Two things will help us implement the new Human Capital Strategy
by realigning HR to deliver business results:
(1) splitting the HR
administrator, fixer, and strategic partner roles, and
(2) aligning the human capital organization to deliver the four strategic objectives.
Split the HR Administrator, Fixer, and Strategic Partner Roles.
In 1964, Chaney and Owens conducted an academic study that makes a persuasive case that individuals with different personalities tend
to migrate to jobs that fit. From a sample of 900, they looked back to high school and found that engineers disliked verbal activities and
courses where discussion was involved, were slow in dating and preferred
to spend time reading or in problem-solving activities. Those who
became sales reps were only average in math and science capabilities, dated earlier, enjoyed meeting new people and had more friends and were leaders in different activities.
Sure, there are some good “sales scientists,” but not many, and trying to make a scientist into a sales rep may result in
frustration by both parties. (As the saying goes, “Don’t try to teach a pig to
sing. It wastes your time and it frustrates the pig.”) The study provides
an important lesson for HR. The all-in-one HR business partner model has not and will not deliver value because it is based on an
assumption that people can perform well in very different roles that require
very different talents. It is time to admit defeat and completely
separate the administrative, fixer, and strategic roles.
A more radical solution is to follow the Innovator’s Dilemma model of creating a stand-alone unit for the discontinuous work of strategic HR. The head of HR administration should report to the
corporation’s top operations executive or CFO. This reporting relationship was very common in the days before the promise of strategic HR. It was common because it made sense. If the core capability of administrative HR is operational excellence, then operations is
the right place to report. (See Figure 3-5.)
Next, build a fully separate organization reporting to the CEO
that provides change leadership and organizational consulting to top
leaders. Calling this organization something other than “human resources” might be wise as an HR title brings with it a set of internal
customer service expectations that will no longer apply. This new “human
capital” organization will comprise a set of full-time consultants who are educated and trained to improve the performance of people and
organizations. Human capital business consultants should spend 100 percent of their time identifying opportunities to improve customer and
shareholder satisfaction and should be evaluated by their impact to both. Their customer is external, their investment model is ROI-based,
and they are business performance advocates.
Align the Human Capital Organization to Deliver the Four
Strategic Objectives.
To deliver
business results, the human capital organization must align to the Human Capital Strategy. It must build and manage a system for delivering each of the strategic components:
(1)
effective executive teams,
(2) leaders who deliver results,
(3) key position
excellence, and
(4) workforce productivity.
Align corporate HR professionals to the strategic components, and make this dimension
primary. Next, matrix COE members from their current professions to
populate the new COE teams. For example, a compensation expert may be
assigned to the workforce productivity COE. Each member remains aligned to a profession, and each profession continues to deliver
on its value-added current tasks. For example, annual workforce plans
would still be created and executed by the workforce management
profession.
Members of the new COEs would be accountable for results that matter to customers and shareholders. To deliver the expected business results, each new COE will have several key duties:
- Set and execute a strategy to deliver the strategic objective.
- Engage the broader organization through personal leadership and influence.
- Teach line managers to make effective human capital decisions.
- Measure and manage performance at individual and collective levels to understand relationships and progress.
Most of these duties are probably self-evident. The third duty, teaching line managers to make good human capital decisions, may not be as clear. Think of the CFO model. No CFO can make all
financial decisions, since maximizing return on financial assets requires scores of managers to make sound daily decisions. Many finance
functions have helped managers make better financial decisions through formal training in basic finance. This same kind of training is
required for managers to make more effective human capital decisions. Such training must be based on research in the behavioral sciences,
particularly in organizational psychology and human learning. Managers should know how great leaders are most effectively developed, how competencies should be used (and not used), the most valid ways of predicting performance in new roles, and how best to motivate
employees. The answers to these questions begin with behavioral science research, but they become far more powerful after company data has been
captured and analyzed.
Source : Bradley W
Hall, PhD. The new human capital strategy : improving the value of your most
important investment—year after year.AMACOM. 2008
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