With all the innovations of today’s world especially when it comes to HR, it is a really difficult to keep up-to-date. One of the main challenges is maintaining the effectiveness and influence of the HR function and most of the it is being put called into question. A variety of studies, articles and reports over the last several decades have pointed out that HR is often an administrative unit, which adds little strategic value. There are some who have taken this with a step further, saying that the HR executives frequently clash with others in the organization due to a lack of business understanding. In fact, according to a CEO a few years ago, he called HR the “BPU or Business Prevention Unit.” He also complained that his HR executives were good at identifying what not to do but were poor at identifying what should be done to make the company more profitable.
The point here is that, when talking about the re-setting the Human Resources Function, a number of forces in the business environment have also opend new opportunities for HR to become a truly significant contributor to the performance of organizations. To be competitive, organizations increasingly depend on their ability to be agile, and be creative in the way they manage and organize their people. These are areas where HR can and should be a source of expertise. There is a great need for talented HR professionals who understand business strategy and are able to use data about talent management to impact organizational effectiveness. But in order for this to happen, there must be a reset in the way the HR function is managed and structured.
Another fact that is lived by HR is that it needs to recruit and develop individuals with the same level of business competence as those in other functions, e.g. marketing, finance. To do this, salaries must be comparable to those in finance and marketing (not the lower ones that are currently offered).
HR also tend to have soloed career tracks; that is, individuals simply move up the hierarchy within HR departments, often specializing in one of its areas: benefits, compensation or training and development. Talented HR individuals don’t tend to rotate out of HR into other functions and they very rarely become general managers or CEOs.
Also, there is a need to reconsider the type of your corporate structure because in the typical corporation today, HR spends a great deal of time on administrative activities, assisting managers throughout the organization with their personnel management activities. Because it is demanding, this type of work almost always takes precedence over work concerning strategy development and analyzing how talent affects organizational performance.
Generally, it is now a reality that the HR should be divided into two groups: one that handles administrative and support services, while a second handles strategic talent management, organization design and sustainable organization effectiveness. The second should be headed by a chief organizational effectiveness officer, who reports directly to the CEO.
HR is a vital part of business. If there is a priority part that should be given focus and concentration when it comes to development and innovation, then HR is on top of that list.
