Is HR looking for a seat at the wrong table?

We’re on a quick road-trip vacation so I’m rereading Clayton Christensen’s classic The Innovator’s Dilemma while Barry drives and thinking about how it applies to the business of HR.  Mostly I’m wondering why HR is so enamored of competency models.

Competency models focus on what the company needs to satisfy existing customers, not what’s needed to defend against disruptive innovations.   Companies that haven’t figured it out are probably offering HR a seat at the competency table.  What are the companies who are planning for their own disruptive innovations doing, I wonder?

Dan Pink, who described our future as a Free Agent Nation, has talked about the employee of the future in terms that don’t include traditional competencies.  He predicts that many of the competencies of today will be offshored to India as their population ramps up to meet our corporate needs.

I wonder, will HR’s seat be offshored too?