Human Resource Planning, December 1, 2004

Copyright 2004 Human Resource Planning Society
Human Resource Planning

December 1, 2004

SECTION: No. 4, Vol. 27; Pg. 26; ISSN: 0199-8986

HEADLINE: Articles.

BYLINE: Vosburgh, Richard M.

BODY:
This edition of the journal combines two articles with great insight into how HR can make a deeper contribution to business outcomes through more well-aligned HR strategies, then closes with one article that strikes a chord in our everyday lives multitaskine during virtual meetings' (Closet multitaskers take heart--you need not led guilty!)
Both strategy articles are brought to us by strategic partners of HRPS, and by individuals and organizations (Center for Effective Organizations at USC and Center for Advanced HR Studies at Cornell) highly regarded for their professionalism and cutting-edge thinking.
The first strategy article is by Ed Lawler. Alec Levenson, and John Boudreau of the University of Southern California's Center for Effective Organizations (CEO), entitled "HR Metrics and Analytics: Use and Impact." They present powerful evidence that for HR to take on the strategic role that is our vision then HR must change from using internally focused functional metrics to using HR's contribution to externally focused business metrics. Functions such as marketing and finance have done that and HR has not. This is not just a challenge for any one organization, but it also sets up a challenge for the HR profession. The authors describe the differences between measuring efficiency (of operational HR tasks), effectiveness (using ratios and comparisons), and, moving up the value chain, impact (e.g., measuring the strategic readiness of individual talent and organizational capability to execute a new company business strategy). Once again, the CEO organization provides data that suggests that our profession's vision of itself as a strategic business partner is still distant from the reality in most organizations today. Not a reason for pessimism: The authors give some examples of what we can be doing differently.
The second strategy article is by Pat Wright, Scott Snell, and Peder Jacobsen of Cornell University's Center for Advanced HR Studies (CAHRS) in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, entitled "Current Approaches to HR Strategies: Inside-Out Versus Outside-In." Do not miss the six recommendations at the end of this article for how to make your HR strategy process more business-relevant! Using the results from interviews, the authors differentiate between inside-out strategies (that sound like a product in search of a customer or the classic trying to "sell what you've got") and the far more effective outside-in strategies (where solutions are developed to meet customers' unique and upcoming business needs). This is about business-driven HR strategies, not about HR functions in search of relevance. Consistent with the CEO article, one key element of good HR strategic planning is connecting relevant metrics to the strategy. It is interesting to note that the key business issues requiring an HR strategy were: retention, growth, and globalization. The key HR strategies developed in response related to: performance, leadership, talent, and HR systems. Similar to the effectiveness-efficiency-impact trichotomy in the CEO article, the CAHRS researchers point to moving up the value chain from HR metrics to people metrics to business outcomes, but with that comes both less control and more accountability. Quite a challenge.
The third article brings us right back home as we are sitting in our business office (or home office) attending a virtual meeting consisting of a telephone conference call (on mute) and a NetMeeting presentation of PowerPoint slides. Ever been there? What are you likely doing? Multitasking! Christina Wasson of the University of North Texas presents us with a linguistic anthropologist's approach to a study of "Multitasking During Virtual Meetings," and thankfully takes us off the hook early by pointing out there is no reason to feel guilty about this: Everyone does it. Rather than using a bunch of interviews or surveys, she uses the anthropologist's toolkit related to observation, then classification, of behaviors. She presents both research and recommendations on how to balance efficiency, productivity, and even politeness within a type of situation that is rapidly increasing in utilization. Yet, how well do we really understand it? And what should the new protocols be that govern appropriateness? I am pleased to mention another HRPS connection here in that our own Dan Ward, an HRPS Board Member and Officer, was the person who sponsored this research at EDS; so thanks also to him for his role in this contribution to our state of knowledge in this area.
Richard M. Vosburgh, Executive Editor
Richard M. Vosburgh, Ph.D.
Vice President, Human Resources--Asia Pacific/Japan
Hewlett Packard