Putting Lean HR into practice: Shifting the focus from cost reduction to operational excellence
| Pages | 16-19 |
| Date | 12 August 2007 |
| Published date | 12 August 2007 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390980000981 |
| Author | Nicholas J. Higgins |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
16
16 Volume 6 Issue 4 May/June 2007
VER THE PAST TWO decades, the HR
function has changed beyond recognition.
Once there was a personnel function
manually recording individual employee
details, acting as guardian of the organization’s
recruitment process and holding main responsibility for
industrial relations and payroll. Now the HR function
has a potential remit that covers 93 main activities,
stretching from HR governance and organization
design and change, through to reward, performance,
learning and development, talent, employee relations
and communications, resourcing, HR information
systems, measurement and payroll.
Where once HR functions were commonly
centralized and sited at head office, there are now
multiple sites across the globe with matrix-type
reporting lines – centers of excellence, shared services,
individual country structures, outsourcing and
off-shoring – facilitated by the onset of “e-enablement.”
It’s not uncommon to find HR functions in
multinationals that are staffed with over 2,000 people
and hold budgets of over £50 million, making them
business units in themselves.
Increasingly, HR can identify its value proposition
within its role of improving and/or maintaining
organizational performance by supplying a portfolio of
“HR product-services” through “HR delivery channels.”
HR activities and processes have evolved into elaborate
“systems,” while organizational and HR operational risk
is now the focus in relation to compliance. Therefore,
effectiveness, efficiency and performance are the key
drivers of HR’s existence. As a result, business concepts
such as supply chain management excellence, lean
operations and Six Sigma methodologies are equally as
applicable to HR where operational excellence is sought.
O
by Nicholas J Higgins, Valuentis
Putting Lean HR
into practice
Shifting the focus from cost reduction to
operational excellence
The HR function is
increasingly driven by
effectiveness, efficiency
and performance.This
means taking a structured
approach to HR
operational excellence
and applying business
metrics and
methodologies. Nicholas J
Higgins, CEO of Valuentis
and dean of the
International School of
Human Capital
Management, explains
how the concept of Lean
HR can bring clarity to
the cost-value relationship.
FEATURES AT A GLANCE
,
,
,
,
PUTTING LEAN HR INTO
PRACTICE
INNOVAPOST BRIDGES THE
COMPETENCY GAP
THE VIRTUOUS CYCLE OF
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
SHARED SERVICES THAT WORK
FOR THE BUSINESS
THE BENEFITS OF
PARTNERSHIP FOR OD AND HR
,
© Melcrum publishing 2007.For more information visit our website www.melcrum.com or e-mail info@melcrum.com
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