HR Manager’s Bookshelf

A compilation of compilations

A valuable part of any business library is an anthology, or compilation, that brings together views and expertise from a large number of experts.

This type of book serves as an overview of a field or topic, providing a great introduction for readers new to the subject area or, for those already well versed in the topic, a road map to emerging themes and to expert sources who have written other in-depth books and articles.

HR readers will find a lot to think about in these four compilations that survey the future of the field including best practices in leadership and change, organizational development and ways HR management is evolving to capitalize on, and respond to, electronic HR systems and capabilities.

The Future of Human Resource Management

Edited by Mike Losey, Sue Meisinger and Dave Ulrich
424 pages, Wiley,
ISBN 0-471-67791-4


Will there be a labour shortage? What distinguishes outstanding HR executives from the others? What is HR’s role in culture change, in business strategy development and implementation? How can HR help the organization with public policy, ethics and globalization issues?

These are just some of the critical questions explored in this book by 64 thought leaders from leading universities, research institutions and companies such as Shell, Merck, Wal-Mart and IBM.

Among the most intriguing and thought-provoking chapters:

•The new employment relationship versus the mutual investment approach — a call for a return to a more balanced contract between employers and employees.

•The chief integrative leader: moving to the next economy’s HR leader.

•Changing mental models: HR’s most important task — why does so little real change occur in organizations despite all the awareness, words and intentions?

•Workforce strategy: a missing link in HR’s future success — how can business strategy, workforce strategy and HR strategy be linked?

•Human resource accounting, human capital management and the bottom line.

•Talentship, talent segmentation and sustainability: a new HR decision science paradigm for a new strategy definition.

To balance these futuristic views, several chapters describe current practices and models at large companies: GM’s future HR professional career model, life after HR outsourcing at AT&T, a culture change case study from Amex, HR’s role as a brand builder at Yahoo! and “The Winning Team” strategic imperative at UPS.

From the editors: “It is essential for HR leaders to accurately anticipate the future and how such changes may affect their accountability. Without the capacity to recognize and accurately plan for changes in the business landscape, coping strategies cannot be proactive — they can only be reactive — and at a much higher cost.”

Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change

Edited by Louis Carter, Dave Ulrich and Marshall Goldsmith
475 pages, Pfeiffer,
ISBN 0-7879-7625-3


This book’s purpose is to provide “all of the most current and necessary elements and practical ‘how-to’ advice on how to implement a best practice change or leadership development initiative within your organization.”

Eighteen in-depth chapters outline specific initiatives in areas such as leadership competency development, assessment, coaching and mentoring, action learning, fostering creativity and innovation, culture transformation and various change efforts at the individual, team and organizational levels.

The best practices are drawn from organizations such as Corning, GE Capital, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell Aerospace, Intel, McDonald’s, MIT, Motorola and several health-care institutions. For each, the following steps and highlights are described:

•business diagnosis;

•assessment;

•program design;

•implementation;

•on-the-job support; and

•evaluation.

The reports include models, forms, checklists, lessons learned and other specifics of the approach. The emerging success factors for leadership and change efforts include:

•a systemic, integrated multilevel program;

•commitment to organizational objectives and culture;

•focus on changing behaviours, cultures and perceptions;

•competency and organization effectiveness models; and

•strong, active top management support and passion.

Readers may also be interested in earlier volumes compiled by some of the same editors, both published by Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer: Best Practices in Leadership Development Handbook (ISBN 0-7879-5237-0) and Best Practices in Organization Development and Change (ISBN 0-7879-5666-X).

Practicing Organization Development

Edited by William Rothwell and Roland Sullivan
717 pages, Pfeiffer,
ISBN 0-7879-6238-4


This guide for consultants — both internal and external — begins with the message that organizational development (OD) holds “a promise yet to be realized.” At a time when change has a high profile in organizations, driven by mergers, technology and globalization, OD consultants struggle with the following burdens:

•Few of those who call themselves OD consultants are really doing OD. Instead, they use selected techniques and engage in fragmented efforts that fall short of producing sustained improvement in how the organization really functions.

•Where is the O in OD? The more common focus is at the individual and team level. Real organizational improvement requires socio-technical systems thinking and connection with the impact of processes like information systems and process re-engineering.

•There is no integrative theory of change. Collaboration, alliances, stakeholders, politics and knowing when change should be imposed — all these are important. “Change is a multi-dimensional process and OD has been charged with being politically naive . . . if OD is to be listened to and is to be effective, it needs a sophisticated, integrated theory of change.”

•OD is confused about its values. “What OD has lost is its commitment to rigorous, objective analysis of what truly is effective and instead has replaced that with a view of what it thinks the world should be.”

With the alarm sounded, this rich, detailed book guides the reader through the relationship between OD and change management, OD field’s foundations, a systematic series of steps to planned change, insights into a range of levels of organizational change and a set of special issues in OD including the role of values and ethics, technology, appreciative inquiry and practising internal OD.

Contributing authors comprise a “who’s who” of the field including Edgar Schein, Warner Burke, Billie Alban, Margaret Wheatley and Christopher Worley.

An accompanying CD-ROM provides reproducible slides along with resource lists and appendices. It’s a self-assessment tool for OD competencies and a framework of OD practice and practitioner competencies aimed at the future.

The Brave New World of eHR

Edited by Hal Gueutal and Dianna Stone
310 pages,
Jossey Bass,
ISBN 0-7879-7338-6


“Welcome to the new world of eHR. Things will look a bit different here. No longer will you deal with an HR professional to handle your HR needs. The HR portal will take care of you. Need to change your address? How about some online training? Want to check on your latest performance review? The portal is here to help. You can try calling the HR staff, but remember they have been reduced by a third since we went online. Oh, and by the way, most of the HR staff has been outsourced, but our vendor in Bombay assures that the new staff is well-versed in our practices and in U.S. law.

“The foregoing is not fiction, but rather describes HR practice in many organizations today.”

Nine comprehensive chapters by expert scholars and practitioners explore different facets of eHR and how the entire HR field is being transformed:

•from personnel administration to business-driven human capital management: the transformation of HR in the digital age;

•e-recruiting: online strategies for attracting talent;

•e-selection;

•research-based guidelines for designing distance learning;

•eHR and performance management: a consideration of positive potential and the dark side;

•e-compensation: the potential to transform practice?;

•eHR: trends in delivery methods;

•the effects of eHR system characteristics and culture on system acceptance and effectiveness; and

•the next decade of HR: trends, technologies and recommendations.

In its broad approach, this book is a reminder that HR and eHR are not separate topics, but are inextricably related, sometimes even one and the same. While this is especially true for the transactional and administrative aspects of HR, the contributors to this volume trace the strategic, social, demographic and business contexts that have impact on the direction of HR as a whole.

Ray Brillinger is a certified management consultant who helps organizations with change management, HR strategy and performance improvement. He can be reached at (416) 766-9580 or [email protected].

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