Leadership, Innovation, and Evaluation in HR Strategic Development

This essay critically evaluates the role of leadership and innovation in strategic human resource development, focusing on the importance of evaluation in HR practices. It discusses leadership models such as transformational and autocratic leadership, analyzing their impact on organizational need...Read More

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION
Leadership and Innovation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

Introduction
The role of the human resource department in any corporation or organization is of
exceeding importance as this is the department that is responsible for the recruitment of
employees that assist an organization in the achievement of its goals and objectives. As such
it is the human resource department of the organization that undertakes the responsibility of
hiring and even firing employees as and when needed (Bratton & Gold, 2017). The human
resource department of an organization is usually run by two to three individuals who possess
the people skills that are needed to attract the right pool of talent to the organization in order
to fulfill the organization’s goals and objectives. When analyzing the responsibilities of the
HR department of a company, the specific role that is played by evaluation in the
performance of HR duties becomes very important to understand (Braveman et al., 2017).
Evaluation goes a long way in helping HR managers and executives to understand what it is
that an organization needs in terms of talent and man power and the steps that need to be
undertaken to make sure that the needs and requirements of the business organization are
duly met (Cascio, 2015). This essay analyzes the important role that leadership has to
play in the operations and duties that are carried out by HR managers in business
organizations with special reference to the role of evaluation in human resource
development. The report concludes that without evaluation, it would be impossible on the
part of HR Managers to determine what type of man power, whether skilled or otherwise, is
required by the company and when it is required.
1. Discussion of Leadership Models and their Relation to Organizational Needs
Two of the most important leadership models that come into play when meeting
running business operational are the transformational leadership model and the model of
autocratic leadership. The latter demands absolute submission from employees and provide

little scope for flexibility in terms of employee behavior at work, while the former
encourages employees to grow and evolve with the organization, with freedom being given to
employees to express their views and suggestions on matters of importance for the
organization (Boon et al. 2018). The transformational leadership model is seen to work best
for organizations as it makes employees feel included or a part of the organization they are
working for and gives them the motivation and the incentives that they need to take the
organization in forward direction (King & Nesbit, 2015).
2. Understanding Key Issues that Influence Leadership Learning and Development
in an Organization
Some of the key issues that influence leadership learning and development in an
organization include the type of tasks or operations that are run by a business, the personality
of the employees who are working for the organization and the type of influence that the
personality of the leader is likely to exercise. A business that deals in the provision of goods
and services that have be innovated upon frequently to retain customer interest will benefit
from transformational leadership (King & Nesbit, 2015). A business which deals in finance
will benefit more from autocratic leadership, with there being little or no need for
diversification or innovation to bring about an improvement in services. A business where the
employees are well disciplined will function well under transformational leadership. A
business where workers are poorly disciplined requires autocratic leadership to ensure that
business operations are carried out with efficiency (King & Nesbit, 2015).
1. Impact that Leadership has on Corporate Strategy to Secure Competitive
Advantage

The company’s leadership determines how competitive a business intends on being to
take on its rivals suitably at the market place, and human resources are inducted and managd
accordingly at an organization on the basis of this. An understanding of external market place
factors such as competition or the political and economic factors that are likely to influence
the operations of a business organization over the long term is also something that is
facilitated through evaluation (Wiesner et al., 2017). HR executives and managers undertake
evaluation of employee behavior, performance and work practices every now and then to
suitably understand how best the organization can compete with its rivals in the market.
Competition and how to deal with it in the best possible way is what is particularly well
understood through the role of evaluation. If HR managers and executives are careful enough
about keeping track of the external environment and its manner of functioning, it will be able
to provide the top level management of the company with the guidance that it needs in order
to compete with rivals suitably enough and prevent turnover of employees as much as
possible. For this purpose, HR managers and executives have to engage and to network with
their colleagues as much as possible (Noe et al., 2017). They have to reach out to HR
executives and managers working at other or related organizations in order to undertake an
evaluation of the external environment and they need to be familiar with employees on a
personal level as well (Cascio, 2015). The latter in particular is a mode of behavior that helps
HR executives to understand who among the employees are likely to stay on and serve the
organization over the long term, and who among the employees are likely to leave the
organization for better opportunities at the earliest possible instance. To carry out such
evaluations, HR managers and executives need to be cordial and friendly in their approach
and in their behavior towards others. They need to be kind enough and inviting enough for
employees to want to come up and talk to them whenever it is that they face issues within the
organization (Brueller et al., 2018). The more understanding and friendly HR managers and

executives are, the more successful they are likely to be at taking the evaluations that have to
be carried out to determine who are the employees who are assets for the organization, and
who are the employees who are using the organization to further their goals and ambitions
only for the short term. The disposition of HR managers goes a long way in helping them to
succeed and arrive at accurate estimates and understandings when evaluating the external
environment and employee behavior (Bratton & Gold, 2017).
Owing to the fact that company managers set the standards for hiring employees into
the company, it becomes the onus of HR managers in particular to make sure that candidates
are recruited who are in keeping with the culture and work ethics and practices that the
company’s leadership demands from its employees (Braveman et al. 2016). Evaluation helps
human resource managers and executives to recruit the right employees for the job. It is by
undertaking an in-depth evaluation of CV’s and the soft skills of employees that HR
managers are able to understand whether certain individuals will be suitable for taking up job
roles within a particular organization (Braveman et al., 2016). For this purpose, the entire
process of recruitment is one that is carried out by the HR managers and executives. It is the
HR managers who short list candidates for interviews, who send out calls for the recruitment
process and who speak to the candidates in person when they arrive at an office for an
interview (Wiesner, 2017). By taking an interview, much of the evaluation work is done on
the part of the HR managers as far as the recruitment of new talent is concerned. When taking
the interview, and by noting down all the responses that are made by the employees and by
observing their body language as well, the HR managers are able to gain an understanding of
the strengths and the weaknesses of the persons who are being interviewed and deciding
whether or not recruiting such a person into the organization would be a good idea (Banfield
et al., 2018). Often, the recruitment of the wrong employees for a job results in a high rate of
employee turnover, something that no organization can afford to suffer from if it intends on

achieving its business goals and objectives in a timely and efficient manner. By undertaking a
careful evaluation at the time of recruiting new talent into an organization, HR managers and
executives are able to select the right individuals for specific job roles and in doing so, they
prevent the organization from suffering from a high degree of employee turnover
(Amarokoon et al., 2018). The people whom they select for interview and for final selection
are people who the HR managers are convinced, are capable and trustworthy individuals who
are never likely to let the organization down by giving in their resignation immediately or at
very short notice (Noe et al., 2017). Careful scrutiny and evaluation at the time of selection of
candidates puts HR managers in a position to decide whether the people they are interviewing
are trustworthy or not and whether or not they are capable of serving the organization well
over the long term. The interview sessions are usually preceded by other rounds of evaluation
such as an admission test, which is for the most part, a written test (Bratton & Gold, 2017).
2. Understanding the Co-Relation between Leadership and Evaluation for Human
Resource Development
One of the most important roles that leadership is seen to play when it comes to the
performance of HR duties is the fact that it enables HR managers to understand when it is
that employees require effective training and how such training is to be imparted. The leaders
of an organization set the standards according to which business practices are to be carried
out in an organization. Employees are to be trained in such standards as established by the
company’s leadership, and it then becomes the responsibility of HR executives to arrange for
training methods and means that can best provide employees with the skills and techniques
they need to work in accordance with the set standards of the organization, as envisaged by
the company’s leadership. Training forms a crucial part of the professional development
process (Cascio, 2015). Training is offered by companies and organizations for those who
work for them in the form of lectures, training sessions and workshops. Training sessions are

usually known to be of quite an intensive nature and are conducted by experts and specialists
in the world of business who possess the qualifications and the skills that are needed to
provide employees with useful guidance on how to best perform their job roles at the
organization ("Performance Evaluation and Planning | Human Resources", 2019). The lecture
sessions and the training sessions that are organized by the company are those that are paid
for from the company’s exchequer as a result of which a lot of care has to be taken on the part
of HR executives and managers to ensure that the training that is being organized for
employees is something that they are certainly likely to benefit from over the long term and
that it can position them to achieve the business objectives and goals of the organization far
better than they were able to prior to having undergone such intensive training sessions
(Collings et al., 2018).
2.1. Leadership determines Employee Weaknesses and Shortcomings through
engagement for the purpose of Training and Development
The transformational leadership theory advocates that leaders engage with employees
on a one to one basis to understanding their needs and requirements the best (King & Nesbut,
2015). Managers during their interactions with employees can often identify areas of
weaknesses, often which can be addressed through training and development. In order to
determine who are the employees of the organization that are in dire need of training or who
could perform better if they were provided with a bit of training, the company leadership
collaborates with the HR management of the organization who in turn carries out an intensive
evaluation procedure according to which the merits and the demerits of every employee
working for the organization are identified and put together and analyzed (Jabbour& de
Sousa Jabbour, 2017). Only the most deserving candidates out of the selected list of
employees are handpicked and sent for training so a lot of care has to be taken on the part of
HR managers and executives to choose the right people for being trained ("HR Evaluation

Methods", 2019). For this purpose, it is not enough for HR executives and managers to
conduct a random evaluation of employee performance but to also engage with employees on
a one to one basis in order to understand where it is that the employees are coming from, and
what kind of training facilities are likely to suit their performance in the organization the
most (King & Nesbit, 2015).
2.2. Leadership Assesses Employee Capabilities for Appraisals and Awards
A crucial role that leadership has to play in an organization is the assessment of
employee capabilities. The task of scrutinizing the employee base of a company and letting
the top-level management know of the most high performing employees in the organization is
the task of the top level management (Noe et al., 2017). HR managers have to be diligent in
this respect, understand what it is that is expected by top level managers from the company’s
employees and then proceed to evaluate the performance of employees on a quarterly or on
an annual basis to determine which are the employees that are worthy of incentives, rewards
and recognitions and which are the employees that need to be acknowledged by the
organization at the earliest possible instance in order for the organization to be able to retain
such a talented pool of employees over a long period of time (Singh et al. 2016). Employee
retention is one of the key goals of the most successful business organizations in today’s day
and age and the role of evaluation proves to be particularly handy for HR executives when
they have to zero in on and locate employees in the organization who perform the best and
who are worthy of respect and acknowledgement (Singh et al., 2016).
The role that evaluation has to play in helping HR managers to carry out an
assessment of employee capabilities is also something that appears to be rather useful when it
comes to awarding appraisals (Wiesner, 2017). The appraisals are awarded on a yearly basis,
and are based entirely on the performance of an employee throughout the year. By keeping

track of an employee’s performance on a month by month basis, HR executives are able to let
the top level management of a business organization know which of the employees of the
organization are worthy of a high appraisal and who are the employees that do not deserve a
very high appraisal percentage (Boon et al., 2018). The top level management of an
organization tends to rely very heavily on an HR department where the awarding of
appraisals is concerned, and here, the role of evaluation is of vital importance (Taylor et al.,
2015).
Thus, the crucial importance that leadership and evaluation holds for HR duties
and responsibilities is something that cannot be denied. Evaluation in particular has a vital
role to play in the formulation of HR strategies and plans, as without undertaking a suitable
evaluation it will not be possible for HR executives and managers to understand who all
should be recruited to an organization, how employees should be prepared to handle
competition and how best an organization should be guided with regard to the treatment of
employees so that it is able to retain employees over a long period of time and avoid a high
employee turnover. By taking part in intensive evaluation sessions, and procedures, the HR
managers and executives are able to understand the external and internal market environment,
the talents and the disadvantages that are associated with specific employees and the means
that need to be adopted in order to recruit the right employees into an organization and keep
them working there for as long as possible. Evaluation is especially important for awarding
incentives and appraisals as the performance of an employee cannot be ascertained unless
proper evaluation measures are put in place by the HR department for this purpose.

References
Amarakoon, U., Weerawardena, J., & Verreynne, M. L. (2018). Learning capabilities, human resource
management innovation and competitive advantage. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 29(10), 1736-1766
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2016.1209228
Banfield, P., Kay, R., & Royles, D. (2018). Introduction to human resource management. Oxford
University Press. https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=DY9HDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=human+resource+management+&ots=
amqlcuQh1Y&sig=l0r1MSrrPwdDZoTWOd1YDdEOVCQ
Boon, C., Eckardt, R., Lepak, D. P., & Boselie, P. (2018). Integrating strategic human capital and
strategic human resource management. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 29(1), 34-67 https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=DY9HDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=human+resource+management+&ots=
amqlcuQh1Y&sig=l0r1MSrrPwdDZoTWOd1YDdEOVCQ
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave
https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=SJpMDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Bratton,+J.,+%26+Gold,
+J.+(2017).+Human+resource+management:+theory+and+practice.
+Palgrave&ots=YvSySax2o1&sig=WC5M4-UzPpmi3rVYXreezqJPXyw
Braveman, B., Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Kielhofner, G., & Taylor, R. R. (2017). Program
evaluation research. Kielhofner’s research in occupational therapy: Methods of
inquiry for enhancing practice, 410-423. https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=BkvoDQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Braveman,+B.,+Suarez-
Balcazar,+Y.,+Kielhofner,+G.,+%26+Taylor,+R.+R.+(2017).
+Program+evaluation+research.+Kielhofner
%E2%80%99s+research+in+occupational+therapy:

+Methods+of+inquiry+for+enhancing+practice,+410-
423.&ots=W8ULxA0kGh&sig=ZqupA20qopE3s9QugBHHYxrNkoc
Brueller, N. N., Carmeli, A., & Markman, G. D. (2018). Linking merger and acquisition
strategies to postmerger integration: a configurational perspective of human resource
management. Journal of Management, 44(5), 1793-1818
Cascio, W. F. (2015). Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
http://www.academia.edu/download/6473908/583915094.pdf
Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T., &Szamosi, L. T. (2018). Human resource management: A
critical approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315299549/chapters/10.4324/978131529
9556-1
HR Evaluation Methods. (2019). Retrieved from https://bizfluent.com/list-6742834-hr-
evaluation-methods.html
Jabbour, C. J. C., & de Sousa Jabbour, A. B. L. (2016). Green human resource management
and green supply chain management: Linking two emerging agendas. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 112, 1824-1833
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652615000566
King, E., & Nesbit, P. (2015). Collusion with denial: leadership development and its
evaluation. Journal of Management Development, 34(2), 134-152
https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/JMD-02-2013-0023
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource
management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Education

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ariadne_Tsambani/post/What_would_be_the_be
st_approach_to_support_leaders_in_processes_of_change_and_organizational_develo
pment_through_eLearning/attachment/59d6341579197b8077991c40/AS
%3A377864680689667%401467101368871/download/51.pdf
Performance Evaluation and Planning | Human Resources. (2019). Retrieved from
https://hr.duke.edu/managers/performance-management/university/performance-
evaluation-and-planning
Singh, S., Olugu, E. U., & Musa, S. N. (2016). Development of sustainable manufacturing
performance evaluation expert system for small and medium enterprises. Procedia
CIRP, 40, 608-613.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212827116001578
Taylor, T., Doherty, A., & McGraw, P. (2015). Managing people in sport organizations: A
strategic human resource management perspective. Routledge.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781134709052
Wiesner, E. (2017). Evaluation and development: the institutional dimension. Routledge.
https://content.taylorfrancis.com/books/download?dac=C2017-0-50930-
4&isbn=9781351290432&format=googlePreviewPdf