Real Dilemma of Human Resource in Pakistan as well as abroad!

It is right that each and every company in Pakistan like to have a Human Resource Department but not much clear with what’s this department’s boundary, functions and requirements are? Just by following western management style or multinational companies it is not possible to get the desired domino effect. In Pakistan we need to modify HR functions with creativity to achieve our desire goals. We also need to train not only HR students but truly our organizations, for better use of this Human Resource Department functions.

In this ever changing competitive world it is become very difficult for the companies to become differentiated from others. Each company can have the same infrastructure, technology, policies, SOP’s, raw material and processes. The only resource which can give competitive edge to any company over the other one is its human resource. This competitive edge enables the company to sustain and increase their market share. The strategic role of Human Resource Management has been realized world over a period of time. Organizations have realized the dire need of establishing well developed Human Resource Department that can contribute toward organization’s productivity. Human Resource Department performs both core and supporting functions.

Unfortunately not much attention has been paid to Human Resource Department working in Pakistani local organizations. We are still in the process of renaming our Personnel Departments as “Human Resources”, whereas the job market is raising question: “Is HR a career in crisis?” The fact is, the role of Human Resource is evolving constantly and we need to move away from the traditionally administrative function and consider it as a major contributor in organizations successes by aligning the Human Resource goals with the Organizational Goals. But our local organization’s state of affairs is different to that of the multinationals because Human Resource here is truly practiced by multinational companies only. A few liberal Pakistani firms also have Human Resource functions but mostly intermingled and not well defined. There is an increasing trend of outsourcing the Human Resource functions like recruitment and selection, training and development. In many organizations various Western Human Resource models are applied as such ignoring the cultural difference, infrastructure difference and size of organization. Many organizations even use this department to take advantage in the form of human psychology and play with it as a strong marketing tool for the firm credibility, trustworthiness and strength. 

However, the criticisms about Human Resource seem to be the same around the world and this is at the heart of the issue.