New Business Ideas 4 U

Posts Tagged ‘Company Improvement’

One of the possibly contentious issues raised in this thought-provoking book relates to the role of line managers in HR matters. In fact the authors devote a whole chapter to the issue, Chapter 4 Establish Leadership Accountability for Workforce Success.

“The first step is to recognize that the workforce is not just HR’s problem, and that line managers and HR leaders must have joint accountability for developing talent throughout the organization”, they suggest (p87).

In the chapter they make five key points, which I will share with you, commenting briefly on each.

Line managers and leaders influence the mindset of the workforce and its capabilities more than the HR function leaders and managers do: Read the rest of this entry »

So what is a Differentiated Workforce?

A differentiated workforce is one where those jobs, and the staff members in them, who contribute most significantly to the successful achievement of company strategy get special treatment.

There’s a lot in that simple statement, so let’s explore it in a bit more depth.

Firstly, how about the idea that not all staff members contributes equally to the achievement of company strategy? The authors argue that there are “A” jobs, which they describe as ‘contributing disproportionately to one or more of the company’s strategic capabilities’. For example, in a pharmaceutical firm focused on new products, a strategic capability is likely to be R&D, with senior research scientist positions likely to be “A” jobs. In a sales oriented organization, key account sales positions are likely to be “A” jobs.

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The Differentiated Workforce

Becker, Huselid and Beatty, Harvard Business School Press, 2009

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all Chinese readers of this blog. May the Year of the Tiger be good to you and bring you health, wealth and happiness.

On the off-chance that you, as a senior manager or company owner have made a new year resolution to pay more attention to your staff this year, let me offer this book for your consideration. If you are inspired to read it – and implement what you read – your next year may be one of significant improvement in your company performance. If you  choose not to – your choice of course – you are passing up a real opportunity! That’s a pretty strong statement. Let me explain why I made it.

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