HR TRANSFORMATION TO STRATEGIC HR The Challenge For HR In India Dr. Wayne Brockbank (Clinical Professor of Business at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business) talks to The Human Factor, in this exclusive interview, about the ‘purposeful organisation’ and the goal of HR for linking insiders and outsiders |
 “While I’m a great believer in knowing HR best practices, I am concerned that some companies apply them without a clear strategic direction. I’d rather have bad HR going the right direction than state-of-the-art HR going the wrong direction. An old Arabic proverb reads, ‘No matter how far you have gone down the wrong road, turn back!’”Linking HR practices to business strategy is what he does best, and Dr. Wayne Brockbank talks exclusively to The Human Factor to reveal the HR agenda after it becomes a boardroom partner. Dr. Brockbank, the co-author of the pioneering book ‘The HR Value Proposition’ with Dr. Dave Ulrich, is a Principal of The RBL Group and a Clinical Professor of Business at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Q. How does it feel to be known as an HR guru? A. It is difficult to categorise myself as a ‘guru’. We are all on a journey to learn and improve. I have benefited greatly from friends and colleagues who have taught me much. Luck has played a major role. At Brigham Young University, I was happily majoring in political philosophy and had never taken a business class. In the last semester, I had one open elective. I ran into a faculty member who suggested I take a course in organisational behaviour led by Prof. Stephen R. Covey. During one class, we did a decision-making exercise which showed that well-managed groups of people will almost always make better decisions than individuals. To me, those results were completely counterintuitive. Ever since then, I have been trying to help people in organisations to be smarter together than apart. After my master’s degree, I had the good fortune to work in the oil field services business. Tom Luke, the VP of HR, was my boss. He had the great instincts to send me on the road to learn the fabric of the business. I came to understand that doing HR without a sensitive awareness of the business context could be counterproductive to business performance. While working on my PhD at UCLA, I never forgot the central importance of aligning everything we do in HR directly to the requirements of business customers. For my first few years as a faculty member at the Ross School of Business, I taught courses in business strategy. Thus, the intellectual framework for my thinking about HR has always begun with a focus first on the business, then on HR. Q. How can HR transform to ‘strategic’ HR? A. If HR is to be strategic, its focus should be on creating organisational and cultural capabilities that build sustainable competitive advantage, which translates into substantive increases in positive cash flow. As HR adds that kind of strategic value, it will be invited into the boardroom as a full business partner. |
Q. What are the skills HR managers require in this regard? A. At The RBL Group, we have gathered the largest data set in the world about the skills that differentiate HR professionals in high performing firms from those in low performing firms. Three findings stick out. First, high performing HR executives ensure that basic HR transactions are done efficiently and accurately. They understand relevant business knowledge. Second, they contribute to a market-focused business strategy. They utilise business knowledge to frame high-performing cultures, and then align HR processes to sustain the desired culture. Third, they function as activists in driving toward performance, meeting their commitments and being role models of integrity. To develop the skills necessary, they must invest in their own development. They must diligently study customers, competitors, industry structure, competitive market dynamics, the regulatory environment and trends in economic globalisation. They must then master the internal core disciplines of business. Q. After becoming a boardroom partner, what lies next for HR? A. The driving agenda for HR is to recognise that in business there are two groups of people: people on the inside (employees) and people on the outside (customers and owners). The ultimate goal of HR is to link the two populations so that organisations can align themselves with current and future external requirements. A number of companies such as GE, HUL, LG India, etc. are striving to approximate this vision. Q. What is HR lacking in rapidly emerging Asian countries? A. Accurately conceptualising and creating the human side of business is fundamental to success for both China and India. The country that is able to accomplish this first and most successfully will emerge as the ultimate definer of business success through much of the coming century. From an HR perspective, China and India share certain commonalities and also have distinct differences. In the earlier part of the last decade, both moved away from their roots as centrally controlled economies. Since prior to the early 1990s, success in both countries was heavily determined by the regulatory context and HR in both tended to be less critical to business success. In the last two decades, they have substantially parted ways, from an HR perspective. China continues to rely on heavy involvement of the government to orchestrate the economy. In India, competitive markets are allowed more free reign, so the centrality of HR as a business contributor appears to be emerging at a faster rate. Many world class best practices are emerging from India’s leading companies. The HR challenge for India is that demand for strategic HR professionals is quickly exceeding supply. The development of HR professionals in India must be a business priority for companies and the country. |
