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When learning the roles and functions of management, I continuously thought of the character Michael Scott played by Steve Carell in "The Office". Anyone who has seen or heard of this character knows that his role is a branch manager (albeit a bad one) of a paper company. As the show progresses, you start to see Michael Scott slowly grow his managerial skills.

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Another reminder as I was learning management skills was a character in Band of Brothers named Captain Herbert Sobel. In the show, Cpt. Sobel is in charge of training a group of men into paratroopers in WW2. Though his rigorous training made his men stronger, It was quickly realized by them that the captain did not possess the right skills to lead them during battle simulations. It was after completing the module I learned how important it is to have the right skills.

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As I began to learn how major of a role CSR played into Management, the more I understood its importance. Growing up, I remembered watching a Dawn Soap commercial that introduced a little duck covered in oil. It was a very sad thing for me to see and after seeing how their product easily cleaned the oil-covered ducking, they always stood out to me as the better brand to this day. It is now that I realize that Dawn Soaps CSR was the driving nail that made me a loyal customer to their brand.

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With module 2 exploring the importance of diversity and culture in the workplace, Chick-fil-A stood out to me as a company that represented these factors the best. Chick-fil-A offers their employees a safe workplace that is welcoming and they have a work culture that customers feel when they leave through the drive-through or the door

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As module 3 began talking about globalization and the strategies to achieve it, I immediately thought of the image above. This is Colonel Sanders in Japan, a clear sign of KFC achieving globalization and making its mark in the country. I have also began to realize the sheer popularity of the chicken restaurant in Europe as well. As i learned more in module 3, KFC began a good example of Globalization done right.

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Above is an article about how Canva, an online design website, proceeded with their own globalization. I learned about this article shortly after completing the lesson and hear saw some similarities between what I learned and what the company implemented to achieve globalization

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From Australia to Austria, China to the Czech Republic, the multinational design platform Canva has truly gone global since its inception 10 years ago. Headquartered in Sydney, the company has operations in eight countries and a staff of 3,500. Making sure that each one feels a part of the Canva family is the responsibility of Jennie Rogerson, the firm's global head of people.

But Rogerson's job is not a straightforward HR gig. Much of Canva's expansion occurred through acquiring other organisations, making its new workforce a patchwork of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. She has had to craft a people strategy that works within this type of business growth.

Why culture should be core to your acquisition strategy

Key to making this work, says Rogerson, is placing culture at the core of the acquisition strategy. Finding the right products or services to add to the offering is usually the primary reason for an acquisition, but the people and the company's values are also critical.

"It's important that the product or service you acquire is exactly what you're looking to add to your wheelhouse," she says. "But it is equally important that the team you bring on board are spectacularly values-aligned. It makes the runway so much clearer."

She points to one of the company's most recent acquisitions, the London-based data-visualisation platform Flourish. It had interest from other companies but declined because the cultures didn't align. With Canva, Flourish was confident it would have an owner who understood the business and where it wanted to go next, explains Rogerson.

I truly don't believe that connection can only be had in person, in the office

Getting this right is the best way to ensure a smooth transition and that teams gel as soon as possible. At Canva, Rogerson's strategy is to give the leadership of the companies they bring on board as much autonomy as possible. "We don't stand in their way," she says. "These are already successful companies, so whatever is working there is incredibly valuable; you don't want to mess with that."

A potential problem with this strategy is that the employees who come on board in an acquisition could stick stubbornly to their former company and not participate in the culture of their new one. This hasn't been an issue at Canva, says Rogerson, taking Flourish as an example.

"There is an evolution after acquisition," she says. "At the beginning, they would see themselves as Flourish-acquired-by-Canva but as we work together that distinction fades."

It's important, she says, not to sweep away all vestiges of the former organisation in pursuit of one-ness. Flourish has kept its logo on the company cups, for example. And although the office has been largely 'Canva-ified' by adding greenery and the same call booths they have in every office, they have kept murals referencing company in-jokes. "I think it's great because the harmony of Canva and Flourish wouldn't be possible if Flourish didn't exist in the first place."

How Canva decides where to open new offices

Culture is just as important when expanding through opening offices in new locations. When Rogerson joined the company, it had a presence in Australia, the Philippines and China, and was looking for a location in the US. While a city like New York might seem the obvious choice for many businesses, for Canva it didn't have the right feel. Instead, it initially settled on Austin, Texas, and has since opened offices in California.

"Canva's global strategy has evolved, but we always want to be specific where we open. We want a relaxed city, kind of like Sydney; with great talent, lots of eateries, not particularly corporate."

Beyond cultural fit, there are practical considerations in planning global expansion. To keep teams working effectively, Canva locates functions together. Every office has people focused on operations, legal, marketing and finance, but the core product-design engineering teams, for example, are based in Australia, while the data-visualisation team is in London.

"It's important to keep that containment and the crossover of working hours as similar as possible," she says.

Time zones are a major consideration. With an HQ in Australia, Canva selected foreign branches to maximise overlap, another reason why Austin was a good choice for the business.

"It's about choosing locations carefully," says Rogerson. "It isn't just about where you can hire talent. It's also about where teams can work well together."

How to build a strong culture globally

To build a connection across time zones and locations, Canva has a range of working practices to help teams. When a group in one region reaches a critical mass of 20 or 30 people, the company will open a 'campus' - a large-scale office, complete with kitchen and common spaces. For smaller groups, it offers hubs which are similar to co-working spaces.

The sort of space they open is entirely led by the people in the location. "In Adelaide, the group really gel and are over-using that space, so we're looking to expand it," says Rogerson. "In other areas people don't naturally congregate as much, so we keep the smaller co-working spaces."

Culture isn't something you stick on the wall. It's something you feel when you join a place and you know if it's for you or not

During the pandemic, its whole office strategy was moot as the world moved to working from home - an option that didn't exist for Canva employees pre-Covid. "Our two tenets for remote working were: flexibility and connection," Rogerson explains. This meant not only making sure everyone had whatever they needed to work from wherever they needed to, but also finding ways to protect the culture.

This included "sacred lunch hours" when an open Zoom link was provided so people could join and chat with peers across all eight countries. Canva also has more than 400 clubs focused on everything from chess and Dungeons & Dragons to wine-tasting, and these all moved online.

These online clubs stuck even when lockdowns ended because they offer the opportunity for colleagues from all over the world to hang out and socialise. "I truly don't believe that connection can only be had in person, in the office," says Rogerson. "It can be built when people are intentional about it and want to build a great culture."

So how do you create a culture that feels common to all but still allows for local identity? "Ultimately, you don't," says Rogerson. "You hire great people who live by the same values and the culture evolves. People should feel they can shape it. Culture isn't something you stick on the wall. It's something you feel when you join a place - and you know if it's for you or not."

Nevertheless, Canva does have a foundation on which this evolving global culture is built that has two missions. The first is to become the most valuable company in the world. And the other is to do the most good it can. If you are looking to hire ambitious, socially conscious talent, that's a pretty good clarion call.

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How Canva went global without compromising its culture

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Crafting a unified culture is hard - and harder still when your employees are global. But Jennie Rogerson, global head of people at Canva, has risen to the challenge

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As I am reading module 4, the whole lesson feels as though I am learning how to draw a map of all the surroundings of a business and creating a path to their success. You can compare tools such as PESTEL & SWOT as a divider and a compass.

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The material learned in module 4 felt like the sort of skill sets and training that are required for the characters portrayed in the series Suits. In the show the characters are advisors to big companies. To guarantee that their companies succeed, skills and knowledge of the material in module 4 can propel a company forward.

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Module 5 touches on the idea of the efficiencies of division of labor. This immediately reminded me of the Star trek has a system for their division of labor. Any fan of the franchise knows that each shirt seen in the photo above describes each person's job description. Red is worn by the commanders, yellow is worn by engineers and pilots, and blue is worn by medical staff and scientist. Dividing the labor into separate groups helps their ships run efficiently.

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While Module 5 discussed about the different organizational structure and the division of labor, it also take a bit about employee empowerment. Above is a cartoon drawing in the context of employee empowerment. The drawing is a gag about how along with the empowerment, employees will also now be faced with accountability as they now have more responsibility

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Module 6 talked a lot about the importance of Human Resources and the tasks involved. After reading all of the material, I found an article discussing whether AI will take over the Human Resources. It was a very intriguing article and brought a lot of considerable arguments as to why they would. I know now the purpose of an HR department and how it helps excel a business. After reading both the article and the module, I personally believe that HR will not be transitioned into AI. Interviews done by HR help them know if applicants not only have on paper skills but social skills and characteristics that fit the company which AI cannot fully grasp.

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The use of AI and ML in HCM continues to be transformative. Its power to deliver personalized experiences and gain actionable insights from HR data while automating routine tasks is already having a positive impact on the bottom line. But questions are now being asked about the quality of data being used, as HCM professionals realize AI can only ever be as good as the data it is trained on. How can busy HR executives ensure they are benefiting from the AI revolution, while working safely and ethically? Where does their responsibility lie and what do they need to be aware of?

The new tech revolution

AI is going to change HR. In fact, change is already underway. This powerful technology is currently being used by many organizations across a range of HR functions including employee skills management, payroll processing, recruitment and onboarding. Against this backdrop, the way HR professionals select and engage with this pervasive AI and ML technology is coming under greater scrutiny. There are, for example, legitimate concerns around the extent to which technology is disrupting the HR function and whether it could be taking the "human" out of human resources altogether. Workday's own survey data indicates that although only 29 percent of business leaders said they are very confident that AI and ML are being applied ethically in business, 80 percent agree that AI and ML helps employees work more efficiently and make better decisions.

It could be taking the "human" out of human resources altogether.

This uncertainty around the technology is perfectly understandable as AI gains widespread acceptance, but few would argue that AI is not going to become more pervasive.

As most HR professionals are aware, when we talk about AI and ML, we're referring to a combination of algorithms and data. By training algorithms with data to identify and understand the relationships between data points, AI has become a powerful tool for HR. With its understanding of the data, AI can be used to flag anomalies or inconsistencies to highlight potential issues and recommend actions.

This is just one reason why the nature and quality of data being used to train algorithms is key to the success of AI. Good quality, accurate data is required if we want AI to do its job successfully because, just like human beings, AI cannot make solid decisions if the information it is dealing with is corrupt or inaccurate. Using a comprehensive unified data model, which allows you to maintain clean and coherent data while being confident of its provenance, is critical here.

Workday has been utilizing AI and ML for nearly a decade, which gives us a unique vantage point when it comes to overseeing the quality and structure of the data fed into our ML platforms. Workday was built in the cloud and all of our customers are on the same version - transacting against the same uniformed data model. Our platform approach and AI and ML infused applications have become foundational to our system.

What do we mean by accurate data?

Accuracy in HR is incredibly important. That's not a new phenomenon as it has always been the case. The reason why it is talked about so much now is that there are so many new ways inaccurate information can creep into a business and undermine solid decision-making.

Data scraped from the internet, for example, is likely to be of variable quality (and that's being charitable). Internet data is likely to contain fake news and opinion as well as fact and if this is what is training an organization's algorithms this could cause grave inaccuracies.

If we look at just one source of information - social media platforms, for example, we can see where issues might arise. Not everything online is highly accurate and verifiable. This might be as a simple result of human error (some people won't remember the exact month or year they began a job, for example) or might come from a specific desire to misrepresent or embellish skill sets or qualifications. There are also a growing number of scams and fraudulent postings or adverts on social platforms which spring up despite the best intentions of the platform and most users. If AI is using social media as a data source, this will impact the quality of suggestions it makes.

Some people won't remember the exact month or year they began a job

Accurate data sources

On a positive note, finding high quality data sources is perfectly achievable. If we look at HR transactions such as holiday bookings, payments, performance reviews and employee departures, these are all hard verifiable facts, occurring in large volumes which can be used to train algorithms. If these are the data sources, it stands to reason that the AI will create high quality results.

An ethical issue

As AI becomes more deeply embedded in the HR function, transparency and explainability  will be critical to provide reassurance that decisions reached through its use are fair and free from bias. Data can be a powerful tool in identifying bias and to measure whether our efforts to combat it are effective. However, it could also, depending on how it is used, make problems worse. There are, sadly, multiple examples of where AI has amplified existing biases. For this reason, it is vital that AI is thoughtfully designed and developed to avoid unintended consequences.

Similarly, the data being used to train AI must be from trustworthy, verifiable sources. We may also question whether it is legitimate for other activities such as candidates' social media profiles being used in HR data during a recruitment process. Questions have been asked by HR professionals around whether this is fair and proper for years, but now technology is enabling this to be done automatically through AI it poses a major ethical question.

We may also question whether it is legitimate for candidates' social media profiles to be used in HR data for recruitment

Trusted partners

With the use of AI being such a hot issue both in the HR function and beyond, it has never been more important that the way technology vendors' work is interrogated and understood. Organizations need to understand how the AI they are buying operates in practice and what data sets the vendor is using to make it work. Responsible vendors may provide detailed factsheets to their customers to explain the nuances of how they are using data, for example, so users can confidently explain how they are embedding AI.

Beyond this, a vendor's philosophy is also important. How do they envision AI transforming the workplace? Is it (as it should be) to remove drudgery by automating repetitive work, personalize the employee experience, support better decision-making and to enable better strategic planning? Or do they have a different vision?

For me, a key principle of ethical AI is ensuring that technology is amplifying human potential. The focus of AI and ML is not to replace humans; rather, it's about driving human performance and making things possible that were not possible before.

AI and ML is about enabling our users to become super humans

Really, AI and ML is about enabling our users to become super humans. Getting this right can ensure AI is working in everyone's best interests while delivering the transformative results we're all looking for.

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Will AI take the "human" out of human resources?

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The use of AI and ML in HCM continues to be transformative, as Angelique de Vries, EMEA president, Workday explores

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As module 6 pertains to Human Resources, I constantly thought of a character from The Office named Toby. The reason why i did was because Toby acts as the HR department in the series and is tasked with managing employee relations with one another, the hiring and firing of employees, and as a counselor to them. After reading all the material for the module, I understood how important his role was in the series and how important the job is for every business

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Learning about leaders and different types of leadership styles was a very fun thing to read. As I was reading, the cartoon above is something that lingered in the back of my mind. It shows the difference between what a boss and a leader would do and it is a very powerful cartoon. After reading the material, I will use what I learned and implement it more into my everyday life

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Module 7 also talked about motivation and the different types that can be offered. The image above is of Tony Robins, a very successful motivational speaker. As i was reading this section of the module, I was having flashbacks to when, as a child, my parents would play speeches of Tony Robins in the morning to help me get the extra kick to my day. The material helped me understand further what kinds of motivation I was listening to back then.

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One of the things module 8 taught me was to identify how objectives and standards define business practices and knowing what actions a business will take. This feels closely how famous Chef Ramsey in his show MasterChef looks for his next chef. He is putting all these talented cooks in a competition to see what cooking practices they have and if they meet the standards of a Michelin chef.

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As I learned more about control management and the tools used to utilize it, McDonalds came up as a prime example of TQM. McDonalds has to make sure that they offer great quality food at a great price and that the company achieves a positive net income at the end of the day. After reading the material and comparing it to the practices from Mcdonalds, I know understand how knowing these practices can help a major business flourish in the market