by Robert L. Heneman, Ph.D.

Organizational change, organizational development, organizational effectiveness has become my new mantra.

I don't know about you, but I pretty much consider myself a "functional HR" kind of person. That is, I have training and experience in traditional areas of human resource management: staffing, training, compensation, and labor/employee relations. And it used to be that I could very easily compartmentalize the HR world into these categories. Recently, however, I have become sold on the fact that I also need to become an organizational change/organizational development/organizational effectiveness (OC/OD/OE) person. It is time for many of us to adopt this orientation and to do so will require new skill sets or we will be left behind in a functional orientation that struggles to maintain its identity.

Two recent experiences have led me to this conclusion: editing a book and developing a new stream of research. Let me explain. In terms of a book, I recently edited a book with David Greenberger, entitled: Human Resource Management in Virtual Organizations (2002; Information Age Press). The point of the book was to look at new forms of organizational structures being used (e.g., networks, alliances, cellular, teams, cyber-linked) and the impact they have on HR practice and research.

These new forms are often virtual in that they do not reside in a corporate setting. In fact, they may simply reside in electronic space. How do we segment the HR function in this type of structure? More importantly, for this column, what new skills will be required of HR professionals in this type of environment?

As it turns out, the answer is highly complex and evolving. What is clear, however, is that HR functions will continue to be performed, and that they will be interdependent upon one another and the business goals of the company. A good deal of our traditional role will be shifted over to an electronic "dashboard" run by management. In addition, much of traditional HR will be performed outside the organization rather than from within. Moreover, relationships between employees will be very different. For example, how do you build camaraderie when you are on a global team that never meets face to face?

The relevance of organizational change, organizational development, and organizational effectiveness skills becomes clear in this new world. We will need to be organizational architects to ensure that the right type of organization is built, the right roles designed, and the right capabilities employed (both human and electronic, inside and outside the organization). The larger systems view taken by OC/OD/OE provides the answer to questions like these that do not get asked much in traditional, functional HR. Our answers reside at the intersection of people, technology, and business systems.

I also reached this conclusion as I conducted research with Judith Tansky on HR practices in small firms. This issue is critical in that when looking at either absolute or growth numbers, the largest source of jobs in our country is with small rather than large employers. Even in the face of this fact, HR textbooks continue to emphasize HR practices in large organizations where it is possible to segment HR into functional areas. Our research clearly shows that HR practices in small firms are different than in larger firms.

Among other things, our research shows that CEO/founders of small companies do not think in functional terms. Instead, they think in visionary terms where people, technology, and business goals are blended together. Like virtual organizations, this smaller environment for HR argues again for the need to be proficient in OC/OD/OE. Viewing the people subsystem as a separate entity in small organizations appears to be the kiss of death for small-firm effectiveness.

Do these two experiences lead me to conclude that functional HR is dead? Absolutely not. We still need the best practices possible found in functional HR to select, train, and reward people. However, the time has come for us to embrace OC/OD/OE as another domain for skill sets needed for us to be successful as HR professionals in new and rapidly changing business environments.