Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

HR can help IT find its role in business

by Personnel Today 21 Nov 2000
by Personnel Today 21 Nov 2000

The ‘them and us’ attitude towards technology personnel will soon be obsolete – we’ll all be in IT

HR managers must create the right environments for IT departments to flourish if companies are to respond to the demand for innovation in the new economy, claims a report by management consultancy the Concours Group.

"IT is currently seen as an inhibitor rather than an enabler," says European managing director John Cooper. "Our report looks at the key processes in IT and how it can be activated in the right way."

The report, Making IT a Centre of Business Innovation, claims that if a business isn’t innovating, it isn’t in business, and that innovation is increasingly dependent on, if not driven by, IT.

Cooper doesn’t place the sole responsibility of maximising the potential of IT on HR managers, but he points out that many company cultures are counter to IT taking a more strategic role. "In IT, you don’t get many Brownie points for putting the business at risk. You have to get on and do a job, while bemoaning the fact that nobody trusts you.

"IT personnel must be leaders as well as enablers and followers, but it’s a fine balance. Organisations must create an environment in which it’s OK to fail and experiment but it must be sanctioned from the top."

The major findings of the report, carried out exclusively for Concours member companies, reveal that there are two main types of innovation: that which enhances existing skills and competencies and that which destroys or makes them obsolete.

The latter, the actually positive competency destroying innovation, represents new kinds of technologies, products, processes or business models that deliver new value. It offers a challenge for established organisations because the economic and business logic for pursuing them often "flies in the face of the beliefs and values that are core to the success of the traditional business".

Often, such innovation will work better in new business set-ups, such as an offshoot dotcom or spin-off e-division.

"Innovation demands a freedom of foot and sometimes this is best done in separation from the parent company, where HR polices can be different," says Cooper.

Whether as a spin-off or an integrated unit, there is much the HR department can do to help IT staff feel they can have a positive and innovational impact. Cooper admits the profile of an IT person can be one of a loner, and that they like order in their lives – which does not sit comfortably with being a major innovator. "HR must be nimble in accepting that these groups of people are different," he says.

The report places a challenge at HR’s door. "Innovation will not happen by merely tinkering with mission statements or changing incentive schemes and appraisal criteria. It requires a comprehensive and coordinated set of changes, starting with a re-examination of IT purpose and focus, a redefinition of roles, skills and organisational structures, and a reformulation of management and HR practices, values, behaviours and leadership."

Recommendations include encouraging IT leaders and staff to think and act like they are the heads of their own business and that formal and informal leadership development should be provided.

Cooper sees a time when IT will be integrated in the mindset of the workforce. "It will no longer be ‘those blokes in IT’, because we’ll all be in IT – it will be the business."

A management summary of Making IT a Centre of Business Innovation can be obtained by contacting Tessa Ryall at the Concours Group on 020-7535 2805, e-mail: [email protected]com, www.concoursgroup.com

Personnel Today
Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Part-time work not an option for hard working fathers
next post
DTI to act on tribunal time-wasters

You may also like

Barrister wins gender critical belief discrimination claim

27 Jul 2022

‘Patchy’ mental health services failing ethnic minority communities

11 Jul 2022

Global study highlights hypertension treatment failings

8 Jul 2022

NICE sets out new guideline on managing depression

8 Jul 2022

Half of employees struggle to switch off on...

8 Jul 2022

Five steps for organisations across the globe to...

8 Jun 2022

The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls

24 May 2022

Grants scheme set up to support women’s health...

16 May 2022

How music can help to ease anxiety at...

9 May 2022

OH will be key to navigating ‘second pandemic’...

14 Apr 2022
  • 6 reasons why work-based learning is better than traditional training PROMOTED | A recent Fortune/Deloitte survey found that 71% of CEOs are anticipating that this year’s biggest business disrupter...Read more
  • Strengthening Scotland’s public services through virtual recruiting PROMOTED | This website is Scotland's go-to place for job seekers looking to apply for roles in public services...Read more
  • What’s next for L&D? Enter Alchemist… PROMOTED | It’s time to turn off the tedious and get ready for interactive and immersive learning experiences...Read more
  • Simple mistakes are blighting the onboarding experience PROMOTED | The onboarding of new hires is a company’s best chance...Read more
  • Preventing Burnout: How can HR help key workers get the right help? PROMOTED | Workplace wellbeing may seem a distant memory...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+