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The 4 HRD Myths

A number of value-laden myths have entered the HRD profession. These myths may have been partially the result of HRD’s having taken on too many “it feels good” goals without performing a thorough performance and work analysis to back up their HRD programs. Some myths that have haunted HRD include: 1. Social pressure is the basis of HRD 2. Managers don’t care about HRD 3. HRD costs too much 4. You can’t quantify/measure the benefits of HRD

These myths should be exploded. Hard economic thinking and even harder planning are what is required, not mythology. HRD professionals should be businesspersons first and HRD specialists second (everything important in business and industry is evaluated). This shift in perspective is the first step in exploding the HRD myths. The four HRD myths will disintegrate when the transition to thorough performance analysis and financial assessment becomes commonplace.

Myth 1. Social Pressure Is The Basis of HRD. A quick look around Kenji’s (and your?) corporate world will reveal organization development interventions, personnel training and development programs, and other HR efforts that were put into place because “everyone else is doing it.” Perhaps some companies get trapped in this game in the same way parents are trapped by their children’s wanting things because other children have them. Perhaps some HRD managers have used such childish threats with management as “the company across the street has and so should we.”

We have heard talk within the HRD profession about “employee rights to development,” along with statements that “HRD is a corporate perk.” This kind of rhetoric seems to suggest that social pressure is the basis of HRD. But isn’t it interesting that HRD professionals in organizations that strongly support HRD programs rarely, if ever, use social pressure? Most organizational decision makers who actively support HRD view it in terms of the business, the core work processes, the outcomes, and anticipating economic gains or averting economic risks.

Myth 2. Most Managers Do Not Care About HRD. Because so few managers defend their HR departments, ask for help, or sing their praises, HRD professionals could easily come to believe that this myth must be true. Simultaneously, the same managers consult with others in the company about such important issues as developing workforce expertise, motivation, and aptitude and how to design work so people can be more effective in their jobs.

Never make the mistake of confusing management’s caring about HRD issues with their caring about the HRD department. Furthermore, I urge to acknowledge that the hardworking managers in your company put themselves on the line every day. Right or wrong, most managers will rely on what they believe to be their best and most trusted sources of help. Even though your HRD department may not have earned such “best” or “trusted” labels, this does not mean that most managers don’t care about HRD. Managers do care about HRD. But to be a “best” and “trusted” source of know-how requires that the HRD department to have a credible HRD process, including a results measurement and assessment system.

Myth 3. HRD Costs Too Much. Good HRD generally costs a fair amount of money. Most worthwhile projects in an organization cost a fair amount of money. Usually management decides to spend available dollars on equipment, services, and projects that will give it the best return on investment (ROI). Whenever something must be purchased that apparently will have little effect on the business, management will request the one with the lowest price. The following example will have a familiar ring: if low quality mailing envelopes will do the job, management tends to say, “Get them as cheaply as you can.” If these inexpensive envelopes later stick together or will not feed through the postage machine, or if they make the organization look tacky in the eyes of customers, management will tend to say “Stop buying such junk.” Conversely, if the most expensive envelopes are the kind that seal automatically and thus increase output or if they catch the attention of potential customers and bring increased sales, management will tend to say “Get a good price if you can, but we want the best.” Cost figures by themselves are irreverent.

Reviewing HRD costs without also reviewing the associated benefits is not smart. Analyzing what you get for your money is smart. What most HRD managers fail to realize is that organizational decision makers usually focus only on HRD costs. When they lack information about the economic benefits of HRD, many decision makers decide consciously or unconsciously that a program is just another HRD program- just as an envelope is only an envelope. “So get the cheapest one.”

Myth 4. You Cannot Quantify/Measure The Benefits of HRD. Listening to people find excuses why something cannot be done is always interesting. Rationalizing that the benefits of HRD cannot be quantified or measured has kept the HRD profession in the dark ages of organizational performance. Do you suppose that management knows how many products it will sell next year? Of course not. If management knew the exact figures ahead of time, it would make exactly that many products. But because management does not know how many products it will sell, it gathers the best estimates it can find and makes its decision without the satisfaction of knowing it is right. This process takes knowledge of past results, intelligence, and guts—not perfection. Likewise, a record of assessed benefits, a little more intelligence, and a lot more guts on the part of HRD professionals will explode this last myth.

There is a strong possibility that all four of these myths have arisen from the inside of the HRD profession. If decision makers have also learned these HRD myths, they generally learn them form the HRD people. Executives, as masters of change and opportunity, have the right to expect HRD departments to join them in their struggle to achieve quality and profitability. Most decision makers are not enemies of HR departments. They want to be business partners and to reap the added value that HRD can provide to the organization. All four HRD myths stand in the way of this partnership.

In today’s cost and performance environment, the HRD professional must take necessary steps to focus on their organization’s core goals, develop an effective assessment system, ensure the best ROI and establish a record of proven assessed benefits. For a free consultation on how your organization can start to develop a focused and measured training program, contact CoreComm Learning Systems today.