CONNECTING THE DOTS

Finding new tools to manage employees

BY Jayashantha Jayawardhana

While serving as a human resource management (HRM) intern in a strategic business unit of one of Sri Lanka’s corporates, I realised that most practices weren’t aligned with the theory of HRM. In spite of a sense of disillusionment, I found that it was a valuable experience because it helped me define my personal values and beliefs in the corporate world.

Not that I consciously did so but in retrospect, I can now clearly connect the dots.

Prof. Peter Cappelli, who authored the article ‘Why We Love to Hate HR and What HR Can Do About It’ in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), writes: “Recent complaints about the HR function have touched a nerve in a large, sympathetic audience, particularly in the United States. The most vocal critics say that HR managers focus too much on ‘administrivia,’ and lack vision and strategic insight.”

He adds: “These feelings aren’t new. They’ve erupted now and in the past because we don’t like being told how to behave, and no other group in organisational life – not even finance – bosses us around as systematically as HR does.”

Cappelli continues: “We get defensive when we’re instructed to change how we interact with people – especially those who report to us – because that goes right to the core of who we are.”

“What’s more, HR makes us perform tasks we dislike such as documenting problems with employees. And it prevents us from doing what we want such as hiring someone we know is a good fit. Its directives affect every person in the organisation, right up to the top, every single day,” he observes.

We’re all more or less aware of many flaws and failings on the part of human resources departments in many organisations. Rather than preach or crucify them, we have to provide them with constructive feedback on how they are performing, and offer sound advice and guidance on how to improve themselves further.

So how should we rethink the HRM function?

Cappelli suggests a few basic but powerful steps that HR departments should take.

SET THE AGENDA Like any other function, HR must show why the issues it addresses concern the business, and that it has sensible and meaningful ways to manage them.

In the case of human capital, the human resources team should lead the charge and be proactive. For instance, a move like initiating a wellness programme only after the CEO suffers a heart attack indicates a reactive approach, which is far from adequate.

The HR department should lend its expertise to and play an active role in all people-related matters in the workplace – including layoffs, recruitment, flexible work arrangements, performance management and so on.

And the team should be on top of each of these issues and explain that ‘this is how we should be managing the task and here’s the evidence behind that view.’

FOCUS ON TODAY Like much of the corporate world, the HR landscape has evolved in many ways. The old playbook on talent management cuts little ice today.

Instead of aping what large corporates did decades ago, the human resources department should formulate specific policies for companies and industries that address today’s challenges. In human resources management as in accounting, a detailed command of practices is essential. But in the case of the former, it’s absolutely vital to understand what works when and where.

To realise the importance of context, look at what’s happening in consulting and tech firms, where developing skills and human capital is vital to success.

PwC, Deloitte, Accenture and Juniper Networks have already discarded traditional performance appraisals (perhaps the most reviled standard practice in the realm of management), and adopted a model of ongoing conversation designed to improve skills and results.

All this is a matter of watching the environment that the organisation operates in, and continuously identifying new challenges and crafting specific tools to meet them.

CONTINUOUS LEARNING An HR team must acquire in-depth knowledge about the business and workplace-related issues. The department can’t operate in a silo and maintain that it doesn’t have to learn about the business.

Management must bring first-rate analytical minds into the function to help the company make sense of all the employee data and get the most from their human capital.

The HR department should also highlight the financial benefits that the organisation stands to gain through effective HRM practices by carrying out a cost-benefit analysis and determining the return on investment (ROI).

It should only invest in impactful initiatives that benefit the organisation in the short or long run, or somewhere in-between. While it’s easy to move with the tide, what matters is that the department finds out what’s necessary and invests in it.