In your opinion, does the law provide the right amount, not enough, or too much protection for the employee? Is the law too intrusive into how businesses and organizations operate?

The cover story of the February 08 edition of Human Resource Executive offers “The HR Personality…Differences That Could Impact Your Effectiveness.” On page 22 of the article author Scott Flanders writes “Data…suggests HR executives may not be as naturally business-driven as other executives. HR leaders are significantly less ‘”enterprising”– a personality trait that measures a persons interest and comfort level with sales and commercial activity.”

In my teaching, speaking, and authorship I’ve offered the idea “you can make a business professional and HR professional; however it is challenging to make an HR professional a business profession.”

The global organizational mindset trends toward business first; HR second.

What are your thoughts?

What are your experiences?

What recommendations can you make concerning enabling HR professional to become “business/HR professions?”

Michael

Today SHRM posted the following statement “…If some Members of Congress have their way, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will be applicable to many more workers. The proposed ADA Restoration Act would change the definition of “disability” from the current standard of “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual” to simply “a mental or physical impairment.”

Proponents of the bill believe this change is needed to “restore” the ADA to its original intent, following a few Supreme Court decisions that narrowed the Act’s coverage since its enactment in 1990.

These cases include Sutton v. United Airlines (1999), which established that employers can consider mitigating measures (such as eyeglasses) when determining whether an individual has a disability under the ADA, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc. v. Williams (2002), in which a unanimous Supreme Court clarified that an employee must be limited in major life activities, not just “a limited class of manual tasks,” to be covered by the ADA.

SHRM opposes the ADA Restoration Act, as currently drafted, because the legislation would expand the disability standard to cover individuals with minor impairments. This could dilute an employer’s ability to provide appropriate accommodations to persons with the most serious disabilities…” (Fragment).

Weblink: http://www.shrm.org/government/update/020808_4.asp

Restoring the ADA to its “original intent” present challenge, benefits, and questions for companies. In your opinion, is restoring the ADA to its original intent will enable business growth and organizational competitive advantage?

Thoughts?

Best regards,

Michael

However, teaching assumes that the teacher possesses the knowledge, competencies, and skills necessary to instruct others to achieve content and/or skill competence.

Human resource management, as a discipline, embraces varied topics (e.g. employee relations, staffing, compensation and benefits, and training and development). This breadth of topic area challenges HR professionals to become life-long learners in order to remain informed, in turn effective as a teacher.

How do HR professionals acquire the “knowledges” necessary to effectively teach others to competence?

I invite your thoughts, stories, and recommendations.

Please feel free to provide personal experiences, cite authors, and/or post weblink(s) aligned with you contribution.

Michael

Question: In your opinion, must HR professionals possess a solid business education, applied line or field business experience, and business acumen, supporting HR competencies and skills, in order to make value-based contributions to their organizations?

Thought leaders globally are articulating their responses to this question.

What do you think?

Please feel free to provide personal experiences, cite authors, and/or post weblink(s) in support of your position.

Michael

Organizations of all types are experimenting with, implementing, and refining outsourcing strategies in order to achieve competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Organizations using outsourcing strategies have experienced fiscal gains through organizational restructuring and increased service efficiencies resulting in new perspectives and innovation strategies focused on driving organizational and human capital productivity.

Globally, human resource professionals have been impacted by outsourcing. The new perspectives and innovative strategies focused on driving organizational and human capital productivity have influenced how company’s organize themselves and execute business. It also has reshaped how organizational leaders perceive the role and responsibilities of human resource management professions. Increasingly, many organizational leaders perceive outsourcing as an efficient mechanism to increase productivity, accountability, and efficiencies while decreasing expenses, ineffectiveness, and inefficiencies.

Similarly, many human resource management professionals perceive outsourcing as an ally; an ally in talent acquisition, human capital development and knowledge management practices. However, other human resource professional’s view outsourcing as a nemesis; a force of retribution and elimination emerging after decades of human resource management professionals limited strategic leadership, focus on employee advocacy, and minimal business contributions.

In 2006, I developed and delivered a presentation for a global financial service company’s national client conference. In the presentation introduction I wrote:

“The 21st century knowledge age is like no other in commercial history. Organizations of all types are being called upon to operate in increasingly complex global environments characterized by decentralized leadership, innovative human capital management, and the necessity for human resource professionals to function as thought leaders, business partners, change agents, and enterprise enablers.

The rapidity and pervasiveness of organizational and marketplace change challenges businesses and stakeholders in every industry to continually reinvent themselves in order to remain competitive. Marketplace, organizational, and employee challenges to organizational survival are numerous and dangerous. As a result, organizational enablers, specifically human resource professionals, must anticipate and manage the scope, power, and unintended consequences of often irrational and fragmented challenges to business and cultural advancement, which if not addressed, could result in business inefficiency and promote cultural chaos.

Human resource management outsourcing has emerged as an organizational challenge. Increasingly, HR professionals are being challenged to demonstrate their value proposition to business productivity and enabling competitive advantage. Through outsourcing HR functions not explicitly aligned with achieving business goals, HR professionals can focus on relevant, mission critical activities.

Outsourcing provides HR professionals with motive and opportunity to realize, perhaps the first time, the strategic and tactical potential inherent their emergent role as business partner. In order to realize these potential, HR professionals must evaluate their current competencies and skill base relative to meeting the business knowledge and performance expectations associated with succeeding in the 21st century global marketplace.

The 21st century HR profession is on the verge of a renaissance of relevance. Outsourcing human resource activities that do not drive business results provides HR professionals with opportunities to demonstrate business relevance and organizational leadership. As outsourcing advocates, HR professionals will be positioned to influence the scope and focus of outsourcing strategies in their organizations. By so doing, they can build organizations possessing generative and adaptive capacities and enable competitive advantage.”
©Michael Williams, 2006

My thoughts concerning outsourcing; its emerging role in organizations and its influence on reshaping organizational leaders, human resource management professionals, and organizational stakeholder’s perceptions and actions concerning the roles and responsibilities of human resource management professionals in 21st century knowledge age organizations, is a place to begin the dialogue and discussion of this topic.

What are your thoughts?

Please feel free to provide experiences you believe will enhance our exploration of this topic.

Thank you.
Michael