General Manager – HR

Last year, I wrote about the semantics in development of HR as a profession. 2009 emerged as the year of a new HR designation; namely, General Manager – HR (GM of HR Department, GM Admin & HR Department).

This new title sounds promising at the onset but after closer review of several GM - HR Job Descriptions, one can quickly realize that the responsibilities of the GM - HR are basically the same ones as that of any other HR Head focused on administration, statutory compliance, and the entire gamut of HR activities without explicitly calling for business, strategic, and team leadership.

Added analysis into the Job Requirements by any HR Business Partner advocate will further cool down their excitement toward this new title. After all, the new designation continues to demand excessive HR experience; particularly one of HR Generalist and only introduces one modern and advantageous requirement; an MBA.

In my view, introducing any new HR title is pointless and confusing unless the "core" of the position is new. The GM – HR role would be of greater substance if the primary responsibilities were:
• To run multiple HR departments as value creating centers for the different companies under one holding company,
• To optimize HR services, and
• To lead the alignment of HR strategy with the business strategy across the different companies.

Accordingly, the ideal candidate would then be required to have more of an entrepreneurial and business track record with either an operational background or extensive knowledge and an understanding of the business model of each company and the value drivers of each business.