HR-Bashing, A New Trend?

Ok, I'll be one of the first to admit that the HR profession can certainly do better at being a more strategic business partner. But, I've been reading quite a few articles this week that are making some huge generalizations about the overwhelming incompetency of HR. All of these articles were written by professors, mind you.



As an individual HR professional, I am really ticked off. There are a huge number of us out here who "get it". We know how to put metrics in place and analyze financial data. We know how to connect HR initiatives to strategic goals. And we understand good workforce planning.

In my experience, some of the roadblocks that HR comes up against are from the very people that are complaining about us. The state of the business world today is horrible. And we didn't get here just because HR sucks. We got here in large part because the various groups within organizations are operating as islands and adversaries. The only way for an organization to succeed over the long term is for those groups to work together.



So, if HR needs to up their expertise in metrics and analysis, what if the Finance group stopped bitching about HR and offered themselves up as a resource? After all, they do this for a living, right?



What if each department manager actually sat down and figured out what they are going to need for talent and skills to accomplish their goals, and then worked WITH human resources to develop a plan. It's not HR's workforce, it's the organization's.



What if the same amount of money were spent to develop the expertise of the HR group as is spent to develop sales?



My suggestion to the professors is - you're teachers, put your money where your mouth is and start helping in some real way instead of pontificating at your speaking engagements.