanding of human resource management.

Strategic planning – ability to establish the alignment between HR and an organization's business strategy

Project management –know how to scope a project and create work schedules to ensure strategic HR projects are implemented within