Oracle

[Assuming Sapna agrees to my suggestion she blog about the first 1/2 of the Oracle interview, I am blogging about the 2nd half.] Kutik interviews Gretchen Alarcon, VP of Global HCM Strategy for Oracle. She talks about what Oracle is currently up to - which I will let Sapna handle. The interview then turns to her background and philosophies. Alarcon has a BA from Stanford and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Prior to pursuing her MBA, she was inspired by a professor who teaches at UofM. She came to understand that to be an effective human resources manager, she needed to become savvy in business, as well. I for one, agree completely! How can you manage a company's resources when you don't understand how the business works? This is what was meant by "HR not being the sharpest tacks in the box." Alarcon talks about her move from an HR practitioner to a strategist. She acknowledges her depth of domain experience has helped her but as a strategist, but broad skills are also necessary. She advocates research and the need to be analytical. She says one must be aware of how companies work in order to time what Oracle is investing (development) in and when the demand for those products will be. She says one of the first lessons she learned as a strategist is she cannot build software for herself, it must solve the client's needs. The interview ends with her discussion about mutual mentoring noted in my previous blog.      

6 Steps

As I read the six steps, I felt they were written with the very large corporation in mind. When I envision such a company, I envision a multi-generational workforce. A 2008 WorldatWork study revealed 64% of companies have four generations in their employment! I respect the six steps outlined here but the skeptic in me still feels there are people - particularly those who have been in the workforce prior to the technology boom - that simply won't engage. Definitely "recruit energetic champions" in the company but something tells me this has potential to further the divide between users & non-users. Yet, I'm as much an optimist as skeptic. I think the woman Kutik interviewed from Oracle has hit on an important point not noted in this blog: she encourages a two-way mentoring initiative between generations: the Gen Y, etc for whom technology is second-nature are mentoring the older workforce on that technology. Meanwhile the Boomers etc are mentoring the newcomers on business and management practices. Everyone feels necessary and supported! (Sorry, this overlaps with my next blog about the podcast. But I rather like the integration. :)