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The role of the HR business partner has been heralded as the salvation of HR and the route to making a strategic contribution. Sharon Brockway, director for Roffey Park’s new HR Business Partnering program, explores why business partnering too often fails to live up to expectations and examines how HR at Lloyds TSB was successfully repositioned from playing a transactionary role to a more strategic one.

Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) theory, the purpose of this paper is mainly to show how electronic human resource management (HRM), green employee empowerment, and human resource (HR) business partner role may influence green HRM practices.

A conceptual framework was proposed to test the direct effect of the three independent variables – and key HR factors – on green HRM. Self-administered questionnaire was adopted in a systematic collection of data from manufacturing and service organizations in Malaysia. The partial least squares method was used to test the conceptual framework of the study.

The empirical results demonstrate that green employee empowerment has a significant positive relationship with all dimensions of green HRM practices; the added value of HR business partner role is an important aspect in ensuring the successful implementation of green HRM practices; and surprisingly, electronic HRM was not significantly related with all dimensions of green HRM practices.

As revealed by searches of ISI Web of Knowledge and Scopus, there is no similar work which tested a similar framework based on evidence from an emerging economy. Based on RBV, it is possible to suggest that green employee empowerment and the role of HR as a Business Partner constitute unique resources when adopting green HRM practices.

Based on the human resources (HR) role framework (Conner and Ulrich, 1996), the purpose of this paper is to empirically explore why HR practitioners differ in their strategic partner role positioning. The present study suggests and tests a descriptive model regarding occupational and organizational characteristics associated with strategic HR role positioning.

In all, 100 questionnaires were collected from Israeli HR practitioners. Hierarchical regressions were used to test the association between occupational and organizational characteristics and the strategic role perception among HR practitioners.

Although the findings only partially supported the suggested model, significant associations between occupational and organizational characteristics and HR strategic positioning were found. HR practitioners in volatile organizational environments adopt a strategic role perception. Moreover, years of experience are also associated with an HR strategic role perception. Specifically, the major predictors of attaining a strategic partner role amongst HR practitioners are location of organizational activities mainly in the metropolitan area, and involvement in major organizational changes.

The sample had a positive bias of respondents. Questionnaires were delivered mainly to highly educated HR practitioners in notably professional HR departments. Data were based on self-reported one-time questionnaires.

The research has implications for the processes of academic education and professional training of HR practitioners and also their recruitment in organizations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, recent studies aimed at exploring sources of variance in the strategic role perception amongst HR practitioners are rather scarce. This research helps to address this gap, while also broadening the literature regarding HR communities in the Middle East.

This paper seeks to compare Ulrich's model of HR transformation/shared service organisation (the “three‐legged stool”) with the empirical evidence from the research. The aim of the paper is to describe the journey from theory to practice of HR transformation in organisations as they adopt and adapt the model.

An institutional frame of reference is used for case studies of seven Swedish organisations. The respondents in the 192 interviews are HR professionals, line managers and other stakeholders.

All seven of the organisations adopted the HR transformation as a standard blueprint. Management consultants played a leading role in this process. HR service centres were established, the local HR staffs were reduced radically, and the remaining role, the HR business partners, took on lesser importance. During the adaptation process a variety of solutions resulted, some of which were innovations.

Because of the small sample size, the generalisability of the results is somewhat limited.

The results may useful to both researchers and practitioners, whether they are involved in the study or in the re‐organisation of HR. It is not easy to imitate a theoretical model or a “best practice” model without taking the translation process into consideration.

Previous studies have not examined how HR transformation/shared service travels in different organisations using this number of interviews in in‐depth research. These results show that achieving the desirable HR organisation depends on the translation and interpretations of the concepts in the local context.

This study aims to describe the role of HR in people-related transformation.

Bringing together multiple databases, and the experience of a major consulting firm, this study finds that HR only occasionally is tasked to lead these important changes despite HR’s functional expertise in workforce management and change management.

The paper explores why HR is often asked to play a secondary rather than primary role in these transformative initiatives, what improvements would help set HR up for a more consistently critical role in transformations and how HR organization structure and resourcing changes may be additionally productive.

The paper provides an original and valuable insight into the practical challenges HR faces as it seeks to create greater value.

This study aims to identify recent trends in the strategic repositioning of the human resources (HR) function within the hotel industry, and to explore challenges facing HR professionals as they engage in strategies to develop talent and organisational capability, while adjusting to the shifting boundaries of the HR function.

The study provides a case study investigation based on a qualitative research design. It draws on a series of informal discussions with key informants, in-depth round table discussions with members of the HR function and a rich source of secondary (company specific) data about a recent strategic change initiative.

The study presents a rich picture of the contradictory nature of the strategic repositioning of the HR function, and the role of electronic HR systems in shaping this. It points to the significance of “higher-order” HR capabilities associated with the functions’ capacity to engage in strategies to develop talent and organisational capability.

This study points to contradictions and tensions in shifting the focus of the HR function from “operational” to “strategic” management of talent. It offers four practice implications in the areas of continuous professional development, and building HR and line manager skills in dialogue, project management and the use of new technology, talent data and analytics.

This study illustrates the deployment of talent management practices within a broader organisational development remit to restructure the business and HR function in pursuit of more efficient and effective people management.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the aspiration of Human Resources (HR) professionals to “be at the top table”; what that means; and how such professionals can become highly valued members of business teams.

The paper discusses what is meant by “top table” and the ambitions of HR professionals to be there. It looks at the prevalence of HR in top teams; how professionals are prepared for senior roles; and it provides a model for effective top team membership.

The paper discusses the statistics of HR directors in top teams and concludes it should be no surprise that HR is not frequently represented on main boards. It makes the case nevertheless for HR to be on executive teams and finds about two-thirds of major companies recognise this. This paper describes a model of three key functional roles for the top team member and analyses the contributions that can be made.

The practical applications relate to the development of HR professionals and to the expectations that team leaders – such as Chief Executive Officers – should have from the HR team member.

This paper is based mostly on the writing, models and experience of the author but draws on relevant research papers.

Flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are routinely offered in organizational policy, yet employee access to FWAs is highly dependent upon support from their immediate supervisor. There is little empirical research that specifically investigates the role of the human resource function (HR) in supporting managers to implement FWA policy. Through the lens of HR systems theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine how HR supports managers to implement FWAs.

Using a case study in the Australian Insurance industry, this paper analyzes corporate documents and interviews with 47 managers, supervisors and HR staff across four diverse business units.

This study identifies supervisors’ perceived ability to implement FWAs as a potential barrier to utilization. Five mechanisms of HR support to overcome perceived barriers are identified in the data. An HR system that enables managers to support FWAs requires alignment of HR policies; the provision of supportive technology; an HR structure that facilitates proactive advice and support; HR business partners with influence; and managerial training on FWAs.

This paper provides HR practitioners with insights into the mechanisms that can support managers to implement FWAs or other devolved HR policies.

Applying HR systems theory, this case study utilizes the perspectives of senior managers, supervisors and HR staff to explain how the HR function supports or constrains managers in the effective implementation of FWAs.

Modern bureaucracies are under reconstruction, bureaucracy being no longer “modern”; they are becoming “post” bureaucratic. Defining the post‐bureaucratic organization as a hybrid form provides insight into the intrinsic difficulties involved in the refurbishment of large complex organizations. The purpose of this paper is to examine these difficulties empirically.

The paper describes the case of an Australian public sector agency, subject to “corporatization” – a metamorphosis from a strictly public sector outlook to one that was imputedly more commercial. It focuses on the transition from personnel management to strategic HRM in the HR function.

A series of difficulties affected these changes: difficulties in inventing a new identity; differences in perception of that identity; organizational philosophy towards strategic HRM; unsuitability of extent networks; and identity conflicts. Two factors emerge as the core explanation for the difficulties encountered: the “stickiness of identity” and the difficulties associated with network development.

The paper outlines the difficulties experienced in the putative “refurbishment” of a large public sector agency as it made its way to “corporatization”.

Organization development (OD) and people analytics (PA) have developed and are typically practiced as entirely separate and nonoverlapping disciplines in organizations. We review the principles underlying each of the two disciplines and show much greater overlap and similarities than commonly believed. An integrated framework is provided, along with examples of OD tools that should be part of the PA toolkit for any practitioner. Case studies of what the integrated framework looks like when applied in practice are discussed.