Human resources (HR) as a function have gained great importance in many organizations than ever before. Some organizations regretfully though have changed their nomenclature of the Personnel Department as Human Resources without being committed to its meaning and functions.

Human resource as a function has no more been just a support function or a cost centre but has taken a visible identity of being a strategic function in every professionally and successfully performing enterprise. 

A human being is therefore not a source of a certain limited output but a resource capable of immense effort. Organizations who consider themselves as HR-oriented would consider firing (other than for ethical, moral or legal grounds) as a painful last resort, and endeavour to optimize on the human resource in many ways.
Here we endeavour to provide quick indicators to check whether your organization meets up to the challenge of the true function of human resources.

Therefore, the questions to ask ourselves are: Is HR part of our strategic initiatives towards achieving our business or organizational goals? And do we involve HR in our strategic planning and decisions? Organizations that have HR departments who receive the direction and plans to implement actions do not fall into this category.
Furthermore questions that HR departments need to ask are: Do we develop a strategy in line with the Vision, Mission and Values of our organization in the seven core areas of our function, i.e., planning, procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of people resources, or are we busy in getting visas, quotas, travel, insurance etc., which are more of administrative aspect of the job.

HR is the key driver to optimize on human potential and in all aspects of the business process where people are involved. HR departments should therefore not just be implementers of business decisions related to people, but be involved in influencing, changing, altering, correcting or navigating all business processes which motivate people towards the Vision, Mission and the Values of the organization.
Measurement of HR strategies, initiatives and performance has always been an issue of debate. Many organizations have come out with HR Score Cards that have convinced business leaders that HR as a function can make an impact that can be measured and managed too.

There are many organizations in Oman who consider HR as an important part of the business success. Businesses also need to realize that we have a corporate commitment to optimize on the HR potential of Omanis.
Oman as a country has embarked upon an effective education system that ensures that bright Omanis can take up excellent careers and contribute their talent to the growth and development of the country.

The challenge lies in optimizing on the school leavers, undergraduates and those who are capable to work, but do not have the educational qualification. The question here is: Is HR as a function flexible enough to optimize on these resources to the advantage of the business and thereby fulfill the corporate responsibilities towards the country?
One of the most efficient way to acquire talented people is not by gauging the potential of the person merely by qualification and experience but by identifying people who meet the job competency. Countries/organizations which have embarked upon knowledge, skill and attitude-based HR initiatives have been able to tap on talent which otherwise would have gone ignored by just filtering for qualification and experience. This does not mean that qualification and experience are not important, but that we should broaden our horizon on the search for talent availability and focus on the knowledge, skill, attitude and ability the job requires that need to match or be developed in an individual to perform.

Though education enhances our knowledge, and educational institutions provide those inputs, we do need skills which sometimes are not part of the curriculum that would make us employable and available to the employment industry.
Another challenge is that most often the talented people have the knowledge and skill, but the attitude is not in line with the organization’s commitment. The greatest challenge is in this area where in we need to develop the attitude towards work, towards a job, towards a career and towards being focused and committed.
The run is always to either fit the jobs to people or people to jobs. In both cases, if a competency-based effort is embarked upon, with emphasis on the value of an individual, if that aligns with the value of the organization be it a profitable business enterprise or a non-profitable government ministry or department, it would optimize on the talent towards a definite increase in the profitability and productivity of the enterprise.

So as a country, do we have a knowledge inventory and skill inventory of people, and could we develop those in shortage? What attitude is required to work in profit and not for profit organizations, and can we assist individuals to develop those attitudes and behaviors to be successful?
Organizations need to first identify those job competencies and levels before they even look at employing such talent to ensure that there is performance, motivation, retention and sustainability of the human resource.

So how geared are we:
to identify Human as a resource?

to consider HR as an important function in our organization?
to consider HR as a strategic functional partner of an enterprise?
to use strategy in all the core HR functions areas?
to optimize on the talent pool not by education and experience alone but by competency levels? and
to develop those competencies to make individuals employable and valuable to an enterprise?

This benchmarking would make us develop strategy both as a nation and as individual organizations to prepare ourselves to the challenge of considering human as a resource and optimizing on that resource to the good of one and all.