Organisational Set up of HR Department!
While discussing the organisation of an HR department two issues become relevant:
(i) Place of the HR department in the overall set up and (ii) composition of the HR department itself.
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The place of the HR department in the total organisational structure is largely dependent on the size of the organisation whether it is small or large.
In a small scale organisation, there will not be a separate personnel department to co-ordinate the activities relating to employees. Invariably a low-placed employee will be entrusted with the task of attending to these functions.
But in recent times such firms are seeking the services of outsiders, who are specialized in activities relating to HR, for a fee. This is one of the most feasible options considering the importance of handling HR related activities to ensure productivity and profitability.
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The typical organisational set up of the HR department in a small scale unit can be depicted as follows.
A large scale unit will have a separate HR department with a Manager/Director heading it. When an organisation has multiple units spread over across the country, there will be a centralized HR department at the main or the registered offices and a separate department in each branch office.
All the major decisions will be taken by the main/head office department whereas the routine, day-to-day decisions are taken by the branch office departments.
The structure of HR department in a large scale unit can be diagrammatically depicted as under:
Earlier, personnel departments were considered as not so important. They were branched as ‘health and happiness’ department. It was perceived that the main task of a HR department were arranging company picnics, vacation, schedules, retirement parties etc., though the HR activities were considered necessary, it was still thought of as unnecessary.
But in recent times this attitude has changed considerably and the companies have started recognizing the need and appreciate the significance of a HR department. Almost all the companies have a separate HR department functioning side-by-side with other departments. The trend now is that of ‘out sourcing’ the HR activities in order to cut down on the cost and to focus more on the core issues.