Dave Ulrich
Human Resource Management, Spring 1997, Vol. 36, No. 1, Pp. 5–8
Q 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 0090-4848/97/010005-04
WD5787.005-008 2/5/97 11:31 AM Page 6
ing how to generate and generalize knowl- • How do HR practices impact the intel-
edge). lectual capital of a firm?
These new HR tools will emerge. In the • How can investments in HR practices be In the next
next decade HR professionals will be able to decade, HR pro-
directly related to growth, cost, or other
be as explicit about culture change as they are fessionals will
financial variables? be able to be
today about the requirements for a successful
• What is the economic impact of using as explicit about
training program or hiring strategy. Since it is culture change
HR practices to create a shared mindset,
easier to learn than to forget, mastering these as they are
more efficient transactions, or commit-
new tools will require that old HR tools be today about the
ted employees? requirements
more automated, be completed by others in
the HR community, and/or be discontinued. • What is the economic impact of not in- for a successful
vesting in HR practices? training pro-
gram or hiring
In a simple way, efforts to answer these ques- strategy.
5. HR Value Chain: Discovering the Real tions will connect investments in HR practices
Customer of HR Work and business results. So far, HR investments
HR work has generally occurred within the have not been tied clearly to business results,
boundaries of the firm. As these boundaries leaving HR with the legacy of being soft,
become more permeable, HR work must shift anecdotal, and non-business critical.
to working across boundaries. For example,
traditional programs of staffing, training, and
compensation will increasingly include in- 7. HR Careers: Moving from Stages
volvement of and focus on suppliers and cus- to Mosaics
tomers in the firm’s value chain. Today, Mo-
torola University attendees are 50% suppliers A career in HR will not be linear, but will be a
and customers of Motorola. In the future, HR mosaic of experiences. Linear models of ca-
work will focus on the value chain as suppli- reers talk about stages for HR professionals;
ers and customers participate in the design mosaic career models build on diverse experi-
and delivery of HR practices. ences inside and outside the function, in field
These HR value chains may begin slowly; and corporate positions, as generalists and spe-
for example, McDonalds, Coca Cola, and Dis- cialists, and in working with strategy and oper-
ney are beginning to share information about ations. Mosaic careers focus more on what the
HR practices. Over time, these chains will HR professional knows and is able to do than
likely pick up speed as firms in a value chain on title and position. Mosaic careers are more
collaborate on staffing, training, teamwork, the responsibility of the individual than of the
and administrative processes. It might be pos- firm. Mosaic careers are expanded when em-
sible that McDonalds, Coke, and Disney share ployees take risks and try new things. Mosaic
a training center, a staffing center, an admin- careers prepare HR professionals as business
istrative processing center, and career devel- partners more than as functional experts.
opment programs.
• HR state of the art: HR professionals occurs when firms burnout, stress, or demor-
must know the theory and leading edge alize employees.
In many firms practices for HR tools. In many firms today, downsizing and glob-
today, down- al competition have left employees feeling
• Change and process: HR professionals
sizing and global more like depreciable than appreciable assets;
competition have need a model of change and the ability to
left employees apply the model to a specific situation. employees often feel less loyalty, commitment,
feeling more and engagement. In firms of tomorrow, intel-
• Credibility: HR professionals must be-
like depreciable lectual capital must become an ongoing in-
than appreciable
come personally credible through the
vestment where employees are constantly
assets. accuracy of their work and the intimacy
learning, changing, challenging, and reinvent-
of their relationships.
ing both themselves and their firms.
As these four competencies are turned into be- HR in the future should play a central role
haviors, HR professionals can begin to identi- in acquiring, nurturing, and investing in intel-
fy the development and training they require lectual capital.
to succeed in the future.
Conclusions
9. HR and Intellectual Capital:
Investing in the Scarce Resource The HR of the 80s is dead; long live the new
HR. This essay ends with optimism because
Intellectual capital could be seen as another these nine challenges are not insurmountable.
tool area awaiting HR insight, however, I be- They can be debated and defined, and they
lieve it is more than that. Intellectual capital can be overcome. By so doing, they will frame
represents the collective insights, knowledge, the HR of the next century. The next-century
and commitments of employees within a firm. HR vocabulary will include words such as: de-
It can be an asset for investment or a liability liverables, HR community, HR value chain,
The HR of the
80s is dead; long
for depreciation. Investing in intellectual cap- HR value proposition, HR governance, culture
live the new HR. ital means making sure that employees who change, global HR, knowledge transfer, mosa-
are hired with 100 units of competence add to ic careers, intellectual capital, creating value.
this base annually so that ten years after em- When these words become more than ideas
ployment, the original 100 units is now 200, and ideals, then the next generation of HR will
and the 200 are significantly different that the have emerged. I hope we can judge HR more
original 100. Depreciating intellectual capital by this future than by the past.