Feature: John Mitchell PAGE 10 | Business Executive | Issue 123
In the first of our new series, ABE HR examiner, John Mitchell, shows that HR is well worth studying, because...
make all the difference
T
he markets demonstrate that people make the difference, and it’s not just the CEOs at the top. Take a look at your own organisation. How much of your potential does your employer get from you? Would they benefit from getting more from you? Have you
ever worked with somebody who is not much use? How much damage did they do to the organisation? How did that person get hired? How is it they have never improved, or been fired?
HR as strategy It is questions like these that fascinate me. It is amazing how people make organisations successful. How do we create organisations that identify, attract, empower, engage, develop, direct, reward and keep the people who are right for the business? (Of course the right people are not always the best people – it is really about best fit.) HR professionals need to be able to answer these sorts of strategic questions and to turn the answers into practical actions that will take the organisation where it needs to go.
HR as administration Most of the time HR people aren’t working on the big questions. They are processing recruitments and leavers, updating records, keeping the organisation out of the law courts, disciplining under-performers, dealing with disputes and paying people. Alongside the strategic role, HR people are also administrative experts.
HR gives employees a voice Traditionally HR people are thought of as advocates for employees – representing their concerns to senior managers; trying to bridge the gap between management and employees. This role is often about opposing discrimination and giving employees a voice that is heard by managers and the employer. Generally this role involves communication in the other direction as
well – taking management messages and making them palatable to the employees.
HR includes training Employees really are of great potential value. HR professionals have a duty to maximise their value through coaching, training and career development; HR involves helping people learn as well. In recent years we have seen HR helping organisations to change and improve. HR professionals are involved in organisation development (making the organisation work better), knowledge management (capturing and sharing learning) and talent management (finding and nurturing talent).
HR has variety HR is such an interesting and varied subject. No two days are ever the same. Today, a disciplinary investigation; tomorrow, promotion interviews; the day after, negotiations with the trade union over a long-term pay deal; then design of a new management training programme. Next week the board will be discussing the new HR strategy to support the business’s five-year plan. Sometime soon we can expect to appear before an employment tribunal considering an important equal pay claim from 20 of our staff.
HR can be tough
JOHN MITCHELL, MA, FCIPD, is ABE examiner for the HRM, and Performance Management and Reward units. He was a lecturer in HRM and now runs his own management training business.
HR must be satisfying because it is all about people. But, for everybody that you promote you have to tell five people they are not getting promoted. You also have to select people for redundancy or dismissal and break that news to them. Being an employee advocate gets you no friends either; neither side gets all that they want, and you will be blamed for that. Anyone who wants to ask only nice, comfortable questions in a selection interview should not consider HR as a career. The board don’t like you
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