The added value of the HR-department
Dirk Buyens & Ans De Vos
In: Brewster C. & Harris H. (Eds.), International HRM: Contemporary issues
in Europe, Routledge, 1999
This chapter explores the added value of human resource management (HRM) in general and more specifically in decision-making processes. The new competitive reality facing organizations calls on new and different capabilities. How can one create an organization which adds value to its clients, investors and employees? And how can HRM help to realize this? What is the role of HRM in the organization of tomorrow? When the importance of flexibility and productivity is emphasized, how can HRM add significant value to the strategic decision-making process? Is there a role for HRM at this strategic level? Or is its added value rather situated at the level of the implementation of these strategic decisions?
Over the last ten to twenty years, a decrease in administrative practices of the HR department and a growing focus on specialist services such as staffing, rewarding, planning, training and labour relations may be observed. As the economic environment becomes more complex and the organization’s capacity to change has become a crucial issue, there is a growing accent on the strategic role of HRM in helping the organization to survive (see e.g. Brown 1991; Thornburg 1993; Mabey and Salaman 1995; Paauwe 1995; Prahalad 1995; Spencer 1995; Yeung et al. 1995; Scherm 1996; Ulrich 1997).
This strategic objective of HR has been much debated and discussed: ‘HR has to become a strategic partner in the organization’; ‘there is a meaningful role for HR at the top table’. But where do these propositions fit into the reality of a company’s policies? What does this ‘strategic mission’ of HR mean in the Belgian reality? In many companies, personnel administration and sometimes even HR services are being outsourced to specialist organizations. But does this tendency imply that the released capacity of the HR department is filled by activities at the strategic level or does it simply mean that the department is shrinking?
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