INTRODUCTION 

Human resources consist of people-related functions such as hiring, training and development, performance review, compensation, safety, and health welfare, Industrial Relations, and the like. These are generally the functions of personnel management and are directorial and nurturing in nature. Appropriately referred to as doable, these activities are extremely routinized and have usually been outsourced. A more important function of human resources is the building of human capital. Human capital refers to the stock of worker skills, expertise, and capabilities that may not show up in an account that features a significant impact on a firm’s performance. By meshing HR practices and policies with strategies that HR executives help formulate and implement business strategies. The Human Resource manager then assumes the mantle of a contriver. This signifies that the role of the HR executive is elevated from an executive level to that of the board. He or she becomes a member of the board and thus takes part in decision making. Human resource functions support the concept that “people make the difference”. The proper implementation of the HR functions alone is capable of generating values and adding a competitive advantage to the organization, i.e leading to organizational development.

What is the function of human resource?

Henry Mintzberg identified 10 roles(functions) which managers play in organizations. According to Mintzberg, a typical manager acts as a monitor, disseminator, spokesperson, figurehead, leader, liaison, entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator. He classifies the 10 roles into three broad categories :

1.  The first three functions together called informational role
2.  The next three constitutes the interpersonal role
3.  and the decisional role includes the remaining four functions

same when one can attempt to isolate the typical functions of human resources. There are eight key human resource functions together with policies, programs, and practices that have been identified, each containing alternatives from which managers can choose. The functions are :

• Planning 

Preparing forecasts of future human resource needs in the light of an organization’s environment, mission and objective, strategies, and internal strengths and weaknesses including its structure, culture, technology, and leadership.

• Staffing

Obtaining folks with suitable skills, abilities, expertise, and skills to fill jobs within the work organization. Key practices that exist are human resource planning, job analysis, employment, and selection.

• Developing

Analysis learning requirement to ensure that employees possess knowledge and skills to perform satisfactorily in their job and to advance in the organization performance appraisal can identify employees’ key skills and “competencies”

• Maintaining

The administration and monitoring of workplace safety health and welfare policies to retain a competent workforce and comply with statutory standard and regulations

• Monitoring

The design and administration of the reward system. HR practices embrace job assessment performance appraisal and pay.

• Managing relationships

Encompasses arrange off employees’ involvement/participation schemes in non-union or union workplaces. In a union setting, this includes negotiating contracts and administering the labour agreement.

• Managing change

This involves serving others to check the long run, convey this vision, setting clear expectations for performance, and developing the potential to reorganize individuals and allocate different resources.

• Evaluating

Designing the procedures and processes that assess, judge, and communicate the worth-added part of HR practices and the entire HR system to the organization.

The above are conventional human resources functions. They are fundamental and continue to stay relevant notwithstanding the talk about globalization, technological revolution, and outsourcing. However, a few more activities of the new age have been identified which would not replace the conventional ones but supplement them to achieve organizational effectiveness. The new-age HR functions are as follows:

1. Visioneering and strategizing to gain a competitive edge for the organization
2. Aligning HR activities with corporate objectives and focus on achieving strategic outcomes.
3. Focusing on competency development
4. Redefining the role of HR managers and renegotiating the roles and relationships with line managers within the organization.
5. Develop methods of producing alignment between employee goals and behaviours and organizational strategy
6. Define communicate and leverage organization key capabilities
7. Create, distribute, and support HR’s new philosophies that support both employees and the organization.

HR FUNCTIONS AND ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (OD) 

Organizational development means enhancing the company’s profits. The organization cannot reach its full potential of development if it has pending legal issues. The job of HR here is to ensure that all the legal complexities and rules and regulations are in order with the law and that no pending cases are hindering the scope of development. The HR functions not only give a structure to the job of the HR department but also ensures the continuum, which further leads to organizational development.

The following explains the direct dependence of organizational development on the HR functions :

• Talent Screening 

Talent management is a very important HR function to enable organizational development because it involves recruiting highly skilled resource workers to adapt to the future needs of the company with diversified talents. It involves developing a system where it is easy to study and enhance the skills of the employees and also comprehend their strengths and weaknesses. To enable organizational development it is also important to align the employees with current organizational goals and changes and drive them accordingly.

• Performance management 

This is another important HR function to enable organizational development. It makes sure to strategize and apply a plan to keep a check on employee performance creating an environment where success is measured. Also keeping a close check on the performance gap of the employees, individuals, departments, etc.  

• Developmental management 

This includes finding proper resources for training purposes which is very essential for organizational development. It also includes training employees to focus their learning on mission delivery and become experts in their area of focus.

• Strategic development

This occurs at the top level of an organization. The HR analyzes where there is a lack of talent and what kind of talent is required by the company to enable organizational development. HR enables a system to keep a balance between the new talent and the old talent depending upon the development of the organization.