Case 1:Sola Chinyere Tanko is certified by 4 top HR institutes. She is a star in the HR department of the company she works for. She gets tasks executed in a timely manner and her outputs has excellence written on them. She designs excellent HR templates and frameworks. She is affable in the discharge of her duties. Sola Chinyere Tanko comes across to her contemporaries (within and outside her organization) as the model HR professional but somehow she is still found wanting by the upper echelon of her organization. She just does not have what it takes to sit at the ‘table’.
Case 2: George E. Ogunyemi is the head of the HR department of the company he works for. He is also certified by top HR institutes. He meets his departmental objectives in a timely and effortless manner. He gets along well with members of the management board. He is adept at organizational politics. He comes across as very powerful because of his ‘connections’. The company is planning to expand its operation by establishing a branch overseas…someone else was chosen though many thought he would be chosen. He was expectant…but he lacked some non-negotiable qualities to function at that level.
Standing out in the HR profession is beyond having a mastery of one’s job, bagging countless certificates as well as discharging one’s duty in a timely and effortless manner. It is largely about harnessing relevant resources from the macro environment and integrating them seamlessly with operations in the micro environment with a view to delivering value to the business in question. Building on our knowledge of microeconomics and macroeconomics while making slight modifications, micro environment in this context means occupational and departmental domains while the macro environment speaks to a more robust scope — international, national and state (as captured by government policies and legislations), industry and even the corporate domain (bearing in mind the robust operational scope of the organization). Being exceptional in the HR profession transcends functioning optimally at occupational and departmental levels — a professional is expected to pay keen attention to corporate, industrial, national and international matters and use relevant details and resources from these domains to add value to his or her company’s business. At this point, it is important to unpack the reasons why attention should be paid to macro issues.
Corporate/organizational issues. The essence of human resource management is to efficiently and effectively manage the human resources (management and staff) to achieve organizational objectives. This is the reason why the strategic flavour of the HRM profession should not be lost in the thick of daily activities. Having one’s fingers on the pulse of corporate activities means that as one discharges one’s duties, one ought to pay attention to corporate objectives and strategies — what is the nexus between your job and the corporate objectives and strategies? Also, it is important to understand the financial situation of your company so you can work strategically in ways that reduce costs and maximize profits. Furthermore, HRM professionals must understand that their efforts would amount to nothing without effective leadership, a healthy organizational culture et cetera. As we discharge our duties, we must make efforts aimed at influencing organizational factors like leadership, culture etc to make occupational and departmental successes sustainable.
Industrial issues. Every organization operates within an industry and the issues therein affects its operations. Really, it is a bi-directional influence. It is crucial to keep an eye on industrial trends and integrate findings in the planning and execution of work projects. Thinking outside the box and taking proactive steps to propose initiatives that influence industry dynamics is laudable. Now, I understand that taking such initiatives might be hard given the culture of micromanagement and subservience in some organizations nevertheless one can make efforts and present such in ways that makes acceptance almost impossible.
National issues. It is a given that business activities are regulated by government through policies and legislations. These policies and legislations could be enabling or constraining. HRM professionals ought to pay keen attention to what is going in the national domain especially matters that impact directly or indirectly on business activities. One must be able to make connections especially where clear relationships do not exist. For instance, a certain government policy might impact the education sector however (upon assessment) you can clearly establish a connection showing the implication of such policy for the labour market, expansion drive for your company and of course, profitability.
Global issues. ‘The world is a global village’ is a cliche that has been over-flogged yet its relevance remains undiminished. The talk about global best practice I believe is well understood so I will move on to something else. One of the key reasons to pay close attention to global issues and trends is to position the company strategically for possible internationalization through HR exercises among other things. Thinking global is non-negotiable.
This piece is an attempt to raise the bar of HRM practice — there is need to pay attention to activities in the macro environment (corporate, industry, national and international) while discharging duties in the micro environment (occupational and departmental levels). Sola Chinyere Tanko would need to do more than having certificates, designing HR templates and frameworks et cetera — she needs to discharge her duties in ways that reflects a seamless alignment between micro and macro issues. She needs to show that she can sit at the table and have robust engagements that reflects a strategic integration of the aforementioned domains. George E. Ogunyemi will have to do same. He must go beyond playing politics and show strategic and thought leadership. Both must show consistently through words and actions that human resource management is robust and strategic, a profession beyond the occupational and departmental domains.
PS.
The above cases were crafted strictly for illustrative purposes.
Jude Adigwe
