That was the message of the keynote speech on the first morning of the CIPD Annual Conference in Manchester yesterday.
Former BBC HRD Gareth Jones and London Business School emeritus professor of organisational behaviour Rob Goffee used the talk to throw down a challenge to HR:
"HR's role is to build the right social architecture… HR is in the business of building the organisation of your dreams," Jones said.
To do this, Jones, a visiting professor at the IE Business School in Madrid, and Goffee spelled out what organisations need to do to create a dream workplace.
This involves creating an environment that accepted difference, had leaders who were radically honest, could create extra value, was authentic, had meaning, and implemented simple rules.
"Good rules are simple and agreed, not complex and imposed," Goffee said. "Be vigilant, as it prevents rules creep… but don't be the department of rules."
On radical honesty, Jones said the days of corporate secrecy are over and organisations needed to tell staff the truth before they heard it from external sources.
"HR should be in the business of moral authority," he said.
In response the speech, CIPD chief executive Peter Cheese said HR needed to have the right leadership in order to build dream workplaces.
"HR has a massive role to play, but we aren't going to do it alone. We have to have the right leadership… I sometimes observe that HR gets the leaders it deserves, but leaders often don't get the HR they deserve," he said.
