The Indian economy is booming. Employment opportunities are enormous. Everybody is stepping on everybody else’s toes to climb up the money ladder, so even asking a question on the future of any professional, HR or otherwise looks to be illogical.

This is more so in the present economic scenario where the concept of work hard, enjoy the pleasures of consumerism and keep up and outdo the neighbours next  door is the mantra of the day. But there is a method in our questioning of the future of HR professionals, and it is this method which we will expand upon in the rest of this article.

Core activity

What would non-HR professionals think of their responsibility and pay? In today’s economy, everybody is looking at more money and a larger responsibility.

A major portion of the workforce feel they are worth more. But to understand the direction we are coming from, let us divide any company (the nature of the business is not important) into core and non-core activity.
Core activity defined in simplistic terms is the bread and butter earning of the company. In a manufacturing company, it would be the actual manufacturing process itself.

In an insurance company, it is the selling of insurance which is a core activity. The people involved in the core activity of a company are vital to the company’s interests. We can expect their pay, benefits and responsibility to outstrip any other employee’s in the company, as without their contribution, the company will be out of business.

Non-core activity

Every company has people involved in non-core activity. An example of non-core activity would be finance, marketing, quality, administration, logistics, and HR. Of course, finance professional in a finance company would be a ‘Core’ employee, but it is the case that every company has a finance professional or uses the services of a finance professional part time.

 This is also the case of marketing personnel, quality personnel, administrators, facilities managers, and HR professionals. These are all ‘Non-core’ activities, because they provide support to the main activity, and can be deemed as support functions.

If we look at a layman’s example and take a car as our theme, the support/non-core functions - marketing, quality, finance, administration and HR are all the exterior parts of a car, that is the bonnet, the windscreen, the lights, the indicators and so on.

The core activities are the engine of a car. You cannot do without the engine for even a minute, but you could run the car without the bonnet, windscreen, wipers and even the lights, though it would be uncomfortable and ill advised to do so. But how does HR fit in all this? In the world of support functions or non-core activity, the power struggle is really between a few ‘King pins’ - Marketing, Quality, HR and Finance.

A number of support functions like administration, and logistics have become ‘Normal pins,’ and are not given the same level of importance as these ‘King pin’ support functions.

Path of progress

 From the time of the industrial revolution, it has always been the man with the money who has made the difference in corporate affairs. The industrial revolution 200 years ago was financed by moneyed magnates. Even the East India Company which was largely responsible for conquering India was an amalgamation of business conglomerates.

But in the 20th century, we saw the rise of the technocrat. The large corporations were managed by people who started off with technical backgrounds, and though this system of management is still prevalent today (example: Microsoft and Bill Gates), the 21st century is seeing the emergence of the multi-skilled manager.

The man who imbibes all the skills of people management, financial management and understands business logic. The Ambanis are a classic example. They run business from petrochemicals to telecommunications, and all successfully.

 So where is HR’s role in all this. And what is their future? The present HR practitioners have done an excellent job of raising the profile of HR in the last two decades. But they have to shift to a higher gear or risk becoming a ‘Normal pin.’ Most HR professionals would disagree and point out to the importance HR is given today, as well as the large salaries that HR professionals are able to command. But they would be pointing to an oasis in the middle of the desert. There is no doubt that HR has come a long way.

There is also no doubt that HR today is looked at as an important function to a company’s progress. But the very success of HR has in our opinion made the subject complacent.

HR professionals are unable to look beyond the ‘Feel good’ factor that is prevalent across all sectors of the HR industry today. No one is really looking at the long term strategic picture. There are plenty of examples of finance professionals who have risen to CEO and COO positions in a company, but almost no HR professionals.

Why? The worrying part of the problem is that HR professionals are not asking this question seriously, and unless there is a concerted effort to address this problem, there is a danger of HR slipping in importance.

Looking ahead

Going by present trends, the answer would be yes as a ‘Normal pin,’ no as a ‘King pin’ for the support function. It’s not that HR in itself does not have a future. It will always be prevalent in a company as it has important functions to contribute. Our contention is that its level of importance will be steadily eroded unless the present body of HR moves itself out of its hibernation and looks at the mirror.

It will be seen that HR has to move out of its jargonistic state and into a more professional and analytic state to move into the strategic consciousness of a company. After all, if a board of directors wants to look at a CEO for a company, and asks a finance professional on his opinion, they will get balance sheets, profit statements, and even a financial vision. An HR professional will give them people participation, HR initiatives and people friendly policies.

Who would you choose? HR has to move into a multi skilled role, incorporate analytics, forecasting, and other mathematical models to ensure that it has a strong say in the corporate evolution of the 21st century.

Joseph Rasquinha & Mohammed Zaheer Hussain manage Truemen Management Consultancy. To contact them visit www.hrdblog.com