HR Director needed, no HR skills required!

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Workforce is reporting a change in top leadership at the new General Motors. According to at least one analyst, the fact that GM appointed a non-HR professional to head the function is a good move for GM.

Possibly not so hot for the HR profession? What do you think?

General Motors head of human resources and longtime executive Katy Barclay is stepping down, the automaker said Thursday, July 30. She will be replaced by Mary Barra, a top executive with an engineering background who worked closely with former GM chief executive Rick Wagoner.

“She is one of the same senior leaders who is responsible for the destruction of the company,” said Rob Kleinbaum, managing director of auto industry consulting firm Rak & Co. “She is responsible for it and should be accountable for it.”

The retirement of Barclay, 53, who has been vice president of global human resources since 1998, was seen as long overdue. According to a 2005 article published in Automotive News (a sister publication of Workforce Management), Barclay said her first automotive job was as a human resources professional at GM in 1978.

” Appointing an engineer with no HR experience as the department’s head suggests the company is looking to infuse it with a greater sense of the manufacturing principles of continual improvement and operational efficiency.

“It’s a positive sign they want to make deep changes in HR and don’t want to draw from the HR community,” Kleinbaum said.

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