Wayne Brockbank

If HR were really strategically proactive: Present and future directions in HR's contribution to competitive advantage

Current business conditions mandate greater competitive advantage from HR agendas and processes. To add greater competitive advantage, HR must contribute strategic value against criteria from customer and capital markets. HR can add strategic value either reactively or proactively. In its strategically reactive mode, HR assumes the existence of a business strategy and adds value by linking HR practices to the business strategy and by managing change. In its strategically proactive mode, HR creates competitive advantage by creating cultures of creativity and innovation, by facilitating mergers and acquisitions, and by linking internal processes and structures with ongoing changes in the marketplace. This article defines and describes these specific practices through which HR can contribute to greater competitive advantage.

HR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: CREATING THE FUTURE CREATORS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN BUSINESS SCHOOL

This article focuses on the development of mid- to senior-level HR professionals through a public program offered at the University of Michigan Business School. We suggest that developing HR professionals requires a theory of competencies about what HR professionals must know and do and a development experience based on those competencies. We highlight how we have created a competency model over the last decade and designed our HR executive programs to deliver against this model. We also show the pedagogical techniques used to deliver these competencies.

HR's future on the way to a presence

The business context within which human resource (HR) departments function is mandating new agendas, activities, and results. Emerging contextual factors such as information technology and globalization require that HR assume new agendas and practices. In this paper, these contextual factors will be examined; the emerging focal agendas of HR will be discussed; and the emerging list of HR practices will be briefly reviewed.

HR talent and the new HR competencies

Purpose – This article aims to describe partial results of the 2012 Global Human Resources Competency Study (HRCS), led by the RBL Group and the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.Design/methodology/approach – Over the past 25 years, this ongoing research project has provided the most global, comprehensive, and empirical identification of the competencies expected of HR professionals, and the impact of these competencies on both individual HR professional effectiveness and business performance.Findings – This article points out a number of the key findings of the research – including the six fundamental competency domains that HR professionals must demonstrate to impact business performance – and identifies implications of the study findings for HR talent planning, assessment and development.Originality/value – HRCS findings have influenced thousands of HR departments, from global giants to smaller organizations in every continent.

Building culture from the outside in

Purpose – Traditional views of organizational culture have one thing in common; they define culture from the inside out – who we are, what we do and how we do it. In this article, the authors suggest that a more robust and practical approach to leveraging culture is to identify and shape culture from the outside in.Design/methodology/approach – They define culture as “what we want to be known for by our best customers made real to our employees through systemic processes every day.” With a practical process, the article outlines four straightforward steps to create culture from the outside in. They are: clarify a compelling strategy to identify target customers; create a unity of identity; make that identity real for customers; and make that identity real for employees.Findings – The paper reiterates that a more robust and impactful approach to leveraging culture is by defining and shaping it from the outside in. When leaders follow the four steps outlined above, they will define the right, customer‐centr...

The work of HR part two: the flow of information and work

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 line managers in two other key areas: information and work.

The work of HR part one: people and performance: using HR “menus” to maximize value for all stakeholders

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 the areas of information and work.

The future of HR and information capability

Purpose - In the midst of the information revolution, HR departments tend to focus their information agenda on HR departmental activities. The paper examines the impact that HR departments have when, instead, they focus their information agenda on improving the organizations information capability. Design/methodology/approach – Our findings are based on the 2016 offering of the Human Resource Competency study that is sponsored by the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and the RBL Group. The data set consists of over 36,000 respondents from around the world. Data were gathered through a 360 methodology that includes self-ratings and HR and non-HR associate ratings. Findings Our findings show that HR’s involvement in leveraging business information has more impact than any other HR department activity on creating value for key external stakeholders. When controlling for other HR activities our analysis shows that 77.4% of HR total impact on customer value and 55.6% of shareholder value o...

Creating a winning culture: next step for leading HR professionals

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, sustained strategy and business results. But while culture matters, it is often ambiguous and hard to define. Design/methodology/approach Based on our research on over 1,000 organizations, the authors have found that organization (culture) impacts business performance two to four times as much as individual talent. Findings The authors suggest that culture is not just a random set of values, beliefs or emotions, but a winning culture turns customer promises (firm brands) into internal organization actions. This paper proposes a disciplined process for creating a winning culture that engages employees in the right issues and invite human resource professionals to step up to this opportunity. Originality/value In this paper, the authors posit that the war for talent may be supplemented by understanding victory through organization culture.