Human Resource Champions

Author: Dave Ulrich
Copyright: 1996
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Location: Boston
# of Pages: 281
Price:  $35.00
ISBN-10: 0875847196
ISBN-13: 978-0875847191
Date of Review: January, 2008

This book urges human resources to redefine itself in terms of what it delivers rather than what it does. Human resources deliverables are categorized as strategy execution, administrative efficiency, employee contribution, and building capacity for change. This redefinition is necessary to respond to competitive challenges such as technological change, the need to build capability, the need to attract and retain competence and intellectual capital, and increased customer demands. Ulrich implies that, if these challenges are not met through delivering results, internal HR offices face outsourcing.

Ulrich sees HR professionals as taking on four roles: strategic partner, administrative expert, employee champion, and change agent. As strategic partner, the role of human resources is to take a major role in turning organizational strategic statements into a set of organizational actions. The strategic partner role also includes taking an active role in organizational design through organizational assessment, setting priorities, and providing leadership in organizational improvement projects.

As administrative experts, human resources professionals take on responsibility for improving process and defining their product delivery model. A step-by-step work flow improvement process is presented. In addition, human resources must assess how services are delivered and make changes so that services are delivered optimally for their customers. Some of the product delivery models described include broker of services, centers of excellence, service center, and an integrated approach.

As employee champions, human resources professionals are responsible for fostering employee contribution through employee training and development, balancing employee demands and resources, exhibiting concern for employees and due process, and dealing with the impact of technological change on work processes.

As change agents, human resources professionals are responsible for developing an organization's capacity to continually deal with change caused by new initiatives, new processes, and cultural adaptations. Ulrich describes pitfalls in the change process by listing ten reasons why change does not produce desired change including the change not being tied to strategy, the change being seen as a fad or quick fix, and lack of leadership. A process for building capacity to change is described that includes identifying key success factors, evaluating how those factors are being managed, identifying improvement activities for each factor, and embedding the process in ongoing activities.

In addition to undertaking the four roles throughout the organization, Ulrich indicates that human resources must practice what it preaches internally. For example, human resources must align its internal mission, vision, and goals with the overall agency mission, vision, and goals and it must operate administratively efficient programs in support of the agency.

In the final chapter of the book, Ulrich defines a human resources community that includes all employees in an organization with human resources responsibility. As an example, line managers are responsible for delivering human resources programs to its employees. For the future, Ulrich sees seven challenges for the human resources community including the need to develop a human resources theory to provide explanations for what human resources does based on logic much like scientific theories that explain physical events. Another challenge is the need to develop and apply a human resources competency model. Ulrich's model includes business mastery, personal credibility, human resource mastery, and change process mastery.

Human Resource Champions includes case studies that clearly illustrate points, and a number of diagnostics that can help agency senior management evaluate whether the human resources function is contributing to organizational success and diagnostics that human resources can use to evaluate and improve their programs and practices. The book can also be used by managers to better understand their role in improving their organization's intellectual capital. Finally, the book will help human resources practitioners to focus more on delivering services that are valued. 

Review by : Gary Wiggins