An assessment instrument for the emerging needs of human resources professionals in a global economy

The increasing incidence of globalization in today's business world brings about fierce competition and increased pressure to perform at increasingly higher levels. This has lead organizations to the realization that if they are to achieve and maintain sustainable competitive advantage in this business environment, they will have to review the role of their Human Resources (HR) function in their organizations. This has, in turn, lead to the realization that in order to achieve and maintain corporate success in this changing business environment, the HR function will need to assume the role of business partner. The purpose of this thesis was to design an instrument that assesses those competencies that will allow HR professionals to effectively perform as business partner. The design of the instrument was based on the assumption that in order for HR professionals to perform effectively as business partner, they will have to be able to play multiple roles including those of strategic partner, administrative expert, change agent, and employee developer and advocate. Thus, the instrument assesses HR professionals' competence levels in terms of the skills required to assume each of these roles. The multiple role proposition for the HR function is reflected in current HR literature. Following the design of the instrument a Board of Experts (BOE) composed of four HR professionals was selected to validate the instrument. The ultimate goal of the instrument is to help determine the types of competencies that HR professionals will need to develop in order to help their organizations achieve higher corporate success. It is also the purpose of this assessment to help shed light on what might constitute areas for improvement in terms of strengthening higher level educational programs of HR.