Bringing Practitioner-Focused Research to People Management Practitioners
Sept. 2014
In This Issue…
What's Your Story? Helping The Next Generation Imagine Their Career Identities Through Narrative Career Coaching
Global HR Trends: Is HR Ready to Respond?
Flashback Feature:
Who Makes the Decisions? Women's Participation in Canadian Unions
What's Your Story? Helping The Next Generation Imagine Their Career Identities Through Narrative Career Coaching
Nick Nissley, Ed.D., Dean of Business Technologies, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College
Figuring out who we are in terms of our career identity is something that everyone engages in at some point in their work life. Most of the time this begins as a challenge – feeling stuck in the "old me" (the present career identity). What we must do is get unstuck – imagine the "new me" (the career identity we're growing into). At the heart of this practice of narrative career coaching is the need to confront our limiting story and taken for granted beliefs – our "problem story. " The narrative career coach serves as a helper – helping one let go of the old story and get unstuck; and, ultimately transform the problem story. Finding a new story and living into that story is the full-circle of narrative career coaching.
The following case offers an example of how the narrative frameworks of rescription and re-membering were used in a community college career coaching context – affording students the opportunity to practice with story-based approaches to career transition and change. In the broader perspective, the case offers a view into the human resource development practice of narrative career coaching – helping the next generation workforce imagine their career identities.
Global HR Trends: Is HR Ready to Respond?
Alison Crozier, Human Resources Director, The North West Company
The focus of the human resources department has evolved over the last century, from its roots in administration, to a focus on building functional practices, to an emphasis on being a strategic business partner and "sitting at the table". The HR leader needs to continue to advance to not only be aligned with the business but become a strategic partner that looks outside of the business to help it grow, compete and win in the market. HR departments must become attune to changes in the business and talent landscapes and help organizations navigate the changes in pursuit of their goals. While some HR departments have re-focused or re-structured to align more closely with the business and drive business results, research indicates that many HR departments have a long way to go. In Deloitte's recent global human resources trends research study, the reskilling of HR was identified as the third most urgent issue for 2014 (Global Human Capital Trends 2014, p. 8).
This article is written for HR leaders and explores the global human resources trends, the human resources function's readiness to respond, and the associated implications for the HR leader. It draws upon insights from Deloitte's 2014 Global Human Capital Trends report and the Corporate Education Board's Global Workforce Insights Q3 2014 report and relates the trends identified to the evolution of the human resources field.
Flashback Feature: Who Makes the Decisions? Women's Participation in Canadian Unions
Marina C. Boehm, 1991
The purpose of this 1991 report is to determine whether women were increasingly being involved in the decision-making process of Canadian unions. The scope of review of this report is restricted to public sector unions and one private sector union in the province of Ontario. A combination of methods were utilized in completing this study, including an overview of existing research, a review of statistical data, and an analysis of policy statements, convention resolutions and general union literature.
The results of this review indicate that labour organizations paid significant and increasing attention to women's issues in the 1970s and 1980s; union policies encompassed aspects of women's inequality within the union, in the workplace and in society. Many unions, particularly the central labour organizations, adopted policies of internal affirmative action, increased the amount of education available to staff and union members on women's issues, implemented policies providing child care services during union functions such as conventions and workshops, and provided regular coverage of women's issues in membership publications.
While these progressive policies are a positive indication of the unions' commitment to attaining women's equality, they are not a guarantee of prolonged or significant increases in women's participation in union decision-making activities. Labour organizations must be careful not to overestimate the effectiveness of their policies, and they must redouble their efforts to win the battle against discrimination within their hierarchies and structures. To this end, unions must ensure that their policies are fully implemented in practice. They must also continue to educate their staff and union members about the benefits of providing women with equal opportunities. The labour movement can only grow stronger through greater solidarity between its union sisters and brothers.
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