Issue 117 - 29th June - 27th July
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Today’s emphasis on business expansion is creating “growing pains” for many HR professionals23/08/2007 09:29:00“It can be hard for HR to keep up in high-growth companies,” said Jay Jamrog, i4cp’s Senior Vice President of Research. “Those firms are not only scrambling for the talent they need to keep growing, they tend to have a strong focus on issues such as meeting customer needs, delivering quality products and staying innovative. A lot of HR pros don’t have much expertise in these areas. It requires a different kind of strategic HR to help drive growth.” Indeed, the study found that senior HR leaders are struggling to play a key role in their organizations’ growth strategies. Thirty-three percent of respondents said those leaders were “on the sideline,” contributing instead in spot roles such as talent acquisition and integration. Another 10% said HR leaders weren’t involved at all in growth strategy, and 22% said HR’s overall role is “below the executive-team level.” Not all HR functions feel stymied in this area, however. About a fifth of respondents said senior HR leaders are indeed critical members of the executive team, and 16% said HR plays a key role in promoting organizational growth in their companies. “Even though they are in the minority, these are the HR professionals who are probably the true business partners,” stated Jamrog. “They understand the executive point of view and know what it takes to help their companies grow. But even if they’re not represented on the executive team, HR can provide a crucial supporting role to leaders who are focused on growth.” When asked what HR needs to do to “retool” and become more effective in growth situations, 68% of respondents pointed to the development of programs to help leaders get better at growing their organizations. Another commonly cited strategy was “designing and staffing the growth-related organization,” and a third strategy was helping organizational leaders to “frame” the growth challenge. “The survey data strongly suggests that, in addition to talent acquisition and leadership development targeted to growth, HR leaders must dramatically increase their external focus – on markets, customers and new ways to serve them – if they are going to be strategic players going forward,” said Ed Gubman, HRPS Special Issue Editor. The HR’s Role in Organizational Growth Survey was conducted by HRPS, in conjunction with i4cp, in June/July of 2007. For more information about this study, please contact Greg Pernula at greg.pernula@i4cp.com or via phone at (727) 345-2226. onrec.com news can only be reproduced with the permission of onrec.com or if onrec.com is attributed as the source.
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