Human Resources Challenges on a Global Scale Knowledge Wharton http knowledge wharton upenn edu article cfm articleid 1820 Human Resources Challenges on a Global Scale Published October 03 2007 in Knowledge Wharton The 57 members of AHRMIO the Association for Human Resources Management in International Organizations range from the UN UNICEF and OECD to the World Health Organization the World Trade Organization the World Bank and the International Labour Organization AHRMIO s goal is to improve the professionalism of those who work in human This is a single personal use copy of resources management in international not for profit Knowledge Wharton For multiple copies organizations Mary Jane Peters executive director and Roger custom reprints e prints posters or plaques please contact PARS International Eggleston president emeritus were at Wharton recently for the reprints parsintl com P 212 221 9595 x407 th group s 7 annual conference They talked with Knowledge Wharton about their successes such as the introduction of paternity leave a policy regarding sexual harassment competency based assessment and flexible work practices as well as their major challenges starting with the lack of qualified young people around the world to carry out the missions of AHRMIO s member organizations Knowledge Wharton Could we talk about AHRMIO the Association for Human Resources Management in International Organizations What exactly is AHRMIO and how do you work with international organizations Eggleston Let s talk a little bit about the history of AHRMIO It was in 1996 when Mary Jane and I were running a conference of human resources specialists in mainly the United Nations group of organizations We had this retreat and series of interactions with all of these people and we said that this is the time when we should create some sort of learning institute It would be where people who are working in human resources management in international not for profit organizations could come together because they have some unique elements in their jobs which are not common outside the international organization arena Just to name one We are not subject to national legislation So we are not impacted by matters that take place in any one country We said there are enough reasons to have what we called an association we dropped the name institute In 2000 we set up AHRMIO and it really took off very well indeed We have 57 member organizations now organizations that are members of AHRMIO And we have over 200 individual members because we have both individual members and organizational members We have an annual conference and that s why we re here at Wharton It s our 7th Annual Conference We have lots of developmental activities The role of the association in a nutshell is to improve the professionalism of those who work in human resources management in international not for profit organizations Knowledge Wharton Can you give us some examples of the 57 member organizations Peters Well you have all of the United Nations family there so you have the UN UNICEF UNDP UNFPA The World Health Organization The International Labor Organization The Food and Agricultural Organization the whole UN family and that s about 29 entities In addition to that you have I would say all of the other leading international not for profit organizations For example The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development which has its headquarters in Paris The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe NATO is even there All materials copyright of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Page 1 of 6 Human Resources Challenges on a Global Scale Knowledge Wharton http knowledge wharton upenn edu article cfm articleid 1820 We have the GAVI Alliance which carries out immunization programs throughout the world the World Trade Organization the World Bank Knowledge Wharton In other words all of the big names Eggleston If there is a lacuna it s the NGOs what we would call the non governmental sector but there are a few and we re hoping to get more At this conference we have the leaders of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies but we need a few more NGOs Knowledge Wharton It seems like quite an incredible group of organizations that you work with In working with these groups what have you found to be the biggest leadership and HR challenges that international organizations face Peters Well it s difficult to generalize across all 57 organizations I can certainly address what I know best given my past career in terms of the United Nations family From an historical perspective many people who joined the organizations will soon be retiring In some organizations more than 50 of their professional staff will be leaving in the next three to five years Yet I know that very few of them are doing any kind of serious succession planning So this is a chance for all of your MBA students because there will be a tremendous need to find talent But then on the other side of that of course is keeping our institutional memory For the missions of these organizations that is vital We cannot police the world we do not police the world We give knowledge to the world And so with all of the people marching out of the door going to retire soon I think this is the biggest challenge for the leadership of the organizations I suspect that for many of the international organizations that will be equally true perhaps less so with some of the newer ones such as the UN program on HIV Aids or the GAVI Alliance These are very young institutions and so the average age of their work forces tends to be much lower Eggleston One of the challenges facing these organizations is that I don t think they have really appreciated that there is going to be a war for talent among the knowledge workers of the world The UN family and probably most of the international organizations that we are talking about have had it easy basically They had good brands a really good brand image People just applied to them for jobs It was not too difficult to find good people basically all around the world But it will be much more difficult and I m not sure that they have professionalized their area of recruitment well enough to really know how to target and how to get the best people It s still very much I won t say hit or miss but they re very much just waiting for people to apply and come on board But you get all sorts of strange applications too many and not the right type Knowledge
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