HR Directors are often in a no win situation much like the manager of the English football team! Everyone has an opinion as to how pick the best team and they are always right! The key point here is that not everyone within an organisation would feel equally as qualified to offer opinion about the Sarbanes Oxley act or the future strategic IT strategy of the company!
HR Directors are forced to make difficult decisions about people which may mean redundancies or disciplinary procedures. This can obviously lead to bitter feelings amongst employees within organisations – not targeted at the CEO but towards the HR division.
It is unlikely that an IT Director will feel equally similar levels of animosity. Perhaps therefore the perceived lack of contribution to company performance can be linked to a general ill feeling through ignorance of the hard tasks that we often have to undertake.
It is my hunch that CEO’s often feel constrained by the HR division and feel held back from making quick decisions. It is one thing to change the strategic direction of a company overnight but completely different to expect the entire company staff to follow. It is HR’s role to ensure that people are managed effectively and in the right way – something that CEO’s can often feel takes too long or that there is too much importance attached.
The CIPD has done well to raise standards within HR but perhaps we need to start benchmarking ourselves better against other disciplines. Whilst this survey doesn’t tell us what we want to hear it does at least create debate and allow us the opportunity to examine ourselves against other colleagues and to see what changes need to be made.
