Human Resource’s One-Sided Technology Debate

A friend pinged me earlier today to check out the latest news from the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) titled “Companies Debate Who Controls HR Technology.” Oh, don’t bother actually clicking that link. While it seems an important topic, since I let my SHRM membership lape years ago I actually did not have permission to read the story.

Companies may be debating, but obviously SHRM does not want to debate, but simply plot among themselves. What are they up to behind that membership-required debate? What are they plotting? Be afraid, fellow techies, be very afraid. Some afternoon your HR department will start taking over the payroll, hiring, and benefits applications like a horde from the mind of George Romero. On second thought, it will probably look a lot more like this.

ReadWriteWeb recently commented on the rise of “Technology Populism”, coined by Forrester Research (so it must be very important). While it may seem empowering individuals and groups to provision their own technology solutions is a good thing, the line between innovation and anarchy can be a thin one indeed.

It really bothers me in this world of social networking, collaboration, and online openness that the leading association of HR professionals wants to debate behind closed doors. I have spent most of my professional career crossing back and forth between HR and IT, and time and again HR always seems susceptible to the snake oil side of technology. They need collaboration with IT, not a battle for power.

Software Safari, a (really good) blog by former Accenture technology consultant Brian Sommer, has been following one particularly nasty fight between two HR technology vendors. Do HR departments really have the expertise OR the bandwidth to get involved with these kinds of issues by themselves?

SHRM, this is an important subject. Don’t limit it to those HR members who have paid for the privilege of debate.