Article of ASEAN Integration for HR Business Professionals, written by Dra. Flor Glinoga, PhD

1. HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE ASEAN INTEGRATION IN 2015 AS HR PROFESSIONALS
By:
Flor M. Glinoga, PhD
Two years from now, the Philippines and other ASEAN members (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia,
the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Laos, and Myanmar) will be moved toward a
single market and production base under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. The
ASEAN economic integration by 2015 aim to establish a single market and production base, a
highly competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development and a region
fully integrated into the global economy.
It involves human resources development and capacity building and regional recognition of
professional qualifications. Our 2014 PMAP President, Atty. J. B. Jimenez emphasized this
theme of ASEAN Integration Readiness as his strategic thrust of the new PMAP leadership.
Built on the fundamental belief that knowledge is the foundation of the economy, and that it is the
most important and valuable tool that the Philippines needs at this point, as an HR Professional, I
believe that I—along with other HR professionals, businessmen and professionals of other fields
who share the same vision—could help prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.
To prepare for these challenges, according to Mr. David Ulrich (HR Guru), future-facing HR
professionals should look outside their organizations to customers, investors, and communities
to ensure competitive human resources in an integrated economy and to be responsive to the
integration and globalization initiatives by:
1. Being a Credible Activist
HR professionals should function as credible activists. They do what they say that will
do. Such results-based integrity serves as the foundation of personal trust that, in turn,
translates into professional credibility. They have effective interpersonal skills. They are
flexible in developing positive chemistry with key stakeholders. They translate this
positive chemistry into influence that contributes to business results. They take strong
positions about business issues that are grounded in sound data and thoughtful
opinions.
2. Becoming a Strategic Positioner
HR professionals should understand the global business context – the social, political,
economic, environmental, technological, and demographic trends that bear on their
business – and translate these trends into business implications. They should
understand the structure and logic of their own industries and the underlying
competitive dynamics of the markets they serve, including customer, competitor, and
supplier trends. They then apply this knowledge in developing a personal vision for the
future of their own company. They participate in developing customer-focused business
strategies and in translating the business strategy into annual business plans and goals.
3. Being a Capability Builder
At the organizational level, HR professional should create, audit, and orchestrate an
effective and strong organization by helping define and build its organizational

2. capabilities. Capability represents what the organization is good at and known for. These
capabilities outlast the behavior or performance of any individual manager or system.
Such capabilities might include innovation, speed, customer focus, efficiency, and the
creation of meaning and purpose at work. HR professionals can help line managers
create meaning so that the capability of the organization reflects the deeper values of
the employees.
4. Assuming the Role as a Change Champion
HR professionals should develop their organizations’ capacity for change and then
translate that capacity into effective change processes and structures. They should
ensure a seamless integration of change processes that builds sustainable competitive
advantage. They build the case for change based on market and business reality, and
they overcome resistance to change by engaging key stakeholders in key decisions and
building their commitment to full implementation. They sustain change by ensuring the
availability of necessary resources including time, people, capital, and information, and
by capturing the lessons of both success and failure.
5. Becoming a Human Resource Innovator and Integrator
At an organizational level, HR professionals should have the ability to innovate and
integrate HR practices around a few critical business issues. The challenge is to make the
HR whole more effective than the sum of its parts. HR professionals should ensure that
desired business results are clearly and precisely prioritized, that the necessary
organization capabilities are powerfully conceptualized and operationalized, and that
the appropriate HR practices, processes, structures, and procedures are aligned to
create and sustain the identified organizational capabilities. As they do so with discipline
and consistency, they help collective HR practices to reach the tipping point of impact
on business results. The innovation and integration of HR practices, processes, and
structures, directs HR more fully toward impacting business results.
6. Becoming a Technology Proponent
For many years, HR professionals have applied technology to basic HR work. HR
information systems (HRIS) have been applied to enhance the efficiency of HR processes
including benefits, payroll processing, health care funding, record keeping, and other
administrative services. In this HRIS round, we see a dramatic change in the implications
of technology for HR professionals. At the organization level, HR professionals should
now be involved in two additional categories of technological application. First, HR
professionals are applying social networking technology to help people stay connected
with each other. They help guide the connectedness of people within the firm and the
connectedness between people outside firms (especially customers) with employees
inside the firm. Second, HR professionals should increase their role in the management
of information. This includes identifying the information that should receive focus,
bundling that information into useable knowledge, leveraging that knowledge into key
decisions, and then ensuring that these decision are clearly communicated and acted
upon. This updates the operational efficiency competency and will add substantive
value to their organizations.