Gestion des ressources humaines sur la scène stratégique: 19e congrès annuel de l'APRHQ

Human Resources as a Competitive Advantage

Human Resources as a Competitive Advantage Agendas for the Human Resource Professional Dave ULRICH Human resource (HR) professionals are often typecast to fill pre-scribed roles within their organizations. These roles have shifted from more traditional images (e.g., "greenshades," "police," "bureaucrat," "keeper of records," and "staff") to more modern images (e.g., "business partner," "employee advocate," or "change agent"). Regardless of the traditional or modern image, HR professionals are often typecast, assigned a set of roles. The HR roles are often prescribed by business conditions. As businesses evolved from small, family dominated enterprises to large, complex bureaucracies (Chandler, 1978), HR professionals became the institutional guardians of the businesses history and tradition. HR policies (staffing, training, appraisal, rewards, organization design, communication) brought structure and discipline to emerging organizations. As organizations face the greater challenge of removing bureaucracies and becoming more flexible, fluid, and fast (Beatty and Ulrich, 1991), the roles of HR professionals have evolved into that of learning how to create and lead culture change, to replace bureaucratic control mechanisms with commitment building activities (Walton, 1985), and to become full partners in the business process (Ulrich, 1987). The roles of HR professionals have evolved to respond to changing business conditions. This paper (1) reviews leadership requirements facing firms in the 1990’s, (2) suggests ways to think about how HR professionals contribute to business performance, and (3) recommends competencies for HR professionals to meet their changing expectations. The intent of the paper is to understand why changes are occurring in the HR function and how HR professionals can add value to their businesses. 106 Dave ULRICH Leadership requirements for the 1990’s Change is constant. Pressures facing business require that HR professionals readjust their work. Six themes affecting business performance can be identified which will impact HR professionals. Demographics Demographics represent the changing make-up of the work force. The demographic changes which are occurring have been well articulated in the popular press : − aging population : in 1985, 38 % of work force was between 35-45 ; in 2000, 51 % will be in this age bracket ; median age will go from 30 to 36 ; − more women in the work force : male labor force will grow 12 % between 1985 and 2000 ; female work force will grow 25 %. By the year 2000, women will represent 47.5 % of the work force ; 61 % of women will work by the year 2000 ; − changing diversity (ethnicity) of work force : only 15 % of new entrants to work force between 1985 and 2000 will be white men ; − lower education of labor force : US and Canada score next to last in high school test scores ; 12.5 % illiterate ; pupils per teacher in elementary schools in 1984 (Canada : 15.8 ; Japan 24.3 ; US 19.7 ; West Germany 16.9) ; − family patterns : only 10 % of families today are made up of a working father and an at-home mother ; nearly 25 % of men with young children have told their bosses they do not want to relocate ; – single parent – divorced – child care – elderly care : approximately 30 % of workers help take care of elderly relatives ; – attitude of work force (psychographics) – cynicism – work ethic – mobility – alienation/anomie – stress Human Resources as a Competitive Advantage 107 – homogeneity of work force – language – culture These demographic data have at least two implications for human resource professionals. First, they indicate a large underutilized segment of the work force. This segment includes those characterized by the following : – disabled, – emotionally impaired, – illiterate, – drug and alcohol abusers, – ex-offenders, – homebound single parents, – young urban poor, – functionally illiterate, – displaced with no marketable skills, – discouraged workers with unused skills, – temporary or "rolling stone," – part time, wanting to be full time, – talented misfits, – older workers unable or unwilling to learn new skills, – retirees. These underutilized workers may affect the organization in a number of ways. They may be positive impacts ("hidden gems ; specialized talent") or negative impacts ("lower productivity ; problem workers"). Turning this class of employees into productive workers offers organizations a chance at leveraging their talent base (Coates, Jarrat and Mahaffie, 1990), the impact of these demographics is demonstrated in figure 1. This figure shows the focus of strategic allocation. When resources are scarce, strategies need to be defined and implemented to ensure a stable supply of the resources into the firm. When resources are readily available, it does not require extensive strategies to secure a resource. Traditionally, the scarce resource has been capital, the money to invest in business...