Guest editor's note: Building intellectual capital through partnership—the center for advanced human resource studies at Cornell University
✍ Scribed by John W. Boudreau
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2009
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 290 KB
- Volume
- 35
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0090-4848
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Organizational capability, agility, intellectual capital, employee value added-every day brings the latest phrase or buzzword saying that people matter. Managing people well brings organizational success and competitive advantage. Managing people poorly may bring disaster. It isn't just the "human resource managers" who are saying it. Read the latest interviews with Bill Gates, Andy Grove, Larry Bossidy, Jack Welch, Bob Allen, and Michael Eisner. All assert that excellence in people is the key to their organizations' future. Experts admonish that managers must identify and nurture core competencies, in boundaryless and global organizations. They must engage the heart, mind, and spirit of every person in their organization; but don't bother offering lifetime employment guarantees, don't substitute layoffs for "true" reengineering, and master the new "contract" with a more self-reliant and independent employee, loyal to "Me, Inc.," but not to any one organization. Ask many CEOs what their most difficult decision is, and they'll likely say, "downsizing," "nurturing global leadership," or some other thorny people issue.
Are human resource (HR) issues at the table, where key decisions are made? Of course. Not just at the table, but front and center. Yet, the human resource "department" often is not. Proposals abound to abolish traditional human resources in favor of high-flex alliances of vendors, consultants, and internal change agents. If ever organizations could tolerate HR roles built on "administrative" efficiency, that time is gone. Organization leaders increasingly demand that human resource professionals offer answers that work and investments in people that yield tangible contributions to the organization's goals. Too often, human resource management seems driven by fads. Too often, the science of HR offers little solid information about what works. Hype abounds, but rigorous guidelines are elusive. This is not for lack of scientific activity. Human behavior at work is