the role of hr and ios. the workplace 2025
TRANSCRIPT
The Role of HR and IO Psychologists: Workplace 2025 | Govender, A
GOVENDER, A 1
The Role of HR and IO Psychologists: Workplace 2025
Ashlin Govender
(2016)
The Role of HR and IO Psychologists: Workplace 2025 | Govender, A
GOVENDER, A 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 3
THE INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANISATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST (I-O) VERSUS
THE HUMAN RESOURCES (HR) PRACTITIONER ........................................................... 3
THE WORKPLACE – 2025 ..................................................................................................... 4
Hero leadership to collective leadership .............................................................................. 7
Intellectual property to agile co-creativity ........................................................................ 8
Employment value proposition to personal value proposition .................................. 10
Sameness to segmentation ..................................................................................................... 11
Fatigue to sustainability ........................................................................................................... 14
Persuasion to education ........................................................................................................... 18
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 19
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 21
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INTRODUCTION
The aim of this literature review is three-fold. First, the scope of practice
of the I-O psychologist versus the HR standards and competencies of the
HR practitioner will be overviewed. Secondly, six key shifts in HR will be
highlighted, with specific emphasis on the characteristics of the workplace
2025 and the forces that are shaping work and talent attraction,
retention, strategic human resource management and performance
management. The impact of the workplace 2025 on organisations from
an HR and I-O perspective within the global and South African contexts
will be examined.
THE INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANISATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST (I-O)
VERSUS THE HUMAN RESOURCES (HR) PRACTITIONER
In terms of the HPCSA’s Scope of Practice for Industrial Psychologists,
the industrial psychologist’s duties include research design,
implementation and reporting; imparting their professional advice on key
issues within their scope of practice; assist in the formulation and
implementation of policy and interventions pertaining to I-O; designing
and implementing training interventions and interventions aimed at
diagnosing poor performance; and employing psychometric assessment
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for various purposes. All I-O Psychologists must be registered with the
Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
On the other hand, HR Practitioners can voluntarily register with the
South African Board for Personnel Practitioners (SABPP). Thirteen
standards and competencies form the scope of work of an HR
practitioner as follows: strategic HR management, talent management,
HR risk management, workforce planning, learning and development,
performance management, reward and recognition, employee wellness,
employment relations management, organisation development, HR
service delivery, HR technology, and HR metrics. HR Practitioners can
practice in any one of the particular areas or become a generalist that
are exposed to all standards and competencies.
THE WORKPLACE – 2025
There are emerging forces that are shaping the planet and which will
have a profound impact on the world of work by the year 2025 and
beyond (Gratton, 2011). To illustrate the effects of these forces, by the
year 2020, migration will be doubled to Europe; more than half of the
world’s companies will compete on a service basis; price fluctuations and
social unrest will be caused as a result of demand exceeding the supply of
natural resources; India’s demand for steel will quadruple and China’s
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double; cloud services is expected to earn $241 billion in global revenue;
and 5 billion people could have access to the internet (Deloitte, 2013).
Fast forward to 2030, the world population will grow to 8.3 billion
people with a growth rate in the developed world growing at a pace
seven times slower than that of the developing world; new professions
will spurn; China will be the world’s largest economy; the collective
economy of the ‘Next 11’ countries which include South Africa, Turkey,
and Indonesia will overtake the EU’s 27 countries; thought recognition
may come as a result of a 10,000 fold improvement in computing
power; and the worlds talent will predominantly come from China, India
and Brazil (Deloitte, 2013).
According to Gratton (2011), the nature of work in terms of what it is,
how it is done, where it is done and with whom it is done will change by
the year 2025 due to the influence of five major forces that will play an
increasing role in shaping work. These major forces exist in the dynamic
environment and comprise the accelerating trends of technology,
globalisation and carbon resources which have a dominant impact on the
world of world today; as well as accelerating demographic challenges and
societal trends that will be in full force by 2025.
Organisational success will be strongly influenced by how effective HR is
in responding to these dynamic forces. Boudreau and Ziskin (2011)
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highlight that HR’s future effectiveness will be defined by how well it
spans the multi-level boundaries of functional HR expertise, effective
organisations and the major forces of the dynamic environment. This
means that the degree to which HR initiatives are successful; which
include initiatives such as strategic human resources, talent management,
performance management and learning and development; will be
dependent upon how well HR incorporates organisational aspects such as
structure, leadership, social responsibility, diversity, sustainability, and
aspects of the dynamic environment which include globalisation, climate
change, geopolitics, labour markets etcetera into formulating,
implementing and evaluating HR decision-making and interventions. I-
O’s will assist HR well as their scope of work integrates with strategy in
terms of formulating strategy, assisting in the alignment of the
organisation with its strategic direction and implementing the desired
strategy (Henson, 2012). Furthermore, I-Os as scientists, will conduct
empirical research that will help inform HR and management decision-
making within the organisation.
According to Boudreau and Ziskin (2011), there are six shifts that will
constitute the future HR strategy, these shifts include a shift from hero
leadership to collective leadership, intellectual property to agile co-
creativity, employment value proposition to personal value proposition,
sameness to segmentation, fatigue to sustainability, and persuasion to
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education These shifts will now be discussed in more detail with regards
to the 2025 workplace:
Hero leadership to collective leadership
Due to the increasingly turbulent nature of the business environment, it
is very risky to solely depend on ‘hero’ leaders, the larger than life figures
that most admire and look up to, to drive organisational success and
sustainability. Instead, HR should strive to identify, nurture and embrace
leadership at all levels within the organisation by embracing and
promoting a culture of “shared” leadership. As greater numbers of people
are becoming knowledge workers and work in teams, with flatter
organisational structures, collective leadership will become more of a
norm. HR must also understand the dynamic environment as a
foreseeable trend will emerge where an increasing number of HR
strategists have backgrounds in other field such as economics and politics
(Boudreau & Ziskin, 2011). It is also important that HR professionals
possess certain competencies in the South African context that will assist
the organisation to achieve sustainability and success, such as professional
behaviour and leadership (leadership and personal credibility, solution
creation, interpersonal communication and innovation); service
orientation and execution (talent management, HR risk, HR metrics and
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HR service delivery); and business intelligence (strategic contribution, HR
business knowledge, HR business acumen and HR technology) (Schutte,
Barkhuizen & van der Sluis, 2015).
Intellectual property to agile co-creativity
This entails acknowledging and harnessing the trend that innovation and
creativity can come from anywhere in the organisation and not just from
traditionally assigned roles associated with same. Future strategic HR
should focus on creating innovative cultures that motivate staff to create
something bigger than themselves; utilising the power of social
networking to communicate and social media to distribute information
and innovate; and utilising crowdsourcing for input from people inside
and outside the organisation to provide solutions to complex issues
(Boudreau & Ziskin, 2011). South African organisations still need to fully
embrace the promise these technological innovations can contribute to
the workplace.
One aspect which will have a direct bearing on how creative one can be
and the degree to which organisations innovate and the speed to which
information is shared is technology. According to Gratton (2011),
technology has greatly reduced the cost of computing which has
simplified the manner in which work can be carried out, and which has
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replaced some work with robotics and complex data analytics. Increased
connectivity in the world has resulted in a greater capacity to share
knowledge and ideas across borders which may make the possibility of a
“global consciousness” possible in the future. Cloud technology, virtual
communications systems, robots and cognitive assistants will have a great
impact on the way in which work is done. Cloud technology will help
make available, applications, resources and services throughout the world
through its global infrastructure which will support innovation and result
in the talent of organisations being kept in the organisation’s meso-
environment of small businesses. Due to increased global connectivity,
more work will be performed virtually which will necessitate the use of
virtual communication systems which will include holograms and avatars.
Cognitive assistants are priority and bundling mechanisms that serve to
arrange and prioritise knowledge and tasks for workers, and which may
replace low to medium skilled jobs in the future. Both cognitive assistants
and robots may play a more influential role in manufacturing (Gratton,
2011).
Also affecting innovation is the increased standards in the quality of
education and the growth of multinational companies in the developing
markets, especially in China and India, which have resulted in the
creation of a global talent pool (Gratton, 2011). This will have a direct
impact on frugal and low-cost innovations which will become a more
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global phenomenon as these innovations will be developed primarily in
the developing markets and transferred to the rest of the world
(Gratton, 2011).
Employment value proposition to personal value proposition
An organisation’s stakeholders’ image of the organisation may even
surpass those of prospective employees in terms of importance to an
organisation, as upholding a positive organisational image in a volatile
business environment assumes a key strategic priority. Further, HR must
mass-customise the organisations value proposition to attract, develop
and retain specific “segments” of employees such as key talent or a
cohesion of generational cohorts (millennials in particular) than by merely
adopting a ‘blanket’ approach by say, branding the organisation as being
a family-friendly environment or being technologically advanced to
everyone (each segment has different needs) (Boudreau & Ziskin, 2011).
Gratton (2011) point to a generational cohesion in 2025, dominated by
millennials and generation X. Therefore, a strategic priority for HR is to
offer mass-customised value that speaks to each generational cohort’s
needs in order to ensure a fair mix of diversity that will inspire
knowledge sharing between the generations and a culture of open
innovation. Increased longevity will result in people still being productive
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into their 70s and 80s. Companies will have to embark on interventions
to shift mind-sets about older workers whilst seeking roles to
accommodate their meaningful contributions to the organisation. Due to
the different needs of the generations, pension provisions may be a source
of conflict between the generational cohorts, especially for the older
populations of the West. Millennials will possess increased authority and
influence in the workplace and will get their needs felt as a result.
(Gratton, 2011).
Sameness to segmentation
Contrary to the view of Hagen, Udeh and Wilkie (2011) whom
emphasise reducing status differences between segments as an effective
way of managing human capital; the likely future trend will be talent
segmentation as people will be considered in terms of their contributions
and/or value to the organisation and which nuanced segmentation must
be flexible to adapt to a dynamic environment that prioritises talent
attraction, development and retention (Gratton, 2011; Lawler, 2011).
The strategic HR challenge is to manage employees differently (unequally)
but fairly (fair discrimination) through customised policies and
procedures per employee segment and to ensure that employees are
satisfied with this arrangement. In South Africa, with a strong and
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influential organised labour presence, this may pose a challenging
strategic HR issue as the general South African labour psyche interprets
unequal (but fair) treatment as being unfair discrimination. The
Employment Equity Act of 1998 protects the right of all employees by
ensuring that employers do not unfairly discriminate against them in
terms of any arbitrary ground including race, gender or marital status.
Furthermore, unequal treatment of employees may be a challenge
considering that the provisions of the Labour Relations Act, Act 66 of
1995 emphasise consistency in the treatment of employees, which if not
adhered to may amount to an unfair labour practice (ULP) as per
specific provisions within the Act.
Therefore, one can deduce that I-O Psychologists will need to provide
greater input in co-creating organisational strategy, where the challenge
is to promote segmentation through empirical research that supports a
non-homogenous treatment of staff within a somewhat rigid South
African legislative framework. This may become a fractious issue
considering that the primary purpose of segmentation is talent retention,
as a substantial proportion of South Africa’s scarce skills talent still
resides with the white minority demographic of the country.
Gratton (2011) posit that rapid urbanisation in the emerging markets
will allow for clusters of talent, creativity and innovation to be created,
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of which clusters were previously associated with cities in the developed
world and which may affect an organisations’ decision on where to locate
as a result. According to Chabault, Hulin and Soparnot (2012), a cluster
comprises a group off competing organisations in the same industry
which are situated in the same geographical area. In order to attract and
recruit talented individuals to a cluster, authorities may offer incentives
for talent to relocate to the area (such as tax exemptions and child care
cost assistance); international events are organised that promote the
image of the cluster; and technology collaborations are initiated. Practices
designed to develop talent may include companies sharing talented
individuals on a temporary or permanent contract or secondment basis
so that identified talent develops through being exposed to the different
organisational environments within the cluster; and identifying positions
with transferable skills within the cluster and ensuring that talented
individuals are rotated within the cluster. Practices aimed at retaining
talent include offering global career opportunities and inter-cluster
mobility of talent (Chabault, Hulin & Soparnot, 2012).
Therefore, practicing talent management in clusters, adopting the
practices employed by countries such as the USA and France, will become
central to countries, clusters and organisational ability to attract and
retain the best talent in future, and which should form a core strategic
HR and I-O imperative in the ‘war for talent’ within clusters. However,
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most of the worlds businesses are located outside of these clusters.
Therefore HR and I-O will need to work together to engage in global
talent management practices (Tarique and Schuler, 2010) to cultivate
and nurture talent in an ethical manner (Swailes, 2013) if organisations
are to be truly successful. The talent programs run by HR should
recognise talented knowledge workers where these knowledge workers
are offered collaborative opportunities to develop their ‘knowing why’
(values, work-life balance), ‘knowing how’ (skills and expertise) and
‘knowing whom’ (professional social networks) competencies with
individuals, organisations, community and the industry through project-
based work, bonding and bridging (Arthur, Defillippi and Lindsay,
2008). Of course, HR will determine how much of talent is needed after
conducting a workforce planning exercise; and the I-O will design the
talent screening interventions and utilise psychometric assessments to
identify the talent for the program.
Fatigue to sustainability
Employee fatigue occurs as employees become exhausted and burnt-out,
which is an issue that HR and I-O must reduce in order for organisations
to effectively deliver on triple bottom-line sustainability - which focuses
on delivering on the key aspects of “people, planet, and profit”
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(Boudreau & Ziskin, 2011). As the coming decades ensue, the price of oil
will continue to play a significant role in the world. However, there will
be a growing consciousness created around sustainability as the easily
accessible carbon resources of the world become spent which will force
companies and workers alike to seek more energy efficient ways of
working with minimal impact on the environment. Therefore, younger
workers may consider the environmental record of the organisation
before taking up a position at the organisation. In view of this employer
branding issue, as well as the greater need to reduce commuting time to
work by encouraging greater numbers of people to work from home,
sustainability will become a core strategic HR imperative that will inform
policy (Gratton, 2011). To reduce fatigue and burnout, HR will devise
more flexible work programs for both sexes. There will be a greater need
for work-life balance for both men and women which may cause
organisations to rethink the design of jobs so as to allow for more flexible
working conditions (Galinsky & Matos, 2011; Gratton, 2011). Men in
particular will begin to trade-off various aspects and roles of their work,
career and family lives as they endeavour to become a more “balanced
man”. (Gratton, 2011).
Another method to reducing fatigue and burnout is by stimulating its
polar opposite, employee engagement, through effective performance
management. According to Mone, Eisinger, Guggenheim, Price and Stine
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(2011), a goal setting approach to performance management can help
drive employee engagement in organisations. It entails a collaborative
setting of performance and development goals; providing ongoing,
honest, constructive feedback and recognition that links positively with
employee development and engagement; managing employee
development through coaching, offering training and opportunities for
career growth; building a climate of trust and empowerment; and
conducting mid-year and year-end appraisals effectively. Such an
approach is also supported by Gravina and Siers (2011) whom further
explicate that performance management systems should comprise an
evaluative component (performance appraisals) and a developmental
component as well, where performance data is an output of the
performance management process not an input.
According to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (2014), by
2016, 80 percent of the global workforce are likely to be millennials,
and more than half of them (41%) would like to be recognised for their
work on a monthly basis, whilst 78 percent of millennials believe that
utilising technology will make them more productive in their work. The
survey acknowledges that performance management systems, if
implemented correctly, have tremendous reward, but most are often
difficult to manage administratively and fail as a result. The survey seeks
to reposition employers’ focus to encourage informal dialogue through
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technological tools, with all HR functions being tailored to support this
performance management approach.
Noteworthy is the view of Pulakos and O’Leary (2011), whom
acknowledge many challenges which pertain to the design and/or
implementation of the popular performance management practices in
use today. That is, cascading organisational goals to individual employees
can be difficult to execute well and is time consuming; goal-based
performance management systems may fail due to the difficulty in
devising goals for knowledge workers and for positions where the
employee’s performance is dependent on factors outside the their span of
control. Further, rating competencies may not work due to inconsistent
ratings across managers which may create a perception of unfairness and
low morale, and leniency to preserve effective working relationships
between manager and subordinate; and gathering performance
information from multiple sources may be costly, less accurate as those
assessing may not be suitably qualified to make an evaluation of one’s
performance and workers may collude with one another if the
performance assessment is linked to outcomes. As a result Pulakos and
O’Leary (2011) advocate that performance management system changes
should not continue, and instead more energy should be devoted to
building manager-employee communication and relationships through
building trust, conducting effective performance conversations, diagnosing
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the cause of performance problems, delivering and reacting to feedback
delivered in an appropriate manner, and focusing on post-training
interventions. An HR priority should be to promote a shift in culture
which will allow managers and employees to see performance
management as being value-adding as opposed to a mere administrative
necessity imposed by the organisation. Organisations could utilise
integrated organisational performance management as a means to
achieve this by integrating operational performance throughout the
organisation so that the strategic goals are met (McGrath, 2010). In
order to determine the current culture of the organisation, the I-O will
conduct an organisational culture survey that will assess the culture as
measured by various factors (which will include performance
management dimensions). Feedback would be fed from the I-O to HR
and management. HR would then drive the implementation of the
culture-shifting solutions within the organisation.
Persuasion to education
Over and above human resources role to persuade line management to
adopt and implement appropriate human capital interventions, HR
should play a greater role in understanding, educating and influencing
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leaders’ mental models so that these decision-makers make appropriate
human capital decisions (Boudreau & Ziskin, 2011)
Further, employees, as a result of working in diverse working
environments, will become more ‘reflexive’ as they gain multiple views on
aspects of life and will start to develop a deeper understanding about
how their working lives can be constructed to prioritise what is
important (Gratton, 2011). I-Os will need to conduct research to
investigate employee needs and any emergent trends to best design
solutions and implement through HR policy/interventions as necessitated.
CONCLUSION
The scope of practice of the I-O psychologist versus the HR standards
and competencies of the HR practitioner were briefly outlined. Secondly,
six key shifts in HR were highlighted, with specific emphasis on the
characteristics of the workplace 2025 and the forces that are shaping
work and talent attraction, retention, strategic human resource
management and performance management. The impact of the
workplace 2025 on organisations from an HR and I-O perspective within
the global and South African contexts was also examined.
In the dynamic, turbulent “workplace 2025” environment, HR and IOs
would have to understand the complexities and opportunities that
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interact with their organisations better than ever before. This will call for
a diverse set of skills and competencies to best develop, implement and
monitor practices to successfully drive employee performance and overall
organisational success.
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