Answer

Australia’s Human Resource Institute’s Model of Excellence

Australia’s Human Resource Institute (AHRI) through its model of excellence has for a considerable length of time equipped the human resource (HR) practitioners with the necessary skills required for the success of various organizations in regard to the human resource management. AHRI’s model of excellence refers to a graphical representation that entails what the HR practitioners are expected to know, what they are expected to do as well as what their peer expects from them in regards to their behaviors and capabilities Ulrich, Brockbank, Yeung & Lake (1995).  For instance, the circles of the graphical presentation according to the most recent AHRI survey gives the seven capabilities and ten behaviors that are considered to be the most essential for HR practitioners Ulrich, Brockbank,Yeung & Lake (1995).This essay assesses three major HR capabilities as given by the model of excellence and explores the reason as to why it is necessary for a Human Resource Manager to possess such capabilities. What is more, the essay also gives the evidence that I could demonstrate when applying for a graduate HR position to show that I possess this capability.

The first capability is ‘business driven’ competence, this demands that the HR Manager exhibits the readiness to channel the operations of an organization into satisfying business requirements. This quality is often demonstrated when the HR manager seems to understand all the operations of an organization in regard to its products and service delivery priorities Ulrich,  Brockbank, Yeung, and Lake (1995). Similarly, the quality is demonstrated when the HR manager seems to be having an in-depth knowledge of an organization’s goals and objectives and understands well the environment in which an organization is operating including its financial capabilities.  This capability is significant in that, it enables the HRM to drive the operations of an organization towards a competitive advantage that would enable it to realize its goals and objectives (Hughes & Byrd, 2015). Similarly, business driven capability enables the HRM to fully understand and anticipate the impacts of political, economic, social and technological changes which are essential in enabling him to respond appropriately to both internal and external influences so as to promote sustainability and organizational performance.

Another significant capability of the Human Resource Manager according to AHRI is that of the ‘expert practitioner’. This implies that the HR manager should possess the capacity to build, maintain and apply professional knowledge in regard to HR at all time (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). This capability is often demonstrated when the HR Manager uses their own internal consultant skills in translating and adapting theory into practice. The expert practitioner capability according to Storey (2014) is also demonstrated when the HR manager opposes the status quo and instead they come up with insights on ways in which organizational design can be improved to enhance the business performance. Similarly, Ulrich, & Dulebohn (2015) observes that,  this capability is evidenced when the HR manager demonstrates logical and effective problem-solving ability especially when faced with new changes that arise from the current global trends such as technological and political changes among others.  The expert practitioner capability is very essential since it enables the HR manager to readily provide solutions and insights to current global trends such as technological changes that often affect the workplaces which similarly promotes both sustainability and organizational performance (Farnham, 2015).

The third and equally significant capability as given in the model of excellence is that of being both a ‘workforce and workplace designer.’ This implies that the HR manager develops the capacity to design the workplace environment in a manner that sustains a capable workforce environment. This quality can be demonstrated by the HR manager when he plays a key role in constructing and designing jobs which are not only in line the needs of an organization’s goals and objectives but also meets the abilities and the aspirations of the individual employees within the organization. As Ulrich, Brockbank, Yeung & Lake (1995) observes, workforce and workplace designer capability is also demonstrated when the HR manager develops ways of attracting, retaining, developing and supporting their talented and capable workers by meeting the needs of the employees so as to promote service delivery requirement of the organization. Moreover, the HR with the quality also ensures that the workplace remains at all times motivating and engaging.  According to Tracey (2016), this quality is particularly significant since in sustaining productivity even in the current complex and turbulent global environment. This is because, the workforce and workplace designer capability enables the HR manager to analyze job and workplace by embracing competency focused approaches which are necessary for the development of workforce capacity for the future demands of an organization (Cohen, 2015).

Some of the evidence that I could demonstrate to show that I possess this capability if I was to apply for a graduate HR position will include the following. First, I will point out at the quality grades that I scored at the university in Human Resource Management course. This will be a clear indication that I am an expert practitioner who is very conversant with types of data used in organizations as well as all forms of financial indicators in addition to performance indicators and is therefore competent enough to apply professional skills is tackling real life situations. Also, I will describe how under my leadership, our basketball team managed to win various trophies in various tournaments in the university. This will emphasize business driven capability since our team was able to develop a track record in realizing positive results.  Additionally, I would demonstrate my workforce and workplace designer capabilities by describing how I have vast knowledge in computer programming and various computer application areas. This would be an indication of how I am capable of utilizing new and emerging technologies in utilizing workforce analytic in meeting both operational and workforce requirements.