The Strategic Role of HR Manager in Some Selected

I.C.T. Companies and Higher Education Institutes of

Gujarat
Introduction:
The current debate in Gujarat is on the status of HRM and we
discern the movement into the strategic realm. The current
research study proposes to find answers to the questions which
revolve around the Strategic role of HRM and the organizational
learning capability , along with organizational and background
variables. These, in turn are proposed to being affected by the
organizational commitment of employees, moderated by
Psychological empowerment perceived in the work place. The
study will be using standardized scales and proposes to collect
data from 900 Gujarati managers to look for evidence in the
relationship of these variables, using a quantitative and a
qualitative data analysis approach. The proposed study will be a
contribution to the theory of strategic HRM.
• Strategic HR aligns performance criteria systems with corporate goals and strategies
rather than traditional functional concerns. It includes in performance criteria of
both rank and file employees and managers those that will enable them to
contribute to corporate goals. Most traditional HR performance appraisal systems
basically gauge how well a subordinate satisfied his boss or superior during the
appraisal period. This degree of satisfaction may or may not be related to how well
the employee contributed to corporate goals. Most of the time, it does not. For this
reason, conventional performance appraisal has become a highly politicized,
controversial, wasteful exercise that creates more disharmony than teamwork in the
organization. Strategic HR appraises people on the more relevant output
performance like quality, productivity, internal and external customer satisfaction

STRATEGIC
HUMAN
HUMAN
STRATEGIC RESOUCRCE
RESOURCE MGT
MGT
Theoretical Model
Strategic HR roles: Theoretical definition by Ulrich:

• Strategic Partner are HR professionals become strategic

partners when they participate in the process of defining
business strategy, when they ask questions that move strategy
into action and when they design HR practices that align with
business strategy.

• Administrative Experts are those HR professionals who ferret

out unnecessary costs, improve efficiency and constantly find
new ways to do things.
• Employee Champions are those HR professionals who link
employee contributions to the organization's success.

• As Change Agents, HR executives help organizations identify a

process for managing change and to identify and implement
processes for change.

• Business partner is a dynamic equation which is:

• Business Partner = Strategic Partner + Administrative Expert +
Employee Champion + Change Agent.
• IT and ICT Companies to be Taken in Research:
Oracle, Cygnet Infotech, Eclinicalworks, Einfochips,
Accenture, Infibeam. Cygnet Infotech, Synoverge
Technologies, Hidden Brains, Infostretch, Tata
Consultancy Services, Cyberoam Technologies, Wipro,
Panamax Infotech, IBM, etc.

• Higher Education Institutions to be Taken in Research:

Gujarat Law Society, Ahmedabad University, Nirma, BK
School of Managemant, Gujarat University, Gujarat
Vidyapeeth, Saurashtra University, Bhavnagar University,
MS University, HNGU, Ganpat University, Atmiya
University, Marwadi University, etc.
 Literature Review
• Role conflict and commitment is very extensively researched (
Hrebiniak and Alutto, 1972; Singh et. al, 1981, Becker ET al,
1995), but there very few studies which have related Strategic
HR roles and Employee commitment. Literature does point
out the connection between interpretations of HR practices
and employee commitment. (Guzzo and Noonan, 1994). It
was observed that workers’ interpretation of their employer’s
human resource practices affected their psychological
contract with the employer and consequently their
commitment to the employer. HR and Commitment have
broad linkages in Literature. Walton (1985) states a broad
HRM approach to the ways in which people are treated, jobs
are designed and organizations are managed. As Guest (1987)
has indicated, HR policies are designed to maximize
organizational integration, employee commitment, flexibility
and quality of work. It is these linkages that the study
proposes to look at.
• Researchers like Patnayyak, 1996, Rao and Abraham, 1986,
Rao 1982, Monappa and Kamat during 1980's have
undertaken studies mostly about the HR Climate of the
organizations or general acceptability of the HR/personnel
function. Though attempts have been made to look at the HRD
practices in India regarding its strategic status (Pareek
1997;Singh 1999; Kandula, 2001, Sharma and Sharma, 2002)
yet the area remains largely unexplored. Research study by
Bhatnagar and Sharma( 2002), attempted to look at the
conceptual strategic HR model of Ulrich(1997), and to the
limited knowledge of the researcher. No further attempt has
been made to look at this model and its applicability in India.
Given the above research gap, it becomes imperative to
investigate the strategic Human resource roles in India.
 Research Gap:

• No such study on Strategic Role of Human Resource Manager

has been previously made in Gujrat or India. Research has
been done on Strategic HRM in IT Industry. Also research has
been done on Roles of HR Manager but not in
Business/Management scenario of Gujarat. The researcher
here wants to attempt to know the practicability of the
theoretical model given by Dave Ulrich on Strategic Role of HR
Manager.
 Benefits of SHRM

• It helps in finding the threats and opportunities of the

organization which can bring success to the organization
• It helps in building a clear business strategy
• It emphasizes on employee recruitment, retention and
motivating them
• To have a close eye on the performance of the employees and
provide training and development to them
• To attain high productivity
• To meet the expectations of customers effectively
• Research Question:

This study aims at answering the following Research Questions:

• How does aligning Strategy with HR Activities is helpful to

Organisational goals?

• Is it possible, then what can be the Role of HR Manager?

 Objectives of Research:
The broad objective of this research is to know the Role of HR
Manager and how he/she can contribute to Organisational
objectives.
• What is the relationship between Strategic HR roles and
Organisational learning capability?
• What does the HR Manager Do?
• Can HR Activities be Aligned with Organisational Strategy?
• Is HR manager a Strategic Business Partner or an Employee
Champion? Or Both?
• Is HR Manager an Administrative Expert or Change Agent?
• Are Strategic Roles of HR Manager prevalent in Indian
Businesses or just in theory?
 Research Methodology
• Sampling:
Three stage sampling design is proposed for the study. In the
first phase 30 Organizations will be picked up purposively. In
the second stage on the basis of Simple random sampling and
Convenience Sampling. questionnaire survey will be
conducted. Thus data will be collected from 900 subjects. Out
of the Thirty organizations (with 15 ICT Companies and 15
Higher Educational Institutes) purposive sampling will be used
in the case study research design, and only those
organizations willing to share their secondary data will be
studied in depth.

• Pilot Study
• A pilot study will be conducted to pilot test two
questionnaires in the ICT Companies and Educational
Institutes in Gujarat.
 Questionnaire

• Human Role Assessment Survey Questionnaire.

• (Ulrich’s 1997).This has 40 items, which have to be rated on a

five point Likert scale and measures the four roles of strategic
partner, administrative expert, employee champion and
change agent. The business partner role is the summation of
the four roles.
 Data Collection
Primary data collection:
• Data collection tools of Ulrich (1996), Ramnarayan (1996),
Spreitzer (1995), Allen and Meyer(1990); along with background
and organizational variables will be conducted in a survey
research design on the sample.

Secondary data collection:

• Published materials, Survey reports, annual reports, media
reports, along with archival data will be collected, wherever
available to construct case studies.
 Data analysis
Qualitative Data analysis:

• Content analysis of secondary data, to establish chain of

evidence linking Strategic human resource roles to the other
variables.

• Pattern matching and explanation building by looking at data of

the multiple cases.
• Analysis of variance to find the significant difference between
the organizations and between the five variables.
• Duncan’s Multiple range test to compare each organization with
the other.
• t tests/ z test to test the significance of difference
• Spearman’s correlation co-efficient to find relationship between
the variables.
• Step wise multiple regression to find the predictor’s of the
strategic HR roles.
 Implication and contribution of the study
• The study will contribute to the movement of HRM in Gujarat, it
will help establish the HR roles in Gujarat service sectors and it
will help in competency building at the organizations and will
contribute in validating the model of Ulrich in Gujarati
Economical and cultural settings. It will clarify the nature and
effectiveness of the variables of organizational learning
capability, organizational commitment and psychological
empowerment in Gujarati Service organizations. It will
contribute to the body of empirical research in India, as well as
qualitative research on the variables under study. It will further
help the organizations in the sample to plan diagnostic
interventions based on the recommendation of the study. The
study will contribute in establishing the correlates of the
strategic HR roles, unique to the culture of Gujarat.
 Relevance and Significance of the Study
• This Research will be helpful to not only future Researchers
but also to students and HR Managers. The students of HRM
will have the practical understanding of Roles, Duties and
importance of HR manager in an Organization, and the
Organizations will understand why aligning strategy to
managerial activities is important. It will, in turn, increase the
importance of HR manager and HR activities in Organization.
The researcher wants to show the Data Analysis and
Interpretations in form of Charts with examples so that one
can understand out of the Four Strategic Roles of HR
manager, which one is more important and relevant in
Gujarati Services Business Scenario.
• The duties of HR Manager is not limited to desk-work, or
administration, but more than that. He can contribute more
to the organization if he is aware of the long-term, short-term
vision, mission, and strategies of the organization. This study
will provide insights to the managers and students. It is hoped
that a manager will get more involved with his/her
organization after referring such a study. As the Small and
Medium Scale Industries wherein strategic management and
strategic HRM is hardly taken into consideration, this study
will attempt to address them, so that it can be a working-
base, or implementing-base.
 REFERENCES:
• Bhatnagar, J. and Sharma, A. (2002), ‘Empirical analysis of four
strategic HR roles in India’ Proceedings of‘ THE THIRD CONFERENCE
ON HRD RESEARCH AND PRACTICE ACROSS EUROPE, Jan 25 to 26th,
2002’,University of Napier, Edinburgh, U.K
• Guest, D.E. (1995). ‘Human Resource Management, Trade Unions
and Industrial relations’. In J., Storey (ed) Human Resource
Management: A Critical Text. London ;Routledge.
• Guzzo, R.A. and Noonan, K.A. (1994). ‘Human Resource practices as
communication and psychological contracts’. Human Resource
Management, 33, 497-462.
• Hrebanik and Aluttoo (1972).’ Personal and role related factors in
the development of organisational commitment’. Administrative
Science Quarterly, 17, 555-572.
• Pareek, U. (1997). 'Partnership in Human Resources Function’,
Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 32(31).
• Sharma, A., and Sharma, A. (2002). ‘The Purpose of Learning: A
Strategic Human Resource Perspective’, Proceedings of‘ the third
conference on HRD research and practice across Europe, Jan 25 to
26th, 2002’,University of Napier, Edinburgh, U.K.