8Measuring the contribution of the corporate HR function
Introduction
The how, who, what and where questions usually raised when addressing the issue of measuring the contribution of corporate HR, becomes increasingly difficult at the international level. Complexities of scope, authority level, cultural, political and legislative barriers are just some of the issues which might impact on being able to trace direct causal links between HR input and organizational performance. The following two distinct approaches can be identified in this area: | 1 attempts to prove a link between people management practices and organizational performance; and |
| 2 methods of evaluation of the contribution of the HR function itself. |
Although there is obviously some overlap here, most of the research into the first approach consists of identifying the type of people management practices adopted and assessing these against published organizational performance figures. The initiators of the practices may not be HR professionals, but rather line managers. In contrast, the second approach focuses on the processes and delivery mechanisms by which the function delivers value in an organization. Much of this chapter details the main evaluation options open to the corporate HR function. We shall examine the following: | • service-level agreements |
| • evaluating high-impact projects |
| • balanced scorecards and HR scorecards |
| • perceptions of effectiveness |
| • measuring the value of international assignments |
| • audits of strategic aspects of global HRM |
| • diagnosing global HR positioning. |
First, however, we begin with the links between people management practices and organizational performance. For many years, practitioners and academics have struggled to prove a causal link between various forms of people management approaches and organizational performance. The attention is well deserved as failure to be able to "prove" that a particular intervention has the desired outcome is problematic for both the
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Publication information:
Book title: Globalizing Human Resource Management.
Contributors: Paul Sparrow - Author, Chris Brewster - Author, Hilary Harris - Author.
Publisher: Routledge.
Place of publication: London.
Publication year: 2004.
Page number: 153.
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