Purpose: This paper aims to examine the future contribution of human resources (HR) in three areas: first, the evolution of four waves of HR value creation leading to an outside-in focus. Second, HR insights about individual competence (talent), leadership and organization capabilities...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer an integrated framework for understanding agility. Agility has become an increasingly important capability in today’s changing business world. In this paper, the authors suggest “3, 4’s” to better define agility. Agility can be defined...

Purpose: This paper aims to define and clarify the nine criteria of an effective HR department, and it illustrates how these nine criteria deliver value across four distinct stages of an HR department. Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on over 100,000 respondents from the HR...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact that HR departments have on alternative stakeholders when they focus on improving the organization’s information capability instead of focusing their information agenda on human resource (HR) departmental activities....

In the first of two articles, Dave Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank examine the ways in which HR adds value. Here, they present menus of ways HR can add value for investors, customers, employees and line managers in two key areas: people and performance. In their next article they present menus for...

In the second of two articles, Wayne Brockbank and Dave Ulrich examine the ways in which HR adds value to stakeholders. In their first article they considered the areas of people and performance management. Here, they present menus of ways HR can add value for investors, customers, employees and...

Too often, HR is the first on the cutting block of retrenchment simply because its value isn’t clearly articulated. Since value is defined by the receiver more than the giver, HR needs to identify what upper managers care about to convince them of its value.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that the human resource (HR) focus on “talent” has dominated the profession for the past 15 to 20 years. Much of this work draws on the research from the excellent study and book called The War for Talent . In this paper, the author proposes...

Purpose This paper aims to answer the why, what and how of culture as an emerging human resource agenda. Understanding culture is a trending topic for organization executives and thought leaders. Few deny the importance of culture for shaping and sustaining employee engagement and productivity,...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide answers to four questions on building a better human resources (HR) department: why?, who?, what? and how? Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on the accumulated experience of the co-authors. Findings The paper finds that better HR...