Unhealthy HR Practices: When the “human” in Human Resources gets lost in the paperwork. An HR function that primarily focuses on protecting the organization and adhering to policy, but lacks a people-first development approach, tends to distract managers from their goals. This unintentionally hinders the organizational mission.
Human Resources is a vital part of any organization. Every enterprise, whether it aims to make a profit or not, is fundamentally a human effort. Organizational theory and practice that try to ignore, override, or suppress the “human-ness” of any group working together to achieve something will fail. Why? Because anything worth human effort and capable of creating lasting opportunities for human growth must be driven by human desire.
I recently finished reading the novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Like many of Dickens’ works, Hard Times critiques the dehumanization of 19th-century industrial England. The novel reveals how industrial society reduces individuals to mere units of production. It also argues that true humanity is not found in statistics or efficiency but in compassion, imagination, and the ability to love and endure suffering together.
In Coketown, children are raised to suppress imagination, emotion, and wonder. Yet as the story unfolds, characters like Louisa and Tom suffer from emotional starvation. This, however, leads them down two very different self-destructive paths. Tom embraces a wholly self-interested, amoral (even immoral) life, and Louisa falls into complete self-abandonment and emptiness. Conversely, through characters such as Sissy Jupe and Stephen Blackpool, Dickens advocates for empathy, moral courage, and relational depth.
A pivotal moment in the story happens near the end of the novel during a reflective conversation between Mr. Gradgrind, the father of Tom and Louisa, and the circus owner, Mr. Sleary. Mr. Gradgrind embodies the Enlightenment-era progressive value of reason. However, he has painfully come to realize where this philosophy has left his two children.
Mr. Sleary, on the other hand, believes that “people must be amused, Squire, somehow.” They are discussing Sissy Jupe, who was raised in the circus by her father, who abandoned her when she was young, presumably to give her a better chance at life. Still, Sissy chooses to love people and shows remarkable loyalty, despite the hardships and disappointments that life has thrown at her. How can it be that one philosophy, which promised progress through reason, left two people without happiness or a moral compass? In contrast, the other philosophy, seen as whimsical with childish fancy by the ruling elites, produces a person of great depth of love, compassion, and patience.
Mr. Sleary proposes an answer to Mr. Grandgrind’s mystery: “It seems to present two things to a person, don’t it, Squire?… one, that there is love in the world, not all Self-interest after all, but something very different; the other, that it has a way of its own of calculating or not calculating, which somehow or another is at least as hard to give a name to…!” The entire story is shaped by the simple, almost foolish characters of the novel, rather than the rich and powerful. Through characters like Sissy Jupe and Stephen Blackpool, who are Christlike figures in the story, Dickens advocates for empathy, moral courage, relational depth, and above all, love. These qualities make any human effort worth pursuing.
The Industrial Revolution’s ideology of scientific management, embodied by Mr. Gradgrind’s obsession with “facts,” remains a legacy whose influence can still be felt in human resources practices. While we may not prioritize maximizing manufacturing efficiency as we once did, we now face immense pressures from globalization, technological progress, and growing complexity—challenges our 19th-century ancestors never imagined. This has led to a highly diverse workforce assembled to meet the economic and social needs of today’s chaotic world. So, where does that leave human resources as an organizational function?
I describe its dilemma as “The Compliance Cage.” The Compliance Cage forms when the Human Resources profession becomes increasingly overwhelmed by complex regulatory environments and workforce demands. The days of relatively stable needs driven by a primarily industrial economy are long gone. Today, we must navigate a web of economic, legal, social, multicultural, professional, educational, and compensation issues. However, the profession has largely failed to prepare practitioners who are ready to engage with this complexity and elevate human resources to a strategic advantage for any organization’s mission. The Human Resource Generalist is trained in the science of human resource management. But who are the HR practitioners who are equipped to bring a strategic impact to their organization’s mission through people-centered developmental strategies?
The Compliance Cage undermines effective leadership team cultures because the proliferation of new human resource policies and procedures aimed at protecting the organization from liability will degenerate into an overreaction to environmental changes when they are not anchored to the mission. And they can frustrate managers and their staff teams through endless mazes of red tape that don’t make much sense to them.
But Human Resources is more critical now than ever! Human Resources is uniquely positioned within organizations to enhance the human aspect of strategy and practice, becoming lively and valued business partners with managers striving to bring out the best in their people. Many organizations are renaming their HR functions to titles like “People & Culture,” which represents a positive shift in how this vital organizational role is perceived. However, this shift requires HR to focus on developing people so they can succeed in their roles and responsibilities. When the compliance aspect of human resources is integrated into this broader goal, HR practices and procedures not only safeguard the organization but also advance its mission!
Human Resources can enhance and cultivate Leadership in Community within their organizations to amplify missional impact by focusing on cultural and relational intelligence, mutual discernment practices, conflict resolution, reconciliation, and professional and personal development initiatives. Below is a list of ten suggestions to help align your HR team as a growth-oriented and missionally strategic contributor to your organization.
- Mission-Aligned Onboarding: Design onboarding experiences that immerse new hires in the organization’s purpose, values, and communal commitments, not just policies and procedures.
- Vocational Development Planning: Replace generic performance reviews with personalized development plans that explore each employee’s gifts, growth areas, and vocational aspirations, considering the organization’s mission.
- Relational Leadership Training: Equip managers with tools for relational intelligence, communal discernment, and trust-building. These move them beyond transactional supervision to transformational leadership.
- Wellness and Flourishing Programs: Support holistic well-being through initiatives that address emotional, spiritual, and relational health, not just physical or financial metrics.
- Feedback as Formation: Create feedback systems that foster mutual learning and growth, emphasizing storytelling, reflection, and shared discernment over numeric ratings.
- Conflict Transformation Frameworks: Train HR and leadership teams in reconciliation practices that honor dignity, restore relationships, and reflect the organization’s deeper values.
- Cultural and Missional Intelligence: Integrate cultural humility and missional awareness into HR strategy—especially for global or cross-cultural teams—so that diversity becomes a strategic asset, not a compliance checkbox.
- Learning Cohorts and Peer Formation: Facilitate cross-functional learning communities where staff explore leadership, identity, and purpose together, deepening both skill and solidarity.
- Role Clarity and Communal Contribution: Help teams articulate not just what they do, but how their roles contribute to the shared mission, reinforcing purpose and interdependence.
- HR as Strategic Partner: Position HR as a co-leader in organizational strategy, not just a policy enforcer, so that it actively shapes culture, talent development, and legacy.
