Visiting an HR fair is an astonishing experience. Management and human resources managers go there with the idea of leaving with one or more solutions to their problems, “inspired” by innovative approaches. Between the traditional stands and other conferences devoted to HR methods, recruitment or HR information system management applications (HRIS), we find some pearls which propel us directly into the eighth circle of Hell described by Dante, that which welcomes “ruffians and seducers, adulators and flatterers, fraudsters and simoniacs, soothsayers and sorcerers, extortioners, hypocrites, thieves, deceitful advisors”. This Malebolge is populated by digital solutionists, (neu) neurocoaches and other “new age” charlatans. Guided tour of the best and worst of HR salons.
AI to “see beyond the CV”
Recruiting takes time. Why then not entrust this to an artificial intelligence which will do the work for you, and what’s more, much more seriously than you, poor human full of biases? This is the solution proposed by the stand of a predictive analytics company which promises to “see beyond the CV”. This claims to be based on behavioral science and AI technology that eliminates bias to allow you to make the best recruitment, management and people development decisions, with a triple promise: “a solid scientific approach , an obsession with user experience and a real ROI (Editor’s note: “return on investment)”. The dream for any HR department To try to find out more, head to the company’s website! . What do we learn there, unfortunately? much, except that the algorithms behind the proposed solution are based on “ethical and responsible exploitation of the most advanced models of artificial intelligence” and that their “Science” team works daily on understanding the human behaviors, the construction of robust solutions linked to the evaluation of potential, the creation of relevant recommendation systems, etc. Verdict? The black box is pretty, but it remains a black box. And there are more and more boxes like this on the stands.
A “mental debiaser”
Ever since the famous psychologist Daniel Kahneman explained that we have two decision-making systems (intuitive thinking and rational thinking), companies promising to reduce cognitive bias in management have been popping up on every corner of HR trade shows. Like this one, which we will call Neuromachinand which provides tools that allow “to integrate system 1 and better use system 2 to improve performance”. To achieve this, Neuromachin “integrates cognitive science, technology and consulting in areas where traditional approaches have little or no impact”. “Our solutions are the result of collaboration with eminent researchers from several prestigious American universities,” says the company. Obviously, any passerby would be tempted to say that this is serious, especially since the company has developed a “booster” (or ‘mental debiaser’), “the first program with effective proven to reduce unconscious bias ‘at scale’ [“à grande échelle”]by 61% on average. The fruit of 15 years of research, it quickly and lastingly changes representations towards women or seniors, etc. It represents important progress because many social biases appear before the age of 12 months.”
Just that. My cynical bias being what it is, I tell myself that there is probably smoke, but after doing three breathing exercises, I open my chakras and decide to examine this with kindness and open-mindedness. A nice video introduces me to the principles of the “mental debiaser” and tells me that it is based on fifteen years of scientific studies with a researcher in a large Ivy League university. [NDLR : qui réunit les huit universités les plus renommées des Etats-Unis]. I, who thought I was dealing with a new infernal machine from Colonel Olrik, am now reassured. The problem is that no matter how hard we look, we don’t find many scientific references to support the promises made or to describe the collaboration with the eminent researcher…
A “coach and mentor in quantum bioenergy”
In another aisle of the Show, a stand offers to “help and support directors, managers and all employees to reveal their human, social and economic value in their lives, their profession and their company”. How ? With the active and rapid psycho-corporeal method entitled “Active decorporation”. A little worried at the idea of losing myself, they explained to me that the method comes in three offerings: anti-stress workshops, training in job stress, talent management. Saved by the bell, I walk away, attracted by the fumes of incense coming from a stand offering training in “emotional intelligence based on meditation and talking circles”. The program “is aimed at health, social, humanitarian and other activities of general interest”. Goals ? “Finding the balance between taking care of yourself and caring for others by cultivating your altruistic potential – Strengthening collective resilience by developing a culture of authenticity and mutual aid”. Difficult to see the link with HR, but as there is a nice photo of Matthieu Ricard, it shouldn’t do any harm…
During a final lap in this eighth circle of hell, I attend a conference given by a “coach and mentor in quantum bioenergy and professional constellation” who defends – against the damned rationalists – intuition as a guide to make better decisions. According to him, we must not exclude that our thinking is actually located at the level of the pelvis. The coach thus invites us to “bring our thoughts down to our hips, which are devoid of neurons while there are some in our heart and our guts”. This would be, according to this kind of osteopath of the HR function, a good way to carry out effective recruitment. Happy to learn that it is possible to think through the crotch, I leave the salon with mixed feelings.
Are HR managers bullshitters?
A trade show is always a place where the best rubs shoulders with the worst. A place for dream talkers and sellers. But, walking between the stands at these shows and passing from one keynote speaker to another, we say to ourselves that our tolerance for nonsense must have skyrocketed. And that of human resources departments first. But are HR managers to blame? Summoned by their superiors to resolve the pressing problems facing their organizations (quiet exitlabor shortage, recruitment, major resignation, alignment, motivation etc.), HR managers are on the lookout for the latest developments, and the most effective solutions which would allow them to play the role expected of them. of them: overcome the organizational problems and managerial deficiencies of their hierarchies.
This is why they go en masse to HR fairs, forums and other conferences. Faced with their almost desperate search for remedies, the solutions that are then offered to them abound: here a web and mobile application for motivation management, there a platform powered by artificial intelligence for recruitment, further afield a “new effective method to combat mental load, develop resilience, apply a positive attitude through understanding the study of the ego and its styles (denial, aggressiveness, flight, victimization)”. It is therefore not surprising that they can consciously or against their will constitute the main gateway to everything and anything in organizations, that is to say bullshit management which besieges and knocks down our organizations (benevolence, happiness at work, transformational leadership, etc.) and of which they become the main vectors of propagation.
But make HR managers solely responsible for bullshit managerial would be wrong and therefore unfair. In the same way as managers who are not particularly well treated in our organizations and who we seek to get rid of, HR managers only respond, sometimes despite themselves, to the injunctions of their leaders who no longer understand what a organization and who demand that we find a “trick”, a “thing” to respond to the very real problems of contemporary management. Even if it means anything.
If, at first glance, these HR managers are relieved and delighted to return from the last HR fair with a “turnkey” solution, they quickly realize that in the organization, it is a little more complicated than what we had given them. sold. Above all, many of them are well aware that they are caught in a vice. Above, the hierarchy urges them to “boost HR”. Below, managers and employees wait for their difficulties to be addressed. The task is impossible, unless we accept simplistic, catchy and universal recipes and resolve to accept that, like Dante accompanied by Virgil, they are condemned to visit the circles of living room Hell. For my part, I’m not sure I’ll set foot there again.
* Christophe Genoud is a temporary lecturer at the Haute Ecole de Gestion de Genève (HEG) and at the Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse Ouest (HES-SO) in Lausanne, specialist in organization and author of the book “Leadership, agility, happiness at work : Bullshit!” (Editions Vuibert).
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