HR Challenges to create HR set up in tenured business organization

Challenges of setting up HR in organization tenured in business but have not invested in HR system.

Recently a consultant approached me that he wanted me to help some of his impaneled organization in automotive segment who are ancillaries of leading auto manufacturers for setting up the HR system in the organization.

I was virtually in dilemma what should I share then I made a brief ppt just to make them understand what can be done in a organization who are tenured in business but haven’t invested in HR system. I remember one such incident when I was in an organization when a consultant came from CII recommendation with a very nice presentation and his way of presentation was really very impressive for implementation of Lean Management in one such organization. In the organizations which is tenured in business and haven’t invested in HR system, it is very difficult to make them understand that

1. PMS is strategy of goal alignment where an individual effort is aligned to achievement of business objectives, at I faced a similar challenge when I was drafting a KRAs in one such organization. The employees at the HOD level started running away from me.

 2. The Employee life cycle management helps in building Employer Brand in market which helps in attracting best talent from the job market. In managing the Hire to Retire functions as a part of HR one should take care that the on boarding and exit are very smooth.

3. In Employee retention we not only need to focus on Exit interviews but also on stay Interview so as to understand why a tenured employee did stick with the organization

4. Bell curve doesn’t ends with normalization of rating in the appraisal cycle but also helps in identifying key talents in various department and we need a separate strategy in retaining those employees in the organization

 All the big corporate which we see today and study them for "Best practices" or " Great Places to Work" or who get a high percentile engagement score in online Gallup survey all started there journeys in similar manner. It is quite obvious that in the initial years when any business is in startup stage the focus is on revenue and for that 2 factors are of prime focus in manufacturing sector. One is production and second is Sales. In initial years sustaining a business with various liabilities like bank, investors, building a market and various other stake holders it is quite imperative that the prime focus will be on revenue without which sustaining business is not possible. So once the organization attains certain growth the focus shifts towards putting systems and if this shift doesn’t come business stagnates and perishes. System is important because it not only minimizes human dependence but also helps in bringing professionalism in work and also employees in the organization.

My personal experience with this type of organization has made me to build certain assumption about the employee’s, management and work culture. To bring transformation in such organization is very challenging to break the mental blocks at all levels in the organization.

Let me share some of my findings which I had experienced being associated with such organizations.

As mentioned the focus of the management is on 2 functions especially in manufacturing sector, one is production and other is sales. So all the other department generally feels less valued in the organization and there builds a barrier which infringes the whole idea of team building in the organization

The tenured employees in such organization has two kind of problems, one is they feel highly insecure. This insecurity is detrimental in organization interest as any new employee joining such organization aggravates that insecurity of already insecure employees particularly in the department new incumbent is joining. This insecurity comes out in form like not sharing data or information or non cooperation. This creates lot of problem in on boarding of new employee, so as an HR professional it is very important to provide hand holding support in initial days of all new joiners.

There is one other class of employees who are tenured with the organization or are with the organization from initial years, when business was small and have informal access to the management. They consider themselves self proclaimed pillars of the organization. Their relevance in the organization and management is like they are the eyes and ears and spies of the management. These are very difficult character to deal with as there sustaining in the organization is based just on one such factor to pass or information with twisted facts and figures to the management so that the management feels dependability on them.

There is no succession planning or team building in such organization as the person in the top want to hide as much information with him or her so that his or her position is safe in the organization. The management is even highly insecure that they are suspicious that there information will get leaked. Relax guys you are not a secret service agency or Defense Research lab or dealing in Space technology that spies are around to leak some formula or a close guarded secret. What you are hiding, you market competitors are way ahead of you and don’t need a outdated technology of your to destroy themselves.

It is the nothing else but a kind of mental block because there are no system and too much dependency on loyalty of humans. This type of organization after reaching certain growth stagnates and their shelf life in the market is not long. This is applicable to all organization be it a political, social, business, you name any and you will find similar things in those organization which employee term as “lala type organization or ( proprietorship organization), nepotism in organization, a organization which treats donkeys and horses are measured in same yard sticks, boss buttering culture is only path for survival. So it is in the interest of the organization that they move to system based organization rather than human based organization.

Anoop Singh Rana

Senior HR professional -- HR Expert / Capacity Building / Institutional Strengthening Expert Hand phone - +91 8360249822 WhatsApp & Telegram (+91 8360249822 & +91 8968014313