Human Resource Management in the 21st Century
Fact or Fiction?
What’s the Human Resource Management blog about?
2007 May 14 Posted by Michael
Welcome to Human Resource Management in the 21st Century!
This blog is about change and transformation focused on the human resource management industry and human resource professionals.
Change - continuing the profession and professional change that is evident and progressing globally, and transformation; transforming HR professionals into business -based, human capital professionals prepared to and capable of making informed, data-driven, business focused decisions regarding human capital management. Then, integrating this business-based orientation toward human capital management with applied business-specific experience in order to addresses three (3) emergent 21st century HR imperatives: (1) deliver business-focused, human capital strategies using the languages and best practices of business, law, technology, and culture (i.e. finance, economics, accounting, employment law, IT systems, and change management); (2) acquire, develop, and retain self-lead and immediately productive human capital assets; and (3) enable cultural and individual high performance through the research - driven best practices.
A key result of meeting these three HR imperatives is individual and organizational competitive advantage.
To realize the result, HR professionals will need to re-educate, retool, and re-engineer themselves or face extinction. HR professionals will need to redefine their role in the profession and acquire specialized knowledge and skills in business, psychology, and technology. There is no alternative approach to ensure the continuance of the profession. In the past 5-7 years, organizations of all types have increasingly demonstrated little to no tolerance for HR professionals lacking a relevant value proposition, not fluent in business knowledge, or possessing limited to no applied business-specific experience. Moreover, in many organizations, HR professionals can no longer behave as reactive, cost-centered service providers. Instead, the organizational mandate articulates HR professionals must be proactive, profit-centered focused business professionals, specializing in human capital management and employing business analytics to deliver integrated, value oriented business and cultural solutions.
This professional reengineering constitutes a metanoia or “shift of mind.” A shift of thought and behavior from HR generalist to human capital (HC) leader. Moving from HR generalized, knowing “a little about alot” relative the HR and business, law, IT, and culture requirements, as well as frequently responsible for non-business related activities not measurably aligned with organizational productivity or enabling competitive advantage to a human capital (HC) leader. Human capital leader, possessing sophisticated and practically acquired knowledge, competencies, and skills related to and integrating value-based components of business, law, IT, and culture into relevant, cogent, and implementable human capital oriented strategies and tactics enabling business growth, cultural maturation, and increasing competitive advantage.
For HR professionals; this metanoia translates into the postulate: Human capital professionals are business professionals first and human capital professions second.
This ideas, as well as others I’ve proposed in this section may be provocative and for some; stimulate self reflection concerning the current state and possible future states of the HR profession. Perhaps, it poses the following two (2) questions:
1. How do HR professionals existing knowledge and skill portfolio align, or not align, with the operational requirement of the 21st century organizations; and
2. Where will we lead the profession?”
Yes, where we lead the profession! You’ll notice that above I introduce the descriptor “human capital (HC) leader.” Twenty-first century organizational cultures; be them Fortune 50 or small companies, require constituents to be leader-contributors. Leader-contributors who are at once entrepreneur and team partner; thought leader and plan implementer; change agent and center of stability. Organizations have little tolerance for non-value-related contributors or activities.
These are exciting and challenging times for human resource professionals.
The HR profession has been challenged to demonstrate relevance and value or be outsourced.
Ironically, this challenge holds a key for transforming human resource professionals to human capital leaders. What is the key? Outsourcing. Outsourcing is the HR profession’s ally. Unfortunately and frequently, HR professionals perceive outsourcing, specifically HR-related outsourcing, as an enemy - a tool for dismantling HR departments and/or rendering HR obsolete. In truth, HR professionals rendered themselves and the profession obsolete by not embracing the new professional, educational, and experience realities of becoming a human capital leader. I will introduce data supporting this view in the HRM Blog for dialogue, discussion, and debate.
The themes of change and transformation related to the HR profession will invite us all to explore a plethora of HR-related topics. A key goal of the HRM Blog is to encourage exploration! Perhaps, this blog will require it! Require exploration as a path to discovery and creating ideas, methods, and tools for powerfully and efficiently responding to global business community’s challenge concerning profession-business relevance.
In recent years, domestically, significant professional development trends have emerged advancing the quality; in turn, relevance of the HR profession. Several trends include the 2007 SHRM / AACSB alignment concerning HRM curriculum standards for HRM programs be offer in business schools; legal training programs aimed at enabling HR professions and attorneys to effectively partner to address an increasingly litigious workplace; and for the first time, Fortune 500, as well as other types of organizations, recruiting HR professionals into internal leadership development programs.
This blog will introduce these, as well as other topics, that are perceived as critical to changing and transforming the HRM profession.
To get us started I will be introducing three questions in my next blog postings. Please check back soon.
There’s much to discuss, synthesize, and bring forward to shape Human Resources in the 21st Century!
Let’s begin the dialogue.
Best regards,
Michael
Who’s Who?
I’ve asked Dr. Jean Gordon and Robert Bigelow to co-lead the HRM Blog conversation. I encourage you to engage each or all of us. We’re here to advance, change and transform the HR profession. I believe you’ll find Jean and Robert knowledgeable, innovative, and challenging discussion partners.
The content of the above blog posting is the property of Michael Williams.
Share This »8 Responses to “What’s the Human Resource Management blog about?”
Robert Says:
I think HR professionals have no choice but to take this responsibility. It is not just a matter of professional survival but being on the cutting edge of a very exciting time of change where the role is being redefined. HR professionals must decide what the definition and role are. It is an opportunity to self-define.
Jean Says:
Continuous learners and achievers will be the ones who stand up to accept this responsibility, but my concern is about the “general population” how will we motivate them to step up to the plate?
Alan Says:
It’s simple. Senior HR practitioners lack credibility at the senior dinner table. The host, which include the CEO, COO and CFO possess an MBA. The senior HR practitioner usually will have an MS in Human Resource Management. All MS HR graduate programs should be changed to MBA with an emphasis in HR. HR practitioners want to discuss reducing soft cost and cost that is not immediate. CEOs, COOs and CFOs want to talk immediate. All serious HR practitioners should begun their career as a benefit specialist on their way to the top. The experience will serve them well as a senior human resource practitioner. Benefits is the primary opportunity for HR practitioners to show their worth in salt. The route to being invited to the senior table is simple. I have said this for years.
Alan Says:
I forgot one critical point from an earlier posting. HR practitioners are eager to implement new ideas in organizations. They often fail to ensure they have gained credibility with other senior leaders prior to trying to implement ideas. Practitioners need to learn and understand the business they perform the HR function in. Senior HR executives must be able to talk about more than HR issues at executive meetings. Think operations first and HR second. Keep in mind that a CEO would rather have a person who understands the business working in HR role as oppose to a person who has a human resources degree. Think and talk like an accountant first and HR second.
Scott Says:
In reading Alan’s response, I found myself experiencing “deja-vu”, as I had a similar conversation with Michael at the Phoenix Colloquia in June of last year. As an HR leader with an MBA and one who serves an an Adjunct HR Instructor at a State University, I have found that far too often HR professionals “fall into” the vocation out of circumstance rather than intentionality.
Many of my students completed HR courses for all of the wrong reasons (based on their impressions of the HR vocational learning as a path of least resistence). In fact, the vocation suffers from a legacy of “super administrators” rather than business thinkers and innovators. “Super administrators” are not equipped to make decisions or recommend strategic measures that their CFO, COO, Marketing, or Legal counterparts often represent in their own compelling value propositions.
David Oliver Says:
To realize the result, HR professionals will need to re-educate, retool, and re-engineer themselves or face extinction. HR professionals will need to redefine their role in the profession and acquire specialized knowledge and skills in business, psychology, and technology. There is no alternative approach to ensure the continuance of the profession. In the past 5-7 years, organizations of all types have increasingly demonstrated little to no tolerance for HR professionals lacking a relevant value proposition, not fluent in business knowledge, or possessing limited to no applied business-specific experience. Moreover, in many organizations, HR professionals can no longer behave as reactive, cost-centered service providers. Instead, the organizational mandate articulates HR professionals must be proactive, profit-centered focused business professionals, specializing in human capital management and employing business analytics to deliver integrated, value oriented business and cultural solutions.
The question I have in the response of HR professionals need to redefine there role in there profession. How do we as HR personnel make that change and where do you see it 5 years from now?
Hans Dekker Says:
I often get the feeling that we talk to much about what we as HRM professional want to achieve and perhaps because of our training and profession forget to actually go out and do it.
I confess, that I found myself feeling powerless as HRM guy in a changing environment. Doing cleanup work while in fact I had to be sitting in a drivers seat…. Then it dawned on me that sitting there doing the lousy cleaning up wasn’t doing myself or my profession any good. I have a vision and the only way that I can bring about the change needed is by “just doing it”
This might seem to simple HRM is not about KISS, but getting out and actually placing myself uninvited on meeting lists did help to get our department being taken serious. We are part of a solution now, and actually asked for our opinion on strategic matters outside of HRM.
Acting as if HRM is we are as equal as any other didn’t raise much questions. We were a party to be considered the moment we acted as one..
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Welcome to the Human Resource Management blog. This site is about change and transformation within the human resource management industry and human resource professionals. We hope you find this site informative and engaging, and welcome your suggestions and comments.
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Jean Says:
This will require leadership within the HR Profession. SHRM has some interesting writing on Leadership and Strategy, for example:
Issues in HR: Business Leadership & Strategy
http://www.shrm.org/login.asp?clickth=http://www.shrm.org/leadership/Default.asp
My concern is are we as a profession prepared to take this responsibility?
May 18th, 2007 at 9:04 am