Some people in HR miss the mark. They get too focused on the control role - which is an important part in its place - and become controlling. Instead of seeing it as their mission to help the leaders in their company become good at the vital role of being a boss, they make them feel resentful - or worse, inept - by designing programs that direct employee issues away from the boss and to the HR professional. As a result, some companies have:

• Elaborate problem-solving processes that convey the message to the employees and bosses alike, that HR will solve their problems because they are the only ones that can be trusted to do so;
• Complex compensation and reward systems that create a whole lot of administrative work and more questions for bosses and employees than answers;
• Detailed policy manuals that have more policies and procedures than anyone can possibly assimilate, many of which create more HR work, requiring more HR staff, creating a workforce more dependent on HR, while not really helping bosses make decisions or employees solve their concerns;
• Intricate training programs that may satisfy the ego of the trainer or at least provide the things the trainer thinks everyone needs, but aren’t serving the needs that bosses could easily identify if asked.