#0120_The problems with the personnel system lie outside the personnel system

Hello, this is Tsuboya.

It is truly wonderful for HR personnel to take the complaints about the personnel system raised by employees seriously and move to improve them. However, when I enter the field as a consultant, I often encounter cases where "the true cause of dissatisfaction with the personnel system is not actually in the personnel system itself".

For example, let's say there are voices within the company saying, "the evaluation criteria are unclear" or "I cannot accept our evaluation system". Upon hearing this, HR tends to immediately review the items on the evaluation sheet or try to introduce new grading standards.

However, please pause for a moment and observe the workplace carefully. In fact, there are very many cases where the cause is that "daily dialogue between supervisors and subordinates is decisively lacking, there are problems with workplace relationships, or there is dissatisfaction with work assignments".

Why does dissatisfaction with human relationships get replaced by "dissatisfaction with the system"? It is because for employees, "raw dissatisfaction with human relationships, such as 'I don't get along with that supervisor' or 'the workplace atmosphere is bad,' is difficult to voice directly because it causes friction". Instead, they vent their dissatisfaction by converting it into "company problems" or objective "personnel system problems."

In the business world, there is a saying, "don't blame the person, blame the mechanism", and that is exactly right; it is because "it is much lower in psychological hurdles to blame the 'mechanism (system)' created by the company than to directly attack a familiar, living individual".

A sense of conviction is not born from the personnel system alone. This is because "a sense of conviction is something an individual 'feels'". Even with the same evaluation result, the degree of conviction changes significantly depending on whether there is a relationship of trust with the supervisor and whether the reasons were explained carefully.

That is precisely why "taking complaints about the personnel system at face value and rushing directly into system revision is short-sighted". There is also a high possibility that "the true cause lies outside the system, such as 'trust with the supervisor,' 'workplace communication,' or 'work assignments'". Please have a calm perspective that looks at the reality of the workplace first, without being swayed by superficial voices of dissatisfaction.

That is all I wanted to convey.