Q: Why not get rid of the HR department?
| Published date | 12 August 2007 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390980000976 |
| Pages | 7-7 |
| Date | 12 August 2007 |
| Author | Nick Holley |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
7
Volume 6 Issue 4 May/June 2007
Q&A
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Q: Why not get rid of
the HR department?
T
his is a great question; the
problem is that I agree with the
sentiment, though I would go
about it in a slightly different way. I
wouldn’t indiscriminately get rid of HR,
but I would develop a guided missile
that could be used to target and destroy
certain parts of it.
Why? Well, the second half of this
question really gets to the heart of the
problem: “I have been asking this
question of people around me and they
seem to think that HR is important.” I
don’t know who was asked but it’s
pretty telling that they had this vague
sense of the answer without being able
to articulate why. In my experience, too
many HR people don’t have the
commercial acumen or the business
savvy to be able to answer the question.
If they did, they wouldn’t think, they
would know, and they would be able to
put a value to it.
I’ve recently been carrying out research
on HR leadership at Henley Management
College in the UK and have been
speaking to a number of HR headhunters.
One of them made a telling comment:
“Ninety-five percent of the senior HR
people we see can’t enumerate the value
they add to the business.” This is the
heart of the problem. The best HR people
start with the business and the challenges
it’s facing, and develop pragmatic ways to
address those issues. They can place a
value on what they do, on the difference
they make and on their value to the
business, not just to its managers.
Taking a business perspective
The HR people I’d target with my guided
missile are not only the ones who can’t
articulate their value, but often subtract
value by selling costly and complex
solutions to problems the organization
doesn’t even have. They don’t start with
the business issues; they see HR as an end
in itself and try to sell the latest
management fad they’ve picked up at a
conference or from a consultant. They are
loyal to the profession, not to their
business. They think they know better
than senior or line managers when in
many cases they simply don’t understand
the business. At a conference last year I
asked the audience, all HRDs, what their
share price was. It was bad enough that
half didn’t know the answer, but what
was even more worrying was the
number who questioned why they
needed to know.
The sad thing is that while so many
HR professionals don’t have what it
takes, the people agenda that they’re
supposed to be driving is becoming
more important. In a knowledge
economy, where intangibles make up 85
percent of the value on the balance
sheet, where knowledge and talent are
the keys to competitive advantage and
where the war for talent is becoming
fiercer, HR has a critical role to play. In
this environment, HR people with deep
expertise, who are good at delivery,
who are truly business-focused and have
the political nous and interpersonal
skills to be true business partners are
even more important.
I’ve come across many organizations
where HR has made a difference. At the
HR Centre of Excellence at Henley we’re
working with many HR professionals who
have been so business-focused that they
have moved into commercial roles. You
don’t make that transition if you don’t
have what it takes.
Finding space at the top table
So don’t get rid of HR. The issue is that
HR needs to up its game if it wants to be
at the top table. It needs to focus where
it adds value, and where it doesn’t, as
outlined in the article that triggered
these questions,
1
find other ways where
the task “can be performed more
expertly for less by others”. There are
plenty of organizations where HR is
valued as a business partner. There are
plenty of CEOs who are crying out for
help dealing with critical people issues.
HR needs to get over its inferiority
complex and its desire for a place at the
table. Good HR people aren’t waiting to
be asked, they’re already there by right.
Reference
1. See http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1996/01/
15/207172/index.htm
Nick Holley
recently joined Henley
Management College as a
visiting executive fellow
and director of the HR Center of Excellence. He also
runs his own consulting and coaching practice. His
experience includes working as an army officer,as a
financial broker and in senior leadership roles.
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