Human Resource Management in the 21st Century
Fact or Fiction?
Limits of Legislation
2008 Jun 6 Posted by Robert
Contrary to what many believe, the law does not protect every workplace “unfairness”. Most employees are “at-will” and can be terminated for any reason. Some reason(s) that are illegal are those that implicate discrimination against a class of persons protected by statute (see Title VII) and expanded, limited or interpreted via common law (cases) and when the government is involved and Constitutional protections apply. Other controlling factors can include the existence of a contract or presence of a union. Read the rest of this entry »
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The HR Personality: What Experts Say!
2008 Feb 19 Posted by Michael
Hello Everyone,
The cover story of the February 08 edition of Human Resource Executive offers “The HR Personality…Differences That Could Impact Your Effectiveness.” On page 22 of the article author Scott Flanders writes “Data…suggests HR executives may not be as naturally business-driven as other executives. HR leaders are significantly less ‘”enterprising”– a personality trait that measures a persons interest and comfort level with sales and commercial activity.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Americans with Disabilities Act Expansion - Restoring the ADA to its “Original Intent.” - Challenges, Benefits, and Questions.
2008 Feb 8 Posted by Michael
Hello Everyone,
Today SHRM posted the following statement “…If some Members of Congress have their way, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will be applicable to many more workers. The proposed ADA Restoration Act would change the definition of “disability” from the current standard of “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual” to simply “a mental or physical impairment.” Read the rest of this entry »
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HR Professional as Teacher: Learned and Learner!
2008 Jan 25 Posted by Michael
Frequently, HR professionals find themselves in the role of teacher, teaching organizational members strategies and tactics for enabling individual and organizational success.
However, teaching assumes that the teacher possesses the knowledge, competencies, and skills necessary to instruct others to achieve content and/or skill competence. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Role of Labor Unions in the 21st Century
2007 Nov 7 Posted by Robert
What will be the role of labor unions in the 21st Century? Some argue that the traditional role of the union in protecting the worker has been usurped by significant legislation protecting the worker against discrimination, unsafe work conditions and issues of fair pay. Others point out that “at-will” employment is the law of the land and most workers can be fired for any reason so unions remain indispensable. Does the modern union need to re-define its’ role and purpose to effectively serve its membership? How does the presence of a union influence the job of the HR professional?
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Demographic Changes and Talent Management
2007 Oct 1 Posted by Jean
The workforce in the United States is dramatically changing. Through most of the twentieth century, organizations could count on a steady stream of potential workers with the basic skills and career expectations that met the needs of corporate leadership. Today that is no longer the case. The technology, culture, demographics, and new sourcing methods are making the C-level senior executives re-think their strategy for this new century. Organizations that hope to achieve and maintain high performance must take a wide-ranging approach to understand this change, diagnose the impact and put in place an integrated suite of solutions that manage the potential risk (Smith, 2007).
The challenging workforce is, in part, a product of demographics. The steady flow of workers has been broken. The statistics are frightening: Every ten minutes a “baby boomer” is retiring, more then 75 million of them by 2011 (Smith, 2007). Retirements will now outweigh the inflow of knowledge workers. With the average age of the working population increasing, with a higher percentage of the workforce retiring and the declining birth rates in many nations, including our own, the current state of the workplace is uncertain at best. Most organizations are now at risk of having their valuable knowledge and skills sail off into the “retirement sunset” with little or no strategic plan, process or goals in place to “restock the lake.”
The majority of the industrial marketplace in the United States of America has now become one of knowledge workers (Butler, 1997). Knowledge workers are employees who are valuable for what they do with their ideas rather than what they do with their bodies. In 1900, only 17 percent of all jobs required knowledge workers. Now, over 60 percent demand the skills and competencies of an educated workforce. The business outlook for the supply of this talent for the immediate future is not good. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by 2008, 25 percent of senior leadership positions will be vacant, mostly due to the retirement of “baby boomers” (EXECSIGHT, 2004). A study by Bersin and Associates concludes that the U.S. 500 largest companies will lose 50 percent of their senior management by 2011 (Bersin, 2006). Given this fact, the problem is replacing these “baby boomer” leaders of knowledge workers in the coming decades. (R.John Welsch, Jr 2007)
What are your companies doing to actively manage their talent? If your company is not actively engaged in these activities what do you think they should do?
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HR Professionals: Business Professionals First and HR Professionals Second
2007 Sep 9 Posted by Michael
Hi Everyone,
Question: In your opinion, must HR professionals possess a solid business education, applied line or field business experience, and business acumen, supporting HR competencies and skills, in order to make value-based contributions to their organizations?
Thought leaders globally are articulating their responses to this question.
What do you think?
Please feel free to provide personal experiences, cite authors, and/or post weblink(s) in support of your position.
Michael
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Outsourcing: HR’s Ally or Nemisis
2007 Aug 16 Posted by Michael
Outsourcing has emerged as a key human capital management strategy.
Organizations of all types are experimenting with, implementing, and refining outsourcing strategies in order to achieve competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Organizations using outsourcing strategies have experienced fiscal gains through organizational restructuring and increased service efficiencies resulting in new perspectives and innovation strategies focused on driving organizational and human capital productivity.
Globally, human resource professionals have been impacted by outsourcing. The new perspectives and innovative strategies focused on driving organizational and human capital productivity have influenced how company’s organize themselves and execute business. It also has reshaped how organizational leaders perceive the role and responsibilities of human resource management professions. Increasingly, many organizational leaders perceive outsourcing as an efficient mechanism to increase productivity, accountability, and efficiencies while decreasing expenses, ineffectiveness, and inefficiencies.
Similarly, many human resource management professionals perceive outsourcing as an ally; an ally in talent acquisition, human capital development and knowledge management practices. However, other human resource professional’s view outsourcing as a nemesis; a force of retribution and elimination emerging after decades of human resource management professionals limited strategic leadership, focus on employee advocacy, and minimal business contributions.
In 2006, I developed and delivered a presentation for a global financial service company’s national client conference. In the presentation introduction I wrote:
“The 21st century knowledge age is like no other in commercial history. Organizations of all types are being called upon to operate in increasingly complex global environments characterized by decentralized leadership, innovative human capital management, and the necessity for human resource professionals to function as thought leaders, business partners, change agents, and enterprise enablers.
The rapidity and pervasiveness of organizational and marketplace change challenges businesses and stakeholders in every industry to continually reinvent themselves in order to remain competitive. Marketplace, organizational, and employee challenges to organizational survival are numerous and dangerous. As a result, organizational enablers, specifically human resource professionals, must anticipate and manage the scope, power, and unintended consequences of often irrational and fragmented challenges to business and cultural advancement, which if not addressed, could result in business inefficiency and promote cultural chaos.
Human resource management outsourcing has emerged as an organizational challenge. Increasingly, HR professionals are being challenged to demonstrate their value proposition to business productivity and enabling competitive advantage. Through outsourcing HR functions not explicitly aligned with achieving business goals, HR professionals can focus on relevant, mission critical activities.
Outsourcing provides HR professionals with motive and opportunity to realize, perhaps the first time, the strategic and tactical potential inherent their emergent role as business partner. In order to realize these potential, HR professionals must evaluate their current competencies and skill base relative to meeting the business knowledge and performance expectations associated with succeeding in the 21st century global marketplace.
The 21st century HR profession is on the verge of a renaissance of relevance. Outsourcing human resource activities that do not drive business results provides HR professionals with opportunities to demonstrate business relevance and organizational leadership. As outsourcing advocates, HR professionals will be positioned to influence the scope and focus of outsourcing strategies in their organizations. By so doing, they can build organizations possessing generative and adaptive capacities and enable competitive advantage.”
©Michael Williams, 2006
My thoughts concerning outsourcing; its emerging role in organizations and its influence on reshaping organizational leaders, human resource management professionals, and organizational stakeholder’s perceptions and actions concerning the roles and responsibilities of human resource management professionals in 21st century knowledge age organizations, is a place to begin the dialogue and discussion of this topic.
What are your thoughts?
Please feel free to provide experiences you believe will enhance our exploration of this topic.
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The Importance of Honest Workplace Evaluations
2007 Jun 22 Posted by Robert
A common legal obstacle for attorneys when it comes to defending complaints and lawsuits over the termination an employee occurs because the evaluations of the employee have been dishonest at worst and overly kind and forgiving at best. Part of the problem may be that it is often easier to overlook sub-par or marginal performance by employees either out of a desire to avoid conflict or a fear of hurting workplace moral. Evaluations must be honest, documented and standardized not only for the protection of the company, but also as a matter of fairness to the employee who may be unaware that he/she needs to improve performance if possible before the situation gets to the point where termination is necessary. Thoughts?
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Gary and Issac’s Posting: Human Resource Professionals in the 21st Century Knowledge Age: Partner or Pariah©
2007 May 24 Posted by Michael
Human Resource Professionals in the 21st Century Knowledge Age: Partner or Pariah©. As per my reponse to Gary and Issac’s emails, attached is the oversview to my current book “Human Resource Professionals in the 21st Century Knowledge Age: Partner or Pariah©.”
Thank you.
Michael
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Welcome to the Human Resource Management blog. This site is about change and transformation within the human resource management industry and human resource professionals. We hope you find this site informative and engaging, and welcome your suggestions and comments.
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