Agribusiness

1. Leadership by Human Resources
Organizational Roles and Choices

2. Top 5 Barriers to HR Leadership
• HR and its employees lack business and strategic
orientation
• HR executives not respected by top management
• HR holding on too much to the HR of the past-
paper-pushing roles
• HR unwilling to take the lead in facilitating
revolutionary change
• HR chases too many fads/ quick fixes

3. Module Objectives
• HR Responsibilities and Objectives
• HR Roles
• Management Choices/ Constraints on HR
Decision-making
• Delivery of HR Roles
• Human Resource Effectiveness: Contrasting
Approaches

4. What is Effective Management of
Human Resources?
• Think about companies
that you or someone you
know have worked for or
you’ve read about. What
is it about these employers
HR practices that might
lead you or experts to rate
them as being particularly
effective?
• Employees are valued
• Innovative HR
policies (invested in
employees)
• Strategic HR
orientation: Goal of
HR was to make the
business successful

5. Why is Effectively Managing HR
Critical to Organizational Success?
• Labor costs are a major organizational
operating expense
• People affect productivity
• Having a skilled, motivated, and adaptable
work force or (“people embodied
organizational skills”), is directly related to
firm profitability.

6. Introduction: Traditional (Old)
HR Paradigm
H u m a n R e s o u r c e s M a n a g e r s
A c c o u n t a b i l i t y f o r
M a n a g i n g P e o p l e
B u s i n e s s U n i t M a n a g e r s
A c c o u n t a b i l i t y f o r
B u s i n e s s R e s u l t s
•Think “People” First - The
Conscience
•Less sensitive to Business
Impact
•Leverage Human Assets to
Maximize Employee
Satisfaction and
Contribution
•Think “Bottom Line” First
•Less Alert to People Impact
•Leverage Financial and
Capital Assets to Generate
Profits, and “Delight”
Customers
Source: Adapted from Conner, J. And Wirtenberg, J. “Managing the Transformation of Human Resources Work”

7. New HR Paradigm
•Integrate Business and People Strategic Planning
•Joint Responsibility to share effective human
resource management learning
•Leverage financial, technological, and human
assets to create value, “Delight” customers and
maximize employee satisfaction
Shared Accountability for
Business Results and
Managing People
Human Resource
Managers
Business Unit
Managers
Source: Adapted from Conner, J. And Wirtenberg, J. “Managing the Transformation of Human Resources Work”

8. HR Responsibilities and
Objectives
• Purpose of the Human
Resource Function: to
design systems and
policies to manage human
assets in a way that
enhances the individual
and collective contribution
of people to the short and
long term success of the
enterprise.
• HR Policy Clusters
• Strategy & Organization
• Talent Identification and
Deployment
• Human Capital
Development
• Reward Management
• Employee Relations and
Voice

9. HR is at a Critical Historical
Juncture
Time Period Primary HR
Stage
Key Environmental
Pressure
Late 19th
century
U. S. Industrial
Revolution
Pre-Personnel
Dept.
Market pressures,
Immigration
Early 1900s-
1930s
File Drawer
Maintenance
Market pressures &
WWI
1930s- 1960s Union
Avoidance/
Functional
Specialization
Unions
1960s-1970s Government
Accountability
Government
1970s- 1990s Strategic
Business Partner
Global Market
Pressures
1990s- 2000+ Strategic Player:
Adding Value
Global Market
Pressures,
Technological
Change

10. HR Under Pressure
• Most firms have not
completely switched to
new HR paradigm
• HR strategies are important
because they are malleable
and affect human capital
• Key to differentiate
between management of
HR function Vs. HR
management
• While orgs. cannot easily
change firm assets, they
can change how they
manage people.
• HR practices can operate
in 2 ways:
• increase value
• lower human capital
investments

11. HR Strategy Execution
• Ensure critical HR strategies and processes are
aligned with critical to the business
• Provide insights that lead to
developing/strengthening competitive advantage
• Work with line management to develop and
implement practices

12. Model for Understanding HR Strategy:
Context, Roles, & Constraints
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT
ORGANIZATIONAL BUSINESS
Managerial Discretion
(More Less)
Unilateral
Decisions
Negotiated
Decisions
Imposed
Decisions
Transaction
Translation
HRStrategy
HR
Roles
Transition
STRATEGY
Transformation

13. HR Roles: The Four Ts
• Transaction
– Routine HR
– Day to day operational
processes
– Administrative Expert
• Translation
– Day to day people
communication
– Promote employee
commitment
– Facilitate open lines of
communication and feedback
• Transition
– Execute firm strategy
– Integrate & Develop
future HR practices and
processes
• Transformation
– Massive organizational
change role
– New organizational cultures,
structures, work design to
support major strategic business
change

14. Roles
Transitional
Transactional
Transformational
Translational

15. Management HR Decision-
Making Constraints/Choices
• Unilateral
• Full management discretion or decision-making rights
• Negotiated
• Jointly decided between employees and management or
labor and management
• Imposed
• Out of firm’s control (e.g. legislation, critical customer
demands)

16. Basic Organizational Criteria for
Effective HR Delivery
• Roles and Choices Occur in All Policy Domains
• Integrated Line-Staff Relationship& Delivery
• Top Management Commitment to HR
• Employee Relations Climate of Openness and
Respect
• Ability to balance tensions in HR decision-making
• Competent HR Department

17. HR Competencies
• Masters of Global Operating Skills
• Business Experts
• Technology Leveragers
• Expert Communicators
• Employee Champions
• Change Managers

18. HR Role Delivery: Current
Trends
• Strategic Emphasis
– Ford 2000 shift from mostly
transactional activities toward
transformational emphasis
(reengineering mix of activities
and level of management and
employee involvement
• Shared Services
– Service centers: the
consolidation or combining of
transaction services in an
organization; (Example 1-800
HR)
• Transformation-
Based/Centers of
Excellence:
– Non-routine & Non-
administrative HR
activities that help
transform a firm
– Outsourcing

19. Service Center vs. Center of
Expertise
Service Center Center of Expertise
Role Transactional Transformational
Work activity Reengineer Centralize Expertise
Successful if… Costs are reduced
All HR customers are
satisfied
HR practices help
accomplish business
goals

20. HR Effectiveness: Contrasting
Ways to Transfer Value
Stakeholder/Multiple Constituency:
• Perceptions of customers
– HR should be Customer service-oriented
• Utility: Translate economic utility of HR practices
through financial indices
– People and HR practices generate costs that should be
managed
• Strategic: Practices impact a business’s ability to
accomplish strategic goals
– HR practices should match business strategies

21. High Performance Model
D e m o n s t r a t e s R e s u lt s
S o u g h t b y o t h e r s a s r e s o u r c e
U t iliz e s 'b e s t p r a c t ic e s '
U s e s H R E x p e r t is e
C u s t o m e r F o c u s e d
B u s in e s s P a r t n e r
S t r a t e g ic T h in k in g
R e s u lt s O r ie n t a t io n
A c c o u n t a b ilit y fo r
B u s in e s s R e s u lt s
- I n t e g r a t e d L in e S t a ff D e liv e r y
- R e s o u r c e A llo c a t o r
- M a n a g in g
I n t e r p e r s o n a l
R e la t io n s h ip s
- s p e c ia liz e d fu n c t io n a l e x p e r t is e
HR Leader HR Manager HR Specialist
Success Factors
Source: Adapted from Conner, J. And Wirtenberg, J. “Managing the Transformation of Human Resources Work”

22. Application: Turnover of Key
Staff Positions by Year
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
1995 1996 1997
Year
PercentageOfTurnover
Consultant
Manager
Director

23. Application: Contracts Not Renewed
Due to Employee Turnover
$0
$4,000,000
$8,000,000
$12,000,000
$16,000,000
1995 1996 1997
Year
AccountsNotRenewed
AttributedTo
EmployeeTurnover
3 Year Contract
5 Year Contract

24. Application: Answer Worksheet
Separation Costs

25. Application: Answer Worksheet
Replacement Costs

26. Application: Answer Worksheet
Training Costs

27. AT&T
Exhibit 1. Human Resource Guiding Objectives
The Vision: Create exciting and successful high-performing businesses where people are valued and
valuable.
The Objectives:
1. Design, size, and staff each new company to meet its future business requirements and strengthen its
ability to compete successfully.
2. Oversee the equitable distribution of talent among the entities and discourage unilateral "talent
raiding."
3. Retain critical skills and key talent throughout the transition.

28. AT&T: New Practices
1. The assessment of talent within each support function
across the company
2. The assignment of people to positions based on the skill
requirements and the needs of the new companies.
3. The determination of those who were going to be left
without job assignments within the new organization.
4. The design of appropriate career transition and employee
support programs for all support staff.