Oh Michael K – why do you bother?
Posted by Col Rouge

Why do I bother? What do you think why?

Col, you and I are in violent agreement on this, with one small difference in view. You propose that...

>>HR function had become so strident and assertive that it had usurped the Line managers role in the process of staff selection and control and undermined the line managers responsibility to the point these line managers no longer saw staffing their function as their responsibility. This is of course an organisational nonsense.

HR functions supply internal services to captive users. They are there to support line managers, not to direct them. The same is true of IT functions.<<

I would rewrite this as...

"HR function had become so powerful because Line managers became increasingly lazy in dealing with their staff, and reluctant to address them face to face, so HR was forced to take a more active role in the process of staff selection and control and relieved the line managers of so much responsibility that these line managers no longer saw staffing their function as their responsibility. This is of course an organizational nonsense.

HR functions supply internal services to captive users. They are there to support line managers, not to direct them. The same is true of IT functions"

The result - and the stupidity of it - is identical, but in my experience they have over time stepped into a vacuum created by feckless line managers, rather than fought for their power.

Pericles "in my experience they have over time stepped into a vacuum created by feckless line managers, rather than fought for their power. "

LOL - I think we might end up arguing "chicken and egg" in that context.

Some would suggest me, as an accountant, is merely another example.

I would defend my professional position with the idea that too many business functions fall with in the ambit of accounting not to see it as a separate and specific line function.

Strident line managers, however, would suggest the only reason accountants are needed is because, as far as the game of business is concerned, they (the accountants) invented a scoring system which was so complex that they need to interpret it continuously for the real "players".

Either way, nice to agree.

>>Either way, nice to agree<<

Absolutely. And I know the value of an accountant who sees himself as part of the business, and not apart from it.

But let's not start on IT. We'll be here all night.