Delivering Results: A New Mandate for Human Resource Professionals [Hardcover]

David Ulrich (Editor), an Introduction by Dave Ulrich (Author), Edited (Author), David Ulrich (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0875848699 | ISBN-13: 978-0875848693 | Publication Date: December 16, 1998

As Organizations Search For Better ways to build workplaces that engage and empower their employees, their managers have turned to the Harvard Business Review for both the landmark ideas and the hard-won experiences that shape the field of human resources. Delivering Results collects the best of these articles into an accessible and engaging resource that documents the most influential thinking on effective human resource management. Here are the actionable strategies that yield results from the factory line to the boardroom.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Dave Ulrich wants human-resources managers to start doing "the real work" of companies: improving customer service and increasing shareholder value. Ulrich, a business professor at the University of Michigan, is editor of Delivering Results, a collection of 15 Harvard Business Review articles on managing human resources. In the lead essay, "A New Mandate for Human Resources," Ulrich argues that many companies pigeonhole human-resources managers as "incompetent, value-sapping support staff" useful only for shuffling paperwork and dealing with red tape. "It's time to destroy the stereotype and unleash HR's full potential," Ulrich writes. HR should be focused on results--for example, by executing strategy and developing better ways to manage benefits and information, he says.

The articles in this book are aimed at helping HR pros excel at work. "Good Communication That Blocks Learning," authored by Chris Argyris, says that to be truly creative, managers and employees must start asking tougher questions of each other and worry less about politics. "Changing the Way We Change," written by Richard Pascale, Mark Millemann, and Linda Gioja, examines successful turnarounds at Sears, Shell, and the U.S. Army. In "Opening the Books," John Case writes that employees are more motivated if management shares financial goals and income statements. The book also includes Harvard Business classics like "The Core Competence of the Corporation" by C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel and "What is Strategy?" by Michael Porter. HR professionals, company executives, and people interested in business management will enjoy this book and profit from it. --Dan Ring

About the Author

Dave Ulrich, a professor at the School of Business at the University of Michigan, was named by Business Week as one of the world's top ten educators in management and the top educator in human resources. He is the author of the bestselling Human Resource Champions: The Next Agenda for Adding Value and Delivering Results (HBS Press).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press (December 16, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875848699
• ISBN-13: 978-0875848693
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dave Ulrich is a professor of business administration at the University of Michigan School of Business and the author of the best-selling Human Resource Champions, Results-Based Leadership, and The HR Scorecard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delivering Results - A New Mandate for HR Professionals, June 22, 2000

By 

Rohan Shearer (Spanish Fork, UT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Delivering Results: A New Mandate for Human Resource Professionals (Hardcover)

Dave Ulrich, considered by many to be the leading voice of HR strategy and implementation, compiles a selection of various authors' essays into a wonderfully thoughtful and practical collection.

This book is organized into 4 main sections... 1. Delivering Core Capabilities 2. Creating Strategic Clarity: Becoming a strategic partner 3. Making Change Happen: Becoming a change agent 4. Creating Intellectual Capital: Becoming an employee champion

These four sections summarize Ulrich's views on the ever chaning role of Human Resources in not only today's workplace, but tomorrow's.

I recommend this book to any business professional seeking to better understand how employees can better reach their potential, as well as to any HR professional seeking to expand his or her vision of what the profession is capable of accomplishing.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A major shift in thinking from doables to deliverables, September 30, 2001

By 

Turgay BUGDACIGIL (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Delivering Results: A New Mandate for Human Resource Professionals (Hardcover)

"This is a great time for those interested in human resources." Dave Ulrich (editor) writes, "Human resource issues have become central to business deliberations, surfacing in boardrooms where executives plan and in conference rooms where managers act. Discussions often seek answers to (some) questions...In many ways, these are not new questions. The difference today lies in the approach taken to answer them: Increasingly, the spotlight is falling on human resource issues. To answer these questions, line managers and HR professionals must rethink and redefine human resources...HR professionals have responded to this increased scrutiny with a major shift in thinking from their previous focus on 'doables' to a new, more proactive focus on 'deliverables.' Doables focus on improving HR practices, upgrading HR professionals, and reengineering HR departments. Doables emphasize actions, activities, and what happens. Deliverables refocus attention on outcomes, results, and value created from doing HR work."

In this context, Dave Ulrich says that while few disagree that HR practices, professionals, and departments should refocus on deliverables or results, discussions have just begun as to what constitutes HR results. And, according to him, emerging questions for HR include the following:

1. What are HR results?

* HR results as firm performance

* HR results as capabilities

2. What capabilities may be defined as HR results?

* Creating strategic clarity: be a strategic partner

* Making change happen: be a change agent

* Creating intellectual capital: be an employee champion

3. How does a results focus shift HR responsibility, practices, departments, and professionals?

Finally, he says that this antology provides readers with a clear point of view on HR results and offers specific definitions and examples of those results.

Highly recommended.