I was a little too glib. I talked about HR people as “mechanical manipultators”. Dr. Smoot was nice enough to talk about the post on his blog (there is a link in my blog roll, or here) Dr. Smoot HR
Dr. Smoot’s comments:
“Good HR acts as a market player, not a mechanical manipulator of people.”
This was written by Bill Strahan in a new blog called HumanMarkets.
This really fits with what I have been attempting to discuss in my blog. Too much of the time over the years, I have seen HR trying to manipulate people instead of trying to really improve the business.
A comment on that Dr. Smoot posting appropriately called me on the phrase “mechanical manipulator” Andres said:
I’m curious, what kinds of situations have you experienced where HR tried to manipulate people?
I’ve seen some poor decisions, but HR as “a mechanical manipulator of people”, I’ve not seen.
So, please let me clarify what I mean. I am not using manipulator as a negative comment in the sense of a duplicitous, or dishonest means to get people to change. I am not saying manipulative as in twisting emotions or facts. I do not mean manipulator to be threatening.
Rather I mean in almost a physical way – manipulator as “changer”. In this case almost a “Newtonian” sense - if I do X; they will do Y.
Think as in, if I give them a $1 raise, they will voluntarily resign less. Cause and effect. Mechanical, predictable action.
People are not like that. People have market reactions, not mechanical reactions. I when I say be a “market player” it is understanding that the relationship to people, whether individually or as a group, is better understood a market-based relationship. I give you something, you give me something in return, or not. Most importantly, the market-based relationship exists in time.
Think about soccer versus chess. Both involve competition, strategy, and tactics. Soccer is constant, fluid, organic and interactive. No one action on the part of a team dictates the outcome, it is only part of the interplay that determines the match. Chess is periodic. Time stops between discrete moves.
Back to being a market player versus manipulator. Good HR recognizes that people are smart. They make decisions based on a vast array of diverse inputs as to what is in their best interest. We as HR professionals and managers can learn to be more astute market players, but we will never be able to be the mechanical manipulator. We get astute at being market players by doing what other people who succeed in other market places do – listen, learn, react, anticipate, caluculate and act on risks. Most importantly – good market players respect that their competitors in the market and their trading partners have the ability to act with freedom to optimize their total value – as they uniquely define it.
The most important thing that market players do however, is that they recognize they are competiting. As HR I compete for the attention of my managers, employees, labor and captial markets. I compete for their talent, for resources. I compete for the respect of my employees and for a measure of credibility in their eyes. I compete for for their trust. In fact the list goes on and on. Mechanical manipulators think that by virtue of their position, the dictate results. They are the exclusive body interacting with another. Just ain’t so. It’s not about me. It’s about the market for volition.
Thanks Andres – you helped me learn my own advice. “Don’t assume that my actions will be interpreted by others the way I mechanically intended.” It was nice to be in the market place of ideas with you.
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