Remodeling the HR Operating Model for Gen AI Is Not an HR Project
KPMG frames HR operating model redesign as an HR initiative. It is an enterprise initiative with HR as the architect.
Three Takeaways
- 1
HR cannot redesign the enterprise operating model from inside a siloed HR function.
- 2
The mandate requires a seat at the strategy table, not a project workstream.
- 3
Most Gen AI HR transformations fail because HR was given the problem but not the authority.
KPMG identifies remodeling the HR operating model as the first step in creating Gen AI value. This is right. But the framing understates the organizational lift required.
What Remodeling Actually Means
Remodeling the HR operating model for Gen AI is not about deploying a chatbot for HR service delivery or automating job postings. It means redesigning how HR makes decisions, what HR is accountable for, and what capabilities HR needs to lead enterprise-wide workforce transformation.
This is a different scope. Most organizations treat it as the former. The latter is what Gen AI actually requires.
The Authority Problem
Here is the constraint most organizations will not name: HR cannot redesign the enterprise operating model without enterprise authority.
When HR is given a Gen AI workstream and asked to report back in 90 days, that is not operating model transformation. That is a pilot with a deadline.
Real operating model redesign requires HR to have standing in strategic decisions about how work gets done. Not as a support function. As the architect.
The Organizational Precondition
Before an organization can restructure its HR operating model for Gen AI, it has to answer a structural question: Does HR have the authority to make and enforce decisions about how work gets done across the enterprise?
If the answer is no, Gen AI adoption will produce scattered pilots, inconsistent implementation, and marginal returns.
What High-Performing Organizations Do Differently
The organizations getting real Gen AI value elevated HR into the transformation core before the technology decision. They asked: Who owns the question of how work gets done? Then they gave that function teeth.
Source: KPMG, "HR holds the keys to creating value from generative AI," 2024
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About GeneralArc
GeneralArc is operating model architecture for the AI transition. Its methodology was built across more than two decades inside the operating models of JPMorgan Chase, McKinsey & Company, Nomura, and Deutsche Bank — leading change across 100,000+ employees.
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