There seems to be on an ongoing debate about whether successful HR people are either successful or unsuccessful based on the support they receive from their companies.  I can see both sides of this and wonder if any of you think about your jobs in these terms.

HR is viewed in different ways by the executive staff.  In some cases, it is looked at as a necessary evil and the mindset is that HR people don’t understand the business goals.  They are seen as being too concerned with the feelings of the employees rather than getting anything done.  Many times CEOs and the like think the role of HR is to tell them what they cannot do with their employees rather than what they can do.  HR doesn’t make any money for the company and they don’t understand strategic planning or how to evaluate the finances of the business.  HR is viewed as a department that cares mostly about activities and as an advocate for the employee rather than a department that cares about results or being an advocate for the business.

On the flip side of this, if an organization cares about its people, they value HR and they see the value in having an advocate for the employees rather than an additional business advisor.  The executives in these types of companies do not see HR as a necessary evil, but rather as a direct conduit between their business goals and the achievement of these goals.  They will rely on HR to help them understand how to get the most from their people, what the concerns in the company are and how to make sure the right people are being brought into the company.  They work with HR and depend on them to help create the right culture in their organization.

If you work for the first type of organization, do you feel supported by those above you?  I would imagine it wouldn’t be possible and would make it much harder to achieve your goals.  Not everything can be measured in dollars and cents and HR has a lot of components that can’t be measured that way.  If you work in a place where people are the most important asset, how do your executives support you?  Is your performance measured abstractly, for example with an assessment of morale in the organization, or is it mainly dollars and cents, such as employee retention?  What kind of support do you receive from above?

Ultimately, can HR executives do the same job with the same level of success regardless of the corporate mindset?