INCONGRUENCY IN HR PROCESSES: A MAJOR REASON FOR ITS UNACCEPTANCE BY NON-HR COMMUNITY

Incongruency in HR processes is really a problem.  It is standing in between its acceptance to its existential denial.

The gaps, misalignments, or inconsistencies are rampant in human resource practices. They occur or made to occur. The level of occurrence ranges from reality to whimsical decision makings. Reality is supported by daily revelations of human brain functioning but there is no proof of whimsical decision makings by people in-charge. But a million-dollar question is why does it happen to HR?

Let me narrate an incident it happened recently, although it keep happening now & then with me or other HR professionals. I was sitting in the audience of a high-ranked HR event which was dotted by many learned HR colleagues. In the panel, on the dais were some of well-known faces of the industry from HR to Non-HR. A young brooding mind from the audience asked the question to the panel, how to calculate the ROI of a training program. And the answers given were as many as the number of members in the panel. Still, you could see on the face of the questioner that he was not satisfied with all those answers.

The question that struck my mind that point in time was if we ‘people’ could not answer a basic query in a concrete scientific way, the message may go to masses that HR is so fluid in nature that people can say & do whatever they want to say & do till they could satisfy their employers or ‘could save your jobs’.

Yes, it is right to mention that to a larger extent it is very challenging to bind HR practices scientifically as it deals with human functioning but what does stop us to saying at least one thing which is more acceptable, scientifically. Who does stop us from ‘Speaking One Language.’

No one can doubt saying that incongruency in HR processes is a major contributor to HR’s failure. It erodes trust, creates inefficiencies, and undermines the strategic role HR is meant to play.  Without consistency, even the best HR strategies fall apart in execution.

Let me share my thoughts on how incongruency is damaging HR:

1. Employee Distrust

This starts with when employees, including HR, find altogether a new practice or a process different from the practice being followed in the previous organization to achieve the same objectives. They get first bewildered but then accept it to avoid HR & its practices until forced down upon and may become a matter of survival for them if not followed.

Many of HR policies are applied unevenly, like promotions, feedback, or disciplinary actions, employees perceive bias and favoritism. This breaks psychological safety and damages culture.

Is it so difficult to design practices in such a way that irrespective of organizations - their kind, size and nature; they are equally applicable.

Human remain Human even though they move from one company to another.

2. Operational Inefficiency

Distorted & whimsical practices, manual processes, siloed systems, and lack of integration lead to delays, errors, and duplicated efforts. HR itself struggle to keep track of its processes & practices when they themselves move from one organization to another.

HR teams struggle at every single point of their operation and waste time reconciling data instead of driving value.

We have to solve this puzzle and get rid of unnecessary practices distortions to become ‘Strategic’.

3. Poor Decision-Making

Change in reporting templates and formats, fragmented data and ad hoc processes prevent HR from generating insights. Functional Managers are under tremendous continuous pressure to keep adjusting to the new HR that always happen with the change of baton in HR in any organisation. The worst is that they have stopped believing in HR practices. They do perform & follow HR processes as part of their daily rituals.

Functional Leaders can’t make informed decisions about talent, engagement, or workforce planning. Why? Because we have HR practices that have no genuine linearity of operation.

The reasoning given to us is that the human requirements need to be in line with the nature of a business. Really?

Do people change with the change in their place of work?

It does mean people do born with certain competencies which are suited to only specific types of industries, functions or roles?

Perhaps, Genetic Engineering has to play a big role in times to come to customize people as per the new industries and organizations pursuing absolutely different businesses than today’s.

4. Managerial Misalignment

I met a distinguished professional of a large automobile company recently. The person, as usual high on ego, was not having an inkling about the topic being discussed. I see this an apt example of managerial misalignment.

When managers interpret HR policies differently, execution becomes chaotic. This leads to uneven employee experiences and undermines HR’s credibility.

The reasons of Incongruency in HR practices

• Not able to keep pace with the new knowledge in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and biological discoveries.
• Insufficient knowledge & training for HR and line managers on new discoveries and human brain functioning.
• Lack of standardization of HR methods applicable irrespective of different industries & their natures.
• Rapid changes without proper change management
• Not able to come to terms to ‘speak one language’.
• Overreliance on manual work and outdated systems

Blaming doesn’t serve the purpose, let’s fix it together

• Reasoning with new biological discoveries and adopting them with fast pace.
• Creating a body who timely undertakes research and share it with the business community
• Digitization and integration of HR systems to ensure uniform execution across the organization.
• Adopting new AI centric HR solutions
• Train managers and HR teams on consistent policy interpretation and application.
• Audit HR processes regularly to identify and correct inconsistencies.
• And adopt Prajjo Solutions which are challenging every conventional HR practice with new neuroscience, psychology and biological discoveries and offering technology - centric solutions.

At last, HR doesn’t fail because its goals are wrong, it fails when its processes are fragmented, reactive, or manager dependent.