HR- An integral part of business success

Long gone are the times, when the HR department performed only basic functions like hiring, employee record maintenance, and of course giving out the pink slip to people. HR has evolved in recent times to become an integral part of business today. Heading an HR Consultancy firm, and having spent my entire career in management consulting, I have witnessed this transition from close quarters. Today HR has become a mainstream business function and helps in formulating and implementing the company’s strategies through human resource activities.

In business the only thing constant is the change and to survive in this competitive world, organizations have to constantly keep innovating, introducing new strategies and implementing them to drive business. Innovating entails fresh ideas, new systems and processes- which can be introduced by the right people.

Manpower is one of the critical aspects of businesses. To get the best out of people and to motivate them, it is important to have out-of-box HR systems & processes to encourage and drive innovation. HR should indulge in smart hiring, provide R&R’s wherever applicable and work towards retaining talent.


Companies can promote innovation by hiring HR managers who would create networks of managers charged with encouraging new ideas. This kind of decentralized team can identify promising new concepts and prioritize them so that they receive the attention they deserve. This will also help in creating a culture that supports innovation. In addition; not having a widely understood system-wide process is also not conducive for innovation. To build sufficient diversity into the process it is important to have innovative suggestions from employees. It is also important to have a proper training and coaching program for innovations teams and an idea management system in place.

There are many "corporate events" or actions that can impact a company's culture, processes and ways of doing business. If HR is to help improve innovation in a corporation, it must identify the corporate events that are likely to have a negative impact on risk-taking and innovation driving activities. Some of the events that might have a negative effect are: New Hiring, New Managers, Failed Orientation programme, Mergers & acquisitions, Restructuring or layoffs, Outsourcing. In addition, success limits risk taking.

A string of successes can build up employee egos, drive groupthink and contribute to a sense of invincibility. The sense of invincibility in turn creates complacency as employees develop the perception that “innovations have always come along the past". HR has to work twice as hard in successful organizations to keep "egos" down and to “forget the successes of the past". After identifying these aspects, the HR must monitor and attempt to eliminate or moderate the negative effects.