STAFF ROLES

Staff functions exist to apply professional skill, knowledge, and budgeted resources in support of the organization’s goals. Finance manages cash flow. Marketing and advertising attract prospective customers. Sales turn prospects into customers. Customer services retain customers. Information technology provides data and communication systems. Human resources acquire and grow talent to carry out the organization’s operations.

To fulfill its responsibility, HR needs not only personal and professional human capital management capabilities; it also needs resources. A well-run human resources function starts with a strategy, an operating model, and a business plan. Then it must acquire equipment and supplies to support its operating processes and systems. Here is the rub. These tools come through budgeted funds that are the result of proposals made to a C-level executive. If HR wants to earn a share of the funds pie, it has to operate like a business with a profit-and-loss mentality. The following is a business management model that can lead the human resources director to owning the table.

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