《111-2 GHRM608》 HR Life Cycle and What Does an HRBP Do?

On week 11, the Human Resources Competency Development class (GHRM MBA), instructed by Professor Shyh-Jer Chen and Professor Heidi Chang, welcomed Jerry Tsai from STMicroelectronics Taiwan and Jerry Huang from Texas Instruments Taiwan. STMicroelectronics, with its headquarters located in Geneva, Switzerland, is the largest European semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. Similarly, Texas Instruments is a global semiconductor company that designs, manufactures, tests, and sells analog and embedded processing chips, headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Mr. Tsai is currently the Market HR Partner at STMicroelectronics Taiwan. He has approximately 7 years of HR experience in various organizations, such as Google Taiwan, Medtronic, and Texas Instruments. His expertise includes talent acquisition, development, and engagement; handling employee communication; and partnering with leadership teams to provide people solutions. Mr. Huang, the other guest speaker, is currently the Talent Management Manager at Texas Instruments Taiwan, with his role covering HR management in Korea, Taiwan, and South Asia. He has been working with Texas Instruments for over 8 years, starting as a recruiter and moving up to the current manager position. Over their careers, they have both gained considerable experience in a variety of enterprises. Furthermore, they are both notable alumni of the Institute of Human Resource Management at National Sun Yat-sen University.

Mr. Tsai and Mr. Huang started their lecture with a short introduction to their academic and career backgrounds. Then they gave an overview of the HR life cycle and what an HR business partner does in a work setting. They emphasized that in building one's capability at the workplace, the most effective time allocation of on-the-job training, informal learning, and formal learning is the "70-20-10 learning concept". This means that the majority of skills should be learned on-site by doing the actual job and learning by doing all the tasks (70%). Apart from growing as individuals, Mr. Huang and Mr. Tsai also shared the essence of focusing on common skills, such as how to treat a team (Know it, Grow it, Inspire it, Involve it, and Reward it) or succession planning.

They also highlighted the difference between an HR Generalist and an HR business partner. HR and HRBP have overlapping roles in terms of employee care and leadership. However, the biggest difference between the two is how they divide responsibilities and assist unit supervisors in improving employee performance. In general, HR is responsible for functional tasks and has expertise in various departments of the company. On the other hand, HRBP focuses on a specific business unit and has a thorough understanding of it. As a strategic partner, HRBP assists unit supervisors in manpower promotion and scheduling, which makes their responsibilities broader but more in-depth. To be more specific, The HRBP has three core roles: strategic business partner, operational expert, and employee advocate. It plays a crucial role in representing the company, unit supervisors, and employees simultaneously and serves as a strategic assistant to the company or as a representative of employees' opinions. The HRBP's primary responsibility is to integrate the company, business units, and employees to achieve synergy.

Mr. Tsai and Mr. Huang concluded the talk by providing the actual case study where the manager and employee had some conflicts. Students were separated into groups, and their shared goal was to devise a solution and mechanism for resolving the disagreement if they were now HRBP. All groups came up with fantastic and innovative ideas while avoiding shooting at any of the conflicting parties. During their enthusiastic lecture, the class was highly engaged and gained practical advice. The case study session was interactive, with engaging discussions in and outside of class. The class highly appreciated their efforts to come to Kaohsiung and share valuable experiences.