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ISSUE 182 | contents


CONTENTS EDITOR'S WELCOME


04 Editor's perspective of the subjects covered in this issue


ON THE COVER


In this issue, we interview Helen Matthews, Chief People Officer - Ogilvy UK. It’s safe to say that the mad, bad, good old days of PR and marketing are resigned to history and the likes of Patsy and Edina are left to try and reminisce on those Bolly-sodden times. To compete at any level, now media companies need an unprecedented level of digital savvy, people sensitivity, diversity and agility to react to change in an instant.


LEGAL UPDATES AND MOVERS & SHAKERS


06 A round up of top tier HR appointments


INTERVIEW 08 Helen Matthews, Chief People Officer - Ogilvy UK


SPECIAL REPORTS


12 Rock of ages Age diversity is a strength, not a weakness


16 “There's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic” A fully developed brain is 4³, or 64 times the value of our baseline conditioning intelligence


20


HR’S EXPANDING ENTERPRISE ROLE


20 There may be turbulence The heavy mantle of responsibility for commercial competitiveness on HR’s shoulders


22 The dangers of over-skill HR directors can’t - and shouldn’t - be experts in everything


24 Put vanilla on ice and hold the flake EI, commercial acumen and strong partnerships will turn vanilla HR into Tooty fruity


26 Painting by numbers Having huge amounts of data on tap is not the panacea to HR’s commercial conundrum


Helen Matthews shot exclusively for the HRDIRECTOR Cover & Interview photography by Stuart Thomas 28


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SUPPORTING GLOBAL BUSINESS PLANNING


28 The world of difference What do HR disparities around the world mean for business?


30 Smooth passage to India India, with its diverse population and equally diverse mindset, requires a strategic mindset to leverage its strengths


32 Beyond the rainbow Six United Nation member states impose the death penalty for being in a same-sex relationship


34 Dragging the legacy anchor Not bogged down by legacy, India and China are ahead in digital transformation


36


COLLABORATIVE & MATRIXED ORGANISATIONS


36 Beyond the matrix - flat, fluid & flow A matrix structure increasingly looks like a ‘lazy’ response by those who have a hand in designing organisations


38 Too many cooks There is a belief that making decisions can be extremely difficult if too many people give their opinion


40 Flipping the pyramid & building bridges


Bibby Distribution on how it transformed the business model to meet the mounting challenges within the logistics sector


42 Answering to the switch How D&G faced market and technology disruption and turned a perceived negative into a positive future force


44 DECISION SCIENCE


44 Distortions of P-hacking There is a tendency for manipulating data until it reveals the desired results


46 Objects in the rear-view mirror What’s done is done, do we really need to analyse the data to confirm what we know?


48 Opportunity knocks HR data must seize the moment, but before you can optimise something, you have to be able to measure it


50 It is rocket science…! Ideas, proposals, solutions, reports and suggestions must come with a data-backed justification - this is the new rule


TO THE POINT


52 Imposter Syndrome ID’d Cases of IS are far greater than anyone imagined


THE BLOG 54 Highlights from theHRDIRECTOR blogosphere


DECEMBER 2019 | thehrdirector | 3


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