Hi Paul
Personally, I can't quite understand your proposition that HR advisers will tend not to become equipped fully to master their roles unless exposed to particularly difficult or trying situations and people.

To be sure, the industries in which I have spent most of my own working life underwent profound and constant change and total upheaval. In one sense, this of course brought with it sometimes very traumatic / almost-impossible / pressing people problems but in another sense I do think too much serious upheaval tends to eclipse the need to get on well with the job in hand and to develop the people effectively in line with that objective.

Put it another way, effective HR management involves or ought to involve a lot more than crisis management and trying to put out raging fires with water pistols or if you're lucky the odd little coil of garden hose.

I also think that 'people problems' will happen constantly inevitably unpredictably and in varying levels of seriousness and challenge almost irrespective of the working environment - whenever and wherever people have to be managed together you get more or less a complete spectrum of HR problems.

Just a thought...do we all want to work at companies that are rated great places to work or do some of us prefer to work in companies that are facing challenges and need effective change management? Its a bit like the home buying example or do we prefer to buy a brand new house or one that is a fixer upper? Different people will want different challenges.

Then when its fixed these individuals tend to move on. The skills sets and motivations are different

Most of the Great Places type awards are just that -awards not ultimate standards. They recognise somethings and some organisations go to great efforts to jump through the hoops. They have their fair share of good HR practice and also things that go wrong.

I am sure you can write an interesting article based on this premise but personally I am not sure your linear analysis really stands up that well.

Hi Paul

For me, the view expressed in David's last paragraph that people problems can arise no matter how great the organisation is to work in, is spot on.

I would also say that redundancies and restructures are a normal part of life at work and legitimate tools of business, not an indication of some kind of dispute. Further, dismissals might occur as a result of a dispute, but not every dismissal is contentious. The ending of a fixed term contract such as maternity cover is a dismissal. Some ill-health dismissals come as a blessed relief to the person whose employment is terminated.

What about the positive side of HR? Building engagement is a prime example. I completely agree with David that HR management ought to involve a lot more than putting out fires.

Finally, my experience bears out the point Keith makes on gaining awards. Some companies put considerable resource into gaining awards. Others don't.Having worked in both I can't say that the ones without the awards were not such good places to work as the ones with them.

In reply to Elizabeth Divver:

Thank you for your constructive feedback, you make some very valid points. I am still developing the article and will use your comments to structure my argument on how dealing with difficult situations aids your professional development.
Thanks
Paul