Customer Reviews

Roadmap to Strategic HR: Turning a Great Idea into a Business Reality

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This is a great read for anyone who is trying to understand the difference between strategic and tactical HR. This is not an ivory tower epstile, rather concrete, hands-on recommedations for thinking and acting strategically. Most HR folks call themselves "business partners" but are unable to rise above the traditional administrative role. This book gives great recommendations about how to design and organize HR to seperate the business partnership from the administrivia. There is also an excellent discussion of how HRBPs and HR Specialists need to define their roles and work together. I use the lessons from this book on my job each and every day.

Many people view the typical human resource department as an administrative heavy-hitter, home to experts in processing forms and muddling through paperwork. Employees who want to sign up for health benefits, contribute to a company's 401K or ask a question about vacation or sick days make a beeline to HR. That has always been part of HR's role. But the business landscape is changing rapidly. HR needs to reach beyond its traditional duties and become an integral part of an organization's strategic planning. Author Ralph Christensen, a former corporate senior vice president, says it isn't easy for an HR department to make the transition to becoming a strategic partner. But as painful as the process might be, it's necessary for HR to move forward and evolve. Reading Christensen's book won't change things overnight, but we believe that if you want your company to stay ahead of the curve, this book deserves a prominent place on your shelf.

Human Capital is a trendy term for valuing the "soft assets" of the business -- the people. Ralph's book clearly outlines the strategy and mission that the Human Resource function has in realizing that value for the business. He outlines five strategic components of an HR strategy and offers a practical approach for transforming/prioritizing the work of HR into a strategic offering that aligns to the business needs.

This book connects the multiple HR sub-disciplines and provides the professional with a common roadmap for the HR community. Most importantly, it raises the key leadership issues that must be addressed to execute the HR mission (punctuated with his learning's). The book's integrated and practical focus is a welcomed addition to the HR community.

If you are a follower of Dave Ulrich, then you will really appreciate the implementation of his philosophy at Hallmark. I've used this book for several years as a text in the Master's of HR program at a local college and have also purchased it for my HR team as we redesigned our department to be more strategic. I recommend it highly.

Lana Vilmain
PHR, M Ed
Human Resource Generalist, Employee Development
lvilmain@aol.com

Christensen understands he is "preaching to the choir" due to who has chosen to read this book. Readers of this book believe in the efficacy of strategic Human Resource Management already.
It is refreshing that he acknowledges the reluctance of some to embrace Strategic Human Resources then he gives examples of how to affect change by influencing from the top down in an organization. HR faces a challenge when trying to take a place at the table in tradition-heavy organizations and this book gives tools for the HR manager to build a permanent seat at that table.

Lana Vilmain
PHR M ED
Human Resource Generalist, Employee Development
lvilmain@aol.com

Awesome Book !!! A must read.. Very Practical..

The Author knows what he his talking about..

I love this book! The roadmap lays out strategic ways to achieve goals, especially in any organization. :)