flevyblog

Flevy Blog is an online business magazine covering Business Strategies, Business Theories, & Business Stories.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN ORGANIZATION & CHANGE IT/MIS Other

The Journey from the Age of the Tool to the Present (Part 7)

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, HR Strategy: Job Leveling (26-slide PowerPoint presentation). Job Leveling is a disciplined approach to gauge the value of work for individual positions across the organization. It entails ascertaining the nature of work done by each position, authority levels, and the effect of each job on business results. Jobs that are configured inadequately bread [read more]

Also, if you are interested in becoming an expert on Human Resource Management (HRM), take a look at Flevy's Human Resource Management (HRM) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can you stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

* * * *

Editor’s Note:  The Journey from the Age of the Tool to the Present is a 7-part series, tracing the journey humanity has taken from 2500 BC to modern times on the progress of Human Resources.  This is a very comprehensive narrative that touches upon numerous management philosophies and concepts.  To read the full series, take a look at the author’s profile page found here.

* * * *

Continued from part 6…

I have found that establishing Decision Domain Councils can be incredibly helpful.  Establish one called Human Performance Excellence and have the CEO and some individuals who are not the usual suspects such as the VP of Marketing or Product Development or the CTO or CIO involved with the HR Head who is Secretary and one of the other execs as Chairperson. This group is accountable for creating the employer of choice positioning to attract the best talent and keeping them.  They ensure special programs for developing the ‘leaders of tomorrow’ and having strategic succession planning such as offered by Rothwell. Each Council should be supported by a Strategic Business Improvement Team made up of high-potential cross-functional talented individuals.  Their assignments from the Council must be given priority and their performance evaluations and recognition must be linked to their success.

Requiring senior executives to have (1) back to the floor experiences – going out and working in their retail operations, branch banks, whatever for 3 days going hand-to-hand with real customers and rubbing shoulders with their employees does wonders; (2) mandating that every senior executive not only listen to calls coming into the call center (if they know where it is!), but take calls for information or deal with complaints like Xerox and others have done; and (3) giving each senior executive responsibility and accountability for building exceptional relationships with one key customer account and key supplier organisation – their bonus depending on their success/performance in doing so. The frequency which senior executives are tuned into needs to be changed and these will work – I have used all of them with great success. There are more, but allow me to stop there.  In each case at each Management Committee meeting, a sharing of learning from these experiences needs to happen and built upon.

journey7.1So, where do we go from here? Well if I were to paint a high level picture of what I believe the HR function should be in order to resolve the issues identified above and to move organisations more effectively and efficiently into the future, then I would propose this diagramme to the right.

For me, Strategic HR would probably be headed by an executive who knows absolutely nothing about HR other than how to manage people effectively in the position he or she has had in the past. It could be a CIO, CTO, CSO, CFO or others. The keys in my mind are these. Put someone in this position who is well respected by the CEO and leadership team and therefore can act a liaison with them and ensure things happen such as ensuring the right decisions are made to invest in people – help the organisation become more people-centric and unlock their full potential to contribute to the success of the organisation.

This position also would be on the career path of those whose aspirations are to move into a position of even greater responsibility.  This experience should broaden them and give them the necessary competency set to help secure the long-term sustainability of the business.

The Operational HR executive would be an HR professional – but not just an ‘ordinary’ one.  What do I mean?  Someone who possesses relationship mastery, creativity, capability to interpret analysis of data and information related to people, is up-to-date on the latest studies, surveys and books on the subject of HR.  They need to be someone who changes the image of HR from being a necessary evil or nuisance – something to be tolerated, to a true ally, coach and source of inspiration.  Focus and delivery – on engagement, empowerment, enablement, involvement, creativity/innovation and more should be part and parcel of their remit and capabilities.  They need to fully understand how to deliver value to the organisation which is clearly recognisable by the entire workforce and the CEO and leadership team.

The Strategic HR and Operational HR Executives would have joint ownership and evolution of the culture of the organisation.  Right now, no one owns the culture of an organisation – it just sort of happens and then we live with it. Yes, as said before, the culture of an organisation can either be the biggest enabler or inhibitor of success – not something to be ignored or taken-for-granted.

The last component is having a ‘world-class sensing system’ which is continuously collecting, ‘refreshing’ the organisation’s understanding and insight into the people side of the organisation.  It should allow the ‘new’ HR function to be ‘agile’ – to identify, assess and act on issues – opportunities or problems at ‘hyper-speed’. Optimising technology to enable people in the organisation to work more effectively and efficiently will be increasingly critical. Then to, as digitalisation, and even robots and artificial intelligence begin to play in more and more down the road eliminating some base level HR positions as well as those in other functions, transformation related to people and the HR Function will increasingly become an organisational priority.

In addition, the CIPD in the UK, one of the world’s most respected Human Resource organisations did a study in 2013 which resulted in the following model being developed which is where I shall leave the discussion for now.  I leave this with you as ‘food for thought’ if you are an HR Professional reading this article:

journey7.2

I hope that the above Article has shed some additional light on the challenge ahead for HR.  To me, at this point, HR is like a lifeboat of immigrants bobbing in a turbulent sea looking for a safe harbour and finding none. Let’s help get this sorted!  It’s too important an issue not to!

44-slide PowerPoint presentation
The Fiaccabrino Selection Process is a powerful methodology for interviewing and screening the best people for your organization. The objective is to select those people who will be the highest performers with the lowest turnover. (Whereas the methodology was originally developed for a sales [read more]

Want to Achieve Excellence in Human Resource Management (HRM)?

Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Human Resource Management (HRM). Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.

The purpose of Human Resources (HR) is to ensure our organization achieves success through our people. Without the right people in place—at all levels of the organization—we will never be able to execute our Strategy effectively.

This begs the question: Does your organization view HR as a support function or a strategic one? Research shows leading organizations leverage HR as a strategic function, one that both supports and drives the organization's Strategy. In fact, having strong HRM capabilities is a source of Competitive Advantage.

This has never been more true than right now in the Digital Age, as organizations must compete for specialized talent to drive forward their Digital Transformation Strategies. Beyond just hiring and selection, HR also plays the critical role in retaining talent—by keeping people engaged, motivated, and happy.

Learn about our Human Resource Management (HRM) Best Practice Frameworks here.

Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources


230-slide PowerPoint presentation
Curated by McKinsey-trained Executives Unlocking Business Excellence: The McKinsey Talent-to-Value Framework Toolkit In the dynamic world of modern business, staying ahead of the competition means maximizing the potential of your most critical asset – your people. The **McKinsey [read more]


 
33-slide PowerPoint presentation
 
 
27-slide PowerPoint presentation

About Dr. Ted Marra

Dr. Ted Marra is a strategic facilitator, organizational mentor and writer. He has lectured in MBA/EMBA programmes at universities in Boston, Detroit, the UK, Switzerland and Croatia. He is now a Member of the Board of MAX/Knowledge Now, a global learning organisation. He is also Sr. Partner for Insights Paradigm, a strategic advisory organization in Dubai, UAE. You can find Ted on LinkedIn here.



Complimentary Business Training Guides


Many companies develop robust strategies, but struggle with operationalizing their strategies into implementable steps. This presentation from flevy introduces 12 powerful business frameworks spanning both Strategy Development and Strategy Execution. [Learn more]

  This 48-page whitepaper, authored by consultancy Envisioning, provides the frameworks, tools, and insights needed to manage serious Change—under the backdrop of the business lifecycle. These lifecycle stages are each marked by distinct attributes, challenges, and behaviors. [Learn more]

We've developed a very comprehensive collection of Strategy & Transformation PowerPoint templates for you to use in your own business presentations, spanning topics from Growth Strategy to Brand Development to Innovation to Customer Experience to Strategic Management. [Learn more]

  We have compiled a collection of 10 Lean Six Sigma templates (Excel) and Operational Excellence guides (PowerPoint) by a multitude of LSS experts. These tools cover topics including 8 Disciplines (8D), 5 Why's, 7 Wastes, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and DMAIC. [Learn more]
Recent Articles by Corporate Function

  

  

  

  

  

The Flevy Business Blog (https://flevy.com/blog) is a leading source of information on business strategies, business theories, and business stories. Most of our articles are authored by management consultants and industry executives with over 20 years of experience.

Flevy (https://flevy.com) is the marketplace for business best practices, such as management frameworks, presentation templates, and financial models. Our best practice documents are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier consulting firms (like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, BCG, and Deloitte) and used by Fortune 100 organizations. Learn more about Flevy here.
  


OUR CORE OFFERINGS
Flevy Marketplace: Top 100
· Strategy & Transformation
· Digital Transformation
· Operational Excellence
· Organization & Change
· Financial Models
· Consulting Frameworks
· PowerPoint Templates
FlevyPro (Subscription Service)
KPI Library
Streams (Functional Bundles)
Flevy Executive Learning (FEL)
PowerPoint Services

FREE Resources

About Flevy
Management Topics
Marcus (AI-Powered Consultant)
Partner Program
LinkedIn Influencer Marketing
FAQ / Terms / Privacy / Blog
Contact Us: support@flevy.com



CONNECT WITH US!
       
TOP 100 TRENDING TOPICS
Acquisition Strategy
Agile
Analytics
Artificial Intelligence
Balanced Scorecard
Best Practices
Big Data
Breakout Strategy
Business Continuity Planning
Business Plan Financial Model
Business Transformation
CMMI
COBIT
Change Management
Cloud
Communications Strategy
Company Financial Model
Competitive Advantage
Competitive Analysis
Consulting Frameworks
Continuous Improvement
Core Competencies
Corporate Culture
Cost Reduction Assessment
Customer Experience

BROWSE BY FUNCTION
Strategy, Transformation, & Innovation
Digital Transformation
Operational Excellence and LSS
Organization, Change, & HR
Management Consulting

Customer Journey
Customer Service
Cyber Security
Data Privacy
Decision Making
Digital Marketing Strategy
Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation Strategy
Due Diligence
ESG
Employee Engagement
Employee Training
Enterprise Architecture
Growth Strategy
HR Strategy
Hiring
Hoshin Kanri
ISO 27001
ITIL
Information Technology
Innovation Management
Integrated Financial Model
Kaizen
Kanban
Key Performance Indicators

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Business Strategy Frameworks
Case Studies
Consulting Training Guides
COVID-19 Trend Data
Digital Transformation
Financial Advising Services (FAS)

Knowledge Management
Leadership
Lean
Lean Manufacturing
Logistics
M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions)
Manufacturing
Market Research
Marketing Plan Development
Maturity Model
McKinsey PowerPoint
McKinsey Templates
Operational Excellence
Organizational Change
Organizational Design
Performance Management
Post-merger Integration
Pricing Strategy
Process Improvement
Process Maps
Procurement Strategy
Product Launch Strategy
Product Strategy
Project Management
Quality Management


Free Resources
KPI Library
Lean Management
Lean Six Sigma Training Guides
Marcus Insights
Operational Excellence

Real Estate
Remote Work
Restructuring
Risk Management
Robotic Process Automation
SWOT
SaaS
Sales
Scrum
Service Design
Six Sigma Project
Social Media Strategy
Strategic Planning
Strategic Thinking
Strategy Development
Supply Chain Analysis
Sustainability
Target Operating Model
Team Management
Total Productive Maintenance
Value Chain Analysis
Value Creation
Value Stream Mapping
Visual Workplace
Workplace Safety


Product Strategy
Small Business Owner
Startup Resources
Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning Process
Value Innovation Strategy


© 2012-2024 Copyright. Flevy LLC. All Rights Reserved.