What’s Wrong with HR?
I once heard of a debate between two different sects of people one being from northern India and other one belonging to southern part of the country. It could have been a pretty un-constructive, argumentative discussion where one group tells the other group what’s wrong with it and vice versa – everyone would have gone home with the same opinions that they came with – however this debate was of a different kind.
Each side was told to prepare arguments against their own habits, religion/faith and their perspective. The north Indians had to say what they didn’t like about people from north, what they felt uncomfortable with and had to deconstruct and poke holes in their own framework for thinking. The south Indian guys had to do the same for their own region.
The result was fascinating and encouraging – rather that the two groups coming away with reinforced hatred of and anger towards the other the results of the event was incredibly constructive. Both groups found that they learned not only a lot about the other group – but about their own perspective.
Ok – so why am I telling you this on a blog about HR? Have I mistakenly posted this information here instead of on my other blog?
No – I”m actually wondering if it might be a helpful exercise as HR people to do something similar.
Let me start this by quoting what our Evil HR Lady has to say about HR:
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“Why am I evil? Well, I’m not, but that’s the perception of all of us in HR. Need to fire someone? Come to HR. Need to explain to someone why, even after working their rear end off all year, that their annual increase is 2.7%? Come to HR. Need to come up with new mountains of paperwork? Come to HR. So, come join me on the Evil Side.”
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Let’s talk about what we don’t like about HR. What are its weaknesses? What are its limitations? How would you construct an argument against HR?
Lets learn something about HR by deconstructing it for a bit. Put the boots in readers – lets kick it about for a bit – time for a bit of a bitch session!
The rules are simple – you’re not allowed to say ANYTHING positive about HR in comments below (or feel free to respond on your own blog and leave a link below so we can find it). There are no wrongs and rights – everyone’s critiques of the medium are valid.
Go on – I know you want to – lets lay into HR!
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Decision Making:
HR does not have any role in decision making as its still considered as a support function & all the decision making lies with the immediate reporting manager.
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It is very tricky for an organization to practice HR which not yet fully determined to become professional. As a result, many a times the HR guy feels it is a waste of time doing all the exercise. Goin professional is a tough decision to implement because you have to dismantle the old hierarchy.
HP Munshi
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Practicing HR is very difficult unless an organization is determined to dismantle old hierarchy and go ahead with professionalism
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The world is highly dynamic now; but HR doesn’t seem to be changing! Old ways of doing things are still ‘ruling’the HRM. Indeed we need professionalism!
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HR will not achieve as much in companies where the top HR person reports through operations instead of directly to the CEO.
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HR = about Humans that have a lot to offer and Not about Resources
HR = Human Relations & Human Results, else HR = Hardly Relevant
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I agreed with Whiz.
But I think HR just send some basic report to CEO (thing necessary).
Rgs
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May be a holistic approach in HR policy is lacking in India and it should be flexible enough to accommodate the changes according to changing business scenario. I don’t think in many organisations HR is given a free hand/full autonomy to decide and implement what he thinks. Appropriate HR manual is in absence.
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about the debate, well its a good HR exercise because we discover more things about our own perspectives in life and also with those of the other people..
by that, we discover the root of a persons behavior.
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It is very difficult to set up HR Department in an organisation which has been used to work without it since decades. Employees feel as if new rules, policies are bombarded on them and their freedom is taken away. Moreover, HR is treated as cost center for the company. And still not involved in any strategic decision of the organisation.
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I think HR is doing so much,you name it-talent management; compensation & reward; employee relations, PMS, etc; But there is not enough recognition and the biggest culprit is us HR. We do not know how to market ourselves as HR.
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Elisha Simon Reply:
August 26th, 2011 at 6:26 am
@Vanesha, i think we are now been recognised in HR dept. more than before. the economic meltdown has now place HR managers in a more respectable position. HR managers are now seen as business partners
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Hi Vanesha,
You’re absolutely rite here. Most of the times we do not get recognized for our efforts. So we ourselves should learn to market ourselves and also appreciate ourselves.
Amit
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HR as a department still needs to mature in terms of integrating itself into core business of the company, we generally have industry best practices formulae for every issue in company. So more specific tailor made solutions and ideas are required by HR.
We still dont have standarised HR processes in most of the Indian companies, standarisation is required to mature upto level of outsourcing transactional tasks and moving on to more strategic business specific processes
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i agree to what vanesha said … v HR shud market rself … alonwd ds … in most f d organizations HR z wrking solely … HR shud keep in mind d vision n mission of the organization and wrk acc.its not just dat v hv 2 provide resources … v also hv 2 c dat resources r optimally utilised n act as a team n not jst a single deptt.
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HR as a department is always criticized for not matching up to the expectations of HR…Its high time HR starts describing its importance in terms of Return on Investment on employees and brag about all that it has done…
HR now needs to speak up and find its place in the Strategic business management on the Company
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I think the work of hr is for every manager,not only those working in the hr department
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Why HR people dont have authority to take decisions then n there,they will have to ask so many people before taking any decision.Which actually creates a doubt of things to be done or not.
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Amit Bhagria Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 2:55 am
@Megha, Sometimes HR people lack authority or assertiveness…this may be one of the cause for such a behaviour
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If an employee come up with any grievance to be readressed n HR people will take time more than what it shoud take then obviously they will lose confidence on us.Sometimes we also feel helpless.
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its about time HR takes part in decision making instead of just impolementing what has been decided. other department do not also see the importance of HR which is just toooo bad. Hr has to sit up and let people know what thw do and its mpact on the company’s objectives.
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HR in today world need to be flexible in approach, be in terms of any technique.The idea is that we r living in d world of change.Everything from person to person or else never remain the same.In INDIA particularly , organizations cultures are said to be contextualized. So,HR must update a/c to the ongoings,other than applying methods which simply give an impression of old wine in new bottle.
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We are often too scared to take our spece at the Operations or other corporate tables; not in an arrogant or aggressive way, but knowing that we have value to add every day in our businesses. Living and working in Africa is definately not for scared people; ask me!!! The challenges make it interesting.
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HR in itself as terminology it deals with people but there are things that makes the differences, knowing about HR. but what we see as they said most of people doing the work of HRM but still without knowing what is it that is the differences they dont know where they finished and dealing with it professionally.
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Some CEOs do not seem to understand the role of HR. Hence they are not prepared to listen to every issue on HR.
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It is difficult to understand the strategic role HR in organisation that lacks prefessionalism.
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Measuring HR ouput is a challenge. HR does a lot for effective employee performance, but its output is not well linked with HR and thus HR seems to be seen as a cost centre.
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if the assigned person in HR is not open-minded with a lot of possibilities & govern more on what the book says, that HR personnel could not make an out of the box situation. HR personnel should possess an objective thought, know how to balance & the most important is with compassion in dealing with people. That’s why they are called human relations…building relationship with people around them.
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I agree with Munshi. “Practicing HR is very difficult unless an organization is determined to dismantle old hierarchy and go ahead with professionalism.”
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HR is forced to operate in sylos from the other departments in the organisation because the top hierarchy of organisations do not understand and appreciate the role of HR this makes it difficult for HR to function. Heads of HR need to become creative in their communication style to be able to overcome these obstacles.
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human resources are definately2 blame 4 the bulk of processes that go wrong, most of the time it would be due 2 the lack of proper/adequate training. In hr,u can never have friends,i am a senior hr officer and recently had 2 discipline a close colleague of
mine…it was tough bt i survived.as hr,i have 2 ensure that discipline is consistent and thatz what i did.like u mentioned before-the mst difficult thing 2 manage…people.
Regards,
Sandra
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according to me human resource management has a great value but it is the contrary in mostly all companies, firstly old working practice, lack of new knowledge and advanced software. lack of professionism. HR main roles are ignored such as it is mostly concerned with employees but i think what we learn academically is not put into practice.
best wishes
Kavisha
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Even after working a lot on all the parameters, decision is lying with management only and others think we do not have work to do and we are the ones who r cost centers only for the organization.
Regards
Sakshi
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The biggest disadvantage of HR is that when we recruit for our own HR department we look for people who can speak better, who can present things better and who can overall set a good impression. We ignore the other capabilities. To be precise we ignore the capability of Action. I always say HR is like “Do Nothing and Say Eveything”. We have come up with various techniques, practices and jargons for our field but we hardly do anything apart from the rudimentary functions. If some organisations do, then people are not able to understand the value of those functions (eg- people know about Porter’s model but how many people(who are not from HR Field)know what is actually job analysis.So,Self-introspect, create awareness about HR advanced functions among other people and think next time when you recruit any HR personnel next time. Sorry for strong criticism but i tried to hit the rod as forcefully as possible because the Technique discussed here(North- South)says so.
Happy Redemption
Manoj
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HR is everything but it is nothing for us….Hr people understand other’s but other’s cant understand HR people…….HR process is too long to understand….It is not easy to be HR…
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HR needs to be sensitive or aware to needs of the people and the organization and be innovative to create/install new interventions like HR processes and systems. By doing so, it will be easy for HR managers to get a seat at the Board room and become more strategic in dealing with HR issues, solutions and decisions.
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I think in most companies HR do not get the recognition it deserved as a strategic business partner..i think the perception should change to where HR will form part of any company strategic team and should therefore report directly to the CEO..For instance when a strategic decision is to be taking HR should form part of that..HR should not just be an implementor of decisions but should become a partner in making decision..
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According to me this exercise would be beneficial for the HR also because the HR have to recruit people from the various region and they have different religion, culture, and beliefs and their work life influenced by it. its important to understand their life style to manage the work diversity in the work place and its important also for the boast the confidence of the employee, so its useful exercise for the hr also.
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HR Department is a Employee Service Department just tell othes as conusultant and the line management is full responsable for taking decisions as well as its’ results and effects.
Rehab Elabd
HR Section Head
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Most HR professionals would not recognize a talented individual if it hit them in the face. Whether this means not rewarding the individuals in the orginization who are working the hardest or not hiring the correct people for the job. HR is really just a giant middle man between hiring managers and job seekers. They have very narrow minded ideas about what kind of employees they are going to hire for which positions and any employee that doesn’t fit all the items in the checklist is disregarded. As an analogy say you wanted to hire an empolyee with experience selling cars. HR will likely take someone who has an OK track record in auto sales rather than an outstanding track record in furniture sales because it meets their preset definition of the “car salesman” they are looking for. Most hiring managers if reading the resume themselves would rather have the empolyee with a great track record in furniture sales beacause they realize that it’s the sales skills that are important to the job and not necessarily the knowledge of the product. How many times have you seen an HR job descritpion that says “employee must have had 3-5 years in the ______ industry” rather than “emoployee must have demonstrated ablity to make strategic decisions based on financial analysis in their last position”. The truth is most people don’t have one way career paths where they stay in 1 company or industry their whole lives. HR has not adapted to this reality at all in my opinion to the detriment of anyone who is looking for a job.
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HR can not develop beyond the perspective of the business owners. it is often seen as a cost center adding little value to the mission and vision focus of many organizations, no wonder no organization ever crafts its mission statement in relation to its human resource capacity
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Am a student of human resource management as part of a degree in Hospital Mgt. The comments are interesting as they are flabagasting!
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HR frequently forgets to find out what the customer needs and operates in “their” best interest. Our customers are NOT HR experts and simply want a service and we frequently forget to treat our customer as a customer. Instead we want to be the Parent and tell the Child what to do, not to do, etc.
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Often we hear comments that HR is nothing but a mere support dept. & there are times lesser known as a back-office unit. Sound pathetic, isn’t? HR often takes a secondary role even in some major companies when compared to these revered depts. ie. S&M,R&D, Design,Mfg.,Merchandising & Procurement. The experts talk about HR being strategic partners but sadly, the role of HR is easily overshadowed by the many other depts. These days, many of HR functions can be readily outsourced which further diminished the importance of HR role. Isn’t it an irony that given the lower treatment accorded to HR, yet institutions of higher learning continued to offer masters degree in this discipline. Many opines that by equipping oneself with a diploma is good enough to perform the job. They are many people I came to know didn’t have formal training/education in HR but was tasked with the job & responsibilities of HR. Isn’t this further erodes the role of HR although the HR fraternity would like to think otherwise.
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i think human resource management is sake good customer service and good working environment of their staffs. So HR responsibility is unlocked the dynamic professionally working for human needed there is come customer and all kind of staffs of the organisation benefits or profits.
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HR in modern time e. should not be seen as just a function dealing with human needs and ending there. After all where will the organisation head to without the human force that implements the goals of the organisation. He should be seem as part of strategy taking and therefore very vital to the operations of the organisation.He determines, recruits, trains,reward and above among other functions inculcates the culture of the organisation into the employees so that the goals of the organisation can be achieved.
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Dear All, Yes i agree with all your points. HR is not a decision maker and has its own limitations. Sometimes the decisions has to be taken in favor of the top management rather than thinking self role as a bridge between the employer and employee.
Oftenly HR fails to think about the mission and vision of the organization it rather does a mechanically process with no much innovation/ creativity.
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