Delivering Results: A New Mandate for Human Resource Professionals (Hardcover)

~ (Editor), Edited (Author), an Introduction by Dave Ulrich (Author), (Author) "Should we do away with human resources (HR)?..." (more)
Key Phrases: professional intellect, creating intellectual capital, total performance indicators, United States, Merrill Lynch, After Action Review (more...)

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

Product Description

This hardcover edition is available only in a premium, full-cloth binding. It will not ship with a dust jacket.

The profession of human resources is at a crossroads. Although a small but increasingly vocal faction is questioning both the value and the need for HR, in fact, HR has never been more necessary. The challenges facing today's businesses demand speed, responsiveness, learning, and teamwork-in short, organizational capabilities. And HR is uniquely positioned to deliver organizational capabilities, but only if it is willing to abandon many of its traditional functions, assume an entirely new role, and develop a new agenda.

Delivering Results collects some of the best articles from the Harvard Business Review and creates a resource that addresses the need for HR to re-invent itself as a strategic player capable of generating organizational capabilities. With an introduction from Dave Ulrich, author of the bestselling Human Resource Champions, this collection examines the new skills, roles, and purpose that HR must cultivate if it is to add value. The goal of this timely Harvard Business Review book is to define a new era in management, one in which HR is no longer considered a bureaucratic department devoted to staffing, policy, and compensation, but is looked to as a partner in shaping and directing strategic outcomes.

The contributions in provide an enlightening look at issues such as change, strategic unity, innovation, and intellectual capital, revealing how HR must take a leadership role in contributing to these initiatives. The articles are organized around four categories-Delivering Core Capabilities, Creating Strategic Clarity, Making Change Happen, and Creating Intellectual Capital-to help HR professionals answer questions such as: * How do we fight and win the war for talent? * How do we create value? * How do we profitably grow our business? * How do we facilitate both individual and organizational learning? For the work of HR to directly contribute to employee, customer, and shareholder value, it must guide the development of organizational capabilities that turn strategy into action. Delivering Results reveals the power of HR strategies to influence not just individual, but company performance, offering actionable strategies that yield results from the factory line to the boardroom. A Harvard Business Review Book.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 349 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Press (December 16, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875848699
• ISBN-13: 978-0875848693
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 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.com Sales Rank: #398,410 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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)

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 (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

"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.