Tom,
I believe that you attacked a *strawperson*. You may be accurately
describing some people in some training or HR funtions but you overstate
your case. The *other guy's job* often looks easy because he/she does it
well enough to make it look easy.
I personally believe that every teacher that can be replaced by a computer
should be; I further believe that any HR function that can be done better
in a functional or line organization should be.
My experience is that line managers can get themselves and the company in
trouble during hiring, often need a corporate and national perspective
when developing offers, often will consider and even enact policies that
are not prudent or good business, and so on. Doing good work in HR takes
just as much hard work and smarts as doing good work in any other
endeavor.
To put it metaphorically, part of HR's job is to prevent managers from
being eaten by bears. If you say that you haven't seen any bears in the
corporate corridors, then I say, it's working.
Moving to another point, training can and does work. An Iron Law of
Training is: Bad Management Overcomes Good Training Every Time! See W.
E. Deming about the role of management and need for training as well as
education for more on this. Or see Michael Porter or Robert Reich on the
relative contribution of educated and trained workforces to national
wealth.
I urge others to read the article. I nominate this as a thread.
Roger Berg
43 Martingale Lane
Andover, MA 01810
E-mail: bergrm@mitre.org
Home 508/475-3284 Office 617/271-2473
Tom Stewart Asked:
>If you followed this thread on the learning-org list a few weeks
>ago, you might be interested in reading "Taking on the Last Bureaucracy:
>People need people, but do they need Personnel? It's time for human resources
>departments to put up or shut up" in my "Leading Edge" column in the current
>issue of Fortune (1/15/96). It should be on newsstands now; you can also get
>it in the Fortune Forum on CompuServe (GO FFORUM).
>
>I'd welcome feedback, even biteback.
>
>Tom Stewart
>Fortune
>fax: 212 246 3375
>ThosStew@aol.com
-- bergrm@mail07.mitre.org (Roger M. Berg)