Stages of the methodological process
Note. Source: Own elaboration (2021).
Proposal of a new model of personal strategic alignment for human resources professionals in strategic positions
(*)Denize Athayde Dutra da Costa
(*)Instituto Desenvolvimento Empresarial - Fundação Getúlio Vargas
Rio de Janeiro- Brasil
denizedutra@yahoo.com.br
Reception date: 02/04/2022 – Approval date: 04/18/2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36995/j.visiondefuturo.2023.27.01.003.en
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is to share the study developed in the doctoral thesis which proposed a new Model of Personal Strategic Alignment - MAEP - that goes through the identification of purposes, values and beliefs, dreams, future vision, goals and competencies, so that the individual assumes the protagonism of his career and life through the most conscious choices, guided by the reflection of the aspects that, integrated, allow the construction of an identity and the execution of relevant actions in search of a full realization of the individual purpose. This study shows how the model provided an improvement in the self-perception, career planning and development of strategic thinking of the sample investigated and contributed to the development of the competencies of professionals in strategic positions in the Human Resources area, considering the challenges of the current scenario and the trends of this function in the future of work.
KEY WORDS: Model; Personnel; Alignment; Strategy; Competencies; Alignment; Strategy.
Tonelli and Lacombe (2001) note in their article that the review of the literature on Human Resources Management (HRA) in recent decades shows a clear mismatch between the perception of problems and the identification of trends by the various authors and the practice of this administration, mainly in relation to Brazilian companies.
Lacombe and Chu (2008) confirm in their research that "people management policies and practices are products that reconcile the influences of several factors, including organizational strategy" (p. 33).
Albuquerque (1992) points out changes in labor relations thanks to the intensification of competitiveness that contemplated as human resources policies the maintenance of people in the organization, but in a flexible way, with the exchange of careers and functions, focusing on performance allied to group incentives, which favors the team performance. Evidencing the importance of preparing these employees for present and future functions. All the changes reinforced the need for multidisciplinary professionals, with the ability to recognize changes and interpret their impacts on the policies of the company in the short and long term, whose career had to be aligned with the characteristics of the market, with the dominant values and with the organizational culture.
In the HR career these effects are perceived and point to the challenge of the lack of training of the professionals themselves who did not accompany the need for the development of new skills. Some human resources professionals with a strong command on some subject, even did not fully understand the essence of the company's business, perhaps they are extremely competent in their discipline, but they are not suitable to exercise the role of business partner.
HR professionals add value to the organization when they understand how the business works. This understanding allows them to adapt the HR area and organizational activities to changes in business conditions. Only with knowledge will the financial, strategic, technological and organizational resources of the company be able to play an important role in any strategic discussion.
The transformation of human resources is closely related to the transformation of the individual who assumes this role, developing strategic thinking and other essential skills, with the purpose of promoting the alignment of the company's strategic plan with the policies and strategies of human resources necessary for the growth and sustainability of the business. These new competencies will ensure that the main HR executives can influence corporate strategies and, therefore, will be invited to participate in the Boards of Directors of large companies through the People Committee.
There is a significant difference of approach in relation to the subject, in its theoretical part, as opposed to the way it is treated, in a practical way, in most organizations, demonstrates the difficulty that the Human Resources area presents to use strategies and new management models that favor the development of teamwork and organizational learning (Santos and Franco, 2011).
The current corporate scenario, by demanding the abandonment of the HR function as operational to transform it into a strategic alliance of the business, imposes on the HR area initiatives together with the managers with the purpose of obtaining expected results at the individual, group and organizational level. In turn, it is up to managers to make decisions consistent with the levels of human contribution to the business and, therefore, based on meritocracy, a necessary condition for the management of people aligned with flexible management.
One of the actions to develop these competencies are postgraduate programs and executive education, which, in the case of this study, was the research field the MBA – Master Business Administration – in Strategic Management of Human Resources, which receives professionals from this area from the main Brazilian companies in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. The curriculum of this program extrapolates the specific disciplines of human resources (labor law, attraction and selection, training, development, remuneration, performance management, occupational health) and offers disciplines such as strategic management, human resources strategies, finance, governance, sustainability, change management, organizational architecture and culture, leadership, negotiation, among others. In the interaction with these students, the academic coordination and the professors of the different disciplines perceived that the vast majority of these did not present the capacity of strategic HR performance management due to the lack of strategic thinking, holistic vision, and knowledge of the business. However, it was observed that access to knowledge on these topics, dealt with in the different disciplines, did not guarantee the acquisition of these skills, since the way they observed their own career was not strategic. This finding was the origin of this study that proposes a model of personal strategic alignment that, once applied, can contribute to the increase of the perception of himself and his career as a strategic professional in Human Resources. This study treats perception "as the process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to make sense of their environment" (Robbins, 2010, p.159), since the behavior of the person is based on their perception of reality.
Magaldi and Salibi (2019) affirm that "that which is not perceived, does not exist. If people do not understand and do not clearly perceive the whole process, their motivations and goals will have difficulty engaging with the movement" (p. 164). The movement, in this context, refers to the strategic positioning of the HR professional, which is the result of extrinsic (of the organization) and intrinsic factors, of how the individual assumes the protagonism of his career and his life, for being able to make choices that manage to take into account not only the immediate satisfactions, but the medium and long-term actions (strategies) that ensure the sustainability of his career and his project of life. The premise of the study was that the opportunity to reflect on all the elements that are part of the proposed model – MAEP – promotes the increase of this perception and will be able to move the individual in the search for the realization of their dreams.
In this sense, a personal and strategic investment initiated in the academic year could constitute a key to a successful professional career, despite all the uncertainty that the future may reserve. In this way, the problem of this research was: What is the contribution generated by the application of the Personal Strategic Alignment Model (MAEP) on the perception of themselves, career planning and the development of strategic thinking, of the students of the specialization course in HR?
According to the objectives of the study, in terms of its purposes, it is defined as structural methodological research, due to the proposal of a personal strategic alignment model that deals with the relationships between its elements. As for the media, it is a field and bibliographic research, combining quantitative and qualitative research paradigms, with the aim of producing an analysis of the data collected and raising understanding about the work.
Hypothesis
H1 The personal strategic alignment model promotes changes in self-perception, career planning and the development of strategic thinking.
H2 The personal strategic alignment model is a determining factor for better academic achievement throughout the course.
H3 The personal strategic alignment model is a determining element for a better perception of competencies for a career of leaders in human resources.
Propose a Personal Strategic Alignment Model – MAEP – that helps improve self-perception and career planning to act strategically as HR professionals.
Methodology
The objective of the quantitative research was to compare the Coefficients of Performance, obtained by means of the average of the grades obtained in all the disciplines of the lato-sensu course of training of strategic HR leaders by the students who participated in the field research group, compared with those who were part of the control group, to assess whether there is any difference in the academic achievement of students. The objective of the qualitative research was to identify the understanding of the sample in terms of: the strategic management of human resources, the competencies of the strategic HR professional and the understanding of the elements present in the model proposed in this study, at the beginning and end of the MBA in Strategic Human Resources Management, with a duration of 18 months.
The research instruments were: - books, journals, academic articles, theses, dissertations on the subject investigated; - analysis of documentation (grades of the students of the course);- initial interviews with 10 students to identify the elements that may affect the strategic perception of themselves, career planning and strategic thinking, with the aim of preparing the questionnaire; - semi-structured questionnaire; - account of the activities in the closing workshop of the MBA.
When this study began, the researcher had access as academic coordinator of the program to approximately 280 students of the MBA course in Strategic Human Resources Management of a conceptualized educational institution and business school – graduates in the second semester of 2016 until the second semester of 2019, defined if the random sample of 50% to be able to create a control group (without application of the model), but, only 64 students voluntarily agreed to participate in the research and effectively answered the questionnaire.
The statistical data were organized using graphs and tables and the answers were analyzed by means of the structuralist method, which was shown as the most appropriate to achieve the general objective of the study of proposing a new model for personal strategic alignment, which involves defining previous structures that explain the relationships between all the elements of the MAEP and, by the nature of the research, its content, and the population, allowing generalizations. Figure 1 below demonstrates the steps of the methodological process.
Figure 1
Stages of the methodological process
Note. Source: Own elaboration (2021).
Thiry-Cherques (p.141) describes the following premises of structuralism: - addressing the structure -unconscious- that sustains and orders these elements and relationships; - focus on the description and analysis of the relationships between the elements; - concentrate on the order of these relations as intelligible systems, which can be represented by logical-mathematical schemes; - be limited to effective systems, i.e. systems of simultaneous relationships in a given time (synchronous systems); - identify the general laws of these systems, either by induction or by logical deduction. Applying these premises we would have the following theoretical construction of this study:
Figure 2
Structures of the MAEP
Note. Source: Own elaboration (2021).
The figure presented expresses what Thiry-Cherques defines as structure, a relational system. A structure is a set formed by solidarity phenomena. Each of its elements depends on the others and is determined by its relationship with them. The alteration, addition or deletion of one element implies an accommodation and readjustment in the position of the others, in the case of this study, this becomes more evident in the analysis of the application of the model. Structures are not causal. They do not reveal the origin of the elements or their functioning, but the conditions, the forms of relationship, which are defined by the laws of concordance, subordination, and order to which the elements are subjected. The central idea of structuralism is that the structure - the set of relationships (as seen in the figure above) - is the determinant in the explanation of psychosocial objects, which, in this study, refers to the perception of the HR professional about his own career and his strategic role in Human Resources.
Hypothesis H2- The personal strategic alignment model is a determining factor for better academic achievement throughout the course. The structures presented below are the attempt to explain the relationships that occur in this hypothesis, which refers to the quantitative part of the study:
Average CP of the Group WITH application of the model > average CP WITHOUT application of the model
Minor CP of the Group WITH application of the model > Minor CP WITHOUT application of the model
The comparison of CP – Coefficients of Performance – average of the grades of all the disciplines of the course – of the cohorts of students involved in the research samples that participated in the application of the strategic alignment model is carried out, to verify the academic achievement of the same, comparing them with the cohorts of students of the control group, who had no contact with the model.
After calculating the CP of each student, the arithmetic average of each class was calculated and, finally, the average of the cohorts that went through the model and compared with the average of the control group.
Thiry-Cherques points out that the study of structures in the organizational field consists of describing a relational system that can be identified from a nodal point (identity) that declares the meaning of what subsists beyond what is directly manifest and makes it intelligible. To this end, observation (teaching, training and work with HR professionals), decomposition into types of elements (with the help of in-depth interviews), conceptualization of elements and relationships (throughout this study through bibliographic research), the development of a generic explanatory model and interpretation are used which offers a description of the structure and the explanatory and anticipatory perspectives made throughout this bibliographic and field study, that in this case, empirical research is only a starting point, not an anchor. The belief of structuralists is that there is an underlying structure in all human behavior and mental functioning, and that this structure can be discovered by an orderly analysis that has cohesion and meaning. (Gardner, The quest of Mind, p.10, in Joas, 2017, p. 372).
DEVELOPMENT: THE PROPOSAL OF THE PERSONAL STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT MODEL
Carvalho, Almeida and Wright (2008) emphasize the importance and necessity of the existence of a Personal Strategic Planning by stating that "[...] if a person possesses a clear personal goal, he provides meaning and direction to his life" (p. 13). Plan "[...] it means elaborating a scheme to achieve something that is desired, opposing improvisation, which is the action of chance" (Estrada, 2011, p. 107). Strategic Planning allows the systematic visualization of where you want to go, what is the way forward and what is the starting point, which is also important. It should be noted that there is not only a personal strategic planning model, on the contrary, this must be a flexible methodology to be in accordance with the way of life of each person, respecting their reality, will and principles / values. With planning, the person positions himself in relation to his own future and must, from then on, strengthen himself to achieve his goals without leaving his life and career to chance or, as some understand it, at the mercy of fate.
The Balanced Scorecard – BSC, is a tool used in organizations to unfold the strategic plan, promote its communication, implementation, management and control in all its areas, in the short, medium and long term, at all organizational levels, Ramspersad (2010) inspired by this tool, proposed a model for the construction of a personal brand and states that "the alignment process is about the interaction between your dream, their aspirations, their intentions, their purposes and their values, in other words, their personal ambition and their personal brand, is how others interpret it" (p.145).
This is the meaning adopted in the MAEP – Personal Strategic Alignment Model, it is the integration of several essential elements for conscious and autonomous action in relation to career and life, since the first has a fundamental role in the construction of the identity of the subject.
In the dynamics of this process of transformation of strategy into action, the best strategic plan is not considered linear, but circular, therefore, in the conception of a figure that represents the MAEP, object of this study, the figure of a concentric circle was chosen, according to what is presented in the figure below; because, in addition to not having a linear and Cartesian logic on the elements of the model, that is, the order of definition of these elements does not alter their results, as long as they are interrelated. Another aspect of the circular figure is due to the fact that the strategy is continuously evaluated and reviewed, as well as the actions resulting from it. It was a complex task to represent this graphically, exactly because of the dynamics inherent in the process itself and the lack of linear and simple cause-and-effect relationship, since the search for the definition of any of the elements can instigate the others, since these, by definition, are interdependent, which is evidenced in the responses of the field research.
Figure 3
MAEP - Personal Strategic Alignment Model
Note. Source: Own elaboration (2020).
The way in which these elements were represented in the model and the result of this alignment process affects the personal identity that, associated with other aspects, defines the protagonism of the individual, specifically in this study, the most strategic perception of their career and a more autonomous performance of these Human Resources professionals, who were part of this research. The model of personal strategic alignment presented in Figure 3 considers eight concepts (identity, purpose, beliefs and values, dreams, vision of the future, objectives, competencies and protagonism), which in this text will be called elements of the model, whose structures were presented in Figure 2. The premise of the model is that just as organizations survey a set of internal and external data to carry out their strategic planning and then define the actions that will allow achieving the desired results, people must also think about some points, which would be the elements present in the model exposed (figure 3), which were translated into guiding questions, whose answers are the basis for defining actions that allow them to assume the protagonism and leadership of their career and personal life.
The protagonism of the subject is expressed when he assumes responsibility for his choices in life, which are made possible by cognition, affectivity, freedom and autonomy, according to Edgar Morín (2004). Cognition allows us to understand the possible options and analyze their risks and consequences. Affectivity influences choices by being rational beings and choosing what you like and what makes you feel good. Freedom is related to the exercise of the will consciously, but if there is no autonomy, one cannot assert one's own decision. In this way, just as reason cannot be dissociated from emotion, neither can freedom be separated from autonomy. All these forces to assume the authorship of the roles exercised in life. In his work, Edgar Morín (2004), he calls authorship of the subject what in the present work refers to the protagonism, that is, the one who is a producer of the environment where he lives, in addition to being a product and reproducer of the social environment.
Actions of any nature (study, work, personal relationships, among others) are the result of such choices that are directly affected by the alignment of the eight elements. For actions to produce good results, they require certain technical and emotional skills, which can be possessed or must be developed. However, the actions (for it to make sense to carry them out) must be related to some short, medium or long-term objective, even if that objective is the mere satisfaction of a physical, social or psychological need, as observed in the classic study of Maslow (1954), still used today as a reference for the implementation of HR policies.
There are more immediate objectives and more strategic ones that, many times, to be achieved, must be translated into simpler and more viable goals. The definition of what the individual intends to do is fundamental to self-motivation, focus and ability to prioritize activities. If the individual does not have a vision of the future, that is, does not look towards five, ten or twenty years in the future, when reaching the short-term objectives, he ends up losing interest or focus on new conquests. However, if dreams are nurtured, there will always be something to do. Dreams and desires are the raw material of the vision of the future, these allow the person to make plans about what he wants to be, do, and have.
Goals are the vision of the future structured in defined time intervals and provide energy to move, but it is the beliefs and values that direct where to go. The feeling of being on the right path or not depends on alignment with what the person believes (beliefs) and with what they consider important for their life (values). Some aspects are essential for existence and cannot be negotiated since they generate the loss of moral principles, which are part of one's own identity. Values are an expression of needs, of what is missing and of what the human being needs to maintain stability and balance. The pleasure of alignment comes from the fact that the individual is able to meet the needs of a life oriented by values and purposes. The analysis of the responses of the field research corroborates this, as evidenced by some of the answers of the interviewees on the values: - what moves me, my essence; that which we have as a basis in our being, which guides our attitudes and our behavior; the deepest budgets that guide you to follow certain paths.
Identity is the result of the alignment between all the elements of the proposed model, which strengthen a coherent conception of oneself, consisting of objectives, values and beliefs to which the person is strongly committed, according to Erikson (1976). It defined identity in an integrated way, in which the biological dimension, personal experience and cultural environment give meaning to the trajectories of the individual.
The concept of identity has been the subject of some conceptual controversy, since, as Costa (1991) refers, "the terms identity, self, character and personality have been used to define the singularity that differentiates one individual from another; a clear distinction between the terms is, however, difficult to establish" (p.20), which is expressed in the response of an interviewee about identity: "it is what I am unique in, what differentiates what I can do, what legacy I can leave". To arrive at the notion of subject it must be considered that the entire biological dimension needs a cognitive dimension, which is individual, since "it is the act by which the subject is built by positioning himself in the center of his world to face it, consider it, perform in it, all the acts of preservation, protection, defense, etc." (Morín, 2004, p.120). This conception of the human being involves a triad – individual/society/species, which support, nourish, and come together becoming inseparable and co-producers of each other. It is within this complex triad that consciousness emerges.
The construction of identity and the development of self-concept integrate personal experiences and extend beyond the adult phase, giving meaning to the life trajectory of the individual through a personal project, within a framework of psychological and social autonomy.
If identity represents the self as a subject, the self-concept can be defined as a set of thoughts and feelings that refer to the self as an object, formed from the experiences and interpretations that are made in the environment that surrounds them (Adamson and Lyxel, 1996; Shavelson, Hubner and Stanton, 1976). This concept is observed in the answer to the question about identity when a participant states: "it is related to the impact I perceive I have or can have with the people around me."
For Yount (1986), the self-concept is a hypothetical construct that is particularly useful for predicting behaviors that, despite its hypothetical nature, constitutes a unit of coherence of individual behavior, providing the individual with the notion of continuity and identity over time and acting as a regulator of personal life. A fundamental aspect in relation to self-concept is not to confuse self-perception with what you would like to be. Heteroperception is essential for the construction of self-concept, because when the individual judges himself he uses subjective standards and, when he is perceived by the other, he evaluates him by actions. This approach highlights the importance of social relations for the formation of self-concept since self-attributions seem to focus on the psychological structure of each individual, they are social products, since they can only be built from the context of life. For the adult, professional competence, sociability and friendship and family relationships occupy a central place in the construction of self-concept (Hartar, 1983).
The self-concept is, in this way, considered as a belief system, multidimensional and dynamic, where the development of different dimensions can follow different standards or trajectories, from childhood to adulthood. Most perspectives on the development of the self-concept assume, however, that it becomes progressively more stable throughout the development process.
Identity allows prominence if it is associated with autonomy. According to Seidl-de-Moura (2017), autonomy and relationship are universal trends developed in ontogeny. The human species possesses a complex organization and the relationship with its specific co is essential for its physical and psychological survival (Seidl-de-Moura, 2017). "Knowing how to act in the environment and knowing how to relate to others are adaptive capacities that guarantee the aptitude of individuals" (p. 294). The human being establishes relationships, builds knowledge and develops a self, that is, the notion of himself, since autonomy and relationship are valued differently throughout life and according to the cultural context and the historical moment lived.
Asking why performing a certain activity always helped the human being to understand the value of his work to make sense of what he is carrying out. Sinek (2018), in his work Begin by the why, presents a golden circle, which shows how people and organizations communicate talking about what they do and how they do it, but it is the why that really inspires and manifests the differential of the person or organization. Sinek states, "the golden circle provides compelling evidence of how much we can achieve if we remember to begin everything, we do by first asking why" (p.70). As one person in the show's response illustrates, "my mission, the reason I'm here is that I want to leave a legacy."
The convergence of doing what a person knows how to do and that the world needs, seems to be something desired by all and is a genuine source of gratification. According to García and Miralles (2018) the purpose appears when you connect what you love to do (pleasure / personal fulfillment), what the world needs (sense of social contribution), what has value (financial or not) for yourself and for whom you receive (the world) and what is done well, that is, in which you have talent, where he manages to put the best of himself. The possibility of performing some activity that satisfies all these points characterizes what society is called individual purpose.
Shahar (2016) affirms that having a purpose in life is more than setting goals, it is related to having a personal desire for what you really like to do and want for yourself, instead of being guided by social norms and expectations, as the response of one of the investigated exposes, "it is the whole sense of what makes you live".
Field research made it possible to observe that individual purpose also allows the person to see their life/career in the long term. Understanding what the constant elements in all the objectives are achieved and those that are sought allows us to identify exactly this permanent aspect of the personal essence.
When the person lives consistently with their beliefs and values, seeking to achieve their goals to realize their dreams, they tend to feel that the current life is satisfying. But if there is nothing significant, if you do not understand the reason for your actions or if you do not perceive that you are leaving a legacy, a social contribution or if you have the feeling of fulfilling a unique role in the world, to fill that void you seek to compensate with external factors (material rewards, excess activity, among others) the perception of fulfillment
Individual purpose is the point of intersection between the past, a person's entire life history and their future, which makes sense so far, the present, and which the person continues to look for in that desired future. Purpose is discovered and acts as a transforming force, which prepares a person to be more and more who he truly is. In everyday life, purpose is tested at all times. It tends to be considered that the purpose is something complex and difficult to define, because few people realize that it is discovered and this requires self-knowledge, introspection, emotional connection, contact with deep aspects, but that are perceived in everyday life.
Para Kofman (2018)
"Purpose has two main components: - to give meaning to life (cognition) and to have a sense of purpose (motivation). The cognitive component involves integrating experiences into a coherent narrative as if it were a story, assuming the perspective of a third person in someone's life. The motivational component involves the active pursuit of long-term goals that are reflected in the identity of someone who transcends personal and petty interests. Greater satisfaction is achieved when people engage in the pursuit of virtuous purposes and activities in tune with what is best in each one" (Kofman, p. 33).
Senge (2000) understands that values are expressed through behaviors, that they are affected by mental models and that, at the same time, they affect the way of acting and explain why two people can observe the same event and describe it differently. However, these are tacit, that is, it exists below the level of consciousness, so they are invisible to everyone.
The relationship of values with beliefs is so strong that it is used as the only element in the proposed model, which in field research is evidenced in the same answers to questions about them.
For science, dreams is an experience of the imagination of the unconscious during our sleep period. In the MAEP, the dream is understood as desire, as the act of imagining what you would like to happen, in this case, the dream is one in which you daydream, where you imagine something specific in the future, something that motivates to be developed and make it come true. To be realized, the dream must be transformed into a vision, a project of action, an idea of entrepreneurship, the development of the dream and, therefore, the vision of the future must be related to the life project in the broadest sense, that which demonstrates its main personal objectives. The existence of consonance between the career and the life project makes the person dedicate himself with greater motivation to the search for the realization of that dream, providing a greater possibility of success in what he intends to do. While dream is a space of emotion, vision is a conception of what to do, it uses reason as an instrument for the realization of dream.
Michele Hunt (2010), in her work Dream Makers states that “Dream Makers are people who discovered the art and science of transforming hopes and dreams into reality... they found the courage to create a powerful vision of what they want for their future." They possess the conviction and commitment to align their decisions and actions with the vision and their values to achieve their dreams and transform them into reality. Vision originates from circumstantial causes, influenced by multiple factors. It is formed by everything that involves the life of the individual, by age transformations, acquisition of knowledge, maturity, relationships, beliefs, values, variations in the way of representing the world. It is from his life history that the individual extracts his way, the activity capable of leading him towards the realization of the dream. The same dream can give rise to different visions that alternate according to the changes that everyone goes through.
For Harari (2015) "visions are the expression of the ability to create an imagined reality with words and it is these that allow a large group of strangers to cooperate with each other effectively" (p.41). One person's response about the vision was: 'it is the awareness of the current scenario for the prospection of a future scenario', it seems well aligned with the ideas that delve into this element of the model.
For Hunt (2010)
“Visions are the powerful mental images you want to create in the future. These reflect what is most important to us and are in harmony with our values and sense of purpose. They are a product of our mind and our collective heart. The vision, even if it is our desired future, is experienced in the present. A vision is our deepest expression of what we wish to create in the future" (p.3).
For her, an inspiring vision generates sparkle in the eyes. Visions must touch the emotional of those who know her. It must be timeless, have no limits. Likewise, it is not quantitative, but will be divided into quantifiable objectives and goals, which will allow the vision to be realized. "In formulating the vision of the future, both individuals and organizations make a choice that radically reverses the way of thinking and deciding they choose to be guided by a desired vision of the future, instead of continuing to be influenced by the past" (Marcondes, p. 46).
This aspect can be decisive in the question that will be discussed below about the protagonism, since the individual comes out of the prophecy that the past predefines how they can or should happen. It stimulates perception, what can be changed in the present, if you want a different future (from the past). A member of the sample described that to have a vision of the future is to analyze what the consequences of my attitudes are today.
For Hunt (2010) "vision serves as a guiding star to explore and chart our future... it feeds our passion and gives us a sense of purpose" (p.3). A vision without values is empty. The field research clearly showed the difficulty that the sample has to project the vision of the future for more than two years. This characteristic is even stronger the younger the person is to the extent that the newer generations are more immediate.
The definition of the objectives is based not only on current challenges, but also those identified in the vision of the future. Goals provide the person with an understanding of defining the processes and resources to achieve them. The objectives are quantitative and qualitative results to be achieved in a certain period, according to the main strategic references (purpose, values, vision of the future), analysis of strengths and weaknesses and opportunities and threats, imagining different scenarios.
Objectives can be classified according to their nature, deadline and form. As for their nature they can be general or specific. The specific ones refer to the different dimensions of life, namely: financial, professional, physical health, spirituality, family, social, affective, leisure, among others. As for the term, the objectives can be long, medium, and short term. The long-term objectives are the broadest, also called strategic, since they are related to the strategic level of the career or life with a time horizon of five to ten years, in some cases even more. The medium-term objectives derive from the splitting of the strategic ones and have a scope of two to three years. Short-term goals, also called goals, are activities to be accomplished in a short space of time, in the day to day of the individual. A personal goal is a quantitative objective of a measure of personal performance pursued. Objectives and goals set what will be achieved and when, but do not say how. Once the objectives and goals have been defined, we move on to the definition of the action plan. The objectives must be aligned with the values, guiding principles, from which one does not want or want to move away.
It should be recorded that the greatest challenge of a strategy is not in its elaboration, but in its implementation. For this to happen effectively, the individual must muster resources, a lot of motivation, and emotional intelligence, as discussed below. It is time for implementation when a leading role is required, which requires action.
The personal strategic alignment model is a tool that can help a lot in this process of self-knowledge, since it motivates reflection on deeper and more complex aspects. The management of the career based on values broadens the vision and stimulates protagonism, creativity and individual responsibility towards the collective. "Protagonism is the necessary action, taken consciously, determined for the resolution of a situation – problem" (Marcondes, p. 66). The protagonist comes into action at speed and with the necessary energy, going straight to the point.
The MAEP addresses the issue of strategic leadership in life and career as a resulting element of this process of personal strategic alignment. Strategic leadership is understood as the ability to perceive the whole in an integrated way and to decide in the present considering where you want to go. Maintaining coherence between discourse and action generates credibility in the figure of the leader, which is fundamental to influence people, which is the essence of true leadership.
CONCLUSION
According to the structuralist method adopted for the analysis of field research data, it can be concluded that the application of the Personal Strategic Alignment Model - MAEP - promoted the improvement of the perception of themselves and the planning of the career as a strategic HR professional, of the students of a training course for leaders in the area of Human Resources. The research sample perceived that knowing the elements of the MAEP (purpose, values and beliefs, dreams, vision of the future, objectives) increased the possibility of understanding one's own attitudes.
When comparing the structures built to support the model - Figure 2 - and the data from the field research, the elements that are part of the structures are clearly present in the answers given by the sample and are fully related to what was foreseen in the structure that served as the basis for the MAEP proposal, presented in the development of the work. The analysis of the data carried out from the structuralist methodology, which allows the transposition of the data to what is generically applicable, allowed to confirm the following hypotheses:
H1 - The Personal Strategic Alignment Model promotes change in strategic self-perception and career planning; and
H3 - The proposed Personal Strategic Alignment Model is a determining element for a better perception of added value in the career of strategic leaders in human resources, because the relationships proposed in the structure (Figure 2) proved to be present in the survey responses.
Chart 1
Shows the high impact of the two applications of MAEP (from 8 to 10 points on a scale of 0 to 10).
Note. Source: Own elaboration (2020).
Table 1
Comparison of the CPs – Coefficient of Performance of the students of the cohorts subjected to the model with the cohorts of the control group
Note. Source: Own elaboration (2020).
Still, the bibliographic search did not provide the necessary data to establish the direct relationship between the application of the model and the improvement of academic performance, which can also be attributed to other factors, such as previous knowledge about the content of the subject, the didactics of the teaching staff, the physical and psychological conditions of the students, among others.
It became clear that strategic thinking about the HR function and the individual himself would necessarily involve the same elements that were used in the MAEP model. The methodological structure (Figure 2) that was verified demonstrates the relationships between these elements and the competencies of the HR professional, necessary to assume all the attributions and roles that the area has demanded throughout its history. That, apparently, today lives its full maturity, sure of its importance and its value, but still full of challenges, derived from the impacts of digital transformation on the future of work that will require a constant and rapid capacity for adaptation and innovation and new skills.
What gave rise to the theme of this study was the perception that the difficulty in assuming a strategic position went far beyond obtaining knowledge about the strategy and the different areas of the company, or the acquisition of management skills, but that this difficulty was related to the perception of themselves and strategic, that is, with the lack of a long-term perspective, including one's own career and life in general. This perception generated a concern about how to help people think strategically, which stimulated them to think of a model that promoted internal alignment, which in turn allowed decision-making and the adoption of actions that contributed to the professional and personal realization so desired by all who work.
The model proved useful for this process of self-knowledge adhered to what we find in the literature, because it provokes, through the questions related to each of its elements, a process of personal alignment, integrating everything necessary to make choices that are consistent with real needs, values, interests, aspirations, the dreams of the person.
The application of the MAEP - Personal Strategic Alignment Model showed that it contributes to the strategic management of HR professionals, as described in the survey responses, through some behaviors presented: -adoption of a less immediate and short-term attitude, replaced by a medium and long-term vision, since the time projection increased from one to five or, even, up to 10 years forward; -more systemic view of the aspects of life itself, as well as of organizations; -recognition of strengths, enhancing objectives;-recognition of weaknesses and management of adversities and failures with greater resilience, humility and compassion; - self-knowledge and alignment with the values, beliefs and purpose that guided the elections.
Graph 2
Increased life planning time
Note. Source: Own elaboration.
Field research clearly demonstrated that knowledge of strategy, business and HR enriches the discourse, but it is personal strategic alignment that strengthens strategic action, and this process is from the inside out.
If the research presented here already pointed to a gap between demand and supply in relation to the skills of the HR professional, this gap tends to increase if, in addition to the search for the development of management skills, the professional has not aligned the life project with the career that is increasingly based on the ability to adapt, and increasingly focused on work by objectives.
When studying the elements of the MAEP, it is observed, both in the theoretical foundation, and in the field research that people through different methodologies and tools, end up going through at one time or another of their life or career, the need to reflect on these elements, what happens is that, many times, the experience does not allow a natural alignment between them, the disconnection ends up not strengthening the identity, which generates the perception of autonomy and true protagonism, to build the desired future. The most important thing is to realize that there are infinite possibilities of studies, which can help to improve the relationship between man and his work, since this is an inexhaustible source of achievements in an increasingly volatile and complex environment, where it is necessary to reinvent oneself at every moment.
Possible developments of this research could be: - apply the MAEP in HR professionals and other areas, who do not have formal employment ties and who are already working as freelancers or offshoring to evaluate the impact of it on professionals who are building a new career project; -apply the MAEP model in other professional profiles; - compare the results of the application of the model in different generations; -analyze the results of the application of the model in professionals of technological innovation companies, whose mentality is already focused on the future.
Research contributions
For the executive who sought a training course for strategic leaders, the research contributed to his greater security with the quality of the course in relation to the added value for his career. For the institution, from which the research sample was chosen, its results allowed an adaptation of the program according to the needs of the market in relation to HR professionals. For the academic community, this will be a new model of personal strategic alignment, which will be able to help in training programs for strategic leaders and that will generate new reflections on the subject, obtained by crossing empirical data with theories located in this study. For the area of human resources, the conclusions will allow new studies on expected leadership behaviors of strategic HR professionals in organizations in a complex and digital transformation environment.
REFERENCES
Please refer to articles in Spanish Bibliography.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Please refer to articles Spanish Biographical abstract.