Managers told to customise HR strategy

Human Resource Management must move from "controlling people to controlling results", a leading HRM consultant told the IPD conference in Galway.

Dr Paul Mooney, of PMA Consulting, said there was "no one size fits for all HR strategies" but there were basic principles to be followed if HR managers were to move from their traditional policing and mediating roles to integrating personnel policies more effectively into a company's business plan.

HR managers had to address several key questions. They had to decide what was the mission or role of HRM within their organisation. They had to assess how well the HR function supported the business strategy and they had to rate the functional expertise of their department. Following on from this, they had to decide the level of internal "customer service" provided, whether the HR function was adequately resourced to meet its new objectives and whether there were adequate means of assessing performance.

Objectives would vary, depending on the type of organisation. In the healthcare sector, for instance, intrinsic vocational needs of people would be important. For the "high flyer" model career progression and developing an environment where the company was the "employer of choice", was central.

"The goal is for everybody to design a customised HR strategy," he said. Part of the new learning process for many managers would be learning to delegate many traditional functions to line managers. He rejected the notion that HR managers were feeling threatened in the new business environment. "They don't have to be apologetic. On the contrary, there is clear evidence of a link between excellence in personnel strategies and business performance." Their new role involved "devising the most efficient HRM architecture to allow people to function most effectively".

He was reluctant to classify companies into union and non-union categories. There was a "continuum from extremely badly-managed companies to extremely well-run companies".