My youngest daughter is currently a college student, studying literature. This focus gives her a different eye on many of the HR topics I usually address in my blogs and that eye is what brings me to the topic of this blog. We were discussing her studies and she brought up a man named Niccolò Machiavelli. He is best known for his book, The Prince. The purpose of the book was to outline the goals of the Medicis, those ruling in Florence Italy, where he was living in the fifteen and sixteenth century, and how he believed they could attain those goals. His name is frequently associated with a very rigid sense of rules and some, when it was first introduced, thought his views were tyrannical – while this could be true at that time, with some creative interpretation, he had some important ideas that could apply to the modern day business world of Human Resources.

 While the topic is a bit outside of my norm, today I’m going to, with the help of my daughter’s insight, address some of the things Machiavelli speaks about in his book and how they can apply to the business world of Human Resources.

• Give attention to all human components of a company.

Machiavelli was very adamant about a ruler being aware of the morale of his subjects’ at any given time – from the lowest peon to all the lords and ladies. This concept applies to a business hierarchy as well. This allows changes to be made before any negative action can take place – a good business leader is aware of any potential grievances before they become problematic and, then, can make provisions ahead of time.

•  Appeal to subconscious desires.

Sometimes it is more effective to, instead of making an effort to reach potential customers with reasoning, to use passion. Machiavelli thought a person in a position of power could use common denominators to gain trust. In the business world this is most commonly done through the use of clever marketing techniques – if a customer thinks that your company is something that is fundamentally good, they will be much more likely to become committed to your cause.

•  Stay involved.

Machiavelli strongly believed that the idea of fortresses was a mistake, because if a ruler locks himself inside of one, he can become out of touch with what is really going on outside of the walls he hides in. This applies to the business world because a good business leader should avoid making “fortresses” by staying available to employees and interacting with those in the office environment. That way he or she can always be prepared for anything that is thrown his or her way.

There were many other things that Machiavelli stated in The Prince that could be applied to the current business world with modern interpretation. Not everything he said applies to the current century but the ideas are the same – a successful leader cannot dissociate from those that are being lead by being available, able to associate and confident in their abilities. I suggest giving it a read and drawing your own conclusions, if not for business, for historic perspective – you never know what you can learn from the future by looking to the past. To stay at the edge of issues on HR and staffing, be sure to subscribe to the Human Capital Supply Chain Blog.

The Machiavellian Approach to HR is a post from: Human Capital Supply Chains

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In the January 18, 2010 issue of Bloomberg BusinessWeek, writers Peter Coy, Michelle Conlin, Moira Herbst and Carol Matlack penned an article titled “The Disposable Worker”. This negative article painted a picture of temporary workers as abused and undervalued by the corporations who work with them. These writers could not be further from the truth.

Peter Cappelli of the Wharton Business School laments that “the brutal recession has prompted companies to create Just-In-Time labor forces”, where companies hold all the power and “all the risks are pushed to employees”. Professor Cappelli is partially correct in that companies ARE moving to Just-In Time human capital supply chains, but for different reasons. Cappelli and the writers paint a picture of greddy corporate executives taking advantage of temporary workers to fatten their profits and bonuses. Except for the Gordon Gekkos of the banking/investment industry, this is not true. Whether we Americans like it or not, the world is not standing still and companies around the world are producing products and services at costs lower than the United States. In the past, we could ignore their footsteps because of their shoddy workmanship and poor quality, BUT NO MORE. We need to develop less expensive quality sources of labor and the U.S. Temporary “nonstandard” Worker is our greatest resource.

The writers also state that 26% of U.S. workers are nonstandard who are “easy to shuck off when unneeded” and includes temps, independent contractors, part-timers, and freelancers. Because the writers are ‘Stuck In The Past”, they missed the point that the American workforce has changed and workers no longer work their entire life for the same company with a lifetime pension and 100% benefits forever. Those days are gone !!!

Americans are an independent lot of people that would rather depend upon themselves than any company or government. We prefer to manage our own careers, use our 401k to save for our own retirement, pay our own way through college and choose what doctors we see. When you think about it, the Temporary “nonstandard” lifestyle is a better fit for the American free spirit than wearing a corporate blue suit every day.

At first, I thought the writers were members of the AFL-CIO or the Teamsters with their antiquated view of the American worker. The fall of the American auto and steel industries should be proof enough that the unionized approach to unbending work rules, the normalization of the American worker and 1960′s style pensions/benefits are no longer competitive in today’s integrated global economy. The flexible Temp model is the business model of the future that can help raise Americans back to the peak of economic power and improved wages for all workers.

The problem with the Land of Layoffs that America is currently experiencing relates to the fact that companies of any size are terrible at predicting their workforce needs over time and have never invested in workforce planning technologies to improve that situation. We have spent billion on improving the just-in-time delivery of parts to our factories to reduce waste and rework, BUT we have not spent an equal amount of time and money to better understand and manage our Human Capital Supply Chains. Maybe NOW is the time for that change.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek Stuck In Past is a post from: Human Capital Supply Chains

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