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IT Human Capital Management – Who is Responsible for What?

If IT Human Capital costs are now between 60% and 80% of the organizations total IT budget, the key question becomes – who is responsible for what when it comes to IT Human Capital Management, ?

The reason that we ask this question is because there is insufficient clarity on this in the workplace today.  In too many cases, when it comes to “people” (the Human Capital Resource of the organization), decisions are far too often abdicated to HR, when, realistically, they are the responsible of Line Management.

So, to try to answer this question, we have used the “tried and trusted” RACI matrix.  In terms of RACI, the definitions are:

  • R – who is Responsible – that is, the person who is assigned to do the work?
  • A – who is Accountable – that is, the person who makes the final decision and has the ultimate ownership?
  • C – who is Consulted – that is, the person who must be consulted before a decision is action is taken.
  • I – who is Informed – that is, the person who must be informed that a decision or action has been taken.

The RACI for Human Capital Decisions and actions should therefore look something like this:

CEO LoB Manager HR
Organization strategy A/R C C/I
Organization capability management A/R C C/I
Organization resource retention and management A/R R C/I
Organizational goal achievement A/R R C/I
Organizational Employee Engagement A/R R C/I
Organization Net Promotor Score – Customer A/R R C/I
Organization Net Promoter Score – Employee A/R R C/I
Departmental strategy C/I A/R C/I
Department capability management C/I A/R C/I
Departmental goal achievement C/I A/R C/I
Department operation C/I A/R C/I
Department resource retention and management C/I A/R C/I
Department productivity management C/I A/R C/I
Department planning C/I A/R C/I
Department Human Capital Strategy C/I A/R C/I
Department Talent Management C/I A/R C/I
Department Employee Engagement C/I A/R C/I
Department Net Promotor Score – Customer C/I A/R C/I
Department Net Promoter Score – Employee C/I A/R C/I
HR Policies (Personnel, Wellness, Benefits, Employee Relations, Remuneration, Recruitment, Learning and Development, etc.) C/I C/I A/R
HR and Human Capital Systems (Admin, Payroll, Performance Management, Recruitment, Workforce Planning, Human Capital ROI, etc.) C/I C/I A/R

Sadly, in most “Leadership” and business school courses today, future and current managers are simply not taught what Human Capital decisions need to be made, what information is needed, and how to take responsibility for these decisions.

Instead, they are left to an HR (or Human Capital) department, that really doesn’t understand the intricacies of the Line of Business, and is simply not in a position to make those decisions.

The result is very often – certainly when it comes to IT:

  • Job Titles that don’t mean anything to anyone – how can Recruitment and Selection be effective if no-one understands the requirements of the job?
  • Job Descriptions that are unclear of the actual job requirements – meaning that recruitment, people development, and performance management all suffer,
  • Structures that don’t take capability into account, so it is not possible to grow people effectively for the longer term,
  • Lack of effective career pathing – which costs the company enormous amounts of money over the short- and longer term,
  • Workforce planning that seldom takes more than the current year into account,
  • No real accountability for the effective management of resources important for the current and future success of the organization.

At TalentAlign, we understand both IT and HR.  We help to bridge this gap between IT and HR, and we help to develop the capability within the LoB management team for effective Human Capital Management.  And our ITJobCompiler™ helps to ensure that your IT jobs are aligned with the industry.

To learn more about TalentAlign, ITJobCompiler™ or our other programs for IT management, give us a call.