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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.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how a leading global company used action‐learning based leadership development to accelerate strategic culture change.

It describes the need for change, and the methodology and approach by which the initiative, Impact, generated significant benefits.

The initiative led to financial benefit, as well as measurable gains in customer centricity, collaboration, and innovation. It was also a powerful experience for participants in their journey as commercial leaders.

Impact was created using comprehensive customer feedback and its delivery involved key customers.

The aim of this paper is to explore the importance and development of HR consulting and change management skills.

The paper describes the results of a study of HR consulting and change management skills, and the practical application of consulting and change management skills through professional education combined with action learning in a major global corporation.

The HR professionals in the study, drawn from a wide range of organizations, industries and geographies, tend to have a much higher level of confidence in their consulting and change management skills than the line managers who participated in this research.

In addition to pointing out specific areas where consulting and change management skills need to be improved, the paper demonstrates the value of increased skills through a case example of the impact of improving HR professional consulting and change skills in a top European‐based and global energy company. Following the review of this initiative and its impact, the paper identifies specific practical steps and methods for increasing HR consulting and change management effectiveness.

Traditional views of organizational culture have one thing in common; they define culture from the inside out – who we are, what we do and how we do it. In this article, the authors suggest that a more robust and practical approach to leveraging culture is to identify and shape culture from the outside in.

They define culture as “what we want to be known for by our best customers made real to our employees through systemic processes every day.” With a practical process, the article outlines four straightforward steps to create culture from the outside in. They are: clarify a compelling strategy to identify target customers; create a unity of identity; make that identity real for customers; and make that identity real for employees.

The paper reiterates that a more robust and impactful approach to leveraging culture is by defining and shaping it from the outside in. When leaders follow the four steps outlined above, they will define the right, customer‐centric culture. In a volatile world of speed and change, customers must be the foundation of organizational culture.

The authors conclude that in a volatile world of speed and change, organizations build winning cultures when their culture efforts begin with customers, then shift to employee behaviors and organizational processes.

HR leaders face a range of challenges on assuming responsibility for the function in their organizations. This paper aims to argue that if managed well, the actions of HR leaders over the first 90 days offer a significant opportunity to put the fundamentals for success in place; in turn, badly managed transitions can hurt the leader's effectiveness at building key relationships, defining the strategic agenda, assessing needs for improvement and developing the plan for creating value for the business.

This paper draws on the authors' experience with dozens of new heads of HR. It synthesizes this work to offer a practical framework for action and specific tips on how HR leaders can make the most of the first 90 days.

It is shown that as a new leader, one has a unique opportunity to shape a new agenda for the HR department.

The paper is written as if the authors are coaching the reader through this transition by asking the right questions that increase the chance of success.

This article aims to describe partial results of the 2012 Global Human Resources Competency Study (HRCS), led by the RBL Group and the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

Over the past 25 years, this ongoing research project has provided the most global, comprehensive, and empirical identification of the competencies expected of HR professionals, and the impact of these competencies on both individual HR professional effectiveness and business performance.

This article points out a number of the key findings of the research – including the six fundamental competency domains that HR professionals must demonstrate to impact business performance – and identifies implications of the study findings for HR talent planning, assessment and development.

HRCS findings have influenced thousands of HR departments, from global giants to smaller organizations in every continent.

Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

It has been a while since the question “What's a Human Resource Department for?” could have been dismissed with a brief, yet comprehensive, answer along the lines of: “Well, it's mainly concerned with administrative stuff – you know, payroll, paperwork, sorting out training courses, keeping a track of holidays and days off. That sort of thing.” Things have moved on apace since then – so what of the future?

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to digest format.

Focuses on the needs of recent immigrant children in Canadian cities. Outlines the problems teachers face in the assessment, placement in classes and teaching of recent immigrant children in a Winnipeg area elementary school. Suggests that there should be specific policies relating to the education of these children taking into account the sociological realities of school life. The policies should provide a context and the resources to support school and classroom practices that enable teachers to define and operationalize sound educational experiences for immigrant children.

Purchasing has enjoyed a change of image in recent times. Once regarded as a peripheral, cost‐obsessed activity, it is now widely recognized as a potentially vital strategic discipline. Yet the ways in which many efficiency and financially‐based measures are employed reflect the outdated idea that purchasing is an add‐on cost to a business. A new approach to measurement is required that supports and reflects purchasing's value‐adding contribution.