What's the Difference Between Human Resources and Organizational Development?
One of the many buzzwords today in the HR world is Organizational Development & Design (OD or ODD). HR and OD both focus on people so how are they different?
For many years, we all considered HR as the department that we are either afraid of because we might receive a “Notice to Explain” (NTE) for maybe doing something that was escalated, or known for answering our questions when it came to our compensation and benefits. HR was known for employee processes from hiring to exiting. HR was always known for compliance, process, policies, and administrative delivery. Through the years, HR has slowly moved to become more strategic and people-oriented. We now often hear the word “humanizing” because the importance of wellness and empathy is stronger now than it was before. As times change, culture, processes, and strategies change, and in this day and age, HR is being challenged to be more data-driven and strategic, rather than administrative. Strategic HR focuses on the talent, this type of HR focuses on behavioural science that helps organizations attain their goals by improving the heart of the work, the people. This type of HR uses behavioural science, data, trends, and creative people programs that grow business twice as fast. HR is still HR; companies still need to protect the house, but this strategic HR is now called Organizational Development. Organizational Development’s goal is to help companies grow through their people. Organizational Development creates people with strategies to allow the members of the organization to function better.
Here are a few differences between the two functions:
Traditional HR will have housekeeping checklists, to-do’s, manuals, lists, papers, papers, and more papers to fill out and collect. The traditional HR basically follows policies and procedures to ensure that the company is safe and that the company does right by its people. This HR provides the basic needs of hired employees up to the point of their exit, making sure that all items are documented, recorded, and kept in those “employee 201 files”. This HR provides the employees with the basic needs such as salary, compensation, tools of trade, and the necessary means to perform in the role while Organizational Development looks at data and research to implement “people strategies” to improve talent capabilities for organizational growth.
Some call it strategic HR, others call in Organizational Development but one thing is for certain, both traditional HR and OD are necessary functions for companies to grow and take good care of its people.