Article Series
Articles for Today's HR and Training Professionals
The Human Resource Department Fantasy
A Fortune 500 Company
Kenji Yamamoto’s Human Resource department didn’t make it through the reorganization intact. A confident director of the HRD, Kenji had a smooth running operation. Only recently, the HR department’s executive advisory committee had evaluated and approved a new corporate executive development program. Kenji seemed to be doing all that could be expected of a director of a Fortune 500 company.
A capital-intensive organization, this company had a relatively small workforce. Employees who were selected for participation in HRD programs immediately found themselves on the fast track, receiving quick promotions and generous rewards for their efforts. The HR department enjoyed being part of and promoting the good years during the bubble economy. Years ago, Kenji purposefully had chosen to maintain a supportive role and a “corporate perk” atmosphere of his HR department. He handled his leadership role with a blend of dignity and celebration, and his department had been successful for some time.
Then the company took a sudden nosedive, and Kenji’s seemingly strong and impervious department went down with it. Easy growth had caused many of the company’s operations to become soft and over-grown—it doesn’t take long. Kenji’s department, as a promoter of good times, had little to offer his company when it encountered financially difficult times. In less than 6 months, Kenji’s highly polished staff of ten was reduced to Kenji and one administrative assistant. During the corporate wide reduction in the workforce, it was not clear to top management that the HR department could address the fundamental issues of the business. And in such times, fundamentals are all that matter.
Even if the HR department had focused on the economics of the business, it probably would have been somewhat reduced in size. Without exception, all departments had experienced cuts in staff, but what hurt the most was that the goals of the HR department weren’t really given serious consideration when the cuts were made. Kenji had believed all along that his department was making important contributions to the company.
Now he suddenly came face-to-face with management’s perception of his department’s minimal worth and contribution to the company. Ironically, just 2-3 months before, Kenji had emphatically rejected an offer from an expert consultant in impact and financial assessment to help him and his assistant talk to top management about the economics of the HR department and impact of their training programs. Kenji confidently reported to the consultant that his department received wonderful support from top management. Further, he thought that the discussion about financial contributions of HRD was not necessary. When the HR department and Kenji finally did hear about it’s worth from top management, it was too late. Kenji’s perception of top management’s support for the HRD department had been a fantasy.
For a free consultation on how your organization can start to develop a focused and measured training program, delivering the benefits you need now, contact CoreComm Learning Systems today.
