It isn’t always possible for a human resources manager to provide the right human resources effectively for a business that needs to succeed if they do not properly understand what qualities a successful Human Resource manager must possess. Successful managers are those people who are skilled enough for fulfilling a wide variety of roles and also those who can effectively encourage their staff to be at their best. Not every person can be capable of being a good Human Resource Manager. The role and the importance of the Human Resource manager have been growing by every year and their bounds in recent years.
A Human Resource manager is an individual who is always involved in a wider and various aspects of management in an organization, from framing the different HR policies and their strategies for reaching out to the employees personally for sorting his or her concerns or their issues. A manager should retain dynamic, excellent, qualified, and skilled employees by constantly motivating them. It is also important that the HR manager needs to have the potential to carry out various duties that are given to him in the organization. Before we look at the qualities of human resource manager, let us understand their role.
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Role of Human Resource Manager
The role of an HR manager is said to be always very challenging as it involves managing people. Managing people is said to be the toughest task, and a good HR manager should do this effectively. He cannot afford to get awareness in his work. Always Exploring and learning new ways to handle and deal with the concerns of different people should be his talent or skill. Human Resource Manager often plays a pivotal role in achieving organizational goals. A Human Resource manager is always said to be a path-finder, problem solver, guide, philosopher, leader, friend, identifier, and competence maker for all the members in an organization of the human resource. A good HR manager’s role helps in the growth and development of all the organization’s employees, both directly or indirectly.
What skills should be possessed by the HR Manager?
According to Henri Fayol, a Human Resource manager should always possess human relations skills much more than any other managerial skill. He always divided the qualities that are required or should be possessed by an HR manager into the following categories given below:
- Good health, strength, and effort.
- He should have Mental-ability to understand and learn, judgment, and also adaptability he should possess.
- To be an HR, one should possess all the qualities like Moral-energy, firmness, willingness to accept, responsibility, initiative, loyalty, tact, and dignity.
- He should have Educational-general acquaintance with matters not belonging exclusively to the function performed.
- He should be characteristic.
- He should have the Experience-arising from work.
Some of the key qualities of a human resource manager are given below:
1. Knowledge and Expertise In HR
A successful HR manager should always have a proper or strong educational foundation regarding the functions of human resources. In addition to their qualifications, like having a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, an HR manager must always display a willingness to remain alongside the latest trends, ethics, and best practices in their profession, which requires discipline and dedication. Learn hr management course and enhance your knowledge and expertise in Human resources.
2. Engaging Presentation Skills
An excellent presenter is a person who can capture their audience’s attention, and also maintain their engagement, deliver the message in an effective and also in a positive manner. Effective presenters are lively, and they are also engaging. Presentation skills are particularly important to HR managers since they should always conduct training sessions for new employees. They should also present a wide variety of information to management on all the different levels in the organization.
3. The Ability to Multitask
On an average workday, a Human Resource manager must deal with many different problems such as employee’s personal complaints or answering maternity leave questions. Then he should also develop an effective recruiting strategy for a difficult position to fill the vacant job positions. In human resources, if it is not one problem they are dealing with, then it is another problem that has to be dealt with simultaneously. Every employee has issues that are most important to them. A business’s priorities are constantly shifting and evolving every day.
4. Be Able to Deal With “Gray.”
As HR managers, they will be surprised at the number of issues they have to deal with that fall into “the gray area.” Is it harassment? Was it discrimination? How do you define “reasonable” accommodation? How much time are they willing to devote to securing intermittent leave for the employees? Human resource managers are often required to make decisions with their best available information. They must also possess the wisdom to know when to seek advice from different lawyers, experts, or colleagues of HR professionals.
5. Strong Sense of Ethics
Similarly, HR managers often serve as the conscious for their organization. When it comes to following their company policies and maintaining confidential information, they must have a strong sense of ethics. To effectively do their job, they must earn the trust of both employees and also managers. Discretion and honesty are always the two main critical components of any successful Human Resource manager.
6. Strong Communication Skills
A key skill that is required by all HR managers must have been the ability to communicate with both employers and also employees. Both their written and oral communication skills must be clear, concise, and also effective to the individuals on all levels of the organization. Effective communication will sometimes include negotiation. When conflicts arise between co-workers or with the management and their employees in the organization, an HR manager must always assist both sides in finding their middle ground so that a compromise is always reached between them.
7. Leadership Abilities
As an HR director, they are said to be a leader, not a business partner. HR must be at the forefront of all that your company does. However, there is no instruction booklet, and there are no other benchmarks to measure yourself against any others. If the organization is the first to be trying something new in the industry, it will always be difficult, and also there will be a certain amount of risk involved.
8. Ability to Motivate Others
The only effective workforce is said to be the motivated one. HR must understand what does and does not motivate the employees in the organization. Motivation is not about just offering incentives but creating sustainable reasons to maintain a quality of work and fostering employees’ belief in the organization’s cause and team.
9. Strong Conflict Management Skills
Dealing with conflicts will never be pleasant. Conflicts within the workplace can always do one of two things like a.) working themselves out b.) been blown out of proportion or the organization. Being human resources managers, it will be up to us to employ our critical thinking skills to appropriately manage the conflicts inside the organization. We must always gather all the required and useful information to pinpoint the issue, devise possible solutions, and then negotiate for compromise.
10. Courage
There are some times when your career calls for you to stand firmly in the face of fierce opposition, that is, whether it may be having to conduct layoffs or opposing poor ideas from the management side. When faced with different decisions or actions, we must stand firm in our convictions and beliefs regarding what is best for our organization. These ten qualities are crucial for the modern-day, which makes a successful HR director. A human resources manager with the before mentioned attributes will have the skills that are needed for successfully guiding, supporting, and also helping their employees, which can ultimately pave the way for the organization’s success.
11. Sympathetic Attitude
A good personnel manager must have a very good approach to human resource problems. Regardless of the problems faced by all the employees, they must have a sympathetic attitude while dealing with other employees.
12. Quick Decisions
He should have the ability to make quick decisions on his ability, not depend on others. Let us take an example of a conflict between a superior and an employee in the organization. When the HR manager tries to mediate between them and tries to end the conflict, he might have to make some quick decisions. HR should always be mentally alert, and therefore they should not get caught because of their unawareness.
13. Integrity
HR is said to be the head of the personnel or human resource department, and he should always display integrity towards the organization. Honesty and frankness are said to be the hallmarks always for a good human resource manager.
14. Patience
HR Manager should be an extremely patient person and not lose his temper easily on others. When dealing with other employees, he should have a skill that is important to be a good listener, especially when an employee is voicing his concerns or problems.
15. Formal Authority
The human Resource Manager should always depend on his formal authority alone, not dependent on anyone else. However, an effective HR manager earns his informal authority by influencing people through his interpersonal skills.
16. Leadership
Good leadership skills are always essential for guiding the employees towards achieving the organization’s objectives or goals. HR should also keep people motivated and encourage them to use their skills for the overall good of the organization.
17. Social Responsibility
HR should have a sense of social responsibility. And then, he must also encourage employees to discharge their social obligations to different segments of society. However, a good human resource manager is not only about the organization. He should also need to look at the different broader human resource elements.
18. Good Communication Skills
One more essential quality of a human resource manager that everyone must possess is good communication skills. However, since a major part of the Human Resource Manager role involves interacting with different employees, unions, and management, being a good communicator is necessary for every HR.
With this, we are at the end of the blog on qualities of human resource manager. We hope that you are now better equipped with the requirements. If you wish to upskill, then get enrolled in the Executive PG Program in Management offered by Great Learning. The program is designed keeping in mind the requirements of working professionals and allows you to work on real-world projects under the guidance of industry experts. Register now!
