HR and credibility

9/01/13

As we continued to explore HR as a credible activist, one of the valuable lessons that I learned was the importance of establishing a relationship built on trust. Although all 4 factors of credible activist are interrelated, the trust factor is the foundation that allows HR to collaborate with others and be able to influence and relate to them, and to grow as a powerful voice within an organization. Its role as a strategic and trusted business partner is to build strategies that support a company's mission and vision. As a trusted HR manager, leadership must be able to rely on my advice on recruiting tactics as they make plans for new business; because they are aware of my track record of delivering results with integrity and my consistency in building effective business practices.  In the short run, a desired level of trust may not be necessarily established during specific periods of change within an organization, however based on how the initial relationship is built, it will constitute the foundation for establishing long term trust and credibility by HR.

The Balanced Scorecard Institute (n.d.), as a resource, provides some good definitions for strategic processes in support of HR's effort to build trust and credibility. The overall goal of strategic planning is to align all the resources of an organization to create actions in order to adjust its strategic position in response to change.

Establishing trust makes it easier for HR to influence employees. Mind Tools (n.d.) as a resource covers Cialdini's six principles of influence. Among them is commitment (and consistency) which helps to build the trust. The employees can rely on HR's ability and desire to fulfill its obligations towards them.

The constant desire to provide consistent and reliable results, and be trustworthy by an HR professional implies that she is self-aware, and committed to building her profession as a credible activist, according to The RBL Group (2012).

References:

Balance Scorecard Institute, (n.d.) Strategic planning basics. Retrieved from http://www.balancedscorecard.org/BSCResources/StrategicPlanningBasics/tabid/459/Default.aspx

Mind Tools, (n.d.). Cialdini's six principles of influence. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/six-principles-influence.htm

The RBL Group, (2012). The 2012 HR competency model. Michigan Ross School of Business. Retrieved from http://rbl.net/index.php/hrcs/index/overview

 

 

Capability builder & signature experience

8/31/13

This week, we also explored the role of HR as a capability builder.

An organization is defined as a distinct set of capabilities. HR's role as a capability builder is to help define and build such capabilities (The RBL Group, 2012). This action can be fulfilled by conducting a capability audit which provides leaders with a picture of their capabilities and allows them to work on improving these and building new ones according to the company's strategic direction and vision (Ulrich et al, 2012, ch. 5). By conducting a capability audit, HR is also acquiring information that helps it shape the future of the organization, its unique story and define a brand strategy with the purpose of attracting talents that will fit in to it.

In a presentation by Tamara Erickson titled "Signature experience: finding your firm's unique path to employee engagement" (2007), she offers some meaningful insights on how to engage the future workforce. She maintains that although there are no universal practices, the influential pattern is as follows: individual preferences, corporation's values, HR policies and practices and day-to-day work environment.

In class, as we considered the importance for an organization to be clear in defining its brand in order to be the employer of choice for prospective employees, I also realized that for a major corporation whose history and culture are well established , creating a signature experience on a large scale must be a significant challenge. It must require HR creativity. In this context, one my questions to the SHRM communities was:
   
     Would it be more beneficial for a big corporation to define its signature experience on a smaller
     scale? Perhaps broken down into business segments or based on individual roles and 
     responsibilities?

Dobrin (2013) replied that based on her experience with both large and small corporations, the smaller scale provides for a more intimate experience which can be beneficial in the long run. I understand her position on this question because the intimate setting facilitates HR's ability to work closely with management to support the employee throughout her tenure. This interaction helps maintain the signature (employee) experience. Brand strategist and author Brett Minchington (2011) proposes that "Companies that segment and align the employee lifecycle as part of their employer brand strategy will benefit from maintaining high levels of engagement, productivity, customer satisfaction and profit".

The screen shot below is of a brief capability assessment of the audit team at work. Overall, the results show that it is a solid group of committed and talented individuals who work together to deliver accurate and timely information to the clients. We are strong on articulating and sharing strategic point of views and strategic agenda, especially during times of business expansion. Although we have a solid leadership team, we need to develop an effective method that would lead to building leadership depth through the group.

References:

Minchington, B.,  (2011, November 23). Delivering a signature employment experience. Retrieved from http://brettminchington.com/free-resources/strategy/130-delivering-a-signature-employment-experience.html

Erickson, T., (2007, April 26). Signature experiences: finding your firm's unique path to employee engagement. Bright Horizons. Retrieved from 
http://www.brighthorizons.com/conference/PP/Bright%20Horizons_Signature%20Experiences_TJE.pdf

The RBL Group, (2012). The 2012 HR competency model. Michigan Ross School of Business. Retrieved from http://rbl.net/index.php/hrcs/index/overview

Ulrich, D., Younger, J., Brockbank, & Ulrich,M . (2012). HR from the outside in: six competencies for the future of human resources. SRHM. ISBN978-0071802666

The Factors of HR as a credible activist

8/30/13

This week we continued to focus on HR as a credible activist by analyzing the four competency factors that define it. They are, earning trust through results, influencing and relating to others, improving through self-awareness and shaping the HR profession (Ulrich, Younger & Brockbank, 2012, ch. 4). Our observation was that while the factors seemed to be interrelated, establishing trust through results or work with integrity is the most important factor of being a credible activist. Although there are circumstances where the HR manager may not have the time to establish trust, as during organization restructure, she must still develop some methods for establishing a relationship with the employees in the short run, in order to have some meaningful influence on their ability to remain engaged, maintain productivity and a sense of urgency.

Suppose I were hired as an HR professional to lead an organization through a period of restructure. My short term goal would be to obtain collaboration and maintain productivity. That would require an initial relationship. I would have to schedule activities that would allow leadership to listen to employees. I would conduct surveys, organize employee discussions and focus groups. These steps would involve AARs to include as many employees as possible at various states of the process. Then, I would work with leadership to communicate decisions based on employees feedback. The communication would address their concerns, inform them of the availability of training opportunities that could help them reinvent themselves and grow with the company. I would use such modes of communication as town hall and one-on-one meetings, as well as emails and web casts for reinforcement. Then I would be sure to work with managers to recognize accomplishments, big and small, individual and collective, in public and in private, to motivate all toward success (Czinege, n.d.). These measures might not build trust in the short run but they would help establish an initial relationship with the employees in order to influence them to keep the pace and maintain productivity. They would be the foundation for long term HR credibility.  

Change Communication specialist Aniko Czinege (n.d.) provides some ideas on how to establish relationship and lift employee morale in a world of constant change. The HR leader must, 1) listen to the employees by allowing them to voice their concerns and then by asking for their suggestions and feedback, 2) communicate management solutions to employees' concerns and business issues, then provide consistent, reliable, timely and honest information (in order to build a long term relationship with trust), and 3) recognize individual and group accomplishments to build motivation.

Nagy & Wolff (n.d.) also maintain that to relate to others the leader must be flexible, respectful of their ideas and decisive. Her degree of influence will be dictated by the strength of the relationship established between HR and the employees.


References:

Czinege, A., (n.d.). The Three-Stage strategy to improving employee morale. Melcrum. Retrieved from https://www.melcrum.com/research/engage-employees-strategy-and-change/three-stage-strategy-improving-employee-morale

Nagy, J., Wolff, R., (n.d.). Influencing people. Community Tool Box – University of Kansas. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1137.aspx

Ulrich, D., Younger, J., Brockbank, & Ulrich,M . (2012). HR from the outside in: six competencies for the future of human resources. SRHM. ISBN978-0071802666

Defining the signature experience

8/29/13

One of the topics covered this week in HRM501 has been the definition of a signature experience for an employee and its importance in supporting the employer brand strategy. A signature experience is the practice of hiring the right people to fit into an organization's culture. It is an overall employee experience that serves as a powerful symbol of that organization's culture (Erickson & Gratton, 2007, p. 1). Through the discussions, we have learned from various examples that a failure by an organization to provide a clear picture of its brand, its history and its culture could lead to hiring the wrong people, which could ultimately result in damaging its reputation. For example, if the nature of a business is fast-paced and requires multi-tasking, a failure to convey that message in recruiting efforts may mislead someone into thinking that he could get by working at the organization with just the proper training. He may not necessarily want to work in or be the right fit for that type of environment but he gets recruited due to a failure by the recruiting team to clarify its culture. He did not obtain the full picture. As a result, his inability to fit into the culture and help meet and exceed clients' expectations could lead to significant negative impact on the organization relationship with its clients.

An article by strategist and author Brett Minchington (2011) provides some clear insights on the importance of looking at the entire employee life cycle in order to provide an efficient signature (employee) experience. He stresses that by paying attention to the changes in employees' needs and motivators throughout their tenure, the organization would be able to create measures to address these changes in order to maintain employee engagement, productivity and profit.

Erickson and Gratton (2007) define the signature (employee) experience as a powerful symbol of an organization. It is created by a bundle of everyday routines that are unique to a company's culture and reflect its heritage.

Also on SHRM, my position on the signature experience has been that HR's role, as a capability builder, is to help employees find meaning and a sense of purpose from the work that they do. This sense of accomplishment can be a motivator that leads to increased productivity. It creates a signature experience that has the potential of attracting the right talent pool, according to Kibam Wilson's (SHRM) views. He also added that this right talent pool can help the company attain higher performance, which may ultimately lead to business expansion.


References:

Erickson, T., Gratton, L., (2007, March). What it means to work here. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2007/03/what-it-means-to-work-here/ar/2

Minchington, B., (2011, November 23). Delivering a signature employment experience. Retrieved from 
http://brettminchington.com/free-resources/strategy/130-delivering-a-signature-employment-experience.html

Strategic role of HR in an organization (part 2)

According to the 2012 HRCS research findings, to be an effective HR manager, I must display 6 domains of competencies.
1) As a strategic positioner I must adopt the outside-in concept. As an HR professional working for a custodian bank, I need to be aware for example that the role of sub-custodians will change once the new method of trade settlement is implemented in the near future. The custodian will have to adjust some existing functions and develop strategies to protect clients' interests. My role is to help leadership make strategic choices (including hiring, training, retaining talents) that lead to strong business results.
An SHRM article by Jennifer Schramm (2012) supports this concept. She reports that some companies are adding the value of their staff to their balance sheet as they continue to recognize the impact of effective HR practices on business results when they are strategically linked. Lawler & Boudreau (2009) also maintain that as a strategic business partner, the HR leader is required to make strategic decisions for an organization.

2) As a credible activist and HR manager, I must be able to focus on financial performance while providing support to the workforce behind the performance (The RBL Group, 2012). I must be trustworthy, reliable, efficient and influential in building a cultural environment that promotes productivity. To continue with the above example, one of my roles as a credible activist is to provide clear and reliable information that motivates employee to support company initiatives.
A Harvard Business Review article by Craig Mundy (2012) provides some ideas on this concept. As a credible activist, the HR professional must take actions that create flow in the business; which implies "removing barriers and promoting better performance".

3) As an HR manager who is a capability builder I must work to align individual talents with specific functions; an alignment that ultimately leads to organization success (The RBL Group, 2012)  In regards to changes in the financial services industry, I must find ways to allow people to best use their skills as they work to support the company's strategic efforts in response to the anticipated change in the trade settlement platform. The Hay Group article cited in the prior posting supports this idea in stating that "It's crucial to analyze work if people resources are to be best deployed to deliver on business objectives" (Hay Group, n.d.).

4) As a change champion, I must be able convince people of the need for change and help them adapt to it. In other words, the new automated settlement platform may be viewed by financial services employees as a new process that will lead to job elimination. As an efficient HR manager, I must be able to talk to employees about the opportunities that will be created as a result of this change. I must help build training practices that will enable them to work on reinventing themselves and grow with the company.

5) As an innovator and integrator I must be able to combine administrative roles with strategic skills to solve business problems. The following articles provide some great insights on this concept. Erna Oldenboom, from the University of Cape Town (UCT) Graduate School of Business, maintains that the current global organizational structure needs strong HR support. As a result, it "cannot afford to have an HR function that fails to contribute to and even lead modern thinking" (How We Made It in Africa, 2013). In an Academy of Management Executive article, Rynes, Brown & Colbert (2002)suggest that HR managers must keep themselves informed of latest HR research findings; they must be aware of latest practices that lead to business results.

6) As a technology proponent, my role as an HR manager is to facilitate access to HR functions (training, benefits, record keeping, other), to information and between people through technology. To continue with financial services example, using the intranet, I can communicate the various phases of the change process to employees. In a recent Forbes article, Galer (2013) suggests that technology plays an important role in HR as a strategic partner. He maintains that with the right software, HR can help determine a company's ability to function through the various business cycles.

In looking for a response to my question regarding financial services HR professional's ability to maintain credibility in the face of constant technological changes (see SHRMConnect links below for detail question), I was able to obtain some video resources which covered the importance of "accountability" in fulfilling the various HR functions. Beverly Kaye, CEO of Career Systems Intl and Pam Benzona of Performance e-Source discuss this key component of credibility. The new hire must be held accountable based on his agreed upon function and organization standards. The production manager or HR manager must be held accountable for taking specific steps to self-improvement and to do what he promises to do (SHRM, 2012). Maintaining a sense of accountability promotes a credible HR that can effectively lead its organization through change.



 http://community.shrm.org/Communities/ViewDiscussions/ViewThread/?GroupId=1303&MID=16921
 http://community.shrm.org/Communities/ViewDiscussions/ViewThread/?GroupId=145&MessageKey=f3590d0d-7493-474a-ab02-a8a6ecb42063

References:

Hay Group, (n.d.). Next generation HR: connecting strategy, people and work. Retrieved from http://www.haygroup.com/ww/press/details.aspx?id=33887

How We Made It in Africa, (2013, July 19). HR as a strategic business partner for success. Retrieved from http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/hr-as-a-strategic-business-partner-for-success/28335/

Galer, S., (2013, August 15). How analytics is transforming HR into a Strategic business partner. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2013/08/15/how-analytics-is-transforming-hr-into-a-strategic-business-partner/

Lawler, E., Boudreau, J., (2009). What makes HR a strategic partner? University of Southern California. Retrieved from
http://ceo.usc.edu/pdf/g09-01.pdf

Mundy, C., (2012, July 5). Why HR still isn't a strategic partner. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from   
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/why_hr_still_isnt_a_strategic_partner.html
 

 Rynes, S., Brown, K., & Colbert, A., (2002). Seven common misconceptions about human resource practices: research findings versus practitioner beliefs. Academy of Management Executive, (16) 3. Retrieved from https://www2.bc.edu/~jonescq/articles/rynes_AME_2002.pdf

 Schramm, J., (2012, July 1). Effective HR practices drive profit. SHRM. Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/Publications/hrmagazine/EditorialContent/2012/1112/Pages/1112focus.aspx

SHRM, (2012). SHRM Video. http://www.shrm.org/multimedia/video/vid_archive/Pages/110726_kaye2.aspx

The RBL Group, (2012). The 2012 HR competency model. Michigan Ross School of Business. Retrieved from http://rbl.net/index.php/hrcs/index/overview

Strategic role of HR in an organization

In Strategic Human Resources this past week, the class used the competency model  "outside-in" as a concept to focus on the strategic role of HR in an organization. We discussed the various challenges faced by HR and strategies that it must used as it fulfills the crucial role of strategic business partner.  As we discovered through materials provided in class as well as outside resources, research findings continue to suggest a relationship between HR practices and individual and business performance.

In particular, studies conducted on effective HR practices reveal that there are specific competencies that HR practitioners must possess to be successful. Findings from the 2012 Human Resource Competency Study (HRSC) identified 6 domains of competencies: strategic positioner, credible activist, capability builder, change champion, human resource innovator & integrator and technology proponent (The RBL Group, 2012). Using outside resources, we analyzed how HR professionals could develop these competencies and the role of the organization in ensuring that HR is equipped to be the reliable strategic business partner that it needs to be in order to help maintain a competitive advantage. Another important note to be taken from this week's learning experience is that most HR professionals recognize the need to be reliable effective strategists for their respective organizations. Some have the necessary skills and others need further training. However, their level of effectiveness depends on the specific situation of the organization, its cultural environment and the level of competency of company executives in general, including HR. The following outside resources provide some support for these observations.

Small Business - Chron contributor, Linda Ray (n.d.), suggests that a company can concentrate on productivity and gain competitive advantage by relying on its HR department to recruit, maintain and motivate the workforce. But, first building the right HR department means hiring HR professionals with experience who can develop strategies to help shape the business success.

HR's role as a credible activist requires a focus on both business results and support of the people who work to deliver these results (The RBL Group, 2012). Hay Group (n.d.) further maintains that as evidence continue to suggest a link between organizational success and effective HR actions, HR will continue to face the pressure to develop strategies that link work and people to business strategies.

References:

Hay Group, (n.d.). Next generation HR: connecting strategy, people and work. Retrieved from http://www.haygroup.com/ww/press/details.aspx?id=33887

Ray, L., (n.d.). How can HR become a competitive advantage for any organization? Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/can-hr-become-competitive-advantage-organization-50913.html

The RBL Group, (2012). The 2012 HR competency model. Michigan Ross School of Business. Retrieved from http://rbl.net/index.php/hrcs/index/overview