THE HR PRACTITIONER AS IMPLEMENTER OF STRATEGY
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This paper addresses the need of Human Resources practitioners to gain more respect and credibility for their field by using interventions based in integrated theory and corporate strategy.
The paper begins by noting that HR typically is given less respect than other functions and is frequently underutilized or mis-utilized, seen as focused on morale. As morale is important to financial performance only in good economic times, the HR budget is among the first to be cut in difficult financial times. The HR perspective is often the last to be called on in designing or implementing corporate strategy.
The paper poses a solution to the problems of low respect, inadequate resourcing and misunderstanding of purpose: that all HR interventions be based in an integrated theory of the work organization (i.e. a theory that integrates the nature of the organization, the nature of work and the nature oif people at work) and that all HR interventions be designed to further the implementation of corporate strategy. The paper demonstrates the use of Elliott Jaques’s Requisite Organization theory as an integrated theory that the HR practitioner can use to implement strategy.
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Only when HR practitioners routinely design and implement interventions that are grounded in integrated theory and which help articulate and implement corporate strategy will the HR function garner the respect and resources due it. The purpose of this paper is to show how the HR practitioner can play that theory-based, strategic role. This will be done by addressing four topics:
1. the role of strategy in organizations and HR’s role in strategy implementation.
2. some companies’ practice of identifying functions that bring in profit vs. those that are simply costs.
3. four examples of help that the HR practitioner is often called on to give as internal consultants:
· advising managers on team building
· advising managers on organizational structure
· helping manage the organization’s talent pool
· helping solve cross-functional problems
For each one I will show how current common HR practice positions the HR practitioner as a soft, people person of low organizational importance while failing to solve the organization’s problems. I will then show a way of addressing the problem in a way that positions the HR practitioner as a strategic player because it solves the organization’s problem by implementing strategy.
4. the value of having an integrated understanding of organizations if one is to be and be seen as a valuable contributor to the organization.
My intention is that the reader may begin to think differently about the HR practitioner’s work and may see some new ways of playing the HR practitioner’s role that will be both more beneficial to the organization and to the status of HR as a function. My expectation is that as HR practitioners fulfill requests for service by using integrated theory to implement strategy, they will increasingly be asked to play their role in that manner and will decreasingly be seen as instruments to make the workplace a nicer place to work.
The paper begins by noting that HR typically is given less respect than other functions and is frequently underutilized or mis-utilized, seen as focused on morale. As morale is important to financial performance only in good economic times, the HR budget is among the first to be cut in difficult financial times. The HR perspective is often the last to be called on in designing or implementing corporate strategy.
The paper poses a solution to the problems of low respect, inadequate resourcing and misunderstanding of purpose: that all HR interventions be based in an integrated theory of the work organization (i.e. a theory that integrates the nature of the organization, the nature of work and the nature oif people at work) and that all HR interventions be designed to further the implementation of corporate strategy. The paper demonstrates the use of Elliott Jaques’s Requisite Organization theory as an integrated theory that the HR practitioner can use to implement strategy.
'
Only when HR practitioners routinely design and implement interventions that are grounded in integrated theory and which help articulate and implement corporate strategy will the HR function garner the respect and resources due it. The purpose of this paper is to show how the HR practitioner can play that theory-based, strategic role. This will be done by addressing four topics:
1. the role of strategy in organizations and HR’s role in strategy implementation.
2. some companies’ practice of identifying functions that bring in profit vs. those that are simply costs.
3. four examples of help that the HR practitioner is often called on to give as internal consultants:
· advising managers on team building
· advising managers on organizational structure
· helping manage the organization’s talent pool
· helping solve cross-functional problems
For each one I will show how current common HR practice positions the HR practitioner as a soft, people person of low organizational importance while failing to solve the organization’s problems. I will then show a way of addressing the problem in a way that positions the HR practitioner as a strategic player because it solves the organization’s problem by implementing strategy.
4. the value of having an integrated understanding of organizations if one is to be and be seen as a valuable contributor to the organization.
My intention is that the reader may begin to think differently about the HR practitioner’s work and may see some new ways of playing the HR practitioner’s role that will be both more beneficial to the organization and to the status of HR as a function. My expectation is that as HR practitioners fulfill requests for service by using integrated theory to implement strategy, they will increasingly be asked to play their role in that manner and will decreasingly be seen as instruments to make the workplace a nicer place to work.
