research - SHRM

1 And re w La mb er t Th ere s no t much diffe rence betweenan HR BP and an HRgen eral is t. Th e title isn t th eiratt it ude and inte re st in the busi ness and bein g ableto useHR exp ert is e to sha pe ad vicefo r thatbusi ness. CeliaBaxter,GroupHRDirector, se ar chCORPORATERESEARCHFORUMN ovember2009 The EffectiveHR BusinessPartner All rights part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmittedin any form or by any means without prior permission in writing of the research Forum One Heddon Street Mayfair London W1B 4BD United KingdomISBN: 978-0-9553273-8-4 CORPORATERESEARCHFORUMre se ar chCORPORATERESEARCHFORUMNo vem ber 200 9 The EffectiveHR BusinessPartnerAnd re w La mb er tRe po rt sp on sor ed by Adv iser Plus an d Sh epp ard Mo scow1rese ar chCORPORATERESEARCHFORUMCO NTENTSCo nten tsAcknowledg ements4Ex ecutiveSummary51 Chang ing contex t of business partner st rug gl e of busi ne ss part neri di ffe rent busi ne ss con tex worl d and orga ni sa ti on s are di ffe rent pla ce e imp er at ives tal en t, perf orm ance and ch an co re co nce rn2 Business pa rtner iss t cust ome rs want fro m HR BP ge r and HRD co nce rn erl ying ca use s of pro ble ne ss part ne r term in ology3Ro les and str uc ture of HR BP co re purp ose of struct ure s and se gmentati who m do HR BPs re port ?

2 St ra te gi c or ope ra ti ona l? cts of technolo gy on ro les and stru cture4HR BP capa bilities and mind wl ed ge and exp eri en na l cha ra cte rist ing st ra te gi po rti ng HR ser vi ce s2rese archCORPORATERESEARCHFORUMCONT ENTS5Th e key relatio ns hip at io nshi ps wi th the rking wi th spe cia li po rti ng HR ser vi ces6 Sou rcing and developing HR BP nee d - an d th e ma rke val ue of no n-H R recrui la nci ng th e mak e and bu y ls pro gr di ng ex pe rie nce7 Mea sur ementand cs cap ab il it area s tha t HR BP s shou ld infl uen ce8 Con clus ions and actio core co nex t st fi nal ly ..Rea ding list373Ac kn owl edgementsCRF wo uld like to th ank members who co ntri bu ted to th e work in g grou p on bu si nes s pa rt ner ti ci pat in g org anis ati ons incl uded the BBC, BT , C& J Cl ar k Intern ati on al , Merc k Seron o, Nes tl ,Roy al Ban k of Sc ot land , Qatar Tel ec om, Sc ot tis h & Newc astle and Voda fon ad di ti on , we thank sev eral sen ior HR lea ders wh o gav e of thei r time an d sh ared exper ien cesfo r thi s rep or t alon g with the con tri bu ti on s of Mi ke Haff en den and Gi ll Gran t at CR ou t CR FSinc e 1994, CRF's members hip has grow n to wel l ov er 100 interna tion al comp anies andpro minent pu bli c sec tor org an isa tion s.

3 Th e For um bri ngs togethersub jec t ex perts an dexperi enc ed prac titi oner s throu gh res earch proj ects, even ts and pu bl ic atio ns to share ideas ,go od pr ac tic e, ob jec tiv e anal ysi s and recommendatio ns. As part of CRF, memberorga ni sa ti on s develo p and imp lementmore ef fect iv e bu si nes s-foc us ed HR/OD pol ici es ac ti vely part ic ip ate in cu tt ing ed ge resea rch proj ects su ch as th is repor t th at address issu esre lev ant to larg e emp loy er s develo p sen ior exec ut ives , HR lea ders and the HR team imp rov e organ isat ion al learn ing an d kn ow ledge eng ag e in netw ork ing , peer lea rn in g an d sha ri ng exp erien ces wi th oth er members who facesi mil ar chal leng es enjo y unl imit ed acc es s to CR F' s ext en si ve resou rce ba se of res earc h an d pub li ca tion s, and there so urc es of our part ner or gan is at io ns are typi cal ly represented by th ei r di rectorof HR or OD.

4 Or a sen iorexecu tive in th ose fun y often com ment on how CRF's work mak es a rea l differenceto org ani sa tion al perf ormance an d ef fec tiv en ess. To joi n CR F or to fi nd ou t more,e-ma ilinf o@ crfo k, call (+4 4) 020 7470 71 04, or see k. Si nc e 1994, CR F'smembershi p has grown to well over 100 int ern ati on al compani es and promi nen t pu bli c sec to rorg ani sat ion s. Th e For um br in gs tog et her su bjec t ex perts and exp erien ced pra ctiti on ersthro ug h res earc h pro ject s, ev ent s and pu bl ic at ions to sh are ideas, good prac ti ce, ob ject iveanaly si s and rec ommendat ion s. As pa rt of CR F, memberorgan is ati on s develo p and imp lementmore ef fect iv e bu si nes s-foc us ed HR/OD pol icies ac ti vely part icip ate in cu tt ing ed ge resea rch proj ects su ch as th is repor t th at addressissu esre lev ant to larg e emp loy er s4rese ar chCORPORATERESEARCHFORUMAbou t th e autho rAndrewLa mber t is a direc tor of Corp orat eResearch For um.

5 His repor ts for CR F havecovered topicssuc h as the fut ure of HR,per fo rman ce man agem ent , HR eval uati onand me asurement, th e management ofcoac hi ng and mentoring , th e use ofem pl oyee surveys,the man agementofgl obal organ isations,in nov ati on andcrea tivi ty, an d th e role of HR in mergersandacqu isi ti repor t dra ws on discus sio ns at a CRFwor ki ng group on th e ro le of busi nesspar tner s, an d on th e recently pub lished CRFrepo rt,ConfiguringHRforTomorrow sChall enges. In ad di ti on, in terviews wi thsen io r HR leader s hav e prov ided manyinsi ghts on the ors :Jane Sim ms and Chris AshtonLayoutan dprod uctio n:Artis an StudioPrint and distrib ution :ArtisanDe si gn and PrintDiag rams:Louis a Mat hie5rese archCORPORATERESEARCHFORUMEx ecutive SummaryBus in ess part neringinvolves ma ny cha lle nges,issu es an d debates- fromthe modelitselfto tit les ,pe rfo rman ce, relat ions hip s an d the te nsionsthat seemto go with the Ma ny or gan isationsare stru gg ling to make bus in ess pa rt nerin gwo rk ef fecti vely be th at in ap plyi ng the Ulr ic h mo del itself orho w they inter pret its rol es, str uc tu re and out pu ts.

6 Diffi cu ltiesinc lu de un cer tain ty over the ap pro ac h, in adequate preparationand weak implementatio n. Integrating it s co mpo nent parts iscruc Fo ur dri vers requ irin g chan ge are co nt rib ut ing to this str uggl e under stan din g wh at par tne ri ng is an d can del iver , the imp acts ofa chan gin g bu sinesscont ext , ongo ing cost /bu si ness pressuresonHR , an d the need for differe nt HR cap abi lit ies in perf or mance,tal en t an d ch ang Pa rt ic ular ch allenges aboutbus in ess par tn erin g are ev iden t. Th ene ed to cl ar ify HR BPs cus to mer fo cu s, tac klin g managerconc ern s/sceptic ism, an d no t rec ogni sin g fu lly the underlyi ngcau ses of why th e modeldoes n t wo rk wel l, are th ree. Als o, HR hasbe come too intr ospec tiv e ab ou t bus in es s par tn er term ino logy ne w ti tl es don t mea n bet ter prac ti Bu si ness partnerrole an d st ruc ture iss ues are common.

7 Theyinc lu de defi ning what HR BPs sho uld co nt rib ut e, ho w they areorgan ised vis a vis th e bus in ess and cent res fo r shar ed servi ce orCe ntres of Exc ellen ce (C oEs ), an d diffi cult ies wit h repor ti ng li Techn ol og y, in clu ding outso urc ing, has bec ome a si gnif icantenabl er of some aspectsof HR eff ec ti venes s. Lower co sts, reducedra tio s and betterservicedel iv ery can be ac hiev ed. Ho wev er,outs our ci ng is not alway s suc cess ful som e organ isa ti ons brin gba ck th e servicesin -hou Most or gan isa tion s are dev el opi ng thei r HR BP capa bi li ties inknowled ge, ex peri en ce an d person al ch ara cteri stic s. The righ tcal ibr e of HR BP has as mu ch to do with pers ona lity an dori en tat io n as bus in ess and prof ess ion al sk ill s. Good ju dgementofpe ople and si tuation s is essen tia Get ting rela tionsh ips ri ght is as the important as th e stru ctur alaspec ts of pa rt neri ng work in g wi th lin e cu st omers , ma nagi ngsp eci al is ts and ex terna l pro vi ders, an d col la borati ng with bot hsh ared serv ices an d CoE s.

8 Th os e who wo rk wit h HR BPs havethei r part to play in mak in g a rela ti on sh ip su cces sf ul. It is n t ea syto get lin e ma nag ers to do sel f- ser vi ce work ev en th ou gh th eyare the fou rt h leg of the mod el .8. HR lea ders con firm that sou rci ng hig h-cal ibre HR BPs an dattract in g pot en ti al HR talen t is as mu ch a bu siness as HRcha ll en ge. There are two is su es a dea rt h of good peopl e inmark et s an d fierc e competiti on to get what there is. Animpl ic at io n is for org anisa tion s to reta in good HR BP ca pab il it y atall cost A firm gras p of mea su rement an d ev al uat ion is essen ti al forbu si nes s pa rt ner ing usi ng bu si nes s su cc ess, not HR, metr ucia ll y, HR mu st als o be abl e to mea sure HR BP perf ormanceand con tri bution s. Ex pert ise in rev iew s an d surv ey ing employeeengag em en t, for in st ance is a sk il l in dema nd.

9 10 .We are st ru ck by th e ran ge of ten sion s that HR BPs ex peri enc occ ur in customer rel at io ns , inter na l rep or ti ng, powe rst ru ggles , res ou rc es, an d ro le cl ari ficat ion , to na me but fiv e area ar chCORPORATERESEARCHFORUMEXE CUTI VE SUM MARYIt s es sen tia l to get the basicsrigh t. If HR se rvicesdon tsatisfyusers,th e HR BP s credibility will Deb ates ar e on goingin mo st organi sat io ns. Fo r example, shou ldHR BPs be main ly specialist,mai nly gen eral is t or jus t a go odbro ker of servic es? Sh ould they be mai nly strat egic , or mai nl yope ra ti on al ? An HR BP able to operat e at a st rate gi c level is moreimp ortan t tha n gett in g hun g up on strat egy per We con clu de th at imp rov ing th e effec ti ven ess of HR bus inesspar tner s is a sig nifica nt HR chal lenge,an d changeproject.

10 Wh atHR BPs do will benefitfrom fres h thi nking in th eir purpo se,capa bi li ty an d foc us sho uld be on the HR -l eddi ff erenti ators of tod ay talent , perfo rman ce and chan da nc e on prac tical ac tions is prov Des pi te th is ch allenging agen da fo r HR , we stress that muchhasbe en achi eved by proactivefunc ti ons in rec ent years . Fo r exa mpl e,re du ced costs, improvedrat io s, dow ns izi ng, legis lative cha ngeand bettertran sact ion al serv ic es have been wel l im plem en so, in unc erta in times,HR often has ri sen to the cha llen gesde man ded by the busin ess co nt ext and orga nis ati ons themselves . stru gg le of bu sinesspart ner ingOrgan isati ons have been wres tli ng with how to make busi ness partn er ing wor k si nc e Da veUl ri ch s book,HumanResourceChampions, in 199 7.