The HR diamond and the need for organizational justice

Today is the last day of the three-day annual convention of the whole country's more than 2,000 HR executives and managers in the Waterfront Hotel Lahug. This writer, as one of the resource persons, has tackled one of the four dimensions of what I call the HR diamond, namely: Talent Acquisition, which is the new buzzword for recruitment and hiring; Total Rewards, which is the current tagline for compensation and benefits; Learning and Career Development, which is the latest name for training, and my own field of specialization, my own coined term, OJ, or Organizational Justice, otherwise called employee engagement, employee relations, labor relations, and industrial relations.

My advocacy is not just relations and engagement but justice, for both employees and employers, for both union and management. OJ is anchored on three pillars; intrinsic and extrinsic employee discipline, grievance and issue management, and resolution of disputes between employees and employers. The first pillar is discipline, which is both intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic discipline is behavioral, proactive, and developmental. It is value-based and it is the molding of character through coaching, counselling, and mentoring. Extrinsic discipline is reactive, legalistic, rules-based, and penalty-oriented.

The second pillar of OJ is grievance and issue management through continuing dialogue, building of listening skills and sensitivity indices of first-line supervisors, managers, and even executives. This is listening to what is hindering people to be more productive and happy in the work place. This is alertness and sensitivity to detecting issues before they escalate into grievances, and nipping in the bud those emerging thorns that may disturb employee well-being and feeling of security. The third pillar is the resolution of disputes in a fast, expeditious, and fair manner, finding a mutually acceptable and fair solution to common problems.

The HR diamond sometimes focuses on recruitment or Talent Acquisition too much. There is a fixation on quick hiring and looking only for IQ (Intelligence Quotient), academic credentials, and skills, without regard to EQ (Emotional Quotient), and AQ (Adversity Quotient). Thus, they bring in a lot of competence without character, skills without spirit, wings without roots, passion without soul. The second dimension of the HR diamond is Total Rewards. It is not just about salary and benefits but also having wellness and a friendly workplace, a happy place to work, opportunity to express one's unique gifts and be respected and even admired, transforming work into a daily expression of creativity and giftedness.

The HR is the soul of the organization, the conscience of the corporation, and the heart of the workplace. The HR community is the savior of the world.