I am sure each HR practitioner has experienced a situation where they made a decision and some senior management person did not agree. There are so many variables that I thought it would be appropriate to bring this up as a thought provoking question/issue. I do not like to make sports analogies but seeing last weeks playoff games in the NFL brought one to light. A play was called on the field in a snow storm that looked right from every camera angle shown. It was challenged and the play was reviewed in the booth and was called differently and it was a turning point in the game. Well, a player who was interviewed afterwords was asked about the play and his comment went like this; "the refs are here on the field feeling the game and the weather conditions how can someone in a heated booth feel the same tempo".
So many decisions are made based on the unique circumstances that reside at the time and those decisions are sometimes backed up by senior management and sometimes not. What senior management fails to realize is that those unique circumstances do not flow to instant replay or Monday morning quarterbacking. The decisions that are made are in good faith, have unique circumstances, critical interaction between employee and HR, understanding of state & federal regulations, one-on-one dynamics, and are not necessarily made by shoot from the hip decisions. Good quality thought goes into this at the time. Managers and senior managers need to consider this in their decision to back or not back the HR persons' decision. Unfortunately, many HR careers are set back, promotions denied, lost confidence, and even career ending terminations. Every senior manager needs to consider, in detail, the at-the-moment circumstances when calling the HR person into their office to review their decision.
What are your thoughts & have you been in this situation?
