S Curves in HR

There is now plenty of evidence and plenty of commentators who suggest that HR needs to move onto a new S curve.

For example Gary Hamel explains how, whilst businesses have changed exponentially over the last 100 years, the techniques we use to manage our organisations have progressed along an S curve.  Most of today’s thinking around organisations emerged in the 1950 which, when considering the exponential change since then, is clearly not going to be fit for purpose for today:

“Our industrial-age management model is languishing out at the far end of the S-curve, and may be reaching the limits of its improvability. Could the practices of management change as radically over the first two or three decades of this century as it did during the early years of the 20th century? I believe so. More that that, I believe we must make it so… To jump onto a new management S-curve, we’re going to need some new management principles.”

Peter Cheese from the CIPD talks about being at an inflection point The point at which the top of one S curve morphs into the bottom of the next (or continues and declines), and suggests that:

“Given the changes in work, the workforce and the workplace, much if not most of what we do in HR is no longer fit for purpose.”

In this advice column I will show how the new S curve depends on:

• A focus on outcomes rather than activities
• Wisdom artistry as much as it does data science
• People centricity which takes HR above and beyond just being a business partner / player.