Dilemmas In HR Management

I read two very interesting articles recently that made me think about HR management. Given our size, the topic is not immediately relevant to us but I do want to mull about these over time to figure out our HR approach:

1. Fire fast – The first article is about a quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, whose past bad behavior (he has been accused twice of sexual assault) is being glossed over, given his good performance in the current season. Big Ben is no exception – all of us have come across Big Ben’s in our lives (I saw my fair share in the corporate world), and either turned a blind eye or given them another chance and another and another…. till something really bad happened. Everyone talks about “hire slow, fire fast” but most of tend to look for excuses to not fire people. One of our favorite excuses, specially in India, tends to be “Oh, but he is getting the job done”.

2. Help people excel – In a recent post, Seth Godin talks about various ways to promote excellence in your team. I totally agree with him that we should not

• Bully people to do better – This can work in the short term but the moment the bullying stops, people stop performing
• Pit people against each other – People who can game the system tend to “win” in this approach – the rest are left disillusioned and de-motivated. Worse, competition trumps co-operation so that the combined effort suffers even as individuals excel.

So what’s the right way to help people excel? Seth offers this – a) Give people the right opportunities – opportunities that challenge them and let them contribute to their fullest potential, b) Set goals for them to aspire to, c) Be there to help, but only if asked.

I can see these non-traditional approaches work in a small company. But will they scale in larger organizations?