CEO JOURNAL
Nature vs. Nurture W
hen I pull alongside a trac- tor trailer, my mind’s eye is instantly drawn to what
cannot be seen—to all of the castings hidden beneath the trailer, behind the wheels and inside the engine compart- ment. But the rig I passed the other day caught my eye in a completely different and thought provoking way. Tere, written across the rear doors of the trailer in huge bright letters, was this declaration: “Our most important resource sits 63 feet ahead.” Lots of companies, including most
metalcasters that I know, espouse similar convictions about the importance and value of employees. CEOs embed those convictions in Mission Statements, devote space to them in annual reports, and otherwise would have the world believe that their employees are not just a valued resource but perhaps the most important of all business resources. Unfortunately, while many talk a good game, almost none walk the walk or put their money where their mouths are. I see few metalcasting businesses
invest in employees as if they were their “most important resource.” In part this is because many CEOs don’t understand contemporary human resources management and, as a result, HR professionals are underappreci- ated and HR departments are pre- vented from fulfilling their essential mandate. Many CEOs, for example, create HR departments devoted to babysitting a unionized workforce, hiring and terminating union workers, and adjudicating grievances. Others see HR as little more than the group that processes payroll and administers benefit plans. Still others believe that HR is a purely clerical function whose purpose is to track labor statistics, file government reports, and plan com- pany picnics and office parties. While it’s true that each of those
tasks can be considered part of a world class HR department’s function, none of them comes close to adequately supporting the notion that employees are a vital business resource, much less the most important business resource
40 | MODERN CASTING October 2012
DAN MARCUS, TDC CONSULTING INC., AMHERST, WISCONSIN
of all. To do that, CEOs must embrace the competitive reality that the perfor- mance of each employee must continu- ally improve, that the same is true for the effectiveness and productivity of the organization as an interrelated whole, and that creating the conditions within which that kind of improvement can happen is the key function of a world class HR department. In other words, CEOs need to create HR departments that are the epicenters of organizational devel- opment. In doing so, they recognize that neither individual nor organizational performance improve- ment will happen all by itself, and HR departments must actively facilitate improvement by nurturing talent at the individual level and by providing struc- ture, tools, training and facilitation so managers throughout the company can ensure the development of their direct reports and, through them and their con- nections with others, development of the organization as a whole. If CEOs make a real commit- ment to their employees by invest- ing in advanced HR management, their businesses can expect to achieve substantial and sustainable competitive advantages. Not least of these are high employee morale, productivity and retention, which will arise and grow as each employee begins to truly feel like a highly valued business resource. Advanced HR management begins with sensible compensation schemes for both salaried and hourly employ- ees which emphasize fairness, include profit sharing for all, and recognize that “at risk” and other forms of incen- tive compensation do not work and are, more often than not, counterproduc- tive. Substantive new employee orien- tation programs and formal, compre- hensive training programs for produc- tion workers and supervisors are musts too, as are professional development plans and contracts for high potential
HR needs to be the epicenter of
organizational development.
management and technical staff. Advanced HR management is all about the nuts and bolts of employee development, too. Tis begins with training for all managers on the importance of employee and organiza- tion development and, also, on how to ensure the personal and professional growth of their direct reports. Be- yond training, HR provides structure and process via twice per year positive perfor- mance appraisals and weekly proj- ects and priorities planning.
Elements of process reengineering
can often also fall within the purview of contemporary HR departments. In such cases, HR professionals work with line managers to facilitate job and/or organization redesign, create reengi- neered job descriptions, and detail the critical skills and attributes required for success at each job which, in turn, form the basis for individual accountability, improvement, and highly effective performance appraisals. Tere is an argument to be made that
worker safety and health programs, along with environmental activities, also belong within the world class HR department. So, too, do wellness programs. Other advanced program components
can of course be included, depending on how ambitious one’s vision might be. Likewise, some or all of the basic HR tasks mentioned early in the column— from processing grievances to payroll and parties—also should be included. But what’s most important is that CEOs recognize and act on the reality that resolute organizational development is a competitive necessity and that it does not occur naturally, all by itself. Instead, it must be nurtured by an empowered HR staff and advanced by an enlightened top management team.
Keep the conversation going. Reach the author at
tdcmetal@wi-net.com to comment on this or any CEO Journal column or to suggest future topics.
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