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Human Resources

Many organisations say their people are their greatest asset. Human Resources helps take this
statement from aspiration to reality.

This major focuses on all aspects of people management. It will help you develop an
understanding of motivation at work, how HR functions identify talent to match the needs of
the business, and how organisations ensure that employees gain competence required for their
roles.

You'll study topics including employment relations and workplace conflict, selection and
recruitment, organisational change, performance management and leadership. The courses in
this major cover Australian and international industrial relations and the legal, ethical and
evidence-based approaches that underpin decisions about people and stakeholders in
organisations. You’ll also develop skills in communication and contract negotiation.

This major will prepare you for a career as an HR manager or consultant in a huge range of
industries, designing interventions to support productivity, change or growth, leading (global)
teams, and partnering with senior executives to provide advice to boards.

This major is accredited by the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) and you'll be
eligible for the AHRI associate student membership for the duration of your studies.

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the degree that focuses on management and
supporting the key link in any business – the people. A Human Resources Manager is
involved in recruiting, developing and managing the human capital of organisations to ensure
a sustained competitive advantage for your workplace.

Human Resource Management has a hands-on, applied focus where students work on real-
world business challenges as part of their degrees. They complete internships in local
businesses and our programme aligns closely with the competencies required for becoming a
professional practitioner with the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand.

Strong links with the business community provide unique learning opportunities such as
panel discussions with HR practitioners. With an eye to the future the Human Resource
Management programme aims to position graduates to deal with the changing future of work.
Our programmes are flexible and contemporary and transferrable skills feature strongly.

Students of Human Resource Management develop skills in leadership, managing change,

employment relations, learning and development, group dynamics and communication.

You can broaden your degree with electives in topics as far-ranging as team dynamics,
diversity management, ethics, social responsibility and managing conflict or negotiations.

Human Resource Management is also available as a minor in the Bachelor of Arts degree.
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A strong team is a key asset in any successful organisation. Creating an organisational culture
that fosters innovation and collaboration is imperative for businesses to remain competitive in
an increasingly challenging global environment.

HRM is concerned with managing people to create value in organisations and positive work
experiences for individuals. Students will gain knowledge in areas including recruitment and
selection of employees, performance management, career support and team development.

What Can I Do With a Human Resource Management Degree?

If you're interested in interacting with people daily and are a successful problem solver, you
may enjoy studying human resource management. This degree contains organizational
development, management best practices and critical thinking courses. Once you earn this
degree, you can pursue a position that involves overseeing the performance of a workplace.

In this article, we will answer the question, "What can I do with a human resource
management degree?" while covering what human resource management is and the positions
available to graduates after earning a human resource management degree.

What is human resource management?

Human resource management (HRM) is a function that specializes in enhancing the

experience of employees within the workplace. When a student studies human resource
management, they are essentially learning how to communicate with others, solve typical
employee problems and develop management or leadership skills.

Pursuing a human resource management degree allows you to learn more about how a
business is run so you can keep the business operating smoothly. Many students who
graduate with a human resource management degree will go on to work in an office setting as
they recruit, onboard and train new employees.

They may also implement different engagement opportunities to keep employee morale high
and to boost company culture. You can receive a human resource management degree on an
associate, bachelor or master's degree level. Starting out with an associate degree can allow
you to pursue an entry-level position that works to enhance the daily operations in the
workplace.

A bachelor's degree in human resource management can allow you to pursue positions as a
human resource professional. You can further your education by receiving your master's
degree and working as a leader on your human resources team.

11 jobs you can get with a human resource management degree

There are numerous possibilities available to students who choose to pursue a human
resource management degree that allows them to build relationships with employees and use
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their problem-solving skills. Below are common positions students may pursue after
receiving a degree in human resource management.

1. Payroll specialist
Primary duties: A payroll specialist processes timesheets submitted by employees and
manages their payroll. They make sure all employees receive the correct amount of
pay and that they are getting paid on time. Other responsibilities include collecting
bank account information from employees, staying aware of tax policies and
conducting occasional payroll audits.
Education requirements: A high school diploma is often required for payroll
specialists. Many employers may strongly prefer candidates have a bachelor's degree
in business or accounting.

Related: Learn About Being a Payroll Specialist

2. Human resources specialist

Primary duties: An HR specialist evaluates the current processes and flow of the
office and implements new strategies to ensure it's operating efficiently. They do this
by building new human resources policies, creating strong employee training and
engagement programs, tracking the budgets within each department and conducting
annual or quarterly performance reviews of employees.

Education requirements: A bachelor's degree in human resource management or business

administration is typically required for human resources specialists.

3. Human resources assistant

Primary duties: Human resource assistants work alongside human resource managers
and specialists to help keep the office running smoothly. Responsibilities include
sorting and filing paperwork, scheduling upcoming meetings, writing and uploading
job postings to help recruit new applicants and other administrative tasks to support
the HR team.

Education requirements: Employers normally require HR assistants to have at least an

associate degree in business, human resources or a related field.

Related: Learn More About Being an HR Assistant

4. Training coordinator
Primary duties: Training coordinators often collaborate with the human resources
department to train employees on how to effectively complete their job while
following the organization's rules, structure and goals. Responsibilities can include
making training materials to help trainees learn more about the organization, creating
a budget for the training programs and building a schedule to train employees.

Education requirements: Many employers require training coordinators have a bachelor's

degree in human resource management. Others may accept employees who have received
equivalent experience working in the human resources field.
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Related: Learn About Being a Training Coordinator

5. Recruiter
Primary duties: A recruiter locates candidates that seem like the best fit for a role and
interviews them further to determine if they are qualified for the position. Other
responsibilities can include researching various social media sites and meeting with
connections to find strong candidates, screening applicants to decide if they're the best
fit and offering or negotiating salaries to candidates.

Education requirements: A bachelor's degree is regularly required in human resources or

business administration.

Related: Learn About Being a Recruiter

6. Office manager
Primary duties: Office managers may complete administrative tasks to keep the office
organized and running smoothly. Depending on where they work, office managers
may oversee the scheduling of meetings and important events, managing payroll and
the office budget, organizing important employee documents, hiring other
administrative employees and planning upcoming office events.

Education requirements: Office managers are typically required to have a high school
diploma. A bachelor's degree in business administration or human resource management is
strongly preferred by employers.

Related: Learn About Being an Office Manager

7. Employee relations manager

Primary duties: Employee relations managers work to resolve any workplace conflicts
that may occur. They design programs that tackle issues in the workplace between
employees or managers and find solutions to overcome these challenges. Other
responsibilities include developing employee policies, consistently encouraging a
supportive environment and resolving any workplace complaints.

Education requirements: A bachelor's degree in human resources or business is strongly

preferred. Employers may hire candidates with a degree in similar fields as well.

Read more: How To Become an Employee Relations Manager (Plus Skills)

8. Benefits manager
Primary duties: Benefits managers examine a company's trends and employee
requirements to determine what benefits package is best suited for them. Other
responsibilities include studying and researching other benefits packages, stays
updated on state and federal benefit policies and collecting data on benefits packages
to build reports to present to management.

Education requirements: A bachelor's degree in business management, finance or human

resource management is often expected from benefits managers.
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Read more: How To Become a Compensation and Benefits Manager

9. Human resources manager

Primary duties: HR managers oversee the management of employees to make sure all
employees are comfortable in their roles. They do this by building strategies to engage
both managers and employees to build teamwork skills and address any issues the
manager or employee may have. Other responsibilities include managing the overall
employee recruitment process as well as building and overseeing the salary and
benefits program.

Education requirements: Bachelor's degree in human resource management, labor relations or

business administration, and a master's is sometimes preferred.

Related: HR Development vs. HR Management: What's the Difference?

10. Labor relations specialist

Primary duties: A labor relations specialist analyzes a company's labor contract and
determines if salary and benefits are fairly distributed. They complete this by
informing managers of any employee issues, conducting meetings between employees
and managers and making sure the policies laid out represent union agreements well.

Education requirements: A bachelor's degree in employee relations, labor relations or human

resources is often strongly preferred.

Read more: How To Become a Labor Relations Specialist

11. Compensation manager

Primary duties: Compensation managers build and maintain the payment and salary
system of a company. They work to ensure payments are correctly given to employees
based on the responsibilities of the position and experience of the employee.
Compensation managers also make sure the employee's payment aligns well with
evolving federal and state laws.

Education requirements: Employers will require compensation managers to have a bachelor's

degree in human resource management, accounting or economics.

Key responsibilities of HRM

Any large or mid-size business will have a human resource management department. When
there is a need for employing more staff, HRM will source suitable applicants.

If the business needs to downsize, HRM will also oversee the redundancy process for the
existing staff. HRM also manages vacation time, illness problems, bereavement leave, and
other day-to-day staff issues.

In the matter of a legal dispute with a staff member, HRM will take over the case. They will
deal with all aspects of the dispute and find in favor of one of the parties involved. Where
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staff are in breach of their employment contract, HRM will intervene and handle a
termination, if necessary.

HRM ensures smooth operations for the staffing of a business. This allows management to
focus on the running of the business and avoids the distraction of, for example, internal rows
involving employees.

In a smaller business, HRM may be the responsibility of the line manager. The work may
take away focus from their daily job, and, in time, a business may need to employ an HRM
officer or train an existing member of staff to take on the role.

Human resource management is vital to business growth

HRM trains staff in best working practices but also prepares staff for advancing within the
organization. This is a key role. By not retaining and continually training new staff, a
business may not grow according to plans.

Experience is not easy to come by and having staff with the necessary skills already on board
avoids many problems in the future. It is cheaper to train existing staff than to source and
train new members.

Human resource management also keeps the business a pleasant place in which to work.
Making staff and management aware of employment law and good behavior at work is part
of every HRM department’s remit. They resolve disputes before they arise, remove staff that
may not add to the overall ethos, and mediate between staff and management when problems
do occur.

What Is Human Resource Management FAQ

What is the meaning of human resource management?

Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and comprehensive approach to the
management of an organization's most valued assets - its people. It is responsible for the
attraction, selection, training, assessment, and rewarding of employees, while also overseeing
organizational leadership and culture, and ensuring compliance with employment and labor
laws. HRM is also concerned with organizational development and performance
management.

What is human resources in simple words?

Human resources (HR) is the department within a company responsible for recruiting,
training, and managing employees, as well as maintaining employee relations and compliance
with relevant laws and regulations.

What are the 7 roles of human resource management?

Recruiting and Hiring: Human resource managers are responsible for sourcing, screening,
interviewing, and selecting applicants for open positions.
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Talent Management: Human resource managers play an important role in developing and
maintaining a talented workforce.

Compensation and Benefits: Human resource managers design and manage all employee
compensation and benefits programs.

Training and Development: Human resource managers are responsible for ensuring that
employees have the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in their roles.

Employee Relations: Human resource managers are responsible for fostering positive
relationships between employees and management.

Performance Management: Human resource managers play an important role in tracking and
managing employee performance.

Compliance: Human resource managers ensure that the organization is compliant with all
relevant federal, state, and local laws and regulations.

What are the 4 types of HR?

 Recruiting and Hiring

 Employee Training and Development
 Performance Management
 Employee Relations and Benefits Administration

What is the major difference between the HR and HRM?

There are Some Basic Differences between HRM and HRD:

They are:

1. Human Resource Management is mainly a service function responding to the

demands of the organization. But HRD is proactive function.
2. In HRM, salary, wages, incentives and job simplification are considered to be the
main motivation. But, HRD deals on job enrichment, job challenge, informal
organization, autonomous work groups and creativity for motivating people.
3. Human Resource Management as a set of independents sub-function. And HRD is a
subsystem of a larger system of the organization.
4. Human Resource Management is narrow in scope and aims at developing and
administering to the people only. But in the HRD, its scope is wider and it aims at
developing the total organization. The basic focus of Human Resource Management is
on increasing the efficiency of people. But the focus of HRD is on building the right
organizational culture.
5. Human Resource Management is main responsibility of the human resource
department. But HRD is regarded as the responsibility of all managers in the
organization.
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HR (Human Resource) defines a set of people who manage the resources related to people in
an organization.

HRM (Human Resource Management) on the other hand, is the entire process of selecting,
recruiting, onboarding and training employees, structuring different company policies
including compensation, number and type of leaves, other benefits, etc.

In short, HR is basically managing and utilizing workforce while HRM is the process of
making effective use of HR so as to ensure achievement of set goals.

What Is Human Resources (HR)? Definition and Guide

Human resources (HR) is the department within a business that is responsible for all things
worker-related. That includes recruiting, vetting, selecting, hiring, onboarding, training,
promoting, paying, and firing employees and independent contractors. HR is also the
department that stays on top of new legislation guiding how workers need to be treated
during the hiring, working, and firing process.

HR is considered by many business strategists to be the most important of all company

resources. That’s because employees can gain new skills, thereby increasing the size of a
company’s competitive advantage over time. Other resources simply don’t have that capacity.

The trend toward outsourcing

As with many aspects of business, HR is one function that some businesses now outsource.
By handing over responsibility to an outside agency to find, hire, manage, and pay qualified
workers, the company can stay focused on developing its core competencies.

Some different types of organizations that will handle your HR responsibilities include:

Professional employer organization (PEO) – PEOs assume complete responsibility for all
aspects of your HR function. That includes finding and hiring workers and setting their pay
rate. Employees work for both the PEO and your company.

Human resource outsourcer (HRO) – Companies uncomfortable with handing over all
responsibility and control of their employee base may be happier with an HRO, which
handles all HR activities but does not actually employ workers.

E-services – Using an online HR platform enables small businesses to maintain control of

their HR activities while leveraging information technology to do it more efficiently.

HR responsibilities

The list of tasks the HR department oversees is quite lengthy. Besides hiring and firing, HR
professionals also take care of:
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 Recruiting  Employee assistance plan

 Background checks  Outplacement
 Drug testing  Payroll management
 Relocation  Benefits administration
 Training and professional  Legal
development  Employee relations
 Compensation plan development

A well-functioning HR department ensures that a business has all of the right employees it needs,
at the right time, at an affordable cost, and it helps support the continued development of those
workers, providing the company with an appreciating human asset.
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What Is Human Resources? FAQ

What do you mean by human resources?

Human resources (HR) is the division of a company responsible for managing personnel and
hiring new staff. HR departments are responsible for overseeing employee benefit programs,
developing company policies, managing payroll and employee records, recruiting and
interviewing new hires, and providing guidance and support to managers and staff.

What are the 4 types of HR?

 Recruitment and Selection

 Training and Development
 Compensation and Benefits
 Employee Relations and Engagement

What are 10 examples of human resources?

 Recruiting and hiring

 Performance management and improvement systems
 Training and development
 Compensation and benefits administration
 Employee relations and communication
 Safety and health
 Employee recognition and rewards
 Employment law compliance
 HR analytics and metrics
 Organizational development and change management

What is human resources and its importance?

Human Resources (HR) is the department within a business or organization responsible for
managing its employees. HR is responsible for hiring, firing, and managing employee
benefits, payroll, and other staffing needs. HR is also responsible for ensuring that employees
comply with company policies and regulations, and that they receive the proper training and
development needed to perform their job duties. The importance of HR is that it ensures the
company has the right people in the right positions, and it helps to create an atmosphere of
fairness and respect among all employees. HR also helps to ensure that employees are given
the opportunity to grow and develop within their roles.
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George Elton Mayo:The Father of Human Resource Management & His Hawthorne
Studies

Elton Mayo was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 26 December 1880 and died in
Guildford, Surrey on 1 September 1949. He was the second child of a respected colonial
family. Elton was expected to follow his grandfather into medicine, but failed at university
studies and was sent to Britain. Here he turned to writing, wrote on Australian politics for the
Pall Mall Gazette and started teaching. He then returned to Australia to work in an Adelaide
publishing business where his views on management caused him to be unpopular. He went
back to study, and became the most brilliant student of the philosopher Sir William Mitchell.

Mayo went on to his most famous experiments – those at the Hawthorne Works of the
General Electric Company in Chicago between 1924 and 1927. He undertook further
experimentation to find out what effect fatigue and monotony had on job productivity and
how to control them through varying rest breaks, work hours, temperature and humidity.
Modern human resources gained a permanent role within organizations during the human
relations movement initiated during the late 1920s. This movement acknowledged that social
and psychological factors could better explain worker productivity and output. The
Hawthorne Studies conducted at the Western Electric Company in the late 1920s initiated the
human relations movement. Mayo is known as the founder of the Human Relations
Movement, and is known for his research including the Hawthorne Studies (The “Hawthorne
effect” refers to improvements in worker productivity or quality that results from the mere
fact that workers are being studied or observed. This observation came from studies carried
out at Western Electric’s Hawthorne plant during the late 1920s.

The experiments validated the idea that people are motivated by additional factors rather than
by purely economic factors.) & his book The Human Problems of an Industrialized
Civilization (1933). The research he conducted under the Hawthorne Studies of the 1930s
showed the importance of groups in affecting the behavior of individuals at work. Mayo’s
employees, Roethlisberger and Dickson, conducted the practical experiments. This enabled
him to make certain deductions about how managers should behave. He carried out a number
of investigations to look at ways of improving productivity, for example changing lighting
conditions in the workplace. What he found however was that work satisfaction depended to
a large extent on the informal social pattern of the work group. Where norms of cooperation
and higher output were established because of a feeling of importance, physical conditions or
financial incentives had little motivational value. People will form work groups and this can
be used by management to benefit the organization.He concluded that people’s work
performance is dependent on both social issues and job content. He suggested a tension
between workers’ ‘logic of sentiment’ and managers’ ‘logic of cost and efficiency’ which
could lead to conflict within organizations.

Summary of Mayo’s Beliefs:

 Individual workers cannot be treated in isolation, but must be seen as members of a

group.
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 Monetary incentives and good working conditions are less important to the individual
than the need to belong to a group.
 Informal or unofficial groups formed at work have a strong influence on the behavior
of those workers in a group.
 Managers must be aware of these ‘social needs’ and cater for them to ensure that
employees collaborate with the official organization rather than work against it.
 Mayo’s simple instructions to industrial interviewers set a template and remain
influential to this day i.e.

The simple rules of interviewing:-

1. Give your full attention to the person interviewed, and make it evident that you are
doing so.
2. Listen – don’t talk.
3. Never argue; never give advice.
4. Listen to: what he wants to say; what he does not want to say; what he cannot say
without help.
5. As you listen, plot out tentatively and for subsequent correction the pattern that is
being set before you.

Human Resource Management (HRM)

Human resource management (HRM) is the practice of recruiting, hiring, deploying and
managing an organization's employees. HRM is often referred to simply as human resources
(HR). A company or organization's HR department is usually responsible for creating, putting
into effect and overseeing policies governing workers and the relationship of the organization
with its employees. The term human resources was first used in the early 1900s, and then
more widely in the 1960s, to describe the people who work for the organization, in aggregate.

HRM is employee management with an emphasis on those employees as assets of the

business. In this context, employees are sometimes referred to as human capital. As with
other business assets, the goal is to make effective use of employees, reducing risk and
maximizing return on investment (ROI).

The modern HR technology term human capital management (HCM) has been used more
frequently compared to the term HRM. The term HCM has had widespread adoption by large
and midsize companies and other organizations of software to manage many HR functions.

The importance of human resource management

The role of HRM practices are to manage the people within a workplace to achieve the
organization's mission and reinforce the culture. When done effectively, HR managers can
help recruit new professionals who have skills necessary to further the company's goals as
well as aid with the training and development of current employees to meet objectives.
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A company is only as good as its employees, making HRM a crucial part of maintaining or
improving the health of the business. Additionally, HR managers can monitor the state of the
job market to help the organization stay competitive. This could include making sure
compensation and benefits are fair, events are planned to keep employees from burning out
and job roles are adapted based on the market.

How does HRM work?

Human resources management works through dedicated HR professionals, who are

responsible for the day-to-day execution of HR-related functions. Typically, human resources
will comprise an entire department within each organization.

HR departments across different organizations can vary in size, structure and nature of their
individual positions. For smaller organizations, it is not uncommon to have a handful of HR
generalists, who each perform a broad array of HR functions. Larger organizations may have
more specialized roles, with individual employees dedicated to functions such as recruiting,
immigration and visa handling, talent management, benefits, compensation and more.
Though these HR positions are differentiated and specialized, job functions may still overlap
with each other.

Amazon is an example of a large company with multiple types of specialized HR positions.

Amazon's career website lists 15 different HR job titles:

 HR assistant  Benefits specialist/manager

 HR business partner  Talent management
 HR manager specialist/manager
 Recruiter  Learning and development
 Recruiting coordinator specialist/manager
 Sourcer  HR technology/process project
 Recruiting manager program manager
 Immigration specialist  HR analytics specialist/manager
 LoA and accommodation specialist  Objectives of human resource
 Compensation specialist/manager management

The objectives of HRM can be broken down into four broad categories:

Societal objectives: Measures put into place that responds to the ethical and social needs or
challenges of the company and its employees. This includes legal issues such as equal
opportunity and equal pay for equal work.

Organizational objectives: Actions taken that help to ensure the efficiency of the
organization. This includes providing training, hiring the right number of employees for a
given task or maintaining high employee retention rates.

Functional objectives: Guidelines used to keep HR functioning properly within the

organization as a whole. This includes making sure that all of HR's resources are being
allocated to their full potential.
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Personal objectives: Resources used to support the personal goals of each employee. This
includes offering the opportunity for education or career development as well as maintaining
employee satisfaction.

Within the unit of each organization, the objectives of HRM are to:

1. Help the organization achieve its goals by providing and maintaining productive
employees.
2. Efficiently make use of the skills and abilities of each employee.
3. Make sure employees have or receive the proper training.
4. Build and maintain a positive employee experience with high satisfaction and quality
of life, so that employees can contribute their best efforts to their work.
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5. Effectively communicate relevant company policies, procedures, rules and regulations

to employees.
6. Maintaining ethical, legal and socially responsible policies and behaviors in the
workplace.
7. Effectively manage change to external factors that may affect employees within the
organization.

Skills and responsibilities of an HR manager

HRM can be broken down into subsections, typically by pre-employment and employment
phases, with an HR manager assigned to each. Different areas of HRM oversight can include
the following:

 Employee recruitment, onboarding and retention

 Talent management and workforce management
 Job role assignment and career development
 Compensation and benefits
 Labor lawcompliance
 Performance management
 Training and development
 Succession planning
 Employee engagement and recognition
 Team building

Skills that can add value to HR managers include:

 Employee relations  HR software and information

 Job candidate relations system experience
 Sourcing and recruiting  Performance management
 Interpersonal conflict management  Customer service
 New employee onboarding  Project management
 HRM software

Almost all areas of HRM have sophisticated software that automates varying degrees of
many HR processes, along with other added features such as analytics. For example, job
candidate recruiting has seen enormous growth in the number of software platforms and
systems that help both employers and job seekers to electronically match organizations and
candidates with each other and then help manage the interviewing, hiring and employment
processes.

While some HRM software systems started out on premises, nearly every area of HR tech,
especially HCM systems, is moving to cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) platforms.
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HRM career opportunities and requirements

When looking to start a career in human resource management, a bachelor's degree is

typically required. Some colleges offer specific human resource management degrees, which
can be one path into an entry-level HR position. Another way to land a job in HR is to
complete an undergraduate course of study in a related field, such as business administration.
Furthermore, several years of experience in operations-heavy roles may prove valuable when
making a career transition into HR positions. For those lacking a relevant undergraduate
degree or translatable work experience, there are also HR-specific master's degree programs
to help build the necessary knowledge, skill sets and qualifications.

Modern HRM history

The birth of modern human resource management can be traced back to the 18th century. The
British Industrial Revolution, giving rise to many large factories, created an unprecedented
spike in worker demand.

With many of these laborers putting in long hours (often clocking in around 16-hour
workdays), it became increasingly apparent that the happiness of workers had a strong
positive correlation with productivity. Seeking to maximize return on investments, worker
satisfaction programs started to be introduced. Furthermore, factory labor conditions brought
worker safety and rights to the forefront of legal attention.

Early HR departments within organizations in the 20th century were often known as
personnel management departments. The personnel management departments dealt with legal
compliance and employee-related issues, and also implemented worker satisfaction and
safety programs within the workplace. Following WWII in the United States, personnel
management departments looked to the Army's training programs and started to make
employee training a point of emphasis.

HR departments started to assume the name of "human resources" in the 1970s. The primary
factor that differentiates HR from personnel management is the technological enablement of
better communications and access to individual employee information.

HRM trends

Job opportunities for careers in human resource management remain strong. The Wall Street
Journal, in an analysis of data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), ranked the
"HR manager" job title as the 35th (out of 800) most promising prospect, based on median
salaries in 2018 and projected job openings in 2028.
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5 tips on leadership from HR guru Dave Ulrich

Dave Ulrich is widely acknowledged as one of the foremost experts on all matters human
resources related. He has also published extensively on leadership, organisation and HR –
most notably the hugely influential The HR Value Proposition.

Here are his five tips for the modern workplace.

1. Create a workforce plan with people that reflects your future strategy
Action: Map the workforce
Leaders need a workforce that can execute the business strategy. Once a strategy is in
place, the next step in cultivating ideal conditions for growth is understanding both
current and future roles in the company. Work can be divided into three types of jobs:
critical jobs, support roles work, nonessential work – and each type requires the right
type of worker. Key questions include:
 Which critical jobs will make the largest difference to your results in the next five to
ten years?
 How well positioned are you to staff those critical jobs with the right people?
 What percent of the key positions have qualified talent in place?

2. Make an employee brand that underlines how employees should be treated when they
do good work
Action: Create employee brand
Just as an organisation must comprehend what it can offer its customers, it must
understand what it offers its employees. Talent and future talent must understand the
priorities a company maintains in relation to their firm brand which evolves with
customer expectations.
An employee brand is a pledge to present and future employees about how they
should expect to be treated when they perform well. With this in mind, potential talent
is likely to choose companies whose values they prefer.

3. Help employees make sense of and navigate their career choices and opportunities
Action: Help people manage their careers
Clarity in what an employee’s goals are and how those goals fit within an
organisation’s future is incredibly valuable to both the organisation and the individual.
Open conversations between leaders and employees about what can be expected
throughout a career allows for clear vision and understanding in steps necessary to
move forward.When human capital developers hold candid, forward-looking
conversations with employees, employees take accountability for decisions about
whether to stay where they are, opt to move forward, or make a more intense career
change.

4. Pledge to the next generation talent that you will give them opportunities to learn and
grow so that they are prepared when their leadership opportunities arise
Action: Find and develop next generation talent
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Finding next generation talent is done by enlisting every person in the organization as
a talent scout in finding talent that is ready to grow. Leaders who excel at developing
next generation talent:
 Coach and Mentor
 Delegate and Empower
 Share Incentives

5. Encourage collaboration more than competition, friendships more than rivalries and
connection more than isolation
Action: Encourage networks and relationships
Leaders model attitudes which set the tone for collaboration, friendship and
connections or competition, rivalry, and isolation. Leaders who build talent know that
to be effective, their teams need to see how their work impacts others. They need to
understand how all the parts of the organisation work together to meet customer and
investor expectations. The bottom line is that strong networks lead to faster and more
robust learning.

Harvard HRM Model: Explanation & Usage

The Harvard HRM model is one of many great HR theories and models. When implemented
correctly, it can help form the bedrock of effective HR management policy and procedure.

What Is the Harvard HRM Model?

The Harvard HRM model is considered one of the most influential ‘soft HRM’ approaches
due to its focus on people rather than outcomes. The Harvard HRM model seeks to provide
an optimal context for people to do their best work.

The model itself dates back to 1984 and comes from the book Managing Human Assets by
Michael Beer, Richard E. Walton and Bert A. Spector.

The Harvard HRM Model in Practice

Taking a look at the illustration below, the Harvard HRM model suggests it is HR’s
responsibility to consider all stakeholders when preparing HRM policies and planning for a
long-term future.

Then, it proposes that HRM must make policy choices by assessing stakeholder interests and
situational factors. These choices result in HR outcomes which will have long-term
consequences for employees, the business and society.
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The model is subsequently divided into five different sections and includes feedback loops to
show that every element of the model affects or interplays with other elements.

The five critical elements of the Harvard HRM model include:

1. Stakeholder Interest
The model proposes that multiple stakeholders’ values, input and perspectives must
be considered before creating any policies. These stakeholders include management,
employee groups, government, the community and even unions.
2. Situational Factors
Before making policy choices, both internal and external factors should be considered
as they all influence how humans operate. The model suggests looking at the
following situational factors: workforce characteristics, business strategy and
conditions, management philosophy, labour market, unions, tasks, technology, law
and societal values.
3. HRM Policies and Policy Choices
The diagram below shows the way HRM policy areas interconnect:
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HR policies require both work systems and reward systems to function. In other
words: HR policy determines the approach management will take to work, rewards,
how HR functions and how employees are influenced.

Employees work effectively when these elements find balance.

4. HR Outcomes
One of the most interesting and possibly best-known aspects of the Harvard HRM
Framework is the list of HR outcomes (the 4Cs): Commitment, Congruence,
Competence and Cost-effectiveness.
Here’s an example of how the 4Cs work:
 If you find the right balance of HR policies, employees commit to
organisational goals (and overall organisational development).
 When employees are well-suited to management styles and collaborate
effectively, you achieve congruence.
 A competent organisation can attract, retain and develop employee
competencies.
 Can you maintain costs while helping employees stay motivated and satisfied
with their jobs? If the answer is yes, you will have cost-effectiveness.

5. Long-Term Consequences
In essence, if you use the Harvard HRM model to prepare and execute HRM strategy,
the belief is that there will be far-reaching, long-term consequences. The model
argues that if an HRM strategy meets employees’ needs, this will help the
organisation compete with the external market while benefiting society and the
community.
Harvard Model of HRM: Strengths & Weaknesses
While the Harvard model of HRM has often been lauded as influential and important, no
model is perfect. It does have its strengths and weaknesses, as we explain below.
Notable Strengths
The Harvard HRM model has been commended because it helps HR leaders and strategists
see HRM in a broader context. By considering the balance between employees, operations
and management, the model offers a robust framework to underpin effective HR work.
Other notable strengths of the Harvard model include:
 Acknowledging that employees are active, rather than passive, agents and play a vital
role in the organisation’s success or failure.

 Helping attempt to balance multiple stakeholders’ needs. For example, the model’s
creators emphasise the need for trade-offs but also remind us that, to be effective, HR
strategy cannot be considered in isolation.

 Reminding us that any HR strategy contains many moving parts while balancing the
input of many interested parties.
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 Encouraging line managers to take more responsibility for employees rather than
delegating to HR.

 Helping HR leaders identify what is within or beyond their control. In addition,

separating internal and external factors to set strategic HR within a real-world context.

 Identifying the impact that seemingly unrelated decisions and actions can play on HR
policies and the entire business.

Notable Weaknesses
The Harvard HRM model’s strength (its all-encompassing breadth of scope) can be
overwhelming and hard to translate into reality. The authors focused on how to create an
ideal model – not how to execute it. This is its biggest weakness.
This model also assumes that if HR meets all stakeholders’ interests, this will result in long-
term utopian working practices that meet individuals’, society’s and the organisation’s long-
term goals.
Unfortunately, while this is a noble and logical goal, the reality is often far different.
Frequently-Asked Questions About the Harvard Model of HRM
Here are a few frequently asked questions about the Harvard HRM model that you might find
interesting…
What Are the Four Models of HRM?
The Harvard model is one of four key models of HRM. The four HRM models are the
Fombrun, Harvard, Guest and Warwick models. Often studied by HR students, these models
provide a helpful framework for HR planning. Using them gives credibility and legitimacy to
HR policies.
Is the Harvard Model Considered Soft HRM?
Yes. The difference between ‘hard’ views of HR management and ‘soft’ views is that hard
views focus more on results, objectives and KPIs – i.e. deliverables. Soft models focus more
on people, attitudes, culture and motivation. The Harvard model takes a soft view of HR but
is not entirely soft since it also considers the importance of reward systems, including
payment.
Who Developed the Harvard Model of HRM?
Michael Beer is commonly acknowledged as the creator of the Harvard HRM Model.
However, it was first published in 1984 by a group of experts at Harvard University, led by
him. The other authors of Managing Human Assets are Bert Spector, Paul R. Lawrence, D.
Quinn Mills and Richard E. Walton.
Putting The Harvard HRM Model Into Practice
Any HR model can give organisations and HR leaders a helpful start when creating HR
policies or managing HR processes more effectively. But, sometimes, taking the time to
research and apply models simply isn’t possible.
For everything from recruitment to HR management and even preliminary payroll, we can
help. Book a demo to see how Personio could work for you today.