Nonprofit HR’s Blog

Roshan Thiran is disgusted at how some organizations keep HR processes in place even though it is obvious “the horse is dead.”

“…as I travel … I am constantly amazed at how many HR leaders seem to be clinging on to HR practices and traditions that have outlived their usefulness.

And, instead of ‘changing the horse’ in an organisation (i.e. outdated processes, policies or culture), we devise devious methods to keep the ‘dead horse’ alive. Some of the things we do include the following:

• Try to change the horse riders instead of fixing the core issue;
• Blame the equipment and so buy a stronger whip in the hope that the horse will get up and start running again;
• We start moaning and provide excuses such as ‘but, this is the way we’ve always done it. Let’s wait. The horse will somehow start running;’
• Appoint a committee to revive the horse and to evaluate the rider. Nothing is ever done and the dead horse continues to lounge in our workplace;
• Arrange lawatan sambil belajar to other companies to see how they manage their dead horses;
• Blame the riders and implement better training to ‘upskill’ the riders who can’t seem to get their jobs done and get the dead horse running again;
• Hire an expert to teach us how to ride a dead horse. Then we increase the funding for the dead horse thinking that throwing money, resources, time and effort on the dead horse will somehow get it back to running again. We may even install new state of the art computer programmes which are guaranteed to enhance the dead horse’s performance and productivity; and
• Finally, after doing all of the above, we hire a consultant to help diagnose the dead horse problem. After a six-month comprehensive study, which will include a complete review of every part of the horse’s carcass, the consultants will tell us what 90% of the employees already know – the horse is dead!

His solutions are here.