Claude Balthazard, Ph.D.
September 19, 2007
‘HR practitioners’ or ‘HR professionals’ exist at different levels. At one end we have ‘people who can handle the basics of HR support’ at the other end you have ‘people who establish and implement HR strategies for large and complex organizations.’ Most have an intuitive grasp of the continuum. An often used metaphor or image is that of the ladder with a number of rungs. What creates challenges, of course, is the span of the continuum; that the competencies required at one end of the continuum are quite different in degree and kind from the competencies required at the other. Although we are interested specifically in the field of HR, this kind of continuum or ladder exists in just about every field of endeavor. Let’s explore some of these challenges created by the wide span of the HR practice continuum.
Indeed, the notion of levels of practice for HR practitioners appears in many places. For example, the Canadian Human Resources Professionals Capability Profile (CCHRA, 1998) defined four levels of practice in Human Resources: Developing, Professional, Management, and Strategic.
How one approaches the notion of the notion of continuum or ladder depends on one’s beliefs about career paths in HR. Beliefs about career mobility and the factors that facilitate or impede career mobility in HR are of the essence here. ‘What does it take to make it to the top?’ is one question but there are other important questions such as ‘Can one make it to the top rung if one starts from one of the lower rungs, or does one need to start somewhere in the middle to make it to the top?’
Actually the word ‘can’ may not be the best way to look at thins in the sense that just about anything is possible. Perhaps a better way to look at things is to think in terms of probabilities or likelihoods. The question would then be ‘what is the likelihood of making it to the top is one starts from one of the lower rungs?’ The other interesting dimension here is that the future may be different from the past. The idea here is that looking at career path of individuals that are currently at the top of the HR ladder may not provide reliable advice to those starting their career today.
Some believe that there is not a single ladder but different ladders or different tracks. For instance, some would say that the senior HR practitioners of tomorrow will start mid-ladder. This is not to say that some exceptional individuals will not start at the bottom rung to work their way to the top—it could happen, but it’s just not the way to bet. The point here is that those who are going to be the senior HR practitioners of tomorrow that has a different starting point and a different trajectory.
The military are organized this way. Today, if you start your military career as a non-commissioned member of the Forces, the probability of making it to the rank general is small—not impossible but small. Indeed, some talented non-commissioned members will be identified and helped to make the jump to the officer ranks. But these rare cases only serve to confirm that these are different tracks. Most officers will join the Forces as officers.
The two track idea is a difficult one for some and would appear politically incorrect and elitist.
But then again, just because something is politically incorrect doesn’t mean that it isn’t the way things are. Consider, for example, that a recent survey conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council found that 25 per cent of 1,029 companies worldwide plan to hire MBA graduates for HR positions in 2007. I would venture a guess that these individuals are being hired into the ranks of middle management and that even greater things are expected of many of them over time.
Possibly most contentious would be where to draw the line between the two tracks. The Forces are clear about their two tracks and the entry requirements of each. In HR, the situation is nowhere as clear or defined. We leave it up to individuals to figure it out.