research - Society for Human Resource Management

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.

2 978-0-9553273-8-4 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 ?

3 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

4 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.

5 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.

6 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, 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.

7 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.

8 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.

9 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 . Diffi cu ltiesinc lu de un cer tain ty over the ap pro ac h, in adequate preparationand weak implementatio n.

10 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.