What does your human resources department do? More particularly, what should it be doing? A recent survey of more than 1,000 human resources and employee relations executives in North America sheds light on these and other questions.

Business faces a set of critical human problems, and is downgrading the very human resource departments which are supposed to help it to find solutions. Argues that salvation lies in the hands of human resource specialists themselves, who must switch from being administrators and huggers to...

Booming on the surface, US planemaker Boeing is a company in transition. Its jets represented two‐thirds of the dollar value of all commercial airplanes ordered last year. Its defence division, already the prime contractor on NASA’s space station, is competing on the Joint Strike Fighter jet...

What is the McDonald’s recipe for international success? Describes how the company translates its winning human resource practices into many different cultural settings.

If you sense that there are underlying concerns in your company about a major new development or problem, how do you bring them to the surface? One solution is to hold an agendaless meeting, at which employees sit in a circle and are invited to speak out about the matters on their mind. Explores...

How does your company ensure the effectiveness of its research and development (R&D)? There is, of course, no easy or foolproof way. US firm Westinghouse believes that assessment by the businesses of R&D’s performance against ambitious, quantifiable and mutually set objectives is crucial. But...

A number of leading US firms have gained substantial benefits from process‐redesign efforts; global best practices are in place and efficiencies have been won. In recent years, process management has been maturing at firms like Corning, Du Pont, the Gartner Group, Hewlett‐Packard, Marion...

Computer‐based training has been around for a while, but available technology has limited its impact. Recently, more powerful personal computers (PCs), laser‐disk storage and better graphics have allowed this tool to support a learning organization. This article explains how.

Your company has a rising young star who is energetic, hardworking and good at his job. You pay him a great salary and provide generous benefits. But still he expresses his intention to leave. You perceive his “disloyalty” to the firm as “typical of his generation”. But could you have...

The automotive industry is fairly traditional when it comes to training. Companies generally hire a vendor who delivers a packaged program. A lot of “off the shelf” and generic training has been painstakingly developed for the industry. It is unusual for automotive firms to go to the...