<Introduction>
Human resources have traditionally tended to be more concerned with procedural and maintenance issues and not with aligning HR strategy with organisational strategy. However there is a real need for HR management to focus on the impact of organisational objectives. We spoke to Marius Meyer, the CEO SABPP; this is what he had to say:
1. How can the link between human resources and organisational performance be strengthened?
Today, the truly effective HR leader is part of the strategic team which goes through a strategic thinking process, refreshed at regular intervals over a year, and formulates a set of priorities. When the HR leader is included in this strategic team, he or she can speak up, sometimes pointing out additional choices that could be made, and sometimes pointing out people-related implications of choices that are being made. HR practitioners must develop their strategic thinking skills in order to be able to fulfil this type of role. They cannot sit and wait to be asked to comment on a strictly HR matter. They must learn to be proactive and make informed comments and suggestions on all business matters.
2. In South Africa, the focus in the past has been more on industrial relations and fair labour practices than on competitiveness through human capital. How can we achieve this?
Each organisation is unique in how it puts together financial capital, physical assets, human capital and social capital. HR practitioners need to have the skill to participate in the analysis of various scenarios or combinations of these resources, contributing their knowledge of how the organisation functions today and could function better in the future. The field of workforce analytics and metrics is assisting in building these scenarios. The HR practitioner has to have a very clear understanding of the contribution that the various types of skills make to organisational performance, and also an understanding of how to unlock the motivation and engagement of all the different segments of employees in driving the organisation’s strategy.
3. How do we strategically link HR initiatives and business strategy?
The HR leader should be part of the strategic team. The HR team must then work in partnership with successive levels of management to break down the strategy into strategic priorities, then work out human capital implications, and then work out action plans for line management and HR together. In this way there is a tight link between individual initiatives and the strategy. It is important to consolidate the various joint action plans at a company or divisional level and to look for the common HR related points, so that a comprehensive and integrated HR programme can be implemented across the different business units.
4. What is the best way to measure HR in a company?
Although people management has a lot of common issues, and HR programs are often similar, each company is unique. HR measurement (or HR Metrics) is likely to cover three separate issues:
§ How to measure the impact of specific HR programs on the achievement of strategic priorities. Experts in program measurement advocate that this is done through having a clear set of deliverables defined at the outset of the programme, together with a set of measurements (quantitative or qualitative).
§ The second is to measure certain key variables in a standardised way across organisations so that comparisons can be drawn and remedial action taken if the metrics show a serious problem. It is important to point out that such metrics measure the outcome of people management practices in general in the organisation. They do not measure the effectiveness of the HR department. The validity of this type of measurement depends on careful definition of the metric at an industry, country or international level, so that apples are truly being compared to apples. The SA Board for People Practices will bring out a set of metrics based on the national HR standards that are currently being defined.
§ The third is to measure the customer service of the HR department.
5. In what way can we develop the HR industry in South Africa?
The term “HR industry”, can refer to businesses which offer HR-related products and services, such as HR IT, recruitment, training and development etc. This industry is flourishing in South Africa, possibly because of the downsizing of HR departments in organisations. There are few standards set in this industry, so the issue of delivering value for money services is sometimes a problem.
A wider view of HR in South Africa comes from looking at the HR profession. SABPP research indicates that there are probably between 80 000 and 100 000 people working at a technician or professional level in South African organisations. Of these, a small minority are at present undergoing a process of professional registration such as that offered by the SABPP for HR, HRD, etc.; or by the HPCSA for Industrial/Occupational Psychologists. The challenge for the professional bodies in the field is to spread their sphere of influence so that they can bring in standards and professional development.
Author: Yolandé Boshoff, editor HR Pulse.
