Management generally do not see HR as a critical function, because operations is king – despite many of the managers in these areas lacking expertise in HR
by Craig Donaldson
Management generally do not see HR as a critical function, because operations is king – despite many of the managers in these areas lacking expertise in HR. So says one despondent HR professional who recently voiced their opinion onHuman Resources magazine’s online voting forum, www.hrvote.com.au.
The above is the reality for many HR professionals. Despite all the lofty platitudes about HR playing a strategic role within companies and having a seat at the table, HR in many companies is still a soft function that lacks any real business nous and is incapable of making a hard and effective contribution to the overall enterprise. Compare this to operations, whose hands are dirty from the day-to-day work of running such enterprises. Yes, operations may well lack expertise in HR – but in what areas do they really need this expertise? There’s probably a good number of operational managers that could certainly do with better people management skills, but such skills are not the exclusive domain of HR.
This leads me to another point. I attended a function late last year at which a senior marketing professional from a large financial services firm was lamenting the fact that marketing and HR were seen as softer functions, and in order to get ahead and have a real shot at the CEO position, she needed experience in hard functions such as finance and operations. But, being a woman, she was effectively shut out by many men who dominated such functions.
A majority of professionals working in HR are women. If the above view is correct, then what hope do female professionals in HR (arguably a much softer function than marketing) stand at having a crack at senior and more operational executive roles? I know the view of some male executives is changing within corporate Australia and more companies are attempting to pay more than lip service to having women in their senior executive ranks. But such companies are in the minority, and sex discrimination seems to be alive and well in subtle but powerful ways. Given women make up the bulk of the HR profession and the fact that HR is still seen largely as a warm and fuzzy function – even regarded as a necessary evil in some camps – it would seem female HR professionals’ chances of climbing the serious executive ladder look slim indeed.
