No company will be fit for future by just installing new software. Let us talk about the REAL challenges!
Crises and unforeseen events reveal: despite all the new tools, we only know little about ourselves.
The path to being closer to your employees still is long, although the first steps are made already. Let us talk about Digital Bodies and how you will successfully manage the upcoming “Qualitative Turn”!
Make your company better fit for future challenges and crises by proactively learning more about all employees!
Most of HR management and board members are aware of what might come in the future – but still count on the same old strategies and tools. “HR 4.0” in fact does not change that at all.
What is called “Digitalisation of HR Management” is in fact just a marketing approach in order to sell similar software tools in a meanwhile confusing variety. Of course it is essential that (finally) HRM takes the step into the 21st century, just like most of the other business units did already.
HR 4.0 is the entitlement for a current hype, and the abbreviations used are numerous: ESS (Employee Self Services), MSS (Management Self Services), HRA (HR-Analytics), EXM (Employee Experience Management), TMS (Talent Management System/Software), a.s.o.- the list is unbearably long. In most cases, we are just talking about similar new software tools, for which companies invest billions worldwide. At best, these investments result in a new (communication-)platform and (most important!) in new statistics. So what?
Of course, HRM has to make up ground on it’s automation level compared to all the other business fields and units. This is what I call the first step in digitalisation. With this, companies slowly start to discover the new role of HRM and start to understand the immense potential of such automated processes. And this brings also new focuses and challenges. Still thinking about an intelligent and humanistic way of automation, the next step should be clear: how to get closer to employees. And that is where the problem of all these statistics starts. One of the reasons for this is simple: many of these statistics are mathematically not correct. Furthermore, their value at the end is limited due to many other reasons. Actually, anyone familiar with the basics of applied qualitative social research is aware of that.
Of course, quantiative analytics and dashboards are of value, bringing employees into focus as actors and with this changing the perspective and helping to understand relations and processes.
Still this is just the first step towards the employees as actors AND human beings- and later on as also Digital Bodies. Simply because one level of understanding is missing: the individual narrative and qualitative feedbacks.
The slogan is “understanding instead of knowledge”– a new level of business wisdom.
The real future challenges are not to be managed by new statistics and new platforms. That’s what Paul Watzlawick called “More of the Same”.
Count on my support and let us talk about the new challenges and new ways!