INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 8, ISSUE 11, NOVEMBER 2019
ISSN 2277-8616
Changing HR Roles, HR Effectiveness and its
impact on Organizational Effectiveness; A Study
of Indian Healthcare Firms
Dr. Zuhaib Ahmad, Prof Israrul Haque, Mohd Shahfaraz Khan and Mr. Akbar Ali Khan
Abstract: Researches show that HRM is a bigger concern in India. In this regard changing HR role is being reported by many researchers. Human
Resource [HR] is actively participating as a strategic business partner now as opposed to being merely a support function previously. As rightly noted,
management of Human Resource [HR] practices is vital for strategic development of organizations. It has also been advocated that in order to align HR
managers’ efforts with the overall contribution of their function, top management should evaluate HR’s effectiveness based on the role HR managers
play. Thus, HR managers’ role and HR performance indicators i.e. HR effectiveness should produce a strategically focused workforce and drive superior
strategy execution which will further enhance external Organizational effectiveness. Academically, some authors emphasize on the significance of HR
roles and organizational effectiveness and financial performance in healthcare organizations. However, there have been very few researches reporting
the changing role of Human Resource [HR] managers in the healthcare sector. Although it is a well believed notion that the role of HR managers has
changed to add value to organizational effectiveness and achieve business goals. Therefore, this study tries to assess the impact of these changed HR
roles and responsibilities on HR effectiveness and finally on financial performance of the healthcare firm. Ulrich‟s [1997] original four roles model of HR
roles is used in the context of Indian Healthcare Industry to capture this changed HR role and its impact on HR effectiveness and finally on financial
performance of the company. The findings of this study also suggests that the role of the HR professionals has changed in number of ways,
Furthermore, this study finds that this relationship is stronger when HR undertakes the Strategic HR role. The relationship between dependent and
independent variables was measured using SEM in LISREL 8.80. The theory has been tested using survey data from 70 healthcare units. The results of
empirical analyses support our claims partly.
Keywords: HR roles, HR Effectiveness, HRM, Strategic HR, Healthcare units, Hospital Administration, Organizational effectiveness.
——————————  ——————————
1. Introduction
Country like India with its overgrown population faces many
social challenges; one of the primary issues is providing
quality and affordable healthcare to its own patients [26]. India
rank 171st globally, in terms of public spending on healthcare
and its doctor to patient ratio is 1:1,674, as compared to the
World Health Organization’s average of 1:1,000. India has just
0.7 beds per 1,000 people, and 66 per cent of hospital beds
are in urban areas whereas 69 per cent of the population
resides in semi-urban and rural areas; therefore, the
challenges to deliver affordable and quality healthcare are
immense. Moreover, diverse health issues, inflating treatment
costs, overburdening of hospitals and lack of a skilled and
efficient healthcare workforce are some of the important issues
of Indian healthcare sector. Within healthcare literature, both
academics and policymakers have emphasized the
importance of a skilled, knowledgeable and committed
workforce for both the patient experience and healthcare
outcomes [32]. All the above-mentioned factors make it
significant to conduct a study which can measure HR
effectiveness and the roles played by HR managers in these
organizations. In India HR function has also undergone a
significant change in the last two decades [15, 16, 17]. Due to
this dynamic notion for the HR function, it has become an area
of interest for researchers and practitioners around the globe.
Consequently, HR manager’s role has also changed
----------------------------------------Dr. Zuhaib Ahmad, Asst. Professor, ABIMS, Aligarh, UP, India, E mail:
zuhaib92@gmail.com, 8630071479
Prof Israrul Haque, Prof. DBA, AMU, Aligarh
Mohd Shahfaraz Khan, Asst. Professor, Rustaq college of education,
MOHE, Oman, E mail: dr.mskhan.rus@cas.edu.om
Akbar Ali Khan, Research Scholar, Department of commerce, AMU,
Aligarh.
significantly and poses a dire need for deeper insight in this
area to be thoroughly researched. [55] argued that if HR
managers perform their roles well then it adds to HR
effectiveness and become a source of competitive advantage
for the firm. Based on this argument we try to find a link
between HR roles and HR effectiveness. Therefore, two
arguments are made in this paper, Firstly this study tries to
capture the role change which has taken place in the past two
decades in Indian healthcare Organizations. Secondly the
study tries to explore a relationship between HR roles [HRR]
and HR effectiveness [HRE] and organizational effectiveness
[EOE] in Indian healthcare organizations. The remainder of
this paper is structured as follows: First, we review the
literature on Indian healthcare industry, further relevant
theories focusing on changing HR roles and HR effectiveness
were discussed, hypotheses were framed on the relationship
between HR roles and effectiveness, and results were
presented of an empirical analysis based on a sample from
healthcare units. Discussion is presented in the final section.
2. Study Rationale
The evidence linking strategic HRM practices and
organizational performance in healthcare is well established,
e.g. West et al [58]. looked at staff appraisal, employee
training and team working in acute hospitals in sixty one
English hospital trusts and showed a strong association
between these practices and overall patient mortality, though
the study was not designed to determine whether this
association was direct and causal or linked to some
unmeasured variable. However there are few researches on
HR roles and HR effectiveness in Indian Healthcare Industry.
Only few examples were recorded, consequently opportunities
to understand and develop the link between HR roles and HR
effectiveness in Healthcare organizations are likely to be
missed. Secondly, Indian healthcare sector is in great demand
from around the world, India has become top destination for
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healthcare tourism this has created opportunities for HR
issues to be associated with business strategies making
effectiveness of the HR function more important than ever.
HRM specialists and the HR departments are under severe
pressure to bring about large-scale professionalized changes
[48]. With this change the role of HR manager is also changing
as Singh [44-45] revealed that HR role has gained currency in
the last decade. As the significance of HR roles increased in
India, there has been a spate of HR conferences and
seminars on the role of HR. Although empirical studies on
HRM in India relevant to the new environment have been
conducted using a variety of methods and theories, However,
these studies are few and far between [2, 47, 53]. Considering
these gigantic changes sweeping the HR landscape in
healthcare sector and paucity of research in this area makes it
necessary to conduct such research and it would be a
significant contribution to the field.
3. Research Objectives
In this study an attempt is made to capture HR role
transformation and its effects on HR effectiveness. Secondly
the conceptual model is proposed showing relationship
between HR roles and HR effectiveness in Indian healthcare
industry. In this regard an extensive literature review was
made on all the study variables.
The primary objective of the study is “To empirically examine
the impact of HR managers’ changing role on HR
effectiveness and organizational effectiveness in
healthcare Organizations”.
4. Indian Healthcare Industry
Healthcare is now the world’s largest industry – with a value
and cost three times greater than the banking sector. For at
least four decades, annual growth in healthcare spending has
exceeded GDP growth by an average of 2 percent in most
developed countries. The healthcare market includes mainly
five segments:
1) Hospitals [ Private and Public Sector]
2) Pharmaceutical companies
3) Diagnostics
4) Medical Equipment and Supply Industry
5) Medical Insurance.
India context is considered for two reasons. Firstly, in the past
two decades the HR departments in Indian organizations are
being properly structured and efficiently managed and a
transformation has been observed. During 1970s, the HR
departments in most Indian firms are administrative offices.
However, Post 1990s the scenario got changed and with new
reforms and international competition, Indian firms have been
forced to explore new HR roles. With their administrative roles
like to act as employee champions for making harmonious
workplace environment, initiatives for enhancing employee
commitment, and create organizational specific culture. They
were also made to look after the needs of top management
and play the role of strategic partners. In some organizations
change management was assigned as explicit role of the HR
department. Secondly, India is becoming as one of the most
important emerging healthcare markets. India’s healthcare
sector is expanding quickly and the country is becoming an
important destination for patients from all over the world.
Moreover, the Indian healthcare industry unlike any other
sector is primarily a “people-oriented” sector. Therefore, the
aim of this study was to develop a theoretical framework,
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which can investigate changing HR roles and the relation
between these roles and human resource effectiveness in
healthcare sector. This paper describes the concepts of HR
roles, HR effectiveness and external organizational
effectiveness in the context of Indian Healthcare Industry. This
can improve the HRM systems in Indian healthcare sector and
this research can help India to become the top healthcare
tourism destination in the world.
5. Transformation of HR Roles: Indian Scenario
Late 1990s and early twenty-first century saw a rise in the
number of research evidences highlighting the changing
nature of HR function and evolving roles of HR managers [8,
18, 21, 43]. Although HR roles have been studied
comprehensively by several researchers [9, 28, 54, 55], a
number of researchers have specifically explored the
transformations that have taken place in these HR roles in
recent times [5, 7, 8, 14, 18, 21, 33, 42, 45]. This
transformation is happening at every level and at every scale
from in-home marketing boutiques to global multinationals.
Furthermore, a number of studies have explored the changing
roles of HR managers [10, 23]. Ulrich’s model strongly
underlines the changing nature of HR activities and HR
focuses in detail [18], thus his model has been applied widely
by other researchers [10, 23]. Traditionally, even in developed
countries HR managers were said to be hamstrung by
ambiguous roles and low position power [38, 46]. Rubenowitz
[1968] reported that most of the time, personnel managers
were involved in procurement and pay related activities. But
after 1990, the condition has changed drastically and over the
last twenty years, liberal economic policies have precipitated
changes in the nature of HR function [10]. After 1997 [Post
liberalization era], Indian firms have to face hyper-competition.
[16, 49, 56]. Implementation of economic reforms had direct
implications for Indian HRM and Indian HR Managers had to
implement tremendous structural changes in their
organizations [49].
6. HR Effectiveness [HRE]
There are various other approaches as well for measuring HR
effectiveness e.g. human relations approach focuses on the
people and upholds the satisfaction of employees' needs as
the most important end or at the minimal one of the most
important ends of the organization. Under this perspective, the
effective organization is one that provides opportunities for the
fullest development of the capabilities of its human resources.
The political approach, as applied to the non-profit sector,
uses
criteria
like
responsiveness,
accountability,
representativeness, and adherence to democratic values all
very difficult to conceptualize and measure. Additional new
models are proposed and developed. These include the
multiple constituency model, the interpretation systems model
[58] and the contradiction model.
HR effectiveness measure measures the efficiency of HR
practices from the perspective of costs and in relation to
benchmark able practices. It is also agreed that HRM should
ideally work to enhance the firm’s competitive position by
creating superior human capital skills, experience and
knowledge that contribute to firm economic value. How well
the HRM function achieves these goals determines overall
HRM effectiveness. Huselid et al. [1997] define HRM
effectiveness as ‘the delivery of high-quality technical and
strategic HRM activities’.
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7. External Organizational Effectiveness [EOE]
There is still no universalistic definition or accepted model for
organizational effectiveness, since the best criteria remain
elusive because the goals and objectives of organizations are
multiple and difficult to identify [60]. However, there are two
major perspectives. The first is an external approach which is
focused on the goals of the organizations and its relationship
to its environment. This is the system resource perspective.
The second is an internal approach based on organizational
process which is focused on productivity and employee
satisfaction. In the external approach, the most widely used
effectiveness criterion for organizations is goal attainment or
goal accomplishment. Goal-attainment approaches define
organizational effectiveness as the accomplishment of a set of
organizational goals and objectives. Multiple measures of
organizational effectiveness are considered. The first measure
of performance is ROA [return on assets]. This reflects goalattainment, resource acquisition and one constituency –
investors or shareholders. ROA is the most common measure
of firm performance in management research []. Although
some studies used RONW [return on net worth] or Market
share [MSH] in measuring financial performance, all these
measures are better to measure management capability
related to profitability. As Kim recognize, ROA measures ‘‘the
relative efficiency with which the firm produces its output and
is particularly well suited to reflect the attainment of strategies
in business operations.’’ Because of its widespread
acceptance and its relative resistance to financial
manipulation, this study employs ROA as a financial
performance indicator suitable for the external dimension of
effectiveness. Secondly, external effectiveness is also
represented by the perspective of peer companies in the
business environment, i.e. customers, suppliers and
competitors. The Most Admired ranking developed by
Business standard is a well-accepted method for measuring
external performance based on peer review. This study will
examine the four roles of HR, measures of HR effectiveness
which are most related to organizational effectiveness.
8. HR roles, HR Effectiveness and External
organizational effectiveness: The Link
In the fields of organizational behavior and human resource
management, role theory has been used effectively for the
development of job description, performance management
and job design [28]. Katz and Kahn defined role behaviors as
the recurring actions of an individual that interrelate with the
repetitive activities of others so as to yield a predictable
outcome. According to role theory, employees’ roles can be
used as the basis for specifying organizational expectations
and performance requirements. Nadler [1970] made one of the
first attempts of categorizing HR roles in USA. He identifies
two primary roles of learning specialist: administrator role and
the consultant role. Afterwards, Ulrich [1997] proposed
typology on HR roles to be played that adds value to the HR
function and ultimately to the firm. The role of the HR function
has changed a lot of late. HR professionals have come to be
seen as business partners. They are expected to contribute to
the business strategy through their domain expertise. It is also
advocated that when employees’ roles are more consistent
with their effectiveness indicators, this led to greater
behavioral guidance and further leads employees to expected
behaviors and job performance [41]. If, however, employees’
roles are not aligned with their effectiveness indicators, then
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employees’ performance will fail to meet expected outcome
may result in employees’ role conflict, dissatisfaction, and poor
efficiency. Ulrich also argued that in order to create value,
delivering results and to increase deliverables of the work and
these deliverables guarantee HR effectiveness. In the light of
above argument conceptual model and Hypothesis were
framed. They are:
HSP: Strategic Partner Role [SP] has a direct positive
relationship with HR effectiveness [HRE].
HAE: Administrative Expert Role [AE] has a direct positive relationship
with HR effectiveness [HRE].
HEC: Employee Champion Role [EC] has a direct positive
relationship with HR effectiveness [HRE].
HCA: Change Agent Role [CA] has a direct positive
relationship with HR effectiveness [HRE].
HEF: HR effectiveness [HRE] has a direct positive relationship
with Org effectiveness [EOE].
9. Conceptual Model of Research
A research model may have both independent and dependent
variables. Endogenous constructs have antecedents specified
within the model, whereas the causes of exogenous
constructs are outside the model and not of interest [3]. The
model specification of the study may be given as:
SP = ƒ {HRE, EOE}
AE = ƒ {HRE, EOE}
EC = ƒ {HRE, EOE}
CA = ƒ {HRE, EOE}
HRE = f {EOE}
SP= Strategic Partner Role [Exogenous/Independent variable].
AE= Administrative Expert Role [Exogenous/Independent
variable].
EC= Employee Champion Role [Exogenous/Independent
variable].
CA= Change Agent Role [Exogenous/Independent variable].
HRE=HR effectiveness [Endogenous/Dependent variable].
EOE=External
Organizational
effectiveness
[Endogenous/Dependent variable].
In the context of deliverables, there are four key roles that
HRM professionals must play to fulfill the duties of business
partnering [10, 11, 12]. They are depicted in Exhibit 1.1. Ulrich
proposed a conceptual model of HR managers’ roles that is
based on two main dimensions: strategic focus or operational
focus, and people or process orientation. From these two
dimensions, four types of HR roles emerge. The first role, the
strategic partner, focuses on aligning HR strategies and
practices with business strategy. The second role, change
agent, refers to helping the organization build a capacity for
change. Employee champion is the third role and it implies
that HR must be the employees’ voice and should concern
itself with employees’ needs and issues.
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Fig1: HR Roles Framework by Dave Ulrich
Source: Ulrich, D. [1997]. “Human Resource Champions”. Harvard
Business School Press. Boston: MA.
10. Research Methodology
This research was conducted as a part of Post Doctoral
Research on changing roles and HR effectiveness. A
questionnaire was sent to the HR managers of the selected
companies. Respondents were not requested to identify
themselves and they were assured that their response would
form part of cumulative data. The questionnaire was based on
the items used in Conner and Ulrich scale of four roles and
Tsui measures for HRE. In consultation with HR managers and
a number of academician’s changes were made in the
questionnaire to accommodate developments in recent years.
The questionnaire was clearly divided into two sections. The
first section was designed to measure HR roles [HRR] and the
second section was designed to measure HR effectiveness
[HRE] and External organizational effectiveness [EOE] is a
composite measure of Return on Assets [ROA], Return on Net
worth [RONW] and market share [MSH].
11. Sampling Technique and Procedure

Sampling Element: Respondents of the study were
senior HR managers [one from each Healthcare firm].
 Sampling Unit: Sampling unit for the study was Indian
Healthcare sector.
 Sampling Frame: The sampling frame for the study was
derived from the annual ranking of companies in India
published in Business Standard 2018. All 150 healthcare
companies were contacted
It may be pointed out that most of the respondents belong to
relatively senior levels in the organizational hierarchy. Senior
HR managers are suited for such studies since they are
‘knowledgeable informants’ regarding strategic issues [20, 27].
Further, the responding organizations are top ranked
companies and thus, it is assumed that they have a wellorganized HR department, as suggested by researchers [39,
43]. Top-ranking organizations span across a range of
industries, thus giving a broader view and allowing for
ISSN 2277-8616
generalization of study findings. This is in keeping with
suggestions of researchers [22 25 36, 37] who opined that use
of multiple industries can help in extending the generalizability
of the findings. The empirical survey data [n=70] were
collected in year 2018 and stem from organizations operating
in different branches of healthcare industry located in India.
During the process of instrument development, face validity
and content validity was ensured. Data was collected from the
sample organizations primarily through mailing technique. In
order to collect data from the respondents, a three-wave mail
methodology was adopted. In order to collect data from the
companies identified through the above-mentioned sampling
frame, a census approach to sampling was used. All
companies in the sampling frame [i.e. 250] were contacted.
Descriptive statistics of the responses was generated through
SPSS 17.0. Confirmatory Factor Analysis [CFA] was carried
out to refine the scales and establish unidimensionality of the
study constructs using Structural Equation Modeling [SEM]
capabilities of LISREL. Presently, the utility of SEM has
increased in management researches. Its analytical approach
simultaneously combines factor analysis and linear regression
models for theory testing. In this study the relationships
between variables was measured using SEM through LISREL
8.80. For proceeding with SEM, Maximum Likelihood
Estimation [MLE] method was used.
12. Measures
a) HR roles
The model of Ulrich [1997] is by far one of the most popular
models in HRM literature. It is based on two dimensions,
people/process and strategic/operational. for this reason, we
refer to the model developed by Ulrich [1997] in order to
highlight the following roles by which the HR managers can
contribute to HR effectiveness. The roles are Strategic Partner
[SP], Administrative Expert [AE], Employee Champion [EC],
and Change Agent [CA] as independent variables.
b) HR Effectiveness
HR effectiveness [HRE] is taken as Dependent Variable. Many
studies have measured the HR department’s effectiveness in
different ways. Some researchers treat the effectiveness of the
HR department as a one-dimensional construct and measure
it in relation to HR subunit’s contribution to the successful
implementation of business strategies. The effectiveness of
the HR function was assessed with four items on five point
Likert scale. This scale was adapted from Tsui [1990]. The
coefficient alpha for this scale was .83.
c) Organizational Effectiveness
Financial performance was taken as dependent variable and
measured by an average return on assets [ROA] from financial
data, published by the business standard ranking of 1000
Indian companies. To reflect an external viewpoint of
organizational effectiveness, the rankings by Business
standard were used as criteria. The ability to assess the
relationships comprehensively provides an approach to move
from explanatory research to confirmatory analysis [Table III].
Several models specifying different patterns of relationships
between the HR roles, HR effectiveness measures and
external organizational effectiveness measures [ROA, RONW
and MSH] were tested, to determine the best fitting model.
This is defined as the degree to which the observed results
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are predicted by the model. The initial model includes all
relationships from HR roles, HR effectiveness measures
related to the different dimensions of organizational
effectiveness. Alternative models are examined until the model
with the best fit is derived.
13. Data Analysis
Structural Equation Modeling [SEM] entails two interrelated
steps: first, the estimation of the measurement model, which
refers to the relationships between latent and observed
variables, secondly the estimation of the structural model,
specifying linkages between different latent variables [13-3].
Measurement model estimates the unidimensionality, reliability
and validity of each construct while structural model involves
estimating the relation between independent [exogenous] and
dependent [endogenous] variables. The testing of the
structural model may be meaningless unless it is first
established that the measurement model holds. If the chosen
indicators for a construct do not measure that construct, the
specified theory cannot be tested [3]. Thus, the measurement
model for each construct was assessed before assessing the
structural model. For estimating the measurement model,
Confirmatory Factor Analysis [CFA] was performed. The
scales were assessed for unidimensionality and reliability.
Measurement items remaining after these analyses were
subjected to different types of construct validity [i.e.,
convergent, discriminant validity]. Once the measurement
model was validated, the researcher proceeded to the second
step i.e. estimation of the structural relationships between
latent variables of the conceptual research model. The
standardized path coefficients of the structural model were
estimated to test the research hypotheses.
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analysis is performed [3, 31, 51]. Reliability of a measurement
refers to the consistency of its items [Hair et al., 2006]. The
most commonly used measure is Cronbach’s Coefficient
Alpha, A Cronbach’s α of 0.7 is a rule-of-thumb as an
acceptable level of agreement, but many researchers require
a cut-off of .8 for a good scale [34, 35]. The reliability test for
all the constructs recorded excellent reliability with coefficient
alphas of above 0.7. Convergent validity was assessed with
the help of t value for all constructs. The t value for all
constructs was above acceptable range i.e. above [1.96]. The
structural model was estimated for all the constructs viz. HR
Roles viz. Strategic Partner [SP], Administrative Expert [AE],
Employee Champion [EC], and Change Agent [CA] as
independent variables and HR effectiveness [HRE] and
external organizational effectiveness [EOE] as Dependent
Variables. The direct impact of each HR Role [e.g. SP, AE, EC
and CA] was examined on HR effectiveness [HRE].
Standardized solutions of the structural models were used to
verify the relationships included in the hypotheses. Based on
the path coefficients, research hypotheses were tested. The
path values, GFI and CFI scores between independent and
dependent variables are given in table 1.1.
Table 1: Showing GFI, CFI and Path values and Hypothesis Status
relevant to the model
Exhibit 1.3. Showing relationships between HR roles, HR effectiveness
and External Organizational effectiveness
Relationships
Path Value
Hypotheses
SP-HRE
0.04*
Accepted
AE-HRE
0.04
Not Accepted
EC-HRE
0.22
Accepted
CA-HRE
0.06
Accepted
HRE-EOE
0.31
Accepted
Based on the path values, it can be concluded that the
strongest relationship of HR effectiveness is with non strategic
role [i.e. EC] and there is a weak relationship with all other
roles. HR effectiveness has a significant positive relationship
with financial performance i.e. EOE.
15. Discussion
14. Findings:
The measurement model was unidimensional as the Standard
loadings for all constructs after performing CFA ranged
between 0.46-0.99 [refer exhibit 2.2.]. Item loading retention
rules indicate that item loadings should be more than 0.3 and
at least three items should load on each factor [6, 52]. Once
the unidimensionality of the scales is established, an
assessment of reliability is necessary before further validation
An initial look at the responses suggested that all four HR
roles are present and being performed by HR managers in the
responding healthcare organizations. However there is a
change of emphasis as to which role HR mangers should play
more. Results indicate that all four roles affect HR
effectiveness. The research models hypothesized in the study
assumed presence of strong positive relationship between all
HR roles and HR effectiveness measures. The results of the
structural models for all roles strongly support the assumed
relationship. It was also found that HR effectiveness measures
strongly affect organizational effectiveness. This finding is
against many studies as Ramadevi [2016] states that
technological nature of this industry and the high degree of
education required to diagnose and treat illness, continuous
improvement in training and development is a key to
organizational success, HR effectiveness and national health.
This whole scenario makes non strategic HR roles more
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significant in healthcare. In another research it has been
suggested that the potential for the development of a strategic
approach towards HR and HRM in healthcare is uncertain.
Rationales for this include the historic skepticism associated
with hospital management, the limited credibility of the HR
function, its focus on a narrow operational contribution and its
peripheral position in the organization. The findings regarding
strategic roles corroborates with other researchers as
suggested by Horgan and Muhlau, [2003] that strategic
“bundle” of HRM practices, such as performance-oriented
incentives, benefits, promotion, training, and career
development, resulted in more successful implementation of
corporate strategy. The emerging significance of strategic
HRM calls for the strategic role of HR. The findings can be
attributed to the fact that it is important to note that the
conceptual research model developed for the study was
adapted from existing studies primarily carried out in the
Western context. Since the present study was carried out in
the Indian context, the prevailing dynamics could be different
from the Western market conditions. It can also be assumed
that there may be the existence of other mediating variables in
the relationships that need to be explored in future studies.
This can also be attributed to the fact that many Indian
companies undergoing transformation as they are in the
process of transition of their HR departments and hence,
nature of HR department might not have been crystallized well
enough. Empirical results presented in this paper suggest that
HR effectiveness has a positive relationship with strategic
roles and negative or rather weak relationship for non strategic
HR roles. The reason behind these findings lies in the fact that
this study was conducted in Indian context with transforming
HR departments and continuously changing HR roles in
healthcare industry. This phenomenon was also reported in
earlier studies as Pauwne [2006] also reported in the context
of European countries when they were facing economic
transformation, companies have to reorganize their resources,
transform their structures, downsize their manpower and were
experience tremendous change, the strategic contribution of
HR increased substantially and HR effectiveness is usually
associated with strategic role of HR. These findings also
corroborate with another research performed by Schuler and
Jackson [2001]. Several other authors are also increasingly
emphasizing on strategic and change oriented roles [30]
However, this does not mean that Administrative or functional
roles are now outdated. These roles still regarded as important
HR departments [Paauwe, 1996]. As it was observed in a
research on Dutch MNCs that HR managers are allowed to
play more strategic and change oriented roles and they also
got the credits to do so, if the basic HR processes were taken
care of in a cost-effective way and carried out in a effective
way. Many survey-based researches in UK and Netherlands
confirm these findings and reaffirms that HR is still playing an
important role of “service provider”. in companies [18].
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
I would like to acknowledge the help of Prof. Valeed Ansari in
guiding and providing an idea for this paper.
Conflict of Interest: Absent
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