HR: Which side to take - Management or officers

Of late I am thinking...which side should an HR Personnel be? This is based on my discussion with one of the my senior HR colleague on related issues. Most of the time I interact with senior management people, much higher in terms of seniority and authority and I deal with the issue related to officers (read- general employees/ non unionized category).
Sometime we tend to take side of management (intentionally or unintentionally) and ignore the cause of common officers just to make our task easier. But what happens then? We loose out our face in front of the employees for whom there is no union to fight for. Really...Isn't this our duty to put forward their concerns in front of management and get them resolved ? Management may feel bad about that, but we shouldn't be concerned about that...after all we are the 'people champion' (refer 4 pillars of Dave Ulrich). The very foundation of HR stands on the faith and hope of those officers who are not able to put up their case to higher management.
Currently I am in a manufacturing firm known for it's liberal HR policies. If I feel this here, I wonder what about the service sector (esp IT sector) where there is no history of union and labor laws...There the role of HR is even more critical....
I am still thinking...but surely, I will always see...Customer first (read- officers)

Story of getting the 'BIG' thing of my life

For last few days I was thinking...How important it is to take the right decision for getting 'BIG' thing of the life...and this is valid for every moment of our life, be it the selection of school/college, selection of science/arts/commerce for post schooling study, selecting engineering/medical stream, selection of companies/ industrial sector to work for...and so and so forth...But how many of us really think like that?...As for me, I did what my parents felt good for me till getting into engineering college....("Son! only way to get the 'BIG' thing of life is to be topper in your study, nothing less than that"....So I did that).....post that it was peers/seniors / Professors and various other's opinion....I topped Engineering because seniors/ friends told me -"that's a sure way to make it big in your life"...but frankly I never thought about - 'what is that "BIG" in my life'....So even after completing engineering and getting into one of the largest s/w company through campus recruitment, I was not satisfied . To be frank, totally confused....made the life of my manager tough..:P..(Even then got a top performer rating...thanks to scarcity of talent and high attrition rate in Indian Software sector)....No, but really I was not sure, so i always looked forward to do something more to get that 'BIG' of life. Then came a miracle, got a call from a premium B School on the basis of CAT percentile (yes that was a miracle only... :) )...There again, the same story in first trimester, I was a part of the game of relative grading.....(Really, if i get a chance to go back in to time machine, i will do it differently; for a hint, Male:Female ratio of our batch was almost 1:2; and I am still single...:( ) But then a good B School makes you think differently, and I was forced to think....What is that 'BIG' thing of my life.... and how am I going to get that? ....I thought and I thought, but then came the cruel Summer's placement....No I won't talk about that...just managed to pass it through by getting summer's offer from one of the top MNC....(Oops..again a s/w company)...those 3 days of the selection process made me feel for the first time in my life...how does it feel to fail.....but then one of my friend told me "Stop thinking too much about that 'BIG' thing of life; just do the best whatever you have in your hand" ...and I really did so, my summer's experience was totally different. Thanks to recession, I missed the sure shot Pre placement offer, but I was able to make a mark there and that too after enjoying myself fully there, without getting confused....
To be frank, from that time onwards, I have stopped thinking too far in the life. I am ambitious, no doubt about that. I still want to get something 'BIG' in my life. But that doesn't block my thinking about the work in hand- something like "Just do it" with added "Perfection"...
And this really helped me, I was able to get through one of the first few companies during lateral placement (somehow that was one of my dream companies during Engineering)...
I don't know how long am i going to stay here, may be 2 years or may be 20 years...but one thing i am sure about...I am enjoying my life , without bothering too much about the 'BIG' thing of life..Yes I want to grow up in the hierarchy, I want to get recognized; but i am getting that without thinking about that.
So for me the secret for getting the 'BIG' of my life would be living in the present and successfully completing the current assignment as the best step for getting 'BIG' thing of my life.