How personnel can lose its Cinderella image

Article Abstract:

Many personnel departments struggle against a negative image within their organizations. This can be counteracted through the use of ideas from public relations, marketing, and selling to take a more assertive role in determining how personnel functions are perceived by senior management. Three areas which need to be carefully managed are money, authority, and need. When trying to get more money for personnel, it is advisable to analyze the other departments asking for money in order to better compete. Authority figures and their influences should be examined to better target key decision-makers. Managing need requires making senior managers aware of the financial and personnel needs of the personnel department by such methods as: distributing copies of relevant articles from trade publications; emphasizing the complexities of recruitment when individual managers have a staff opening; prioritizing personnel activities into red, amber, and green categories to avoid overwork; and trying to avoid a role as a bringer of bad news to management by emphasizing benefits to management which may be inherent in proposed changes.

Human resource directors

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Fees for 'house' work: the personnel department as consultancy

Article Abstract:

The idea of managing personnel departments as departments of internal consultants who charge fees for their services is gaining acceptance within the public sector. The Kent County Council developed an 'above the line' charging system for its central services to improve accountability, managerial responsibility, and departmental efficiency. The system works two ways with users being encouraged to clarify their needs, ensure delivery from an appropriate in-house or external provider, and control their support services budgets. Service providers, for their part, are encouraged to supply cost information, supply agreed upon services, and increase control of departmental costs. The system has proved successful after six months, but some questions still remain in areas of training infrastructures and service provider marketing breadth.

Finance

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Will consultants take over the personnel function?

Article Abstract:

External personnel consultants are increasingly likely to be hired by companies to solve traditional personnel problems. In parallel fashion, in-house personnel staff are increasingly finding their work assigned to line managers and are expected to be generalists rather than specialists. In-house personnel workers may discover that they need to move into line management positions themselves to advance their careers. Also, they may need to acquire a specialization without which external consultants may need to be hired. On the other hand, much personnel work requires on-premises monitoring over a long period of time, which external consultants cannot provide. Consultants, like senior management which hires them, tend to be concerned with larger issues than those with which personnel staffs usually contend.

Business consultants, Management consultants

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