Human Resources Committee
The Role of Human Resources in Branding
The Human Resources Committee held a meeting entitled “The Power and Potential of Branding in HR” at the Chamber premises on March 4 with guest speaker Dr. Ahmed Taher, Managing Director, Integrated Marketing Solutions.
Dr. Taher started the discussion by highlighting the importance of Perception which drives human behavior. He stressed throughout his presentation that ‘Managing Perceptions’ is the main foundation for Branding and Human Resources.
In addressing Branding, Taher defined a Brand as a “Promise that depends on consistent delivery of certain attributes that are important to customers.” The promise makes customers willing to buy more and differentiate the brand from others. Its the employees who can deliver this promise and affect customer’s perceptions. To implement the promise, companies need a Brand Contract, which tells what the brand stands for not only for the customer, but for the customer contact employees as well.
The customer contact employees are the human resource people who will deliver the promise consistently.
Dr. Taher then linked branding to HR by asking “how can HR release the Power and Potential of Branding?” For the brand to be delivered, HR has to think of the brand promise they want to deliver and choose the appropriate employees whose attributes match the brand attributes. Companies should recruit, evaluate, treat and compensate employees who not only act and live the brand promise, but who can transfer the brand to the customers. Marketing (Branding) and HR thrive on understanding people and they both use perceptions, motivations, needs, and priorities to manage behavior. Therefore, Branding and Human Resources need to work together to reach their objectives and have a sustainable competitive advantage.
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Survey shows HR often undervalued
The Human Resources Committee held a meeting on June 12 to discuss and present the findings of Ernst & Young’s “Middle East Human Capital Practices Survey 2006-07.” The guest speakers were Ahmed Hamouda and Karim Nafei of professional services firm Ernst & Young, and Mohamed Ismail of Misr Glass Manufacturing Co., a participant in the survey.
The survey, which is conducted on an annual basis by Ernst & Young, examines current and emerging human resource practices in private sector organizations globally and in the Middle East.
Hamouda opened with an overview of Ernst & Young and briefly discussed the process of transforming the human resource function in the workplace from a mechanism of compliance to one that is incorporated into the overall strategy of a company. He described the transition as a multi-staged evolution from information management and basic HR transactions to HR providing solutions to strategic business problems and opportunities.
Ismail spoke about his experience in transforming the HR function within Misr Glass. Following a collaborative evaluation, the company added HR initiatives that included a competitive compensation and classification process, an improved recruitment process, a training and development program, and performance appraisal system. Drawing on this experience, Ismail spoke of some of the common challenges that companies can face in taking a more encompassing approach to human resources, including the implementation of succession planning, acquiring and retaining talent, and driving the cultural and behavioral change that is necessary to make progress.
In closing, Nafei presented the survey’s key findings and distributed hard copies of the accompanying report. He pointed out that while 80 percent of organizations have a functional human resources department, only 35 percent consider the human resource function to be integral to the overall strategy of the company and its objectives. He also highlighted other statistics and summaries from the report concerning leadership and rewards management.
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