I have been following the various articles and discussions in Canadian HR Reporter relating to HR and its role in business strategy. Without a doubt the function should play an important part in any organization’s strategy but for the most part what is observed is a group of “wannabes” involved in an exercise of envy.
Your recent survey — HR’s Quest for Status: Fantasy or Emerging Reality? — reveals a very interesting state of affairs.
On the first page of the Nov. 5 issue one reads that little more than 36 per cent of the respondents to your survey felt that HR had a significant involvement in the development of their organization’s business strategy. It was particularly noteworthy that eight per cent of the respondents indicated that HR was fully involved in the business strategy process. It would have been interesting to survey this group to determine how many felt that they carried the same weight in the process as the other major functional areas of the company such as finance, marketing, IT and manufacturing.
When I reviewed what respondents set out as “Front-line HR challenges” (Nov. 5, pages 21-22.), I was disappointed with the large number of issues that had little or no strategic thrust. Typically respondents complained about the lack of resources provided to the HR function rather than that their challenge was the development of a strategic thrust with the resources they were provided. Not one respondent indicated that their challenge was to better learn what factors made their organization successful.
David Brown’s article “Outsourcing key to HR strategic role?” (Nov. 5, pg. 22) illustrated that HR professionals were slow to increase their participation in outsourcing. If there were a clear understanding of what strategy is all about, the HR professional would be outsourcing every activity and function possible so they would be able to act as a quarterback and concentrate on the strategic issues of their function and the business.
The heads of other functional areas within organizations have outsourced activities for a long time, either to capture expertise that the corporation couldn’t afford to maintain on a full-time basis or to have work done more economically or efficiently by specialists.
Much of the material in the Nov. 5 issue seems to support the comment “Canadian HR managers appear to be slightly more apprehensive about outsourcing because they can’t make distinctions about what is strategic and what is transactional.” Until they are able to do this, they will remain “wannabes.” If I couple this observation with the fact that only 43 per cent of the respondents see business acumen as being a very important skill for HR leaders, I fear that it will be some time before the ‘wannabes’ desires are fulfilled.
Fred Pamenter
Pamenter, Pamenter, Brezer
and Deganis Limited
Human Resource Consultants
Toronto
Your recent survey — HR’s Quest for Status: Fantasy or Emerging Reality? — reveals a very interesting state of affairs.
On the first page of the Nov. 5 issue one reads that little more than 36 per cent of the respondents to your survey felt that HR had a significant involvement in the development of their organization’s business strategy. It was particularly noteworthy that eight per cent of the respondents indicated that HR was fully involved in the business strategy process. It would have been interesting to survey this group to determine how many felt that they carried the same weight in the process as the other major functional areas of the company such as finance, marketing, IT and manufacturing.
When I reviewed what respondents set out as “Front-line HR challenges” (Nov. 5, pages 21-22.), I was disappointed with the large number of issues that had little or no strategic thrust. Typically respondents complained about the lack of resources provided to the HR function rather than that their challenge was the development of a strategic thrust with the resources they were provided. Not one respondent indicated that their challenge was to better learn what factors made their organization successful.
David Brown’s article “Outsourcing key to HR strategic role?” (Nov. 5, pg. 22) illustrated that HR professionals were slow to increase their participation in outsourcing. If there were a clear understanding of what strategy is all about, the HR professional would be outsourcing every activity and function possible so they would be able to act as a quarterback and concentrate on the strategic issues of their function and the business.
The heads of other functional areas within organizations have outsourced activities for a long time, either to capture expertise that the corporation couldn’t afford to maintain on a full-time basis or to have work done more economically or efficiently by specialists.
Much of the material in the Nov. 5 issue seems to support the comment “Canadian HR managers appear to be slightly more apprehensive about outsourcing because they can’t make distinctions about what is strategic and what is transactional.” Until they are able to do this, they will remain “wannabes.” If I couple this observation with the fact that only 43 per cent of the respondents see business acumen as being a very important skill for HR leaders, I fear that it will be some time before the ‘wannabes’ desires are fulfilled.
Fred Pamenter
Pamenter, Pamenter, Brezer
and Deganis Limited
Human Resource Consultants
Toronto
