Ironical - Humanities Given A Short Shrift In Human Resources!

It is really ironical, isn't it, that the whole range of subjects under Humanities are given a short shrift in the functions of Human Resources and Organisation Development?  HR and OD draw significantly from fields like Psychology, Sociology and Social Psychology.  Have you ever come across HR and OD professionals applying subjects that get classified as 'Humanities' - philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history and language - in their work?  Forget about using, these 'professions' - that deal with human beings - don't seem to even consider how Humanities can be useful in impacting human behavior!

I wonder why!  Is it because fields like Psychology, Sociology and Social Psychology are considered to be 'sciences' while Humanities-subjects are not?  Even if it is so, how scientific are these 'sciences'?  And why should HR and OD that deal with human beings lay such an overwhelming emphasis on behavioral 'science' knowledge and skills?

I believe that it is high time that the fields of HR and OD include study and application of Humanities, that too consciously, visibly and vocally.  We can't afford to miss utilising what humanities offer -  understanding, processing and documenting human experiences.

Interestingly, there are people who bring subjects of Humanities to bear on HR and OD - philosophy, performing arts, and linguistics to name a few.  But these are more in the realm of 'nice to do' rather than mainstream.  Dallies with Humanities in HR and OD are more from romanticism rather than serious affairs!

Here's inviting folks from both sides (HR and OD on the one hand and Humanities on the other) to extend their respective arms with a commitment to blend?  Can we have some real and serious conversations to include Humanities in training and developing HR and OD professionals?

Acknowledgment - An Act That Can Move You And The Other

When someone does a good deed, we do either or both of these: praise and thank. Praise is saying, "You did a good job!" Thanks is saying, "Thank you for doing the good job." Often we confuse acknowledgment with these two.

Here's a view of looking at what acknowledgment is: Acknowledgment is expressing gratitude for what what the other person did do to you! That's a confusing mouthful? Let me deconstruct this.

• Assume that someone did something good.
• This good deed impacted you in a positive way.
• You are grateful to this person.
• And you express your gratitude.

Here's the twist: what you are grateful for is not for the person doing the good deed, but to the impact that this good deed had on you.

While acknowledging, you express your gratitude to the person for causing the positive impact on you through the good deed she/he did.

An important aspect of this view of acknowledgment is for you to be conscious of the positive impact it had on you. The critical dimension of the positive impact is on your emotions. Usually, we don't attend to this dimension of impact. For, I suspect, our emotion-vocabulary is quite limited. And we are socialised into keeping a check on our emotions right from our childhood, thereby blunting our awareness of, nay even feeling, emotions.

The other two aspects of acknowledgment are (a) being authentic about the gratitude you express and (b) explicitly stating the impact (including the impact on your emotions) the good deed had on you. When you do that, I assure you, not only will you be moved, but you will leave the other person also moved - with probably a drop of tear at the corner of her eye...What more can you ask for to strengthen your bonding with people!

So, thank you so much for reading this post - your reading made my day! I am left fulfilled. I will be moved when you practise ackowledgment as I have presented and share your experience through comments to this blogpost!

Be happy, move and get moved, deepen relationships with acknowledging!