|
Hessa Al Ghurair, Head of Human Resources at Tanfeeth, the GCC’s first Business Services Partner, delivered a keynote address at the GOV HR Summit 2013, held in Abu Dhabi.
Addressing the Summit’s principle theme, redefining the HR function in the region, Al Ghurair commented “for GCC businesses looking to achieve customer service excellence as a prerequisite for global competitiveness, it is critical that their HR function supports the achievement of this goal, given a primary determinant of such service quality is in fact, the quality of its human capital.”
Al Ghurair explained that for GCC organizationsto create such strategic alignment between business and HR goals, the HR function needs to be expanded so it delivers value at a strategic level as well as at an administrative level.
“Here in the GCC, HR is still too frequently perceived as an administrative, back-officefunction and this needs to change. For HR executives, it means comparing what their function is doing now, with what needs to be done to ensure it supports the delivery of the organization’s strategic goals.For example, HR can play a significant strategic role in the development of customer service quality through talent acquisition, specific training and continuous professional development. High quality customer service is a key competitive advantage in the UAE and the need to manage this human capital intensive function is paramount in today’s business environment,” said Al Ghurair.
As a starting point, GCC organizations can co-locate their HR representatives on the same operating floor as the customer-facing teams they assist; embedding the function as a key business partner within key verticals. This will ensure they can provide real-time support and it enables high customer responsiveness, particularly through rapid, collaborative problem solving.
“Giving such HR professionals the same Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as the business units and operational teams they support is also critical in driving higher customer service through a shared mentality across the team of “if they fail, we all fail,” Al Ghurair added.
“Having customer-centric KPIs for every employee, irrespective of role or team, and then linking their performance to financial incentives can also ensure every employee understands the precise relationship between the level of customer value they deliver and their financial rewards.”
Additionally, training programs should address specific skill shortages that cause poor customer serviceor other human capital barriers to the achievement of strategic goals, whilst performance management systems need to motivate the specific behaviors and actions an organization needs to be successful.
“In introducing new HR initiatives and practices, HR professionals need to strike the right balance between using centralized implementation and governance to promote positive and wide-scale cultural change across the organization, with the need forflexibilityso they can be tailored to the needs of individual business units,” Al Ghurair concluded.
|
New
Review
Abu Dhabi International Airport - 41°F
