An exploration of the role of human resource management in the South African motor manufacturing industry

Abstract

This study focused on the role of human resource management within the South African motor manufacturing industry. Human resources has emerged as an important component in terms of evaluating and assessing the competitive assets of organisations. Human resource professionals, by virtue of their knowledge of human performance, are well positioned to exercise strategic leadership and contribute significantly to the organisation’s competitive advantage. Although human resources have been part of organisations for generations, the role that human resource professionals play in an organisation varies from organisation to organisation. Much literature have already discussed the evolution of human resources and human resource management yet little research has been undertaken in the South African motor manufacturing industry pertaining to the role of human resource professionals. The goal of the study was to explore the role of human resource management in the organisation (the South African motor manufacturing industry). The overall objective of the study was to explore the role of human resource professionals within the South African motor manufacturing industry according to the perspective of both business leaders as well as the human resource professionals in the organisation. This study consists of two articles: Article 1: Exploring business leaders’ perspective on HRM and the contribution made by HR professionals within the South African motor manufacturing industry Article 2: Exploring the role and contribution made by HR professionals as perceived by the HR employees within the South African motor manufacturing industry A qualitative research design from a phenomenological approach was followed to reach the objectives of this study. The interpretivist paradigm was further utilised to assist with the execution of this research study. The research design and approach allowed the participants to express themselves by sharing their own experiences. A purposive, voluntary sample of 15 (N=15) participants for both Article 1 and Article 2 was drawn from a motor manufacturing organisation. Eight participants participated in the research for Article 1 and seven participants participated in the research for Article 2. The data collection process was performed through semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Thematic analysis was used in order to analyse the data for the two research articles. For Article 1, two main themes were extracted from the interviews. The results for Article 1 (i.e. theme 1) indicated that human resource professionals – although the business leaders have an expectation of what they believe the role and functions human resource professionals should be performing – these roles and functions are not necessarily fulfilled or executed by the human resource professionals in the organisations. The sub-themes that emerged were: industrial relations, organisational structure, payroll, performance management, recruitment and selection, succession planning and career development, training and development, trusted advisor and reliable source of HR information and advice. The results for theme two indicated that business leaders confirm that there are many limitations and gaps between their expectations and human resource delivery. The sub-themes that emerged were: a lack of credibility and trust in human resource professionals, lack of planning and being reactive, a lack of understanding and awareness between business leaders’ expectations and human resource delivery, not strategic enough, and too much paperwork/administration. The results further show that as a result of these limitations and gaps, human resource professionals do not deliver at the level that they are expected to and they are therefore operating at a functional rather than a strategic level. The two main themes that were extracted from the interviews for Article 2 are set out as follows: Theme 1: Human resource professionals’ perception regarding their role and contribution made to the organisation; and Theme 2: Challenges that limit human resource professionals from performing their roles in the organisation. The results for Article 2 indicated that human resource professionals perform more administrative roles than strategic tasks. The results further show that although human resource xiii professionals would like to add value to the organisation by getting involved in more strategic initiatives, they unfortunately are not operating at that level. The sub-themes that emerged were: administration/paper-pushers, fire fighters, industrial relations, and organisational structure. The results for Article 2 indicated that human resource professionals feel that their contribution is not seen as valuable or credible by the business leaders in the organisation. The sub-themes that emerged were: not seen as valuable or credible, not regarded as an area of expertise, not being involved in decision-making, a lack of formal human resource strategy, a lack of planning, a lack of support, operating in silos. Recommendations with regard to future research and practice were made