HR managers in five countries: what do they do and why does it matter?

Abstract

The 1980s saw the need for change in the organizational role of human resource (HR) professionals, from the traditional employee champion and administrative expert to strategic business partner and change agent. The argument posited was that a more challenging environment compels organizations to turn to managing their HRs as a source of competitive advantage and that means an increasing business partnership for HR professionals. However, very few studies examine the execution of these multiple, sometimes contradictory roles, despite the risk that neglecting traditional roles endanger organizational performance in the long term. This five-country comparative study finds that multiple roles are at least moderately executed, and that these HR roles have different impact depending on the aspect of organizational performance. As well, a more challenging environment, defined here as legal constraints and industry challenges, generally does not have a significant moderating effect on the impact of the different HR roles on organizational performance.

Keywords::

• comparative study
• HR manager
• HR-performance link
• HR professional
• HR roles

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. Cut-offs, in terms of number of employees for small- and SMEs, are as follows: 500 for both the USA and Canada, 150 for Malaysia and 200 for Australia and the Philippines.

^2. Industry classification used is the United Nations' ISIC (International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities) Rev. 4.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for the project was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada [grant number 410-2004-0395].