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Equity
Skills News & Views
Volume
5, Issue 12, 25 November 2006
Registered as an electronic newspaper: ISSN 1684-5722
For archived editions, please visit http://www.equityskillsweb.com
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In this edition:
1.
Chief Executives Do Not Trust HR To Manage Their Talent
2.
Why Finance Cares About HR
3.
Across The Board: Official Communications From The SABPP: Rating HR
Courses For CPD
4. Book Reviews: Mine’s Bigger than Yours
5. Case Law & Legislation Review: Substantive Fairness in Dismissal -
Fraud
6. Downloads: The CEO’s Role In Talent Management
7. The Feminine Touch: Looking for Talent without Distinguishing Between
Genders
8. Unsubscribe & Moving Soon
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A
Note from the Editor:
Equity Skills News & Views teams up with the Human Capital Institute
(HCI) Visit HCI at http://www.humancapitalinstitute.org
------------------------------------
Equity
Skills News & Views is back after a 3 month ‘forced leave of
absence’. The computer gremlins got the better of us! We are back and
better than ever before, and have teamed up with the Human Capital
Institute (HCI), a global think tank and membership services organisation
for HR professionals working in the strategic human capital and talent
space. HCI will provide selective access to numerous resources normally
not available without charge to non HCI members.
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1.
Chief Executives Do Not Trust HR To Manage Their Talent*
From
Management-Issues, 10 Oct, 2006
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As
the West's workforce demographic changes, managing and retaining senior
level talent is becoming an ever more important priority for CEOs. But
they don't trust HR and personnel to get it right.
The
Towers Perrin survey of senior HR executives in
Increasingly,
too, they were focusing on a core group of leaders, technical experts and
key contributors who could drive their business forward rather than
thinking of "talent" in terms of the whole workforce.
But
there was a gap between what HR felt – that talent retention and
development was one of their most critical objectives – and what the
business felt HR could achieve.
Few
CEOs, it emerged, believed their HR departments had the skills needed to
manage this emerging talent pool effectively.
Groups
now considered to be "talent" included senior leadership,
employees at mid-level with leadership potential, key contributors or
technical experts and entry-level employees with leadership potential.
Together,
these defined talent pools made up, on average, no more than 15 per cent
of the total workforce, said Towers Perrin.
"As
businesses transform to drive top-line growth, we're seeing talent emerge
as a top strategic priority for CEOs and boards, as well as HR
executives," said Max Caldwell, a Towers Perrin principal and one of
the leaders of the firm's HR services business workforce effectiveness
practice.
"Creating
a robust 'talent supply chain' that delivers the required number of
leaders and key contributors who possess the right mind-set and skills has
never been more important," he added.
"However,
the HR function in many organisations is not yet delivering sufficient
value in this critical area," he warned.
Organisations
were distinguishing between talent management as a set of practices and
programmes for a relatively small, if critical, segment, and workforce
management as a set of practices and programmes covering the entire
workforce.
But
no more than half of 250 companies polled believed that HR had the skills
across a wide range of managerial support activities needed effectively to
deliver on the talent management role.
More
than two-thirds said their HR department did not have the skills necessary
to measure employee engagement on an ongoing basis or to evaluate the
return on workforce-related investments.
The
inability to capture and disseminate relevant data to managers was also
problematic, since companies had no quantitative foundation from which to
develop a talent management strategy and build and deploy meaningful
processes.
"Many
of the larger and more forward-thinking organisations are creating a
special senior talent management position to focus specifically on the
organisation's talent strategy," noted
"The
titles may differ, but these roles seek to integrate things like strategic
workforce planning, recruitment, leadership development and career
management, which had previously operated in silos," he added.
*Reprinted
by permission of the editor
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2.
Why Finance Cares About HR
By
David Creelman who can be contacted at:
dcreelman@creelmanresearch.com
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It’s
a rare HR professional who reads the European Accounts Modernization
Directive, US Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC) circulars or
opinions from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
However, as documented by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), all over the world finance and accounting
professionals are facing the question: Is accounting broken?
Who
broke accounting? Well, HR has
to take a lot of the blame. Much
of the value of a company cannot be found on the balance sheet; it can’t
be found in the cost of machines or the price of a building, the value a
company creates comes from human capital. Accountants, finance
professionals and even economists at the US Federal Reserve are concerned
that various intangibles like human capital are invisible to investors.
Again,
as the OECD has pointed out, accounting is not really broken, just
incomplete. Accounting is
truly a magnificent (though tedious) invention and does an impressive job
reporting on many aspects of an organization’s activities.
However, it simply doesn’t capture what’s going on in human
capital. What investors and
the Board need is a supplemental report that goes beyond the financials
and deals with the people management practices that make the company
successful.
What
does this mean to HR? Well,
the CFO and investor relations department are under increasing pressure to
say something intelligent about human capital in the annual report.
Most HR professionals have not found out that this is going on.
There is pressure, but the dam hasn’t’ burst.
In my studies of the US Fortune 100 I see slightly improved
reporting on HR from last year—but nothing so dramatic that HR would
guess that a monumental change in their role is underway.
There are a few companies—GE and IBM are the two best—who seem
to have a good handle on human capital, but they are exceptions.
What the VP HR has to worry about, is that one day the CFO will
simply decide “I need to report on this, but I’ve never got anything
useful from our own HR department and they seem only dimly aware of this
issue. I’m bringing in a
consultant.” HR risks
finding themselves sitting off to the side as the CFO and CEO decide how
to manage human capital.
I
don’t expect HR professionals to read through tedious documents like
German Accounting Standard 15 and they don’t need to.
While there are many different comments, advisories and guidelines
issued by various accounting bodies it all boils down to one basic idea.
What the accounting bodies, financial regulators and investors want
is for companies to provide some useful information to help them
understand how human capital is impacting the firm.
For example, if the company is making a big investment in training
as part of a strategic shift then please tell us because otherwise it just
shows up as a big cost on the income statement and we’ll think the
company is in trouble. But
accountants and finance professionals don’t know what to ask about human
capital, so their ‘guidance’ is vague.
This is yet another reason why the VP HR really does not want the
CFO to take the lead in reporting on human capital.
Basically, although not in so many words, the finance community is
asking HR “Please tell us what we ought to know.”
HR
should start providing a small report with information suitable for the
Board and investors. The CEO may not feel ready to release this, but he or
she needs to see something tangible that is aimed at that audience. If HR
VPs spent their lives reviewing the literature of accounting
intelligentsia then they would already be working on this.
However the push to disclose more about intangibles is largely
happening below the radar, and it’s really time for a proactive HR
department to step up to the plate.
What’s
the win? Well the obvious win
is that it preempts the scenario of the CFO feeling forced to step in and
do it themselves, because HR showed no initiative.
On a more positive note it will take HR to a whole new level in the
organization, a level that reflects the dominant role human capital plays
in creating wealth in the global economy.
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3.
Across The Board: Official Communications From The SA Board For Personnel
Practice
Rating
Good HR Courses For CPD Points
By
Huma V Rensburg who can be contacted at:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In
order to ensure that quality courses are available to the HR professional,
the Board has begun the process of CPD-RATING good HR courses.
We invite all providers of HR-related courses to submit their
courses for rating and listing on the SABPP website.
The process has begun and the first listing can be viewed at
http://www.sabpp.co.za/prochamber/main/index.html.
A.
The Principles
•
CPD as such does not normally lead to a higher-level educational
qualification, but to the retention by the professional of that level of
expertise necessary to function at the level of registration with the
SABPP
•
CPD is more than taking courses or attending seminars, it requires that
the professional strive for a balance between knowledge and experience
•
Registered professionals are free to choose their own CPD learning events
and “CPD-rated” events will not be compulsory
•
All learning events contributing to CPD in the HR field are considered
valid and may be CPD-rated
•
A “CPD-rating” of a learning event is an indication that the quality
has been tested and approved and a rating allocated to the event for CPD
points on the Board’s framework. A
verification of attendance will also be supplied to the SABPP by the
provider of the course.
B.
Guidelines
In
assessing or rating a learning event the SABPP shall consider the
following aspects:
•
Coverage – the scope of the event; • Duration – in hours
•
Level – SABPP’s NQF aligned registration levels; • Assessment –
measurement tool (test, assignment, portfolio etc)
•
Renewal – on a four point scale the extent to which the event:
>>
Describes the latest information (1)
>>
Explains the latest information (2)
>>
Applies the latest information (3)
>>
Expands and improves on the latest information (4)
C.
How to apply for CPD-rating for your HR-related courses
•
Complete the application form for CPD-rating on the SABPP website under
“Downloads”
•
Receive a letter of confirmation from the SABPP together with an account
•
Submit the following electronically to the Board together with payment:
•
Abstract: a description of the purpose (or outcome) and contents of the
event (not exceeding 200 words)
•
Detailed programme information on scope or coverage.
A description of the event showing the subject matter to be
covered; the presenters, and the learning activities.
Where possible this should be accompanied by the titles of
presentations and abstracts thereof together with abbreviated CV’s of
the presenters.
•
Certification: A description and example of the proof provided to the
learner of participation in the learning event
•
Costs for attending the event
D.
Cost of Rating
•
1- 12 hours (up to 2 days): R1000.00
•
13-42 hours (up to 7 days): R1500.00
•
43-84 hours (up to14 days): R2000.00
•
85-126 hours (up to 21 days: R3000.00
E.
Post-rating process
•
Rating will be forwarded to provider first.
•
The rating will then be posted on the SABPP website for one year (or until
advised to delete). After a year the course will have to re-apply to
appear on the website.
•
The provider will e-mail or fax to the SABPP for our records, signed
attendance forms of all registered professionals who attend the course.
F.
Appeal
Applicants
who disagree with the CPD-rating allocated may appeal to the Board for a
review provided that
•
An appeal be lodged within 24 hours of notification of rating with the
Standing Committee of the SABPP on CPD, and provided also that
•
The Board of the SABPP may hear an appeal for a final decision where the
decision of the Standing Committee is rejected for acceptable reasons.
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4.
Book Reviews: Mine’s Bigger than Yours
---------------------------------------------------------------------
So
small is the new big? From mobile phones to Smart cars the 'less is more'
phrase is ringing out. But in an age where the best is often found in the
smallest size, large egos are rampant, and even encouraged, in the
business world.
Workers
everywhere are concerned with maintaining their image and a reputation
they can be proud of, from the new intern to the CEO. But if left
unchecked, overpowering egos can not only damage working relationships but
also drastically hamper the prospects of your organisation.
Mine's
Bigger Than Yours challenges workers to take a good look at the egos at
work in their companies – from the colleague you tolerate to the warning
signs in your own behaviour.
Helping
you to recognise and control your own ego whilst managing other people's,
Mine's Bigger Than Yours reveals how ego-free leadership can help
businesses to flourish. Packed full of useful exercises and real-life
stories, this book will help you to create authentic working environments
based on self-awareness and self-esteem.
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5.
Case Law & Legislation Review: Substantive Fairness in Dismissal -
Fraud
By
Gary Watkins who can be contacted at:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
#
LALLA V INDEPENDENT COMPLAINTS DIRECTORATE
Case
No: PSGA1255-05/06
Award
Date: 29 May 2005
Jurisdiction:
GPSSBC:
Commissioner
WF Maritz
SUBJECT: Substantive Fairness in Dismissal - Fraud
ISSUE: The
Employee was dismissed after it came to the Employer’s attention that he
had tendered a false senior certificate and obtained the position on the
strength thereof. The
Commissioner held that this compromised employment relationship and the
dismissal was fair.
Summary
of Facts: The Employee had
been employed some eight years previously as a case analyst after he had
misrepresented his qualification by tendering a fraudulent Senior
Certificate. The Employee
argued that he had an excellent service record with the Employer and that
this should excuse his previous dishonest conduct.
He further claimed that he was in fact in possession of a valid
Senior Certificate.
SUMARY OF JUDGEMENT:
The Commissioner held that he found it remarkable that, despite the
time at his disposal, he did not follow up with the Department of
Education what had happened to his original Senior Certificate which he
claimed he had earned. The
Commissioner accepted the evidence of the Employee that his service record
with the Employer was in fact excellent.
Despite this, the Commissioner held that the fraudulent certificate
which had come to the attention of the Employer had irretrievably
compromised the relationship. The standards to be applied were the
prerogative of the Employer and a Commissioner may not interfere unless it
was obviously unfair. As
dishonesty has always been a ground for summary dismissal, there is no
indication of unfairness. The
Commissioner held that the dismissal had been fair and the application was
dismissed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
6.
Downloads: The CEO’s Role In Talent Management
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The
CEO’s Personal Priority
The
management of a company’s pool of talent is now too important to be left
to the human resources (HR) department alone and has become the
responsibility of the top executive. This is the main finding of a study
by the Economist Intelligence Unit in co-operation with Development
Dimensions International (DDI).
The
study consists of interviews with 20 corporate leaders. All 20 corporate
leaders interviewed for the study said that talent management is their
responsibility. Of the 18 chief executive officers (CEOs) and two chief
operating officers (COOs) interviewed, seven say they spend 30–50% of
their working time on talent management, and a further seven executives
estimate their time commitment to be about 20%, a substantial percentage,
given a top executive’s crowded agenda.
The
remaining executives say it is a priority and either spend 5-15% of their
time on talent management or could not provide a time estimate. In the
words of Tom Wilson, the COO of Allstate Corp.: “The most important
thing I have to worry about is people.” And John Swainson, the CEO of CA
Inc., says: “I would say on a long-term basis, as the CEO, I have
primary responsibility for the issue of organisational health and ensuring
that the management team remains vital, relevant and refreshed, and that
we create a process to nurture and facilitate our own succession. That is
one of the two or three most important things that a CEO must do.”
Download
the complete study at: http://www.workinfo.com/free/downloads/180.htm
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7.
The Feminine Touch: Looking for Talent without Distinguishing Between
Genders
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu;
Publish Date: 5/3/06
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Gradually,
over the course of the 20th century, many companies and governments around
the world developed a new perception of the role of women in the workplace
and universities. Little by little, many women have risen to higher
positions in academics, politics and the professions. These women are
confident that they can be more efficient than men. As Nuria Chinchilla, a
professor at
The
conference brought together leaders from business, academia and politics,
both from
According
to Chinchilla, every woman must directly deal with difficult obstacles in
order to achieve the ambition of a good life that fulfills professional
goals and the roles of mother, wife and citizen. To achieve total
integration and harmony, they must move toward a new concept of success
that involves freedom and flexibility in their corporate cultures as well
as social conditions. Governments always play a helpful role, but the
women favor global policies that assist and promote the total
participation of women in all aspects of life, including politics,
business and the family.
Juan
José Toribio, the professor at IESE who established the conference, began
by noting that both entrepreneurs and managers must maximize their
potential for humane and ethical behavior. “At IESE, we try to
incorporate women into the cloisters of academia. One of our main
challenges is to confront every sort of discrimination against women. We
are totally opposed to squandering feminine brain power.”
Chinchilla,
who has conducted two of these conferences during the past year, says that
the current century is a defining moment for women. But if women are to
achieve success, “men must [also] play a role.” According to
Chinchilla, women have a much greater ambition than men, “although to
achieve success, both genders must work together.”
Chinchilla recalled the words of Alvaro d’Ors, a professor at the
First
Steps by the Nigerian Government
Until
2003,
“Success
in life has to do with the broadest meaning of the word,” said Janne H.
Matlary, a professor at the
Toward
a New Paradigm
Another
speaker at the conference was Chong Siak Ching, the woman who has been
president and CEO of Ascendas since January 2001. Ascendas is the leading
provider of business space in
“In
However,
many women give up their business careers because it seems impossible for
them to pursue both [their personal and professional] goals. As a result,
many talented people are lost along the road. At IBM, every worker was
asked what was needed to create the perfect working environment. “We
want to emphasize a business culture that is more focused on getting
results than on how many hours are spent at the office,” says Amparo
Moraleda, the woman who became president of IBM’s Iberian operations in
July 2001. “The old culture still believes that those people who spend
more time in the office are more committed [to their work].” The secret
of successful “head hunting” is to know how to go beyond the generic
to the specific; to put a first name and a last name on an idea, and
expose employees to different challenges that provide you with assurances
that they can develop.
“To
sustain its corps of leadership, a company must be able to recognize,
attract and keep talented women,” adds Moraleda. For her and her
company, the greatest asset of any company is the wealth of knowledge of
the professionals who comprise it. IBM tries to take advantage of
everyone’s skills. To that end, IBM has developed procedures for
facilitating the promotion and development of women. “Promoting
diversity is a basic component in innovation, and in creating a
competitive advantage,” says Moraleda, noting that people are the key to
success in any organization, especially those companies in which
innovation, creativity and/or customer service play an important role.
Moraleda believes that an intelligent enterprise should not skimp when it
comes to preparing its corps of future leaders. Increasingly, the process
of incorporating women into professional life is becoming more proactive.
We’re on an unstoppable course toward achieving reconciliation between
family life and work.”
True
Talent Makes No Distinction between Genders
Establishing
a culture in which there is a healthy balance between work and family is
the main goal of Jaime Aguirre, human resources director of Ferrovial, the
Spanish construction company. “Talent does not distinguish between
genders,” says Aguirre, a father of five. He agrees that today’s
employees become much more productive when they manage to reconcile their
family life with their work schedule. Three years ago Ferrovial
established a code of professional ethics, which went into effect this
year. “We are evaluating the productivity of our employees.” Among the
features of this plan are early working hours at the office, intensive
workdays that fit into school schedules, permission for breast feeding,
and assistance for disabled employees.
Construction
is a hard sector for women to enter. At least that’s what people thought
until recently. According to Rafael Montes, human resources director at
Acciona, the fourth-largest construction company in
According
to Macarena Cassinello, Nissan’s General Manager in
In
Search of Personal Equilibrium
Success
in life is not about achieving your goals in only one area of your life
and sacrificing everything else. “Knowing that there is a balance
permits me to continue to contribute value, and to feel good about every
aspect of my life,” explains Maria del Mar Ares, a partner at Ernst
& Young in
In
the future, women will be the raw material for companies to mine for
greater talent “because it is a fact that there is a shortage of
qualified personnel,” says
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(c) 2006 Registered electronic newspaper: 1SSN 1684-5714