I frequently get accused of being too negative (some might say snarky) when I pontificate about the Society for Human Resource Management, and I’m willing to cop to that. From my perspective, SHRM doesn’t get scrutinized nearly enough, and lord knows, they aren’t particularly introspective, at least as far as I can see.

In other words, unless Workforce Management is willing to take a hard look at what SHRM is doing , it just won’t get done, because none of the other major publications or Web sites in the human resources arena seems inclined to do so.

So, here’s a question about SHRM and its annual conference in June in New Orleans: Is there a subtle message in Sheryl Crow being booked as the big musical act at the conference this year?

If that seems like a silly question, consider who SHRM booked for musical entertainment at the last few conferences: Lionel Ritchie in 2008 and Michael McDonald, Gladys Knight and Hall & Oates immediately before that.

There’s nothing wrong with those fine entertainers, of course, but they all seem to have one thing in common—they’re a bit dated and reflect the thinking and musical tastes of the 1970s and ’80s instead of today.

We’ve tweaked the SHRM conference organizers for these classic musical choices in the past, so it is only fair to note that Sheryl Crow is a very contemporary entertainer and jumps SHRM from the early 1980s of Lionel Richie last June to something much more relevant and current.

If nothing else, this is a smart pick because Crow might actually be a draw for many HR people who are wavering about attending the conference in a year when people are making very tough choices about every single trip they take.

Having a contemporary entertainer like Crow on the program might actually be a savvy marketing move for a conference that needs to stay current and relevant. And, although there are certainly those who will still sneer at the choice and complain that Crow isn’t current enough, the choice represents a quantum leap for SHRM. After all, you can’t expect them to go from Michael McDonald to Leona Lewis in one fell swoop.

I don’t know how much new SHRM president Laurence “Lon” G. O’Neil had to do with this choice, but I’m willing to give him credit since it happened on his watch. And maybe, just maybe, it shows that SHRM’s leadership is finally starting to be a little more responsive, in general, to some of the valid gripes that seemed in past years to just fall on deaf ears.

Of course, this could all be speculative nonsense. It could just be that someone at SHRM got really lucky in booking Sheryl Crow, and that it means nothing beyond that. But as a longtime SHRM critic, I’m trying real hard to keep my New Year’s resolution and, in 2009, work harder to give SHRM the benefit of the doubt.

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