Courage for Individuality
Working Actively on the Company Culture Instead of Copying Hypes
War for talent, talent management and employer branding are buzzwords in all media at the moment. How much really is behind this hype, in your opinion? In most cases a completely home-made problem lies behind this: too many or the wrong employees were shed (»the more fixed costs fall, the better«), an on-time recruitment was ignored (»the applicants will come by themselves anyway«), the company climate neglected (»they should be happy to have a job«), contact with colleges minimised (»we’ve no time for that«), the employer image not taken into consideration (»the marketing department takes care of that«) – overall a tragic list of deficiencies. The reaction is unfortunately even more tragic: one jumps on some catchphrase or other of this hype and quickly copies everything possible in the manner of an uninspired benchmarking – without really understanding it. |
Christian Scholz |
In your study you come to the conclusion that companies have been twiddling their thumbs too long. What measures do you recommend most urgently? Or are they in any case powerless with regard to the changed attitudes of employees?
No, they are not powerless. They must however recognize the new situation and above all initiate long term measures. This also means putting the personnel work to test. This begins with the personnel strategy, embraces company culture analysis, and environment analysis, in order to for example already know today what employees will be required in the coming years. Unfortunately however this task description is repulsive for some HR professionals – but luckily not for all, which proves that professional personnel management is absolutely feasible.
Employer branding must be more than a pure PR campaign. On the long run, how can companies effectively build an attractive employer image?
Here too one must first do one’s internal »homework« and find the personnel management-related »Unique Selling Proposition«. An employer must really know what distinguishers him/her, and why he/she stands out against the masses and the competition. The finding of this information is a difficult and painful process, in which one »goes into oneself« for two to three days and systematically, above all however critically and realistically considers. After this step, outward communication is an easy and simple task. However here it is important, instead of trying to curry favour, to have the courage for individuality. The result: workplace derived offers, which are so unique that the applicants want to work for precisely this company.
You call a talent oriented leadership culture the secret key to success, at the same time companies have the greatest implementation problems here. What consequences are therefore necessary?
By talent oriented leadership culture I mean, on the one hand, that talent (as human ability in the sense of qualification, motivation and retention) is embodied as a central value in the company culture. On the other hand managers play an important role here, if one desires to further develop employees and achieve the long-term loyalty of talent. Managers mould the communication culture in the departments and through regular feedback can show employees that their performances are being noticed and how they are assessed. Before one now rashly states that »but we all do exactly that«, one should look at the catastrophic values in the areas of motivation and retention. There one can see that management culture is to be taken much more seriously, and thus, as a result, existing management seminars are wrongly constructed.
According to your study the »business parties« have differentiated responsibilities with regard to talent management. What are the most important insights here?
These are four actors: executives, the personnel department, the general management and of course the employees themselves. There are various interaction models. But whichever is chosen must be transparent and clear for everyone. Moreover all four actors require, on the one hand, skills in the sense of a »tool kit«, in which tools must be known and professionally mastered. On the other hand all actors must be vested with specific authority. But what I said previously applies here too: all this is not trivial and requires work as well as a professional focus.
Many thanks for the interview!
About the person:
Univ. Prof. Dr. Christian Scholz is since 1986 holder of the chair of Business Administration, particularly organisation, personnel and information management at the University of Saarland/Germany. His current research focus includes strategic personnel management, virtual organization, empirical organization research, as well as »Darwiportunism«.
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