There is an urgent need for human resource (HR) professionals to transform their business functions and become more people-centric, a top minister has said.

According to Minister of State for Electricity and Water Affairs Dr Abdulhussain Mirza, the HR function, which was known as the personnel department in the past, used to be seen as a service provider to the other departments within organisations, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Nowadays, human capital managers are part of the mainline business function, said the minister in his opening remarks at the Sixth Annual HRM Summit 2014 Conference at Crowne Plaza Hotel.

The minister gave a compelling presentation on "Leading and Managing Change within Organisations".

He also talked about conventional change management, saying change without improvement would yield minimal results and gave aspiring HR management executives insights into effective ways in which change can be managed.

Roshcomm chief executive M A Sridhar, the conference organiser, said the event has now become a respected platform for the top minds in the HR and training sectors throughout the GCC to come together and discuss new ideas.

This year, the event also features three parallel post-conference workshops on workforce analytics, building a great place to work, retention and recognition plans.

A large number of senior executives from across industries in both the private and government sectors are attending the three-day event. - TradeArabia News Service