Comments on: Bill Boorman and The 9th “Wonder” of the World

By: HRM Today - Blog Archive » Over There

HRM Today - Blog Archive » Over There — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:18:14 +0000

[...] ground without him and his help. Bill was also generous enough to contribute a post on HR called The 9th Wonder of the World. It was a very interesting perspective on the currenet state of human resources, written from [...]

By: Have You Been Over There Yet?

Have You Been Over There Yet? — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:43:52 +0000

By: mikevandervort

mikevandervort — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:20:14 +0000

Bill, my dear boy….you should be able to bottle and sell this!

Maybe this is the problem. the HR fraternity is spending too much time and energy on the politics and justification of purpose and not enough on definition. I was interested to note that there was little written about what HR do for the employees – current and future. To me, this should be the essence of the HR Role. I think the role will be different in every organisation but essentialy this should be the focus from strategy through to delivery. HR should encompass all things people rather than all things political.

By: Bill Boorman

Bill Boorman — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:14:09 +0000

Wow,
Not the responses i was expecting but interesting just the same, not been called “My dear boy” for some time. (Since i was a boy in fact, some 30 or so years ago!).
When i wrote this post i had not considered the political arguments, the man/women imbalance or political corectness. Maybe this is the problem. the HR fraternity is spending too much time and energy on the politics and justification of purpose and not enough on definition. I was interested to note that there was little written about what HR do for the employees – current and future. To me, this should be the essence of the HR Role. I think the role will be different in every organisation but essentialy this should be the focus from strategy through to delivery. HR should encompass all things people rather than all things political. Those in an HR Role should define what they think their role is and how far responsibilities (and accountability) should reach to identify what you should be delivering. Once this is identified you can then plan and deliver as the link between the company and the employee. The bigger the company, the more roles will be needed such as dedicated recruiting. To me, this is still HR under a different name, co-ordinated by a head of HR who has some teeth at senior level.
One real challenge HR does face (and i was very familiar with this in corporate life) is that in perception terms it is often the case of HR as the messenger of the can do, and can’t do, and as the messenger getting shot! You need to be clear that you are communicating THE law not YOUR law! There is a part of the role as a bastion of protecting the company from littigation. HR Depts will be judged by how many times the company fails in a law suit, and as such you are the protectors and the educators. This will never make you popular.
HR needs deffinition in the organisation and you should be a part of that deffinition process. At the moment it seems very vague to an outsider.

Shoot me down then!

@BillBoorman

By: mikevandervort

mikevandervort — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:26:47 +0000

Wow, I wish @BillBoorman were here to write the replies!

@Lisa – let me know when you flesh it out. You know you will!

@Beth – I agree. You are already at the table. Act like it!

@Mervyn – already replied to you. Look forward to seeing your blog posts!

@Paul – Soylent Green is people. People are HR. HR looks and acts like people. We need to be better if we are the leaders and influencers of people.

@FrankZupan – You have hit the nail, as they say, dear boy. HR by its very role is compelled to be the servant of all, the master of none. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work. And when you lead by mastery and create nothing, people see you as useless bureaucracy. That needs to change.

@Steve – C’mon, in the real man’s world, men make things or tell people what to do and stuff like that. Men who can’t do that obviously go into the more “nurturing” departments where they will fit in better!

@Jessica – Building relationships never hurts

By: Jessica Miller-Merrell

Jessica Miller-Merrell — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:03:12 +0000

HR is very much right now in a transformational period and growing division where there are haves and have nots. The haves are strategic thinkers who are business-minded and focused on creating revenue generating growth to the business through recruiting, retention, training and development, and leveraging social media. The have nots are biting their nails over dress code policy and planning employee anniversary and birthday parties. Until the have nots get the hint, the industry will never be taken seriously as a strategic business partner.
It is important for HR to become an leader and emerging function of the business and must do this by moving beyond their desk and understanding the business and building relationships with leading professionals both inside and beyond the HR industry.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR
@blogging4jobs
http://www.blogging4jobs.com

By: Steve Boese

Steve Boese — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:25:00 +0000

It is interesting that some of the professions that are male-dominated (hard sciences, engineering) see a constant stream of initiatives aimed at increasing the participation of females in the related educational programs. These of course try to effect the gender balance in the professional ranks of the discipline. But has anyone ever seen a program for increasing the number of men in HR? Does society place a higher value on science and technology, and thus promoting more women into those professions can be generally seen as important, and beneficial for everyone?
Why are there no calls from educators or national HR organizations to ‘Get more men in HR’? Is it more of a societal issue that we consistently de-value what are perceived to be ’soft’ skills that make up most of the HR function?

By: Frank Zupan

Frank Zupan — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:15:34 +0000

BB: “What does HR do?”
FZ: Whatever the business strategy requires, my dear boy.

Certain business strategies and cycles require HR to be innovative. By using progressive methods and tools to attract, retain, and develop human capital within the organization, HR can be a key contributor to the growth of any enterprise.

Conversely, other business strategies and cycles require HR to be “steady state”, protector of the realm, mitigator of risk, and defender of the corporate honor. A qualified employment attorney always helps in this mode.

Yet other business strategies and cycles may require a composite of various competencies, tasks, and objectives. Imagine heading HR whilst acquiring a like-sized firm and being given the mandate to trim headcount by 20% in order to finance the transaction. This would require HR to successfully balance growth, protection, and reduction all in one strategy/cycle.

You correctly point out that HR has changed considerably over the past generation. I believe successful organizations through this time period (read Good to Great by Jim Collins) demonstrate adaptability of HR, and thus adaptability of the entire organization. Taking this thought further, we may progress the inquiry from “What does HR do?” to how does HR do it?

By: mikevandervort

mikevandervort — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:22:24 +0000

@Mervyn – You have nailed one the main causes for the “downfall” of HR. The HR leadership at too many companies tends to focus on these like prevention and risk avoidance rther than expending energy and resources on things that will improve their service delivery or expand their value proposition as an organization, like doing more for the employees.

By: Paul Paris

Paul Paris — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:21:22 +0000

Has HR become the way it is because of the Company or is it because of our Society? Isn’t part of the reason many HR areas are the way they are today because of society and culture.
Those days as Bill said when HR was a place to go when you needed a hug or talk to someone about an embarrassing problem have long gone. They have now become a place where people are afraid to give advice or put their arm on someone’s shoulder and say don’t worry kid or don’t worry Paul or Mary just do your job and things will work out. Why, because of fear of being sued or that if they go back to the Manager and they question their authority about what is happening in an area it get blown out of portion, escalated up to their boss and all of a sudden what the HR person thought was a let’s see if we can resolve this matter is now a let’s see who has more power battle. We live in time when you are guilty until you are proven innocent. People suing Companies and Coworkers have become a norm; people don’t feel comfortable disclosing issues for fear of repercussions. Corporations have HR employees attend classes on how to avoid conflicts in the workplace yet reprimand HR when they don’t step in and stop a conflict from happening.
HR Generalist in many companies have become Workplace Coordinators who have less responsibilities and smaller salaries. Recruiting in many Companies is an area unto itself and no longer considered part of HR.
HR outsourcing has become something many companies started to move towards where in an effort to save money people have now become SS#’s for someone in a call center in a foreign country who don’t know you from the next caller but has all your personal information.
Society and how people have responded to the change in our society today is making matters harder for HR. Many HR professionals have built a wall around themselves and let no one in. In this time when the internet has become the easiest way to communicate people no longer pick up a phone and say hello they either ask you to leave a voicemail message or send them an e-mail, tweet or text message.
I remember working for a company who had a staff of about 450 employees and everyone knew one another and would look out for each other as they expanded to be a leader in their industry they later merged with another company. It was obvious the clash of personalities was going to be a problem. After a couple of months it began to happen and HR was being inundated with complaints to a point that one day when I came to work there was a lock on the entrance to the HR Department and you could only get in if buzzed in by security. How sad that the department where people would go and talk about their problems or seek advice became a place where no one wanted to listen anymore.
I speak to many HR Professional who are part of my Social Network and through SHRM, many of whom are unemployed and they can’t understand why they are having a hard time finding work as are many others but sometimes I wonder if it will take some of these HR people longer to find a job because perhaps they were that person who whenever a Recruiter would call to try and get a contract or a employee would need to speak with someone they were that person who never had the time or didn’t need outside recruiters helping them do their job but now they need them to find one. Like I said the other day on Twitter” HR is a large Industry but a small world” people remember how they were treated.
So while Employers have had a lot to do with the change in HR looking at them as the place to lay the blame when Corporate Mishaps occurs. Society and it’s perception of HR has in my opinion is the biggest contributor. After all has anyone not ever heard a Hiring Manager say that HR has never done anything for them?