The Challenge of "Skill Succession" That Determines the Future of a Company #161
From "Management" to "Strategy" in Human Resources
To achieve its objectives, a company formulates strategies based on its management philosophy and manages business activities accordingly.
And what supports these activities are "management resources."
Generally, management resources are classified into the following four categories:
• People
• Things
• Money
• Information
Companies allocate these management resources appropriately to generate results as an entire organization.
Among them, the most important resource is "people."
And now, the role of HR in how to utilize these "people" is about to change significantly.
HR is Essentially a "Job of Supporting Human Potential"
Conventional HR departments focused on the following tasks:
• Labor management
• Legal compliance
• System operation
• Manual management
In other words, HR has been a "department that protects systems," with an emphasis on conservative and routine operational tasks that prioritize precedent. However, the essence of HR is not limited to that alone.
Many people aspire to work in HR because of feelings such as:
• Wanting to be useful to someone
• Wanting to support human potential
• Wanting to be there for those struggling with their careers
In short, HR is essentially
not a job of managing people, but a job of unlocking human potential.
Changing Corporate Environment and the Role of HR
Currently, the environment surrounding companies is changing significantly.
• Increasingly serious labor shortages
• Rising average age of employees
• Difficulty in skill succession
• Advancement of mechanization and digitalization
In such an environment, each employee is required more than ever to demonstrate creativity and advanced capabilities. As a result, HR is no longer just an administrative department, but is taking on the role of
a function that executes management strategy from the perspective of human resources.
Strategic Human Resource Management (HRM)
Against this backdrop, what is being emphasized is
HRM (Human Resource Management) = Strategic Human Resource Management.
HRM is a concept that views human resources not merely as labor, but as
strategic resources that create corporate value.
It is said that corporate competitiveness is created by: • People
• Organization
• Knowledge
Therefore, human resource strategy cannot be separated from corporate strategy.
The "Skill Succession Problem" Faced by Japanese Companies
One of the important issues in HRM is the skill succession problem. The reason why skill succession is difficult is that skills are abilities with low reproducibility.
In other words, it is craftsmanship.
The characteristics of skills are as follows:
• Dependent on experience
• Difficult to verbalize
• Difficult to reproduce
Therefore, acquiring and passing on skills requires a long time.
Challenges That Began with the "2007 Problem"
The skill succession problem gained significant attention due to the so-called
2007 problem. Japan's first baby boomer generation (born 1947–1949), the so-called
baby boomer generation,
all reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 starting in 2007.This raised concerns that • Skilled technicians • Veteran employees • On-site skilled workers
would retire in large numbers, and corporate skills would be lost.
Subsequently, the
measures to ensure employment up to age 65
temporarily eased the problem.
However, this was essentially
nothing more than postponing the problem. Currently, amidst a labor shortage even greater than at that time, the skill succession problem is becoming serious again.
"Skills" and "Techniques" Are Different
In the field, "skills" and "techniques" are sometimes used interchangeably.
However, these two are essentially different.
✅
Techniques Explicit knowledge that can be shared and expressed through drawings, formulas, language, etc.
✅
Skills Individual tacit knowledge based on experience and intuition.In other words, there is a difference that techniques can be shared, but skills are difficult to share.
How to Proceed with Skill Succession
To proceed with skill succession, the following order is important.
① Prioritize the succession of techniques
First, prioritize the succession of "techniques" that can be shared as explicit knowledge from excellent skilled workers.
For this part, it is possible to proceed with:
• Digitalization
• Data conversion
• Manualization
② Attempt to turn skills into techniques
Next, attempt to turn skills, which are tacit knowledge, into techniques as much as possible by:
• Decomposing
• Verbalizing
• Quantifying
(technicization).
③ Pass on the remaining skills from person to person
The "pure skills" that still remain must be
passed on from person to person.
Therefore, it is important to
concentrate time and resources on skills that can only be passed on by people.
DX and Knowledge Management
This way of thinking is also deeply related to the trends of:
• Connected Industries
• DX (Digital Transformation)
Also, an effective practical method for this is
knowledge management. By visualizing, sharing, and reusing the knowledge accumulated in the company, we will utilize knowledge as an organization.
Senior Talent and Successful Aging
There is another important perspective to consider when thinking about skill succession.
That is the active participation of senior talent.
After passing on their skills,
rather than taking work away from veteran employees,
the concept of "successful aging"
to enrich the latter half of life
also becomes important.
Companies need to proceed with initiatives
while balancing:
• Skill succession
• Active participation of senior talent
• Health and work styles
.
The future of a company is created by "people"
Skill succession is an important theme that determines the future of a company.
However, it is not a challenge that can be solved in a short period of time.
That is precisely why complex initiatives such as:
• Strategic Human Resource Management (HRM)
• Digitalization
• Knowledge management
• Active participation of senior talent
are necessary.
For the sustainable growth of a company,
transformation from the perspective of people and organizations is required right now.
