Competencies of HR flow from its changing focus from an administrator to that of a business partner.
The HR function is a means of supporting line managers in their handling of ‘people issues’ allowing them to concentrate on delivering output. A positive side effect of separating this function is that once it becomes the responsibility of a group of specialists, it should be possible to do it better and to do it consistently. The need for consistency in handling a workforce should not be overlooked. An arbitrary and inconsistent approach to remuneration, grievance handling and selection is likely to cause mayhem. Another benefit (at least in theory) is that by making HR a separate function it should become possible to address the big picture. Rather than reflexively responding to people problems, it becomes possible to take a more strategic approach. These benefits become more significant still as people have become the differentiating factor in organizations. Once you rationalize and streamline inanimate components of the organization, continued improvement can only be through the people processes.
