Perceptions of the value of the HR function

This article explores the added value of the HR function as it is perceived by three groups of managers: top managers, HR managers and line managers. Despite the fact that literature about strategic HRM focuses almost exclusively on the value of the HR function as a strategic partner, it was assumed that its perceived value for the business would not be restricted to the area of strategy formulation and implementation. Several 'result domains' can be distinguished in which the HR function can deliver value to the business. Based on our review of the literature, the degree of strategic involvement of the function was used as a second perspective to investigate its perceived added value. To examine our propositions, a qualitative study was carried out in which 97 HR managers, 38 top managers and 178 line managers participated. The results confirm our thesis that the perceived value of the HR function contains more than just the fulfilment of its role as a strategic partner. Based on our results, an integrated model for the perceived value of the function has been developed.     

Designing and implementing global staffing systems: Part I—Leaders in global staffing

The creation of global HR systems remains a real challenge. This article provides an indepth look at six organizations—Agilent Technologies, Dow Chemical Company, IBM, Motorola, Procter and Gamble, and Shell Oil—that have instituted globally standardized staffing tools and systems. The systems they have created and the challenges they have faced are described. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

基于员工个人能力模型的人力资源管理信息化平台

通过对市区供电公司人力资源管理现状的了解、调研和分析,发现目前缺乏针对具体业务特点设计的人力资源管理信息化平台。由此,从"互动"入手,搭建针对公司人力资源管理具体需求的、面向公司全体员工的人力资源管理信息化平台,并着重描述了平台在新员工培训管理中的具体应用。     

Designing a competency-based human resources organization

New organizing factors are emerging as human resources professionals seek performance breakthroughs, with process and competency emerging as key factors in determining how the HR function is organized. While the process focus rides the wave of interest in total quality management and reengineering, a growing number of organizations see competence as the key to enduring performance and to making HR most effective. This article combines experience from the authors' work with some emerging possibilities to describe a competency-based approach for designing a high performing HR organization. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Negotiating the Evolution of the Hr Function: Practical Advice From the Health Care Sector

This paper has two aims. First, to consider explanations for the apparent gap between the paradigm of strategic human resource management on the one hand and actual HR practice on the other. Second, to generate practical advice for senior HR specialists who are aspriring to develop a strategic role for their function. the research underpinning these findings was based on case studies in three hospitals in Adelaide and a comparison of the findings with the situation at Leicester General NHS Trust where the first named author of this article was the HR director and a senior board member. the analysis reveals that specific features of each organisation's history, current structure and management, shape powerfully the nature of the HR function. Moreover, the local shaping factors define the degrees of freedom open to the HR function, so much so, that the notion that it can choose its organisational stance is here challenged.     

Stubborn traditionalism in HRM: Causes and consequences

We examine the widely-held view that “stubborn traditionalism” exists in HR, meaning that while the HR profession has progressed, its progress remains slow, and may not be sufficient to maintain effectiveness and relevance. The data on which the present study is based also showed little change in HR activities, skill satisfaction, strategic role and other features of HR over two decades (Lawler & Boudreau, 2012). This article examines two questions using cross-sectional analysis of our most recent survey of HR leaders. First we find that slow progress matters, because progress on HR functional features is related to important outcomes, including HR's role in strategy, effectiveness as a function, and organizational performance. Second, we explore one explanation for HR's stubborn traditionalism, in the organization's management approach. Our results suggest that the organization's management approach may indeed partially explain a lack of HR progress. The more organizations pursue a bureaucratic and low-cost-operator approach to management, the less their HR organization engages in advanced strategic activities, is satisfied with its HR skills, plays a strong strategic role, implements an HR decision science, and adds value to the organization. In contrast, the more organizations pursue high-involvement and sustainable approaches to management, the greater are these HR features.     

HR strategy and competitive advantage in the service sector

While taking its cue from studies of high‐performance work systems in manufacturing, this article examines theory and research on the potential for HR advantage in the service sector, building directly on recent studies of market segmentation and HR strategy in the sector. The article uses these studies, along with strategic management theory, to put forward a new typology of market characteristics, competitive dynamics and HR strategy in services. Three broad types of competition, ranging from mass market to knowledge‐intensive services, are identified. This framework helps the article to explore the issue of whether competitive differentiation through human resources is possible only in high‐skill areas such as professional services. It argues that opportunities for HR advantage are broader; they exist where quality and/or knowledge are important in competitive strategy. However, seeing the opportunity is not the same as achieving the result. Service firms that identify and pursue these opportunities face the problems of building and maintaining barriers to imitation, and of managing the ‘politics of appropriation’.     

HRM structures and subsidiary discretion in foreign multinationals in the UK

This article uses a large-scale representative survey to examine a key aspect of control in multinational companies (MNCs): the extent of central influence over human resource (HR) policy formation in subsidiaries. This is a crucial aspect of behaviour, relevant for example for the cross-border diffusion of policies and practices and for the institutional distinctiveness of practice within a given host environment. The article assesses how far policy is determined by corporate headquarters or some other higher-level organizational structure. Its novelty lies primarily in its exploration of the influence of the structure of the HR management (HRM) function on subsidiary discretion. It finds, first, that the degree of central control is influenced for different HR issues by nationality of ownership and by international product/service standardization. Second, there is some variability in the antecedents associated with discretion on different HR issues. Finally, aspects of the structure of the HRM function significantly affect discretion, notably the networking of HR managers across borders and the direct reporting relationships within the function between the UK and higher organizational levels.     

Preparing for organizational death: Proactive HR engagement in an organizational transition

This article describes an HR team's call to action in managing an organization's transition from healthy, vibrant, and financially successful workplace to its death after being acquired. The HR team countered conventional practice in two key ways. First, despite being from the seller's side, it acted unusually early in the company's acquisition and operated proactively throughout the integration process. This constructive approach stemmed from the self‐confidence developed in the HR function over years of process improvement and culture change. Second, the HR professionals were motivated (rather than threatened) by the high stakes involved in this organizational transition. Their company—with its industry‐leading business results and a loyal, long‐tenured workforce—was slated to be closed, dismantled, and auctioned off in pieces to other firms. The HR team's mission was to help people deal with the death of their current employer and prepare for life afterward while maintaining a focus on business results. This article shows how HR helped senior leadership handle the challenge of retaining the talent needed to meet customer commitments and keep the business running while also readying people for an uncertain future with many eventual layoffs. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Overview: Strategic human resource management in five leading firms

This article synthesizes findings from five case studies conducted in firms known to be leaders in the management of people. We drew three broad conclusions:

• 1 The foundation of a value‐added HR function is a business strategy that relies on people as a source of competitive advantage and a management culture that embraces that belief;
• 2 A value‐added HR function will be characterized by operational excellence, a focus on client service for individual employees and managers, and delivery of these services at the lowest possible cost; and
• 3 A value‐added HR function requires HR managers that understand the human capital implications of business problems and can access or modify the HR system to solve those problems.

© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Divergence in HR Functional Roles in Local Government

Abstract

In spite of a growing body of research on the position and role of HRM and the HR function in organizations, local government HRM has not received the attention it deserves. This article contributes to research on the role of the HR function by deploying a discursive perspective on how HR managers construct their function's role in the context of Finnish local government. Five discourses are located in the talk of HR managers, which show emerging discursive tensions and contradictions in the roles of the HR function in local government.     

A quality human resource curriculum: Recommendations from leading senior HR executives

This article describes a high quality human resource management curriculum as perceived by one group of customers–senior human resource executives who hire, train, and work with university and college graduates. A Delphi research methodology was used to survey the opinions of 24 members of the Human Resources Council, an advisory body to the American Management Association. The study confirms that the major topics taught in most HRM curricula at the bachelor and masters levels are perceived by HR executives to be just about right. It also presents their views about the relative value of the topics and shares specifics about their conviction that graduates need a much deeper understanding of how and where the HR function fits into the overall business strategy of an organization. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Transforming Human Resources in the New Economy: Developing the Next Generation of Global HR Managers at Deutsche Bank AG

This article illustrates how global player, Deutsche Bank, has managed to achieve a change of direction for its HR function: becoming a strategic partner to the business. Follow the authors step by step in this transformational process to see how this change management program developed from strategy to action, making every HR professional at DB a change agent. Find out how strategic competency definition, human resource development, and state‐of‐the‐art information technology acted as levers to engage Deutsche Bank's HR community on this journey. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The twenty‐first‐century HR organization

Like any value‐creating staff function, HR departments should operate as a business within a business. Others have focused on the strategy and direction of HR departments. This article examines the next evolution for how HR department organization structure can deliver value based on two premises: (1) HR organization should be structurally aligned with the organization structure of the business and (2) because diversified/allied business models prevail, it is important to lay out the five roles and responsibilities of HR that respond to this organization model: service centers, corporate, centers of expertise, embedded HR, and operational HR. The article lays out the duties of each role, the relationship among these roles, and suggestions for implementing this new HR structure. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A model and process for redesigning the HRM role,competencies, and work in a major multi-national corporation

This article presents a model and a detailed process for redesigning the human resources (HR) function by contracting with line executives for new roles and by upgrading the competencies of the human resource management staff while reengineering the HR delivery systems. The experience of a large, successful company that developed and implemented the process is described. The article argues that the use of “best practices” contributes less to creating a world-class human resource management team than to redefining the fundamental partnership role supported by the line organization. Partnering is defined in an operational manner using the HR grid. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Outsourcing HR as a competitive strategy? A literature review and an assessment of implications

HR outsourcing as an organizational strategy has increased substantially over the last decade. However, this trend has attracted little academic attention regarding how outsourcing decisions are made, the manner in which these decisions are implemented, how outsourcing effectiveness is measured, and its impact on organizational performance. In this article, we provide a critical review of the reasons for, the processes involved in, and the perceived effectiveness of HR outsourcing.We investigate the implications of HR outsourcing for the role of the HR function and for the various groups of people affected by this strategy. We argue that organizations should apply both the resource‐based view and institutional theory when making outsourcing decisions. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Modeling an HR shared services center: Experience of an MNC in the United Kingdom

An increasing number of large and multinational organizations are moving to shared services models in delivering the human resource function. It is commonly believed that the adoption of an HR shared services model can transform the role of HR by enabling the HR function to be more strategic at the corporate level and more cost‐effective at the operational level. However, few academic studies have been carried out to investigate challenges to implementing an HR services center successfully and the impact of adopting an HR shared services model on different groups of employees. Through a case study of a multinational corporation, this article reveals that there remains a significant gap between literature espousing the efficacy and utility of HR shared services and the extent to which the adoption of such a model is successful. The financial and emotional cost of moving to a shared services model can outweigh the tangible cost savings predicted by firms. The idea of separating the HR function into strategic, operational, and administrative components may prove to be too simplistic, although it underpins the initiative of HR shared services. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Strategic alliances,organizational learning,and competitive advantage: The HRM agenda

In the context of strategic alliances that involve competitive collaboration, the competitive advantage of a firm can be protected only through its capability to accumulate invisible assets by a carefully planned and executed process of organizational learning. As this process is embedded in people, many of the necessary capabilities are closely linked to HRM strategies and practice. The article advocates that the transformation of the HR system to support the process of organizational learning is the key strategic task facing the HR function in firms engaged in international cooperative ventures.     

Why do employees keep choosing the high-premium health care plan? An investigation of the financial consequences and logic of employee health care plan selections

In 1991, Dannon employees had the choice to stay with their current health care plan or switch to a new plan which offered a lower premium and less hospital cost coverage that better fit the needs of most employees. Both plans were the same in all other respects. Only 25% of employees chose the new lower-premium plan over the old plan. This article reports a collaborative effort between The Dannon Company and Cornell University's Center for Advanced HR Studies to identify the patterns of employee choices, and the effects of those choices on the actual costs that employees incurred. The actual decisions of 287 Dannon employees were examined, and the out-of-pocket costs that they actually incurred in the two years after the plan was introduced were calculated. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Worker responses to HR practice in adult social care in England

In this article, we consider care worker (CW) responses to enacted HR practices and CW attitudes in adult social care (ASC) in England. Our findings derive from a project that examined HR practices and comprised interviews with 18 managers and 58 CWs. We argue that both HR practice and employee attitudes are more robust than other research in this sector has suggested. Our contributions are threefold: first, we present the under‐reported CW perspective. Second, we contribute to understanding of HR practice in low‐wage sectors, research in ASC being limited despite increasing elsewhere in low‐wage sectors. Finally, we question the likely effectiveness of regulation in achieving its aims of enhancing labour supply and ensuring high quality care delivery.