Diversity Lecture Series
	Vernon Bellecourt, principal spokesperson for the American Indian Movement, delivered "American Indian Movement: 1492 to the Present" Nov. 6 as part of the President and Provost's Diversity Lecture Series.     By Nathan Robinson

HR professionals' roles are changing

Thirty-one years ago, when Helen Mitchell began her career at Ohio State, the University was a very different place.

"I started out as clerk in the student records office and slowly worked my way up," she said.

At Ohio State Mansfield, Mitchell worked for the admissions office, the financial aid office and the business office. When the business office director retired, Mitchell took over his human resources responsibilities.

"It really has been a learning process for me," she said. "It's been a slow evolution. Part of that is a learning curve on my part and some of it is changes in the University."

Mitchell, now the human resources officer for the entire Mansfield campus, was one of 150 human resources professionals who participated in an Office of Human Resources conference on Nov. 9. The event, which had the theme "Performance in a Time of Change," was the first conference OHR has sponsored specifically for human resource professionals.

It won't be the last, however.

"OHR is committed to providing professional development for these staff. The conference is one piece of a larger training program being put together for them," said Nancy Messerly, consultant for the Office of Human Resources' Organization and Human Resource Development (OHRD).

"This is one of our strategic priorities within the Office of Human Resources -- supporting HR professionals around campus. That commitment is broadly held across the entire group of directors in my office," said Larry Lewellen, associate vice president for human resources.

Who exactly is a human resources professional is a somewhat complicated question at Ohio State. The most basic definition is someone who performs human resources activities on a daily basis, which generally includes interpreting and administering HR policy, practices and procedures.

But the actual job duties of an HR professional can vary greatly, involving everything from investigating complaints, working in the HR and Financial Systems and assisting with training and development, to performing budgeting tasks, maintaining records and ensuring effective hiring processes.

It's a job definition that has significantly broadened over the last several years. And, as the Office of Human Resources has moved toward a decentralized model of administration, it means more responsibility has been given to individual HR professional to make decisions for their units.

"One of the initial functions decentralized was compensation," Lewellen said, referring to a trend which began in the early 1990s. "It didn't make sense to micromanage compensation centrally when it's the supervisors and managers who really understand the talents and skills of their people. We also recognize the unique structure and roles in each college and department, which makes a centralized approach to compensation undesirable."

The ARMS project, introduced in the late 1990s, was another aspect of decentralization, Lewellen said. "It was intended to be a user-based process where people experiencing and creating the personnel changes would be entering that directly into the systems, rather than creating a slow river of paperwork and having someone else enter that information. Interacting directly with the HR system requires a greater sophistication and knowledge base."

OHR recognized that HR professionals in the colleges and departments have significant responsibilities for the employee environment, Lewellen said. To assist them with those responsibilities, Human Resources opened a Consulting Services unit in the mid-1990s. "It became important for us to offer our central expertise in a consultant approach, with emphasis on sharing knowledge and facilitating solutions to the needs of our customer colleges and departments. We also have worked hard to create written handbooks and guides to help them manage successfully."

Kevin King said he feels Human Resources does a good job of supporting him in his position as senior associate to the senior vice provost.

"In the early eighties, we were mostly mechanical. We were the ones who did the steps, did the time keeping. Human Resources was the rules enforcer. You didn't get a lot of counseling," he said. "Now -- and the conference is a perfect example -- there's a lot more consulting and advice-giving."

King began his employment as a student in 1978, and was hired full time in 1984. Prior to his current position, he had worked as the assistant manager of the Farm Science Review and as the senior fiscal officer for the College of Education.

Having more room for policy interpretation at the department level is a good thing, King said.

"I think so, yes. It requires us to be more professional and knowledgeable and that's a challenge. There's a lot more learning required. I have to be a lot more knowledgeable on issues I would have passed on to Human Resources," he said.

The relationship may have changed, but OHR wants to continue to be a source of support to HR professionals, Messerly said.

A year and a half ago, Lewellen formed an HR Professional Development and Education Team. Messerly, Marjie Hamlett, consultant for human resources, and Lynn Geist, consultant for human resources, were charged with finding ways for central HR to reach out and provide professional development for the professionals out in the trenches.

"This past spring, we began providing quarterly training programs and we're planning to continue those efforts in the coming year," Messerly said.

For assistance in developing programs, the team has sought the advice of an advisory committee of HR professionals from a cross-section of the University.

"They feel their jobs are getting broader and changing," Hamlett said.

While technology, such as the transition to ARMS, and keeping abreast of ever-changing legal issues are some of the big sources of change, the compensation issue stood out as a prime concern.

"Their most critical area of interest was learning more about compensation decisions and market data," Messerly said. "This whole area has changed dramatically, and these staff have a critical role in recommending strategies."

The conference included sessions on interpreting market data, rewarding performance, coaching supervisors and managers, and communicating tough messages.

Now is a good time to move forward with professional development, Lewellen said, citing budget restructuring as one factor.

"The president and the provost are really looking for each college and unit to behave in a more entrepreneurial way," he said. "To make that happen, each college and unit needs to have a more thoughtful construction of their HR environment. HR professionals, now more than ever, provide leadership and solutions versus simply processing personnel actions."