HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE ASEAN INTEGRATION IN 2015 AS HR PROFESSIONALS

By:

Flor M. Glinoga, PhD

Two years from now, the Philippines and other ASEAN members (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia,

the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Laos, and Myanmar) will be moved toward a

single market and production base under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. The

ASEAN economic integration by 2015 aim to establish a single market and production base, a

highly competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development and a region

fully integrated into the global economy.

It involves human resources development and capacity building and regional recognition of

professional qualifications. Our 2014 PMAP President, Atty. J. B. Jimenez emphasized this

theme of ASEAN Integration Readiness as his strategic thrust of the new PMAP leadership.

Built on the fundamental belief that knowledge is the foundation of the economy, and that it is the

most important and valuable tool that the Philippines needs at this point, as an HR Professional, I

believe that I—along with other HR professionals, businessmen and professionals of other fields

who share the same vision—could help prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.

To prepare for these challenges, according to Mr. David Ulrich (HR Guru), future-facing HR

professionals should look outside their organizations to customers, investors, and communities

to ensure competitive human resources in an integrated economy and to be responsive to the

integration and globalization initiatives by:

1. Being a Credible Activist

HR professionals should function as credible activists. They do what they say that will

do. Such results-based integrity serves as the foundation of personal trust that, in turn,

translates into professional credibility. They have effective interpersonal skills. They are

flexible in developing positive chemistry with key stakeholders. They translate this

positive chemistry into influence that contributes to business results. They take strong

positions about business issues that are grounded in sound data and thoughtful

opinions.

2. Becoming a Strategic Positioner

HR professionals should understand the global business context – the social, political,

economic, environmental, technological, and demographic trends that bear on their

business – and translate these trends into business implications. They should

understand the structure and logic of their own industries and the underlying

competitive dynamics of the markets they serve, including customer, competitor, and

supplier trends. They then apply this knowledge in developing a personal vision for the

future of their own company. They participate in developing customer-focused business

strategies and in translating the business strategy into annual business plans and goals.

3. Being a Capability Builder

At the organizational level, HR professional should create, audit, and orchestrate an

effective and strong organization by helping define and build its organizational

capabilities. Capability represents what the organization is good at and known for. These

capabilities outlast the behavior or performance of any individual manager or system.

Such capabilities might include innovation, speed, customer focus, efficiency, and the

creation of meaning and purpose at work. HR professionals can help line managers

create meaning so that the capability of the organization reflects the deeper values of

the employees.

4. Assuming the Role as a Change Champion

HR professionals should develop their organizations’ capacity for change and then

translate that capacity into effective change processes and structures. They should

ensure a seamless integration of change processes that builds sustainable competitive

advantage. They build the case for change based on market and business reality, and

they overcome resistance to change by engaging key stakeholders in key decisions and

building their commitment to full implementation. They sustain change by ensuring the

availability of necessary resources including time, people, capital, and information, and

by capturing the lessons of both success and failure.

5. Becoming a Human Resource Innovator and Integrator

At an organizational level, HR professionals should have the ability to innovate and

integrate HR practices around a few critical business issues. The challenge is to make the

HR whole more effective than the sum of its parts. HR professionals should ensure that

desired business results are clearly and precisely prioritized, that the necessary

organization capabilities are powerfully conceptualized and operationalized, and that

the appropriate HR practices, processes, structures, and procedures are aligned to

create and sustain the identified organizational capabilities. As they do so with discipline

and consistency, they help collective HR practices to reach the tipping point of impact

on business results. The innovation and integration of HR practices, processes, and

structures, directs HR more fully toward impacting business results.

6. Becoming a Technology Proponent

For many years, HR professionals have applied technology to basic HR work. HR

information systems (HRIS) have been applied to enhance the efficiency of HR processes

including benefits, payroll processing, health care funding, record keeping, and other

administrative services. In this HRIS round, we see a dramatic change in the implications

of technology for HR professionals. At the organization level, HR professionals should

now be involved in two additional categories of technological application. First, HR

professionals are applying social networking technology to help people stay connected

with each other. They help guide the connectedness of people within the firm and the

connectedness between people outside firms (especially customers) with employees

inside the firm. Second, HR professionals should increase their role in the management

of information. This includes identifying the information that should receive focus,

bundling that information into useable knowledge, leveraging that knowledge into key

decisions, and then ensuring that these decision are clearly communicated and acted

upon. This updates the operational efficiency competency and will add substantive

value to their organizations.