Introduction
Comprehending the roles and relationships between the human resources department and the finance department within an organization is critical for the success and attainment of the desired outcomes (Shleifer & Vishny, 2007). The current roles of the human resources department has become sophisticated and need more collaboration and inputs from other departments particularly the finance. Both the departments share functions ranging from maintaining relevant employment data to responsibilities in project management (Marquardt & Berger, 2003).
The main objective of the study is to examine the roles and impact of the relationship between the finance and human resources department of developing the work in an organization. Through the application of the empirical studies, the correlation between attainment of the organization’s outcome and the positive impact of the relationship between the finance and the human resources department. Thorough analysis of the study findings is expected to indicate positive correlation.
The study background
The intention of this study is to examine empirically the impacts of the relationship between finance and human resources department in work development in an organization. Though the literature point out the importance of the relationship, empirical studies have not been conducted to ascertain the premise. The study is distinct and original since the effects will be tested empirically to determine the validity of the variables. Further, the study is undertaken to add more knowledge on the vast literature that have been written in this subject area. The study will be looking into two variables, the impact of the relationship as an independent variable and the organization outcome as the dependent variable
Problem statement
The relationship between the finance and human resources departments within an organization has not been collaborative resulting into negative impacts to the organization. Most of the organization managers argue that good relations between the two departments are critical for the organizations success (Shleifer & Vishny, 2007). Whether the premise is true or otherwise remains a matter of approval. Therefore, there is need for studies to examine the effects of the relationships of the finance and human resources departments in an organization.
The purpose of the study
The study has two important purposes. First, is to evaluate the impacts of the relationship between the finance and human resources departments in an organization. Second, is to examine the roles of the finance and human resources departments. The studies have indicated that there is correlation between good relationship between the finance and human resources departments and the organization performance.
The significance of the study
The human resources and finance departments are two distinct subdivisions within an organization. Each department provides unique but critical contribution to the organization. However, the relationships between the two departments in many organizations have not been collaborative. In most cases, the relationship existing between the two departments can be described as neutral, which have negative influences on the organizations’ outcomes (Kiessling & Harvey, 2005). Therefore, establishing the significance of the relationship between the two departments is critical to the success of the organizations.
The scope of the study
In this study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches will be applied. The qualitative part will be based on the literature review while the quantitative will be based on data collected through a survey questionnaire. The survey questionnaire will be administered to the sampled population consisting of the departmental managers of finance and human resources across various organizations in UK. The qualitative information will be obtained through the literature review of the scholarly articles as well as the materials pertaining to the roles and impacts of the relationship between the finance and human resources within the organization.
In the empirical study, survey questionnaires will be the most suitable method of data collection since it is the best method of reaching the respondents within the target group. In addition, all the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Human Resources Managers (HRMs) are deemed viable. However, only 65 participants consisting of 35 CFOs and 30 HRMs will be the selected depending on various personal attributes. During the empirical study, the data collection should be given the least time possibly.
Objectives and aims of the study
Though the study have been designed to test the independent and dependent variables empirically, the objectives of the study includes
- To ascertain the impact of the relationship between finance and human resources department in an organization
- To determine the roles of the relationships between the HRM and finance departments of the organization
- To determine the kind of relationship that exists between the two departments in the modern organizations
Research questions
Upon completion of the study, the following questions will be answered
- What are the impacts of relationships existing between the finance and the human resources departments within the organization?
- What are the roles of the HRM and the finance departments in an organization?
- Is there any correlation between the enhanced relationship between the two departments and the increased organization performance?
Research hypothesis
The study will test the following hypothesis
- H1: The relationship existing between the departments of finance and human resources have positive impacts on the organizations’ success.
- H0: The relationship existing between the departments of finance and human resources have negative or no impacts on the organizations’ success.
The theoretical framework
For this research to meet its obligations, it is designed to be an exploratory and quantitative study. The reason for the choice of this methodology is due to its innovation of novel ideas that is required in the understanding of the impacts on the relationships existing between the finance human resources departments. Through exploratory study, the research will come up with new and clear concepts explaining the dynamics and processes involved in the relationships existing between the two departments and the way it affects the organizations’ outcomes. Moreover, the exploratory research will set up main concerns, build up on operational explanations and improve on the final research design.
Literature review
The interrelationship between finance and human resources management is critical for the smooth operations of the company. In fact, the human resource unit is critical in tactical planning and worldwide outsourcing decisions (Edwards & Kuruvilla, 2005). In addition, the HR department is imperative in the management of workers’ gains as well as expenses concerning their reparations. Assessing the personnel performance based on their output is another function of the HR division. On the other hand, the department of finance is essential to the operations of the organization since it avails funds needed to achieve the company’s goals. In other words, the finance units aid the company in identifying suitable pecuniary information and relay the data to aid in the decision-making processes (Shleifer & Vishny, 2007).
Generally, the functions of the financial department deal with quantifiable and substantial components of an organization whereas the human resource division that is majorly an art deals with the right brains as opposed to the left-brains. In addition, in many occasions, the financial departments have always felt ill disposed towards personnel divisions due to proficient collisions thereby hindering the smooth operations of business organizations (Tirole, 2001).
Moreover, human resource departments always face economic obstacles from the finance unit thus circumventing the execution of the company’s goals effectively. Conversely, in the case where the company incurs a number of expenses, the functions of financial unit in cutting costs face encumbrance from the human resource department who are defenders of workers through cautioning of the legal implications of such moves thereby enhancing the worth of personnel (Tirole, 2001).
Another conflict in the operations of the HR and finance divisions arises from the diverse time horizons under which the departments function. For instance, the HR unit stresses majorly on the company’s lasting initiatives and programs whereas the finance sector focuses on the interim coherent and quantifiable components of the firm that evaluate return on investment choices (Abe, 2002). Most companies recognize that human resource managers have more roles that are critical in the strategic management of the firm. As such, the HR department makes major decisions on company management even without involving the finance unit.
The Human resource is instrumental in driving growth in the firm. For instance, the HR boss often plays major roles in company meetings through resolution of conflicts arising from differences of executive board. In essence, the HR manager operates as a confidante to the management committee. In fact, performing such functions provides the human resource with an edge over the finance counterparts. As a result, the HR uses its influence in making the decisions about organizational politics and identification of the employees’ skills. On the other hand, the finance department boasts as the focal point where all funds that facilitates the operations of a firm is positioned and thus are not regulated by the influence of human resource at the executive level (Garavan et al., 2004).
In principle, the collaboration of HR and finance in the strategic planning of organizational aspects are essential in helping the firm expand and ensure smooth operations. For instance, through cooperation between the departments, the company is able to hire and maintain a number of personnel within the accepted financial strictures. In this regard, the HR and finance sectors are able to make general decisions on abilities and value as well as knowledge and progress of personnel. In reality, teamwork is an ingredient for the provision of precise pipelines of talents to the employees through training and development (Shleifer & Vishny, 2007).
Further, partnership of HR and finance enables formulation of incentive schemes in the organization by involving employees in the firm’s state of affairs and making the workforce to be in line with the company’s goals and objectives.
Achievement of better relations between the departments requires better comprehension of the organizational basics that have positive implications on the firm’s corporate strategies. In other words, the HR should develop ideas that are able to eliminate the negative attitudes that originate from the finance department (Garavan et al., 2004). In essence, brilliance in definition of the company basics is critical in influencing the involvement of the sectors in discussions. The basics encompass a work environment where the sectors support each other in their operations. For example, the HR unit should aid the finance department in the recruitment, development and training of the finance staff.
Ensuring successful relationships between HR and finance involves the formulation and promotion of metrics that show the dimension of each segment’s contribution in the expansion and operations of the firm (Gravetter & Wallnau, 2009). In addition, the finance sector should allow the HR to carry out its role on strategic issues of the organization. Moreover, professional collaboration is essential in shaping and developing the organization arrangement through exceptional training programs that are invaluable in the development of finance and HR staff.
Methodology
The research study will be exploratory and quantitative conducted to establish the role and influence of the relationship between the finance and human resources departments in an organization particularly in the work development. The empirical data will be collected within the specified number of firms in UK. In addition, the duration of data collection will be limited to 5 weeks and personal interviews will be one of the options of administering the questionnaire. In addition, the number of participants will be limited to 65 respondents and are chosen through simple random sampling procedures.
The study design
In order to examine the impact of the relationships between the HR and finance departments, this particular research study will utterly be empirical. The obligatory explorative data will be gathered across the study population selected through randomly selective procedures. A survey research technique will be drawn on while the integrated statistical analysis tools will be applied to help analyze the obtained data. By employing the survey research methods, any ensuing unanticipated research proposition will be suggested as well as formulated. The costs of the study will somehow be reduced. The research method is considered to be amongst the best given that it rarely stands a chance of disqualifying any notable alternative explanations because it surmise to the event causations.
Sample and sampling procedure
In this particular study, all the finance departments and human resources managers as well as senior executives within the organizations are deemed viable. However, only a small number of participants including 35 CFOs and 30 HRMs will be selected depending on the frequency with which they have been involved in the departmental management as well as other personal attributes including gender, age, experience and academic qualifications. From the total number of the corporation managers that may be sampled, just 65 departmental managers from various organizations will be selected via a technique dubbed as convenience simple random sampling strategy and the research questionnaire will be administered to help in addressing the formulated research questions.
Instrumentation
Data perceived to be containing the relevant research information for this study will be acquired from the primary as well as the secondary sources. In fact, as a field survey, that involves self-administration and personal interviews of research questionnaires, the pertinent primary data that include the perceived quality information will be gathered. In essence, a comprehensive exploration instrument will be developed besides being satisfactorily tested prior to embarking on the actual research study. The soundly designed research questionnaire will be used in the data collection process.
Data collection
As one of the most important studies in the organizations’ interdepartmental management, the information will be collected through administering properly designed research questionnaires through conducting well-structured in-depth interviews to the unbiased selected participants. The soundly designed research questionnaire will be administered to 65 participants constituting 35CFOs and 30 HRMs. Each part of the questionnaire will constitute key items that suitably attend to the research questions. For instance, part one will constitute whether the roles of the relationship between the two departments while part two will elicit the impact of such relationships.
Other parts will generate insights amidst offering recommendations to the organization to encourage such relationships and train the employees on the importance of coordinated relationships to augment success of the organization. Some items in the questionnaire will throw light on the reasons for linkages of the two departments and the impacts on the organization success.
Conversely, secondary research data will be acquired from the relevant organization records and other documents. For this particular case, the study intends to trace the roles and impacts of the relationships between the finance and human resources departments of work management in an organization.
Data analysis techniques
To obtain the best correlation approximation values, the study quantitative data analysis will be carried out by utilizing the integrated Statistical Analysis Tool (WISAT). Further quantitative data analysis techniques including spearman’s correlation, percentages, frequency distribution and deviations will be used to determine the research respondents’ proportions that chose various responses. The method will be applied for each group of items available in the questionnaire that ideally corresponds to the formulated research question and objectives. Line graphs, tables as well as statistical bar charts will be used to make sure that quantitative data analysis is simply comprehensible.
Ethical considerations
Like any research study, ethical issues are likely to emerge. Thus, ethical consideration is critical. The ethical issues that are likely to arise include the informed consent of the participants, the power differences between the researcher and the participants, the confidentiality of the information as well as the consent of the authorities. Looking into ways through which these ethical issues can be dealt with is critical for the success of the study.
Before undertaking the study, all the requirements will be completed as a requisite by the research committee as well as the department. In addition, all the participants will be provided with information concerning their freedom of participation using the stated standards. A letter of introduction specifying and explaining the aims of the study and the standard methods will also be provided. The letter will also provide an assurance of the confidentiality of their information. Moreover, information sheet guiding and describing the study will also be provided. The participants will also be made aware that they can remove their participation without any consequence. Lastly, the participants will be provided with letter of consent.
An approval will be sought from the responsible authority particularly the company top management and safeguards will be put in place during and after the research study to help protect the respondents and any other human subjects. In fact, both physical and emotional harm that may accrue will be given due consideration in this section by stating the basic ethical approach along with the power differentials between the researcher and the respondents as well as how the participants will be protected from any eminent abuses. Finally, the information acquired from the study participants will be securely stored and protected whereas study-finding reports will not divulge the participants’ identification.
References
Abe, M 2002, “Corporate governance structure and employment adjustment: an empirical analysis using corporate finance data,” Industrial Relations, vol.41, no.4, pp. 683-702.
Edwards, T & Kuruvilla, S 2005, “International HRM: national business systems, organizational politics and the international division of labour in MNCs,” International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol.16 no.1, pp. 1–21.
Garavan, T, McGuire, D & O’Donnell, D 2004, “Exploring human resource development: level of analysis approach,” Human Resource Development Review, vol.3 no.4, pp. 417–41.
Gravetter, F & Wallnau, L 2009, Statistics for the behavioral sciences, Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA.
Kiessling, T & Harvey, M 2005, “Strategic global human resource management research in the twenty-first century: an endorsement of the mixed-method research methodology,” International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol.16 no.1, pp. 22–45.
Marquardt, M & Berger, N 2003, “The future: globalisation and new roles for human resource departments,” Advances in Developing Human Resources, vol.5 no.3, pp. 283–96.
Shleifer, A & Vishny, R 2007, “A survey of corporate governance,” Journal of Finance, vol.52 no.16, pp. 737-783.
Tirole, J 2001, “Corporate governance,” Econometrica, vol.69 no.6, pp. 1-35.
Appendix
Appendix 1: The Proposed Time Schedule
Appendix 2: The Draft questionnaire
Declaration
My name is ….and I am presently completing my MBA dissertation.
I have obtained permission from the company’s management to engage you in the research survey I am currently conducting.
This questionnaire is purposely designed to generate some insights and equally offer amicable support to my research proposal on the study topic, “The role and impact of the relationship between finance and human resources department of work development in organization.” The information provided shall be treated with confidence, will be classified, and the research findings will assist the company’s management to improve on its daily operations. Filling each part of the questionnaire will only take you about 5-10 minutes.
I really appreciate for taking your time to participate in this dissertation by completing this study questionnaire as honestly and professionally as possible, thank you!
Personal details
Tick your gender as appropriate:
- Male
- Female
Your name and surname: _______________________________
Designation or occupational position: ______________________
Service duration: ____________________________________
Date: ____________________________________________
Part one: To investigate the correlation between organizational human resources department and the finance department
From the research objective, please attend to the followings questions by ticking or responding as appropriate.
- Q 1.01: Does the company management strive to increase harmonious relationship between the HR and finance department?
- Yes
- No
- I am not sure
- I don’t Know
- Q 1.02: Does the company’s current policies and rules provide the HR and finance departments with additional flexibilities to increase the collaboration?
- Yes
- No
- I am not sure
- I don’t Know
- Q 1.03: How does the company attain its current level of efficient links between the HR and finance departments? Through its:
- Innovative culture
- Bureaucratic culture
- Community culture
- I don’t Know
- Q1.04: Does company encourage training and development in the HR and finance departments as a means of enhancing good working relationship?
- Yes
- No
- I am not sure
- I don’t Know
- Q1.05: How does the company restructure its HR and finance departments to boost the relationship between the departments? Please, briefly explain your answer and view.
- —————————————————————————————————————-
- Q1.06: Do you think the company encourages innovative culture to boost the effective operations between the HR and the finance sectors? Please briefly explain your answer and view.
- —————————————————————————————————————-
Part Two: Impact of the relationship between the HR and finance departments on the organization’s output.
From my dissertation topic incorporating the impact of the relationship between the HR and finance departments on organizations output, kindly attend to the following questions. [Please mark as appropriate]
- Q2.01: Do the HR and the finance departments take into consideration the relationships existing between them before making the company output decisions?
- Yes
- No
- I am not sure
- I don’t Know
- Q2.02: Do you think that the HR manager consult with the finance executive prior to taking any actions that affects the organization’s productivity?
- Yes
- No
- I am not sure
- I don’t Know
- Q2.03: Does the company leaders fail to recognize the significance of the HR and the finance departments even when they are faced with problems concerning productivity?
- Definitely
- No
- To some extent
- I don’t Know
- Q2.04: Does the organizational leaders ask for suggestions from the HR and the finance departments on how to improve the company’s output?
- Agree
- Disagree
- Do not know
- Q2.05: Does the organization total annual output increases because of the relationship existing between HR and finance departments?
- Strongly Disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly Agree
- Don’t Know
Part Three. To investigate other aspects of the correlation between the HR and the finance departments
From the study objective incorporating the role and other aspects pertaining to the impact of the relationship between finance and Hr departments kindly respond to the following questions
- Q3.01: How does your organization increases the working relations between the HR and finance departments?
- Offering incentives to different the departments of the firm
- sacking uncooperative employees
- offering training to the employees of the two departments
- I don’t Know
- Q3.02: The organization HR and finance departments hardly do anything to make the work environment and assignments pleasant to encourage individual employees to improve on their performance and output.
- Strongly Disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly Agree
- Don’t Know
- Q3.03: The organization usually treats every department equally and offer constructive and useful feedback to boost the company’s output.
- Strongly Disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly Agree
- Don’t Know
- Q.3.04: The organization leaders maintain specific performance standards between the HR and the finance departments to help boost the company’s productivity.
- Strongly Disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly Agree
- Don’t Know
- Q3.05: In your own opinion, do you think the firm’s efforts and support directed towards helping the HR and finance departments accomplish their development plans and tasks are sufficient and rewarding? [Please tick as appropriate and briefly explain]
- Yes
- No
- —————————————————————————————————————-
- Q3.06: In comparison to the previous year, how can you describe your general job and client satisfaction today based on the recognition of the relationship between the HR and finance departments? (Tick as suitable)
- Much less satisfied
- Somewhat less satisfied
- Same satisfaction level as last year
- somewhat more satisfied
- Very Much satisfied
Thank You Very Much For Your Dedication and For Taking Your Time to Support My Study.