From articles:
‘a burden on the backs of the productive worker’
’The brilliant Avis boss Robert Townsend in his book Up the Organisation suggests
firing the entire personnel department’
‘Of course, senior executives understand that HR is powerful – a bit like Mossad or
the CIA’
‘Bosses who do a poor job can be as bad as workers: no one seems to accept blame
for anything’
‘good leaders care about results, not process’
‘Companies should start getting fit right now. As Albert Einstein said: “Bureaucracy
is the death of any achievement.” When it is a question of survival, there is no room
for the non-essential.’
Source:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9e10714c-ced7-11dc-877a000077b07658.html#axzz1xlOIGmQ7
‘People want to do a good job, but they are not given the support to do it’
‘HR’s ‘answer to most workplace challenges is more facts’
Source:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cac839a6-3ae7-11e1-b7ba00144feabdc0.html#axzz1xlOIGmQ7
‘In expanding its empire, human resources damages intellectual standards and
peddles nonsense’
‘a burden on the backs of the productive worker’
Source:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=401385
Have ‘overwhelmingly negative assumptions about human nature’
Source:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Democratic-Enterprise-LiberatingFlexibility/dp/0273675281
(Lynda Gratton, "One of Britain's leading lights in human resource strategy",
Financial Times)
‘Other than government legislation, to whom or what is the HR department
accountable
on a day-to-day basis?
The short answer is: no-one’
Source:
http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2012/05/11/58529/should-hr-beregulated.html
"I hate the HR business partner model,"
“HR directors need to be business leaders, not business partners."
‘but the wise build their house upon rock rather than sand’
Source:
http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/features/1073084/evolution-hr-professionverge-dramatic-transformation-extinction
http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/28/03/2008/45112/hr-chastened-by-bossespoor-perception-of-profession.htm
‘…I share all of this background and evidence to help defensive HR reps and their
apologists understand why I criticize HR as a function, a department, a service — not
the few brave individuals who buck the trend and act with decency. Broad sweeping
generalizations or stereotypes are only unfair if they are not true. I’ve shown above
why I can say that HR, with few exceptions, is a morally bankrupt internal
organizational service that contemporary organizations should consider dropping’:
Source:
http://www.workplacebullying.org/2010/08/05/hr-and-workplace-bullying/
Case Studies:
In this vitiated environment, Arthur Andersen employees were not allowed to question the
superiors and were forced to comply with improper orders. There was no transparency in
the system. According to Toffler, most of the people did not want to be involved in unethical
activities, and such activities took place only because 'decent people were put under
unbearable pressure to do their jobs and to meet the firm's ambitious goals with very
limited resources to get the job done.'...
Source:
http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Human%20Resource%20and%20Organizat
ion%20Behavior/Arthur%20Andersen-Organizational%20Culture%20Issues-HRMCase%20Studies.htm
Sometimes the HR Department can employ people who may not contribute towards
organisational principles. A classic example is the Arthur Andersen Company that fell
apart in the year 2002. This was an American Company that dealt with audits. It was
initially very successful in its operations prior to that fateful year. But in the latter years of
its operations, the Company was involved in two accounting scandals that tarnished its
name and subsequently caused failure.
The Company failed to plan well for the kind of employees it recruited. This was witnessed
when one of its employees in the Legal Department called Nancy Temple was fined in the
Court of law for non adherence to accounting laws. This problem could have been
prevented if the HR department had evaluated this employee before hiring her and also
evaluation should have been done during her performance. If HR had been extremely
critical, then they would have realised that the employee did not adhere to Company
principles and would therefore have terminated her employment.
Beside this, the Arthur Andersen Human Resource department also failed in its
communication function to employees. The department should have ensured that they
constantly communicate to members of staff about the goals and objectives of the
Company on a day to day basis. This would have made them very clear in the minds of
employees and would have prevented the downfall of the Company.
HR; it has to bear the burden of blame if an employee performs poorly like the Arthur
Andersen Company
Source:
http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/roles-and-functions-of-the-humanresource-department-1897209.html
On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger and its crew embarked on a
mission to broaden educational horizons and promote the advancement of
scientific knowledge. The most outstanding objective of the Challenger 51-L
mission was the delivery of educational lessons from space by teacher Christa
McAuliffe. A lesson was, indeed, delivered, but not one which anyone expected.
Just 75 seconds after liftoff, tragedy struck. Before a watching world the shuttle
suddenly erupted overhead, disintegrating the cabin along with its crew. The
debris of metal, blood and bones plummeted to earth, along with our nation's
glory.
What had gone wrong? That was the pressing question everyone asked. As teams
of researchers examined the wreckage, the specific cause was soon found. The
problem was with the O-rings (circular rubber seals), which had been designed to
fit snugly into the joints of the booster engine sections. Evidently, the O-rings had
become defective under adverse conditions, and the resulting mechanical failure
led to the tragedy. Was that the whole story?
The truth eventually got out. The New York Times put it frankly: the ultimate
cause of the space shuttle disaster was pride. A group of top managers failed to
listen carefully to the warnings, advice and criticisms given by those down the
line who were concerned about the operational reliability of certain parts of the
booster engine under conditions of abnormal stress. Just think: heeding criticism
could have saved seven human lives.
As a pastor, church leader, and lecturer for Peacemaker Ministries, I am blessed
with the opportunity to minister to people and congregations in conflict. Among
the many things I've come to learn is the dominant role that giving and taking
criticism has in exacerbating conflict. Yet, even more, I've learned that the
remedy wonderfully provided by God requires us to return to the cross of Christ.
For our present purposes, I want us to look at the problem of taking criticism.
Source:
http://www.peacemaker.net/site/c.nuIWL7MOJtE/b.5369289/k.57F7/The_Cros
s_and_Criticism.htm
What does an organisation that gets it right look like?
Cadbury’s
Cadbury’s cocoa and chocolate company in Birmingham was founded by a Quaker, John
Cadbury. Cadbury’s were ‘pioneers in employee welfare and labour relations, setting
standards which other enlightened employers adopted’. ‘In 1918 they established
democratically elected Works Councils. The Councils dealt with working conditions, health,
safety, education, training and the social life of the workers’. ‘They also encouraged the
spiritual development of employees, starting morning prayers and Bible readings in 1866,
continuing for half a century’.
http://www.quakerinfo.com/quak_cad.shtml
What does the future hold?
Excerpt from a paper on Ethical Issues in Human Resource Management:
‘We cannot do business as a culture if trust is lost, values have no meaning, and everything
has to be solved through litigation. Good reputations and solid ethical decisions in business
create value.
However, the “cost of doing business” increases dramatically due to negative opportunistic
behavior as productive resources are devoted to defensive purposes. Ethical violations result
in new laws and new regulations. Ultimately the result is more constraints, low morale, a
decreased attitude of caring, and a loss of a productive workforce.
…
Who has resting on their shoulders the role of ethics guardian and monitor for today’s
enterprise? It is the person most passionate about supporting and growing the employees’
within. Like it or not, it is the human resource professional. And it is a responsibility that one
can succeed only with a grasp and clarity of his/her worldview, a focus on one’s beliefs, and
an understanding of the role Human Resources plays in today’s business issues and ethics.’
Source:
http://www.cgu.edu/PDFFiles/sbos/HRD327.pdf
Leadership:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQrPVmcgJJk