4 ms·

The weird thing is how it’s all seems so co-ordinated. As if the HR departments of every firm get their marching orders from some central advocacy group.

by Tycho 5y ago

blast 5y ago
I bet this is a side effect of the internet and especially social media. Rapid spread of ideas/memes creates large zones of homogeneity, sort of like the fill-colour operation in paint programs. Suddenly we have "tribes", but with millions of people. The same phenomenon drives the homogeneous subgroups to extremes, since externally they define themselves in opposition to other subgroups, and internally they egg each other on, rewarding the members who find the most intense new ways to express the identity. It's not coordinated, except in the sense that the technology allows for forms of replication that never existed before. Because our brains don't expect that sort of world, this maps to a feeling of "it all seems so coordinated", even if we resist that explanation intellectually.
corty 5y ago
These things are like some kind of social software. Behaviour patterns that HR departments or other departments use, because they worked well for others, get around the consequences of some legal precedent, or simply because they are fashionable. As examples, take casual friday, adding "(m/f)" to job offers, or giving out stock options. We are all just apes apeing each other after all ;)
twic 5y ago
HR is not usually an important or powerful part of a company. I wonder if HR people, consciously or subconsciously, are drawn to the idea of being important and powerful for once.
- darkerside 5y ago
  The group responsible for executing the bureaucracy is indeed powerful
mr_toad 5y ago
Management is all fads and cargo cults, and HR is basically pure distilled management.
- genericone 5y ago
  Management without having to dirty themselves with the actual running of the business.
crocodiletears 5y ago
HR is a reasonably well-paying clerical field amenable to those with non-technical degrees. This and its human-orientation makes it a natural fit for soft-science/sociology majors working outside their field.
ramblerman 5y ago
They are. Focault and critical race theory embedded themselves deeply in a lot of non STEM degrees a while ago, which is where HR candidates usually come from. That generation is now running HR in a lot of these companies. > Critical race theory scholars question foundational liberal concepts such as Enlightenment rationality, legal equality, and Constitutional neutrality, and challenge the incrementalist, step-by-step approach of traditional civil-rights discourse;[12] they favor a race-conscious approach to social transformation, rejecting liberal embrace of affirmative action, color blindness, role modeling, or the merit principle; and an approach that relies more on political organizing, in contrast to liberalism's reliance on rights-based remedies.[27] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

The weird thing is how it’s all seems so co-ordinated. As if the HR departments of every firm get their marching orders from some central advocacy group.

by Tycho 5y ago

The weird thing is how it’s all seems so co-ordinated. As if the HR departments of every firm get their marching orders from some central advocacy group.

blast 5y ago

I bet this is a side effect of the internet and especially social media. Rapid spread of ideas/memes creates large zones of homogeneity, sort of like the fill-colour operation in paint programs. Suddenly we have "tribes", but with millions of people. The same phenomenon drives the homogeneous subgroups to extremes, since externally they define themselves in opposition to other subgroups, and internally they egg each other on, rewarding the members who find the most intense new ways to express the identity. It's not coordinated, except in the sense that the technology allows for forms of replication that never existed before. Because our brains don't expect that sort of world, this maps to a feeling of "it all seems so coordinated", even if we resist that explanation intellectually.

corty 5y ago

These things are like some kind of social software. Behaviour patterns that HR departments or other departments use, because they worked well for others, get around the consequences of some legal precedent, or simply because they are fashionable. As examples, take casual friday, adding "(m/f)" to job offers, or giving out stock options. We are all just apes apeing each other after all ;)

twic 5y ago

HR is not usually an important or powerful part of a company. I wonder if HR people, consciously or subconsciously, are drawn to the idea of being important and powerful for once.

darkerside 5y ago
The group responsible for executing the bureaucracy is indeed powerful

mr_toad 5y ago

Management is all fads and cargo cults, and HR is basically pure distilled management.

genericone 5y ago
Management without having to dirty themselves with the actual running of the business.

crocodiletears 5y ago

HR is a reasonably well-paying clerical field amenable to those with non-technical degrees. This and its human-orientation makes it a natural fit for soft-science/sociology majors working outside their field.

ramblerman 5y ago

They are. Focault and critical race theory embedded themselves deeply in a lot of non STEM degrees a while ago, which is where HR candidates usually come from. That generation is now running HR in a lot of these companies. > Critical race theory scholars question foundational liberal concepts such as Enlightenment rationality, legal equality, and Constitutional neutrality, and challenge the incrementalist, step-by-step approach of traditional civil-rights discourse;[12] they favor a race-conscious approach to social transformation, rejecting liberal embrace of affirmative action, color blindness, role modeling, or the merit principle; and an approach that relies more on political organizing, in contrast to liberalism's reliance on rights-based remedies.[27] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]