Technology-focused human resource development could create alienation in the workplace, according to Clifton Stone.

“Modern technology has led to strained, impersonal relationships, as it replaces the eye contact, the posturing and the body language which characterized communication at the workplace in the past,” said the former Jamaica Ambassador to Venezuela.

He said that there is a need to move to newer and more modern phases of inter-relationship at the workplace, but that he was concerned about the cultural ingredients that are being lost.

Stone, who was the Minister of the Public Service from 1985 to 89 and and island supervisor of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), said that the personnel functions in Jamaican companies in the past, generally limited the workers’ interests to the responsibility of a single officer.

But that arrangement has some benefits: a level of confidence, and familiarity, between the personnel officer and the staff; effective and personal communications; and it was usually the personnel officer who, through informal communication with the worker, created worker satisfaction, even if it emanated from hearsay and rumours.

This sometimes benevolent and interpersonal relationship was a saving grace when the business was threatened with dislocation, disruption or disturbance,” he said.

Now, human resource development has provided a framework to assist employees in developing personal and organizational skills. Moreover, it expanded the role of personal management to include opportunities for employee training, employee career development, performance management and development, mentoring, succession planning and tuition assistance.

On the other hand, human resource development’s reliance on technology to keep records and relationships intact, in a very formal way, which is a “less personal and contagious” way to deal with workers.

“The use of technology has become central to the success of modern human resource practices, and an e-recruitment software application now provides a fully automated recruitment, selection and appointment capability,” said Stone. “But, modern technology has led to strained, impersonal relationships, as it replaces the eye contact, the posturing and the body language which characterized communication at the workplace in the past.”

He warned against the danger of alienation, while speaking at the Human Resource Management Association of Jamaica (HRMAJ) annual meeting, which was held at the Wyndham Kingston Hotel last Friday

Stone pointed out that the fear of alienation dates back to Marx’s concept of economic and social alienation, as a situation in which workers become disconnected from what they produce and why they produce.

“His theory of alienation was based upon his observation that in emerging industrial production under capitalism, workers inevitably lose control of their lives and selves by not having any control of their work. They never become autonomous, self-realized human beings in any significant sense, except in the way their employers want them to be realized,” he explained.

He also urged the HR professionals to look beyond the businesses they work with and take into consideration how critical their contribution will be to national development and Vision 2030 Jamaica, which aims at enabling Jamaica to achieve developed country status by 2030.

“Let us give priority attention to the elements that are essential to delivering a world-class quality of life for all Jamaicans, and reflect on the key pillars of change needed to realise the vision for our nation, and understand the critical role that you as human resource professionals have in ensuring that this nation succeeds,” Ambassador Stone said.