Professional Ineptitude: The Strategic Role of Human Resource Management in Crisis Prevention

Abstract

This paper highlights the strategic role of the Human Resource Management function in crisis prevention, by drawing attention to a hitherto neglected impact of professional ineptitude. Ineptitude has been recognised as a condition where the knowledge necessary to address a given situation exists but it is not applied correctly. Failure to address professional ineptitude can result as the Germanwings Flight 9525 case aptly demonstrates, the loss of life. We argue that GW9525 could be classified as a loss of knowledge incident and not a loss of control often accounted as the single biggest cause of airline fatalities. We analyze events leading up to and after the crash to show that the HR function can play a strategic role in fostering knowledge integration thus, ensuring that existing knowledge is used instead of misused or not used at all as our analysis will demonstrate. Our analysis contributes to advancing the current debates on HR professionalism by showing the significance of practical judgments that HR professionals make when they have access to knowledge (including confidential information about staff wellbeing – in this case depression) that can be the source of crisis. Our analysis problematizes the need for a strategic contribution by HR in integrating knowledge across levels within and outside the organisation.