HRD -- the flavour of the season, the new mantra, the new panacea, the new status symbol. Where once the Personnel (or its earlier avatar, the Welfare Dept) department was a necessary appendage due to statutory requirements, its modern day counterpart -- HRD Department is an indispensable part of any organisation structure today. Heady days indeed, for the HR Professionals.
What does this mean for the HR Manager. More status, more pay, more job offers ? Certainly. But the silent implication is more subtle viz., more responsibility.
Organisations first exploited raw materials. Next was the turn of machinery, to produce finished products. This was followed by selling abilities and distribution and reach. Soon followed marketing including packaging, advertising, image (brand) building. Thereafter came finance. Today it is information. Tomorrow it will be people.
So while clearly the HR function and its practitioners are on an ascending curve, the moot question is, are they also climbing the learning curve ? If not, then it only takes a flip for the ascending curve to become a descending one and all will fall flat on their faces, with their noses rubbed in the mud.
What will be the expectations from HR tomorrow ? Before we take up this question, it may be worthwhile to examine, what is HR doing today and what are the areas which are often today not being catered to fully or properly.
During the course of my consultancy and training work, I have found that the following are the major concerns of the HR People, where they spend maximum time and effort :
* Recruitment
* Salary Structure framing and re-framing
* Pleasing the boss --- be it the CEO or MD or some functional Head
* Grabbing Power, particularly tightening hold on Administration
* Keeping close track of vacancies arising in Personnel / HRD in other organisations
* Looking for another job
Recruitment
The search for people is continuous, never-ending and always a major pre-occupation. This is perhaps to be expected. Expansions mean more people are needed. Change of technology means new people are needed. Competition means more aggressive people are needed. Customers mean more friendly people are needed. Globalisation means people with broader outlook and richer / wider exposure are needed. Specialisation means people with narrower focus and niche capabilities are needed. The list goes on and indeed is endless.
The HR chief continually bemoans how difficult it has become to get good people and, even more difficult, to retain them.
Of course, this makes him very important and visible in the organisation. All this is of course true and understandable. The question, however, that needs to be asked is why does this have to be a continuous exercise.
Why should people also have to be found ? Why can’t they be developed ? Why has management development become such an alien concept ? Whatever happened to the management trainee who was trained and supported to become the company’s future manager ? Until a decade ago, it was not uncommon to hear of Chief Executives who had joined their respective companies as Management Trainees. Today, whenever a new CEO takes over, the inevitable question is -- who is he ? Where has he come from, which is usually from outside.
Look at the last few months. Dr. Manu Seth has resigned from Tata Chemicals and his successor has come from outside. The chief of IDBI bank has retired and his successor has come from outside. Mr. Tobaccowalla retired from Voltas and his successor, Mr. N. D. Khurody came from Merind. These are only the visible cases. But this is happening at many senior levels, in practically all organisations.
So the question is, are the HR people really doing their job well in recruitment if they have to continuously recruit people from “outside”. "What can we do, we simply don’t have the kind of people we need for this new business or the changing markets" is the bemoaning response. That is because you have never tried to anticipate your requirements in advance nor have you anticipated the inevitable changes in your product - market scope and the kind of people they will require.
Why have you not tried to train, re - train your people for the new requirements. Recruiting people from outside to fulfil your requirements is like chasing your own shadow ; you will never catch up because every time there is a new requirement, you are having to go outside instead of tapping the resources within.
On the other hand, if management development is a carefully planned and sincerely executed aspect of your HR management, you can meet such requirements without difficulty from within and only go out for the rare exceptions that arise from time to time.
This is, of course, not to decry outside recruitment. pers se. Indeed, not only is “recruitment” from outside necessary, it is clearly desirable for bringing in the whiff of fresh air that any organisation needs at regular intervals. It also helps to benchmark your own organisation vis-à-vis what is happening outside. Most important, it helps the organisation prevent in - breeding and a certain staleness of ideas by bringing in fresh ideas and a new outlook from outside.
So then why all this fuss about “getting people from outside”. The issue is not so much about getting people from outside ; rather, the question is about the proportion of development needs that are met from outside and within. And successful HRD practitioners, who are at pains to emphasise the “development” aspect of HRD, will make sure that existing people get a chance to “develop” themselves by getting opportunities to fulfil bigger roles and challenging tasks.
It is important to understand the difference between existing people fulfilling newer bigger and more challenging roles that arise in an organisation versus outsiders continuously being tapped for such cases.
When an outsider does so, it is only his development that takes place ; when an insider takes on a new role, it is not only his development but the “development” of the entire organisation because the organisation has now acquired a new level of managerial competency which is capable of fulfilling the newer, more challenging and demanding role.
Salary Structure
The next major pre-occupation of HR managers today is the Salary structure ; the playing around with it never seems to end. They are forever, exchanging notes with their counterparts on what they are paying, how much and, most important, in "what manner" i.e. under what narration in the voucher so that the tax man cannot extend his reach. Is this really an integral part of HRD activity ? Does it deserve the time that is being spent on it at the highest levels by some of the best minds in the profession ?
Pleasing the Bosses
This is, unfortunately, a most unseemly and unbecoming aspect of an HR manager’s functioning. Most HR managers practice this to have their way with the Boss, instead of boldly relying on the logic of their argument and strength of their convictions.
At many senior management meetings, the HR Chief remains quiet when the loud-mouthed and aggressive marketing or finance head is demanding / proposing something which is detrimental to human relations or against established company policy. However, at the end of the meeting, he inevitably stays back to “privately” advise the MD, in hushed conspiratorial tones, about the “ill effects” of his colleagues suggestions and how it would harm the CEO and his image.
The tragedy is that most CEO’s seem to encourage such a way of working and often give rulings in favour of the advice tendered by the HR Chief in this manner. This is why many HR Chiefs have built for themselves an unhealthy image of being a “politician” rather than a good, strong and effective manager ; indeed, it is not unusual for people from other functions like marketing, finance or manufacturing to label all Personnel / HR managers as being of “that type” who cannot be fully trusted and with whom one should be careful as whatever you tell him can reach the CEO’s ears !! Pity, isn’t it, but true.
Grabbing Power
HR Managers love to have to have the power to say no, or be in charge of those areas where people have to come to them for permissions and sanctions. In typical, IAS bureaucratic fashion, they are quick to point out why any proposed action “cannot be done” as it might have undesired ramifications in some other case or place and by doing so continuously, project themselves as the guardians of the company’s well - being and legal/moral correctness.
The result is that the CEO feels that the best way to tackle this is to make the HR Chief the “sanctioning” authority for all such controversial cases, much to the delight of the former. Sooner than later, all case of room allocation, company flat allotment, furniture repair/ replacement, car/driver allotment, tea service priority, etc. come in the domain of the Personnel/HR Manager. He then remains merrily busy in handling these matters, doling out favours and extracting “other favours” in return.
The biggest advantage of all this is, of course, is that he remains terribly busy and therefore legitimately has no time for true HR development activities which is his real mission. Rather neat, is it not ? It, of course, means a lot of power ; if anybody needs anything in the organisation, be it tea for visitors, the services of a peon or a driver, a car for an outdoor trip, he has to come to the Personnel/HR Manager who then acquires the image of being a very helpful and resourceful man !
It is true that he acquires a lot of power, but it is a big under - utilisation, for this whole job could have been done by a much junior person under some “broad decision rules” whereas the Personnel Manager could have concentrated on his principal role of attending to people problems and their resolution, anticipation of grievances and their solution, identification of development needs and their fulfilment and so on.
Keeping track of vacancies
Whenever they are free from their busy schedule of tackling administrative duties, their favourite job is to ring up colleagues in other companies to keep abreast of the latest in “who has left which organisation” and who is joining where”. the IT people are today talking of networking and e-mail and video conferencing. The management gurus are today talking of networking with friends and business associates for personal and corporate success. Personnel managers in India have been practising this for years. They are one of the rare group of managers who take their professional organisations seriously, attend all meetings and annual conferences. The pity is that such meetings debate very little of advancement in their professional technique and practices. The major data shared is vacancies, movements and at best new salary structures.
Looking for another job
Finally, the entire community of HR Managers are forever ready to make a change or consider one. No matter how serious the nature of the task they are currently involved in, no matter that they have changed just some months ago, no matter that they are doing extremely well where they are, if there is a better offer (essentially this means more money or more administrative authority), they are gracious enough to consider.
It will, of course, be unfair and untrue, if I do not state that there are many exceptions. Surely all Personnel Chiefs are not like this. Absolutely. There are many who are quite different and quite the opposite. However, my experience is that a majority are like what I have described, which I feel is the biggest challenge facing the profession today.
In all the activities mentioned above, you will note that there is not even a faint trace or hint of anything remotely connected with manpower development.
- I do not see any HR manager pre-occupied with training or concerned about it or searching for new, better trainers or designing any training programme or reviewing the evaluation of a previous one.
- I do not ever see any HR manager discussing the improvements required in the existing Appraisal system.
- I do not ever see an HR manager trying to develop a mentoring system.
- I do not ever, absolutely never, see an HR manager concerned about trying to improve his MIS or demanding a software for himself and his function from the EDP department.
- I do not ever see the HR managers trying to develop a carer development plan or approach for people who have joined the company at entry levels.
Let me illustrate with some examples from my own personal experience. A very well known company n the FMCG sector whom we had approached to sell our HRIS Software took us through 4 demonstrations, 2 to their HR people and 2 to their IT Chief (because he had forgotten the first demo), and finally decided to buy the software after 2 years !!
Today, 2 years after the purchase of our software they have entered only about 50 persons' data in the software. Some 2 months ago their VP - HR called me to say that his people were experiencing difficulty in doing data entry. We offered to send someone to their office to sort out the problem. He said, "Please wait, my secretary is compiling the problems and we will get back to you " --- it is 2 months since, and we have yet to hear from him. In 2 year interval since they installed the software, we must have chased their HR departments at least half-a-dozen times to get their data entry done. We also offered to do it for them (at a fee) but there was simply no response !
An MNC software company approached us about 6 weeks back for an urgent requirement of conducting a training programme on “Training the Trainers”. Within 2 days we had sent to them the detailed outline of the programme, its proposed content and coverage and asked for their response. Despite 3 follow-ups the standard response has been, we have not yet had time to sit down and discuss the programme.
At an MNC Pharmaceutical company we conducted 4 training programmes for all their factory personnel. The programme was very well received and being of a workshop nature a number of action plans were decided upon. We made a detailed report on each of the programmes and a consolidated report for all the 4 programmes with a view to facilitating the post-programme implementation activities that had been agreed upon during the programme.
Close to 9 months later, the copy of our report (of which we had submitted 2 copies) has not yet been forwarded to the respective manufacturing GM’s for their action !!
At yet another MNC Pharma company we conducted a 2 module Programme for their senior managers with, once again, each module culminating in an agreed action plan, At the end of the second programme which was also partly attended by the board of Directors for listening to the participant presentations, a “delayed Post Evaluation Form” was handed over to the Company for getting a feedback on the change if any that the bosses saw in the behaviour or approach of the participants as a result of their learning from the programme. 7 months later, the form is yet to be circulated.
How can anyone believe that today’s HR managers are serious or even conscious of the “development” as aspect of their role ?
Whenever we have gone for demonstration of our HRIS Software, in 70 % of the cases we have found that the HR Chief does not attend the demonstration ; he “delegates it to his assistants who are very often young HR executives with less than 2 years of experience. In one bizarre case some 5 years ago, I went to Delhi after a prior appointment done through exchange of faxes and telephonic conversations for a demo to VP - HR of a company. When I arrived at his office, he pleaded another engagement and directed me to show the software package to an HR trainee who had joined the company that morning !!
Are the HR managers not concerned about developing the MIS in their departments ? Are they not concerned about servicing the other departments through better organised, speedier, more accurate information so that ultimately better quality and timely decisions can be made ?
Yet another very unfortunate and disturbing trend amongst the vast majority of HR managers is their discourteous behaviour towards visitors and guests. HR Managers never reply to a letter or fax or e-mail. They never, absolutely never return a telephone call. That would lower their prestige and standing.
As a consultant, I have been at the receiving end of such behaviour from managers in the most "professional (!?) of organisations with alarming regularity. Just because I am seeking work does not mean that they are entitled to ill-treat me. I have yet to meet an HR manager who did not keep me waiting, despite my coming to meet him on a date, time and place of his choosing. Is this the way they seek to gain importance or respect ? How can they ever set an example to other employees in the company ? What kind of ambience are they building in an era that swears by customer satisfaction and building of relationships with all business associates for enhancing business success ?
It is clear that despite all the pontification about how HRD is different from personnel management in that that while Personnel management has a maintenance focus and reactive stance, HRD has a development focus and pro-active stance, the truth is quite the opposite. The mindset continues to be reactive, boss - oriented, power - seeking and “chalta hai”.
If HR wants to make a difference in the new millennium this is what it must do. It must make a complete somersault, a 180 degrees about -turn from its present way of working and adopt the following approach :
- Get rid of its Administrative baggage, not worrying about the loss of power ; rather think about the gain of time for doing something more constructive, innovative and contributing.
- Catch management development by the horn and take it up as a mission.
- Work to develop an effective management trainee scheme wherever recruitment of trainees happens in batch.
- Else develop a structure for management development and career development of entry level and junior level managers.
- Don’t work from the confines of your cabin or the protection of your desk. Move out and mix with all employees in different locations to get a first hand feel of what is happening and thus be forewarned of any brewing crises or grievance.
- Look at some small but visible and important indicators of organisation vitality e.g. housekeeping, courtesy to visitors, telephone and reception room behaviours of company employees, and correct the same where necessary.
- Work with all employees to develop, refine and chisel the appraisal system into an effective input tool for working out management development activities.
- Start and sustain management training as an ongoing exercise for “developing” the employees into becoming better and more rounded managers and not merely as a budget fulfilment exercise for satisfying the KRA figure on your Annual target sheet.
- Take up strongly with all other functional chiefs the necessity to support employees when they want to try out something new on return from a training programme instead of the bosses fobbing them off with he promise that “‘yes yes we will do it but first you finish the work on hand”.
- Get rid of the garb of superiority complex that presently blurs your vision and look at the rest of the world with an attitude to serve and not an ambition to rule.
- Practise common courtesies like receiving visitors on time, escorting them out when they leave, replying to letters and returning telephone calls. This can never diminish your stature nor waste your time ; on the contrary this will build your reputation and enhance your company's standing in the community of business associates as the company that treats people as people and not commodities.
- Work at your own self -development never being shy to learn, or unlearn. Attend training programmes --- yes, you, too can learn from some of these programmes and get a brush with new ideas and thinking if only you will unlock the doors that shield your mind from the tremendous changes that are sweeping the world. Never imagine or believe that you know it all and learning is for others !
- Work consciously at manpower planning so that the problems of having to go out for manpower every time something new starts is minimised. For this they will need to work closely with the business divisions of the company to know what is happening, what is likely to happen, what kind of people we should be training/developing, and what kind we should keep on stand-by.
- Work sincerely to improve the functioning of the HR function for servicing the rest of the organisation speedily and effectively by drastically reducing the response time to anything requested from them, be it information, clarification, any physical assistance, or any other type of service. This can only be done if a strong information data base is built and a an effective HRIS software is put in place for quick and easy retrieval of vital and regular information.
- Finally, retrieve prestige and standing for the HR function by taking the path of open and firm tackling of issues, face - to - face in a transparent manner rather than furtively getting things done by “managing the ear of the boss”.
It is essential that the HR manager understand the true meaning of his function and his role in the shaping of the corporation tomorrow where despite it sounding like a cliché it is absolutely true that only “people will make the difference”.
While he must, therefore, do his best to service his people, he must not hesitate to stand firm if he finds “bull - in - china shop behaviour syndrome” from some “technical darlings” in the organisation be they the favourite sales person or the outstanding finance whiz kid or the brilliant programmer. Welding a team together and ensuring organic growth of its members is his number one priority and in this he should not feel scared of or obeisant to any other colleague, no matter how strong or powerful the latter otherwise is.
At the same time he must learn to stand up to his boss, not for the sake of argument or conflict, but for the sake of professional principles that he holds dear. He should never hesitate to express his mind and voice his opposition to what he clearly sees to be wrong or illegal or immoral or unethical.
One test of his success will be the proportion of time that his CEO spends with him as compared to his other colleagues, not merely in checking about the latest status of “new recruitment’s” or the release of the increment letters, but about manpower development and long-term activities that are being carried out by his function.
He must strive to be helpful but not seek popularity. He must be accommodative but not overlook policy violations. He must strive, not for power, but for respect. He need not dazzle, but he must perform. He must be articulate but not be verbose. He must aim to get along but not aim to please. He must not be merely hard - working ; in the final reckoning, he must be effective. Then, and only then, can he claim to have arrived.
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