HR Strategy

  Possible Reasons Public-Sector Managers Resist Union Actions As with all issues, it would be unfair to make blanket statements that all unions do this or that, but there are certainly tendencies and actions, values, and goals that are quite common in public-sector unions. The following “business-impact” reasons have a …

Is it a good idea for firms hiring to purposely exclude the unemployed from consideration? If you missed the news last summer (June 2010) about the growth of this practice, then you might be scratching your head and thinking to yourself, ‘that’s crazy.’ However, for those that follow trends and deal with job postings …

90% of performance appraisal processes are inadequate. –Salary.com survey In conversations with HR leaders and employees, the talent management process that suffers from the most disdain around the world is the performance appraisal. It’s one of the few processes that even the owners of the process dread. If everyone hates …

Note: This is a “think piece” written to stimulate your thinking about strategic HR. The idea of having a corporate function focused on managing labor resources is one that has been around for more than two centuries (corporate functions emerged following the advent of labor unions in the late 1700s). …

Someone recently asked me to name an aspect of talent management that has the potential to largely impact business performance, but that is essentially ignored by most organizations. It was a genius question … most talent management leaders spend hundreds of hours trying to marginally improve existing practices, but few …

There are many lists that highlight great places to work. Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” andBusinessWeek’s “Best Places to Launch a Career” are two of the most compelling for general jobseekers. However, I have never come across a credible list designed specifically for those early in their career in the …

The World Series is over and the San Francisco Giants won. Whether you are happy or upset with the outcome, you should analyze what it took for them to win and determine what talent management lessons can be learned. Major league baseball has always been a leader in measuring employee …

Most HR measurements miss the boat! Many HR departments say they are a “business partner,” but few can provide any real evidence that they are having a strategic business impact. After years of studying CEO expectations of HR I’ve compiled a list of the kind of questions CEO’s might want …

Many corporate practitioners and HR consultants talk about being more strategic, but then turn around and focus on incremental improvements to strategies, models and practices decades old. When most, if not all, of the practices that form the foundation of the typical HR function today were conceived, times were different. …

Do People-Management Factors Cause Failures? In recent years, numerous scandals and disasters have demonstrated the far-reaching impact of corporate policy, and more importantly corporate practice. While firms like Enron, Bear Stearns, and “systems” best practice icon Toyota had well-documented processes, policies, and procedures, they also all engaged in management practices …