Management consultant John Pope comments on the present trend to dehumanise the management of people within organisations and warns against the lack of human contact at work.

We all know that managers can make mistakes in selecting, managing and promoting staff. We know that HR has to bail them out of trouble for their behaviour and their foolish mistakes in dealing with people – an enormous waste of time for HR, and apparently limitless punishments by employment tribunals.

Well, the science of management, allied to the power of the IT department, can solve many of these expensive problems, or so I understand from the advertisements for systems which I see regularly in HRZone.co.uk and other magazines.

Let’s make a fresh start and have error-free HR and error-free staff. Let’s eliminate the human factor and take a peek into a human-free world.

Recruitment?

There must be job specifications and accompanying competency frameworks for every job – properly coded, and accompanied by personality frameworks of some sort. There are quite a lot to chose from, and they will be done online. Interviews will not be needed, and this will save time, eliminate bias and reduce claims for discrimination. There may be some jobs where physical strength is important, but there are machines – quite common in fairgrounds – which can test this. Those with appropriate scores in the whole battery of tests will be accepted. There will be no possibility of having mavericks or those who do not fit in. It will all be safe and a bit boring.

Induction?

This is handled so scantily in some organisations that the solution is to have an online induction process. This could be in a room at the gatehouse to which new workers will be shown. They will enter the reference number of their appointment letter and be told all they need to know about the organisation, and they will watch the company video. After answering test questions and entering some details, a message will come up on the screen giving directions to their department and the exit door will open with a click.

At their department they will enter their company number and be briefed online about their work. This will eliminate any human error by the supervisor. In special circumstances the new employee will be physically led to his workplace at which he will be able to learn about co-workers, online. This will include enough personal details to allow for full integration in the work unit.

Company and health & safety rules will be shown every morning for the first few days, after which the employee will sit a short test. Failure will result in re-training; repeated failures will be followed by dismissal. Since the disciplinary rules and systems of first verbal, first written, and final will have been meticulously applied, few aggrieved employees will bother to appeal or take their case to tribunal.

Problems with pay and allowances?

Just get on to the call centre, give a number and password and you could talk to a Cantonese with excellent English which is pronounced so strangely that it is difficult to understand. Easier, though, to fill in the details and avoid talking. And such a relief not to have some HR manager asking awkward questions about some argument in your workplace, or how a new supervisor is getting on.

Promotion, job news, new opportunities?

This is notified on your screen of course – just enter the details and wait for the ‘accepted / rejected’ sign to flash – after all the system has your detailed personal file and back numbers of performance assessments.

Attitude and retention surveys, 360˚ appraisals?

Yes, these can be, indeed are being, done online according to a set format. The screen will show the warning that your views are completely confidential – not entirely true, of course, because you know someone who hacked into a senior manager’s personal site which was very interesting.

You want me to go on? We could take this right up to the talent management system, of which many are already on sale, though some still need some human input.

You don’t believe me? All these things are possible, and some of the systems which could be used are already being sold to employers. Dehumanisation started some time ago – one of the early stages was when supervisors no longer gave out weekly wage packets together with a few kind words, and some awkward questions about ‘banking’ job tickets.

You think I am exaggerating? I am of course, but only a bit. All these approaches have been put forward in general terms and some have been developed in detail. In the old days – no, they were not the ‘good old days’ – there were many things which were wrong but problems were usually handled by humans, sometimes imperfectly.

In the process, line and HR managers could get a good deal of important background of what was happening at the workplace and what the mood was. People were treated as people and known by name rather than number. Relationships were important, and seen by managers to be important.

Humans are imaginative

Machines do not make many mistakes, though the humans who instruct them can do. But machines do not have much imagination. Managers can certainly get things wrong, but they can also be imaginative and make good guesses about an individual’s capabilities and potential – if they see enough of them at work.

They can take a chance on someone who is a bit of a maverick and does not fit the standard model. If they see enough of their people, they can identify those who are innovative or who could create new business; they can motivate them. And managers, who avoid seeing their people when they have bad news to give, demotivate their people. Yes, one big company announced a big redundancy just in an emaill; no-one wanted to face the staff.

I was prompted to write this by learning of an online induction system. One big company posts a DVD to a new starter to avoid a face-to-face briefing. Induction is a wonderful opportunity for a manager to pass on the organisation’s culture to a new member. That time with a senior manager, the welcome, and the experience, is critical to starting a relationship which, when fostered and well maintained, leads towards the ‘engaged employee’.

I am not saying we are at the stage where, as in the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the computer rules our lives. I do understand the need for economical, accurate HR systems, but I also believe that there is a dangerous trend towards over-reliance on systems which can lead to de-humanising the management of people.

We should be careful not to allow system and processes to get in the way of human contact, human judgement, and the opportunity for managers to show leadership.

John Pope has been a management consultant for over 40 years, and has had his own practice as an independent consultant for over 30 years. He sees the development of strong and effective managers as one of the most important aspects of business. John can be contacted at r.j.pope@btinternet.com.