Organizational Behavior, 17e

The Leadership Role of HR

1. 6 Describe the leadership role of HR in organizations.

We have discussed the important functions HR departments serve in recruiting, selection practices, training and development, and the performance evaluation process. Arguably, these are an organization’s most important tasks in managing its most valuable asset—its people. However, HR also plays a key leadership role in nearly all facets of the workplace environment, from designing and ­administering benefit programs to conducting attitude surveys to drafting and enforcing employment policies. HR is on the front lines in managing ­adversarial employment conditions such as work–life conflicts, mediations, terminations, and layoffs. It is on the scene when an employee ...