A 360-degree view of HR: CEOs, line managers, and employees speak frankly about HR; brace yourself

Workforce, June, 2002 by Allan Halcrow

Wright points to other reasons why HR isn't viewed more favorably. Three themes emerge from the research:

1) HR isn't doing a good job. Wright notes that he and his colleagues were allowed into the organizations studied at least partly because the HR organizations were in transition. They deliberately sought data because they believed they could be doing better.

2) HR gets blamed when the line manager implements poorly. One HR executive in Wright's study said that HR was blamed for a poor compensation system, but that managers were reluctant to make tough calls on individual raises or bonuses, and that reluctance undermined the system.

3) HR is not good at marketing. When HR does great work, it often doesn't take the opportunity to let people know what it has accomplished. This problem is compounded by the fact that many managers--and CEOs--don't really understand HR.

Lawrence Pope, vice president of human resources for Halliburton Energy Services Group in Houston, says that every one of these issues can be mitigated when HR has a close relationship with managers, an association he terms "absolutely fundamental."

At Halliburton, line managers participate directly in shaping and implementing HR initiatives through an oversight-committee structure. Top performers who have demonstrated a passion for specific elements of HR management, such as employee development or compensation and benefits, serve on the committees.

The performance-review board might, for example, focus on employee competencies. The process begins with identifying jobs and mapping the required skills to perform the work. Then the board looks at the people who are doing the jobs, identifies gaps between existing and optimal competencies, and develops interventions such as stand-up, on-the-job, or self-paced training.

Pope says the effectiveness of the interventions is measured in two ways: through an exam to see if an employee grasps the content, and through a correlation to performance improvement. Measuring performance improvement can be difficult, he says, but can be achieved by looking at changes from year to year in a specific area such as improved safety records.

"Many organizations abdicate management of people to HR," Pope says. "But HR can't implement. If HR throws a program over the wall to the line and asks them to implement it, it isn't likely to be well received. It's better if you present the business case for a program and explain how it adds value. The HR challenge then is to keep from losing control, which is a better position to be in."

CEOs want strategic partners

Employees and managers need a better understanding of what HR is doing and why. So does the CEO, says Don Holzworth, the top executive at Analytical Sciences, Inc. He says that most CEOs don't really understand what HR can do, and don't know how to get what they want. "They see HR as a necessary evil, as a cost center, like photocopy paper," he says. "Most CEOs are uncomfortable with the topic of HR."

Podurgal, Holzworth's senior HR executive, says that until recently, HR hasn't had clearly defined expectations or accountability. "Many CEOs just want HR to keep them out of jail."