Key Competencies Expected From HR Directors In Multinational Corporations

The Role of HR Directors in Multinational Corporations

In this world of gradually changing global visions, it is high time for the human resource professionals for gearing themselves and making further plan, prioritize them and set some new goals accordingly. The HR professionals at present are considered to be one of the main elements which include in the functioning of HR within the organisation. Rising through different ranks of human resource fields to the role of a HR directors, it is very difficult for a person to make this journey in well-productive manner (Albrecht et al., 2015). In order to create some value and to deliver the best possible results, it is very important for the HR professionals to not only focus on their activities and works but also to define all the deliverables of their work. This paper shall elaborate on the key competencies that a CEO of a multinational corporation would expect from the HR director of the company.

It is to note that the responsibilities of the Human resource management need an overlapping set of competencies and varied skills (Ellinger&Ellinger, 2014). Being the CEO of a company, it is his duty and responsibility to assess whether the director that he has chosen for the Human Resource Management process of his company, possess some of the core competencies that is essential for the success of the company in today’s challenging and competitive job market. It is the duty of the HR directors to ensure profitable and smooth operation of the human resource department of the organisation (Kumar &Pansari, 2016). In this context, it can be argued that the CEO has some expectations regarding the role of the HR director. According to the Karen Legge model, the role of the HR director is to follow the organisational objectives such as cost or conflict reduction and increase the productivity. This concept is also known as the Conformist Innovator model that the HR must follow (Thill, Venegas & Groblschegg, 2014). On the other hand, the Ulrich model divided the role of the HR director into two parts. The first part is associated with managing the organisation process and on the other the role of the HR director is to manage the people (Aldrich et al., 2015). In other words, they are responsible for supervising and providing consultation service to the management on different issues such as compensations, strategic staff planning, training and development process, budget, benefits, labour relations etc. He is also expected to take an effective leadership rile to develop a culture which allows the employees of the organisation to perform as per the objectives and visions of the company. Some of these competencies are-

Communication skill is identified as an important factor in this regard.  Communication has always considered being an essential and primary skill of each and every Human Resource professional and so is in case of a HR Director. He is expected to be capable of communicating in clear manner to each and every one in an organisation. This is due to the fact that communication is something that provides people with an edge and is also a very strong ability required for resolution of organisational conflicts (Hollenbeck & Jamieson, 2015). It is to note that even in the most pleasing and enjoyable workplace, problems does arises and those issues need a diplomatic eye and ear for the assessment along with a diplomatic hand in order to get the problem solved. This competency is always regarded as invaluable while negotiating the solutions for the problems as well as for keeping the things on right track.

Critical Competencies Expected from HR Directors

Critical thinking skills play a pivotal role in identifying the responsibility of the HR director. It is one of the long lists of duties of the HR Director to balance the complex situations that brought to him by the HR managers. He then takes time to find out a solution for the same. Hence, the skill and competency ofthinking critically is one of the key competencies that a CEO of a Multinational company look for in his HR director. It is to mention that employees in a MNC corporation come from different backgrounds, culture and different social groups along with different experiences (Lovelace, Eggers &Dyck, 2016). Hence, it is necessary for the HR Director to cultivate an environment in strategic manner in which all the employees belonging from different backgrounds could work together towards the improvement of the very firm and its business.

Flexibility can be argued as an important feature for a HR director. A consequence of diversity is very necessary for understanding the various different ways for interpreting several situations that takes place in an organisation. The ability of adopting the vision of the company to each of the possible interpretations of reality is considered to be one of the key competencies that an HR director is always expected to possess.

Organisational skill is highly associated with the role of the HR director. Managing Human Resource department is a very complex act hence it is very important to stay in an organised way for the HR Director in order to keep himself ahead of what he need to do and have ample of time for the things that he wants to do. The successful human resource employees in MNC carries out a wide variety of tasks on a regular basis and these requires him to work in an organised manner. Hence, it is always expected from a HR director to have a consistent flow of the paper works that are coming in to him and are going out which might include information of personal employee and private businesses.

Capacity of influencing is an important factor in this regard. A HR director is also expected to know how to influence as well as communicate with diverse people present in the organisation that belongs from different groups and culture. The capacity of working with diverse group of people and communicating with them effectively is the key to successful teams (Dutton &Ragins, 2017). It is also important for this profile in order to ensure that the things that are setting in motion are interpreted in correct manner and that too without hurting the sensitivities of anyone. It is considered to be one of the key competency as because of the fact that this skill makes the company walk along the right path. The clear comprehension and transmission of the objectives and their follow-up is the key to success.

Being a role model is another major concern that the HR directors must follow. The HR Director needs to set the standard when it comes to the question of ethics, business practices and leadership (Neves, Almeida & Velez, 2018). A CEO of an organisation looks for this competency in every HR Director as this competency is something that creates a welcoming and inclusive environment and workplace culture.

Hence, to conclude, it can be said that they key competencies that the CEO of a MNC shall look for within the HR Director are of communication skills, organisational skills, capability of influencing, role model, flexibility and critical thinking skills. All these elements together is a key to success for any multinational company who intends for success in competitive business world. Therefore every HR director should ensure that he possess all these skills within himself in a well-balanced manner.

References:

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Aldrich, P., Dietz, G., Clark, T., & Hamilton, P. (2015). Establishing HR professionals’ influence and credibility: Lessons from the capital markets and investment banking sector. Human Resource Management, 54(1), 105-130.

Dutton, J. E., &Ragins, B. R. (2017). Positive relationships at work: An introduction and invitation. In Exploring positive relationships at work (pp. 2-24). Psychology Press.

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