Human Resource Management (HRM) Functions in Organizational Development and Sustainability in Nigeria
Authors: Amadi Azukoye Prince 
Published: January 2024

As the issue of organizational competitiveness and sustainability in today’s business environment became crucial in all markets, the need to implement the strategic role of human resource management function in organizations becomes a prerequisite. The research problem defined by the authors refers to the definition of the roles that human management function performs in organizations in the Republic of Nigeria in order to examine the level of representation of the strategic role of human resource management function as a prerequisite for sustainability. The main objective of this paper was to define the characteristics of each of the three roles that the human resource management function plays in organizations in Nigeria. This will enable organizations to define more specifically the goals that need to be achieved in order to improve the role of the human resource management function from being administrative to operational and from operational to the strategic one, which is the basis for gaining a competitive advantage and sustainability. Human Resource Management (HRM) is an area of organizational science that deals with the study of all aspects of employment by implementing various activities aimed at aligning the interests of employees with the organization’s strategy. [1] The role of the human resources management function has evolved over time from a traditional and exclusively administrative role, through the modern human resource management in which it had an operational role, up to the strategic role of integrating all activities with the strategic needs of an organization. [2]. It is generally accepted that the basis for gaining a competitive advantage and sustainability is the implementation of the strategic role of human resource management in organizations. [3]. Accordingly, the impact of the human resource management function is observed in relation to its strategic importance for the organization. [4]. Depending on the various circumstances and levels of economic development, the role of human resource management was different. In market developed economies, the role of human resource management is an important strategic function, while in less developed economies, the role of human resource management was under a major influence of the government and administration. [5]. The market of Nigeria, as well as markets of other countries in Central and Western Africa, are becoming attractive for foreign investments. Numerous studies of the role of human resource management function in Western and Central Africa, show a shift in focus from an administrative to a more modern approach to people management. [6]. Since Nigeria became a member of the ECOWAS network, which deals with comparative research of human resource management practices as early as in 1975, with the aim of defining similarities and differences between different countries, primarily in Europe. Numerous researches show positive shifts towards a more modern role of human resource management in organization. [7]. In the research of the impact of human resource management function in relation to its strategic importance for the organization and sustainability, three key issues were defined that are related to the place and status of the human resource management function in top management, the level of participation of the human resource management function in the development of the organization's strategy and the level of participation of line managers in its evaluation and implementation. By analyzing the research studies in Central and Western African countries, especially in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic, Niger, Togo, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Angola and Gabon; the authors noticed that there are two key shortcomings. The first one refers to the insufficiently clear boundaries between the administrative, operational and strategic roles that the human resource management function plays in organizations in terms of its integration with the strategic needs and thus the impact it generates in organizations. Namely, the mentioned research studies were focused on the administrative (personnel) and strategic roles of the human resource management function in organizations, neglecting the third role which represents the second development phase in this field and function of human resource management, and which aims to develop and formalize the processes of human resource management in organizations. The second one refers to defining the characteristics of all three roles that the human resource management function performs in organizations. In this paper, the authors focused on overcoming the identified shortcomings, and taking the work of Gooderham et al., and CRANET networks as a baseline for defining the strategic impact of the human resource management function. For research purposes, they defined the characteristics of all three roles and created an extended questionnaire intended to determine if the role of the human resource management function in an organization is administrative, operational (functional) or strategic. Defining the characteristics of each of the three roles that the human resource management function plays in organizations in Nigeria will enable organizations to define more specifically the goals that need to be achieved in order to improve the role of the human resource management function from being administrative to operational and from operational to the strategic one, which is the basis for gaining a competitive advantage and sustainability. Given that the research studies have shown that there are numerous differences that determine the role which the human resource management function assumes in an organization and thus also of the corresponding processes, the authors wanted to examine some of these specifics in the organizations in the Republic of Nigeria. The paper is structured in five parts. The first one deals with defining and analyzing the three basic roles that human resource management can play in an organization with an emphasis on the strategic role that, according to researches, affects the achieving of a competitive advantage and sustainability. In the second part of the paper, the authors introduce readers to the role and practices of human resource management in organizations in Nigeria. The third and fourth parts of the paper deal with research conducted in 86. organizations in Nigeria with the aim of determining the role of human resource management as well as defining the characteristics for each of the defined roles. The fifth part of the paper refers to the discussion about the results and the concluding considerations of the author.