Human Resource Management in the 21st Century

Colleen Carmean Says:

Won’t HR professionals need to start thinking of themselves in a diffferent way, and to begin offering new solutions and very enterprise ideas, to be seen as successful “business partner, human capital leader, and knowledge facilitator©”?

How would the profession begin practicing skills and creating practices that provide solutions that validate these roles?

May 27th, 2007 at 6:13 pm

Terry Says:

I have a question not related to this particular subject area. I have been trying to enter the HE from a K-12 background. I have been in administration for the past 12 years and have taught for 18 years and have been in this field for almost 25 years. I have a MS ED in educational leadership and I am presently the Director Of Student Services at a Christian private school in Southern Maryland. How do I break in to HE from my present position? What should I expect the path to look like and how long does it take for the normal process to take place?

Terry

May 31st, 2007 at 5:59 pm

Ed Lisoski Says:

A challenge current HRBP’s face(myself being one of them) is not necessarily gaining the knowledge required(Capella is doing a good job in that regard) but the reality of trying to apply our new academic knowledge to the realities of the workplace.

In my case, as our firm is making the transition toward an outsourced vendor to handle the HR transactional work, we have found ourselves forced to cutback existing administrative support personnel to fund the change, without the elimination of the work itself. The result is the work, albeit temporarily(the transition is due to be completed at our firm in 2010), has fallen to myself and the one remaining professional to do.

The result? We are bogged down with mind-numbing clerical functional work while being told to focus on strategic issues, analogous to trying to throw a left hook in a boxing match when you are being constantly jabbed in the nose. Hiring temporary help is out of the question due to budget constraints.

Another challenge we face as well is attempting to quantify the value of new, strategic work we do with our existing clients. Clients are accustomed to HRBP’s delivering immediate transactional results, and I find myself having to intervene when work we used to perform, now being done by internal shared services or the outsourced vendor, falls short of client expectations.

Strategic human capital analysis work I have done has been well received, but a difficulty is in quantifying its value, as the ROI requests from clients typically desire short-term gain, while the payback on strategic work is more long-term in nature.

My internal clients value my contribution; however, I realize my long-term career depends on my transitioning to the strategic role while somehow also completing the required transactional work. The result, at least for me, is I do what must be done(transactional work), getting to more strategic work when time permits, not an easy accomplishment.

May 31st, 2007 at 8:22 pm

Michael Says:

Colleen,

Thank you for your post.

Yes; to “start thinking of themselves in a different way…..” and a start point for “How would the profession begin………….”

Two (2) considerations:
1. Thinking - Many organizations have been “thinking” about HR professionals “differently” for the past 15 years. Organizational perception and attribution has, and continues to, formulate revised role for HR in 21st century organizations. Yours is a power question because to ask this question is to answer it. Current HR industry thinking, as reflected in its industry literature, appears to recycling past industry ideas and self perceptions, spinning the information to portray HRM professionals as business leaders. There appears to be little thought leadership no envisioning and/or implementing the new future of the profession.. Instead, the profession is permitting other industries, as well as the greater organization to create its future for it. The reasons the HRM industry’s professional passivity are rooted in its overall limited business knowledge, expertise, and experience, as well as many HR professionals continued and futile attempts to provide business value solely through the behaviors sciences. Unfortunately, HRM value propositions are not being presented rooted in the solid understanding of the organization’s business’s strategies, markets, and competitors, or through demonstrated competence with the organization’s products, services, and clients.

My question is: why is the HRM profession, as a whole, not producing the visionary leadership and taking the actions necessary to lead itself towards a future shaped by industries emergent requirements for human capital leadership enabling itself to be considered a viable, valued-based business contributor; human capital leader (i.e. talent acquirer), and knowledge facilitator (i.e. identifying, capturing, and deploying human capital knowledge enabling strategic and business decisions).

2. Behaving - Twenty-first century organizations behave differently than 20th century organizations. Are 21st century organizational behaviors explicit and concrete? No. Are the behaviors emergent, ambiguous, and reflective of global culture influences? Yes. How today’s organizations will emerge and which guiding principals they will use to shape their business and cultural behaviors are largely unknown. However, embedded in the daily operations of organizations, perceptive contributors can identify key trends ripe for guiding and emergent issues anticipating solutions. As I responded last week in a post, my orientation to HRM (i.e. HCM human capital managers) is HRM professionals are business professionals first and HCM professions second. I understand that many HR professional do not agree with my position; therefore, not a popular stance. However, the data trends continue to reveal that the HR profession being effectively being dismantled through internal and external strategies (e.g. HRM responsibility consolidation and reassignment, as well as outsourcing).

A first step toward stopping the dismantling of the HRM industry, as well as earn professional credibility, is to demonstrate HRM professionals’ acquisition of an integrated professional education consisting of a formal business education, supplemented by coursework in anthropology, sociology, and psychology, and platformed on business internships and line experience.

Again Colleen, thank you your question.

Thoughts……………?

June 4th, 2007 at 11:31 am

Jean Says:

Response to Terry:

Join your local professional association and particiapte in their educational offerings and committee workshops. Seek PHR certification to assist in differentiating yourself from the balance of the applicants.

June 6th, 2007 at 6:03 am

Kimberley Seitz Says:

Dr. Williams,
I have read your posts and while I believe that HR professionals are slowly beginning to realize they need to understand the basics of the business to be seen as strategic partners, I am also aware that sometimes the organizational culture is the biggest obstacle. I would also posit that the organizational culture could be their greatest asset too. For example, if the business embraces a learning approach this can greatly aid in other leaders accepting the HR as an equal partner, if the HRE is willing to embrace learning the major aspects of the business so that they can make better decisions.

What are your thoughts regarding HREs from different generations? Do you see a significant difference in the way that Generation X’rs or Y’s approach human resources?

June 13th, 2007 at 7:59 am

Jean Says:

Colleen:
In addition how will the seek to prepare themselves to actively participate at the new level? PHR certification does not have the prerequisite skills necessary for this at present.

June 16th, 2007 at 9:09 am

Red Says:

Red…

In few years we will see a result…

June 19th, 2007 at 7:18 am

Bill Thompson Says:

We had an HR program review meeting yesterday afternoon and I thought that there are just too many issues in the HR emphasis area that needs to be addressed in regular conference calls or at least our own web-space. Blogs are fine, however it would be nice to have a link that takes the HR/OD folks into their own world, where lively debate and relevant issues can surface. A place to present virtual papers as well. I think there needs to be more Organizational Development-centric courses as there is a shift in OD needing to leave the current compliance minded HR arena. Capella should be at the tip of the spear in these issues as this may help with business accreditation concerns from learners.

June 19th, 2007 at 7:41 am

Jean Says:

Colleen:
Yes, this is a tremendous paradigm shift for the profession and will require new competencies be acquired by the professionals. Proficiencies in finance, accounting, economics and marketing to name a few. What competencies do you see a requirements for the future?

July 25th, 2007 at 11:33 am

Michael Says:

Kimberley,

Thank you for your contribution.

To you points and questions.

1. Organizational cultures influence is foundation on all organizational activities. Businesses, universities, and communities are inhibited and enabled by culture. The anthological, sociological, and psychological dimensions inherent in shaping and driving culture, influence acceptance and/or rejection of emergent or suggested orientations and/or initiatives.

To your suggestion “business embracing a learning approach” relative to anything must be culturally acceptable or deemed necessary, viable or otherwise important for culture growth, sustaining or surviving. Culture will manage the introduced stimulus. That said, yes, I have enabled cultures and witnessed cultural adoption and practice of learning approaches to itself (see Peter Senge’s work on The Learning Organization http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm and http://www.solonline.org/aboutsol/who/Senge/ and Edgar Schein http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/schein.html))

Relative to:
1. “Business embracing a learning approach this can greatly aid in other leaders accepting the HR as an equal partner.” The HR professional must demonstrate knowledge, competencies, and skills perceived as valuable to culture and can add value to organizational initiatives.

2. “If the HRE is willing to embrace learning the major aspects of the business so that they can make better decisions.” Frankly, at this point in the evolution of the global business economy, HRE have no choice. Increasingly, organizational leaders have little to no tolerance for HRM professionals would do not possess business experience, demonstrate business acumen, and are unable to make measurable, valued contributions to business.

Your question addressing “Do you see a significant difference in the way that Generation X’rs or Y’s approach human resources?” Interesting question! Let’s gain perspective and applicable knowledge from engaging in discussion.

What are our Blog participant’s thoughts on this question?

August 1st, 2007 at 1:10 pm