Achieving Excellence in Human Resources Management

Edward E. Lawler III is Distinguished Professor of Business and Director of the Center for Effective Organizations in the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. John W. Boudreau is Professor and Research Director at the Marshall School of Business and Center for Effective Organizations at University of Southern California.

"This is a report of the results from the Center for Effective Organizations' (CEO's) fifth study of the human resources (HR) function in large corporations. It identifies best practices and organizational designs that will help HR develop as a high value strategic partner. The book is for scholars and practitioners in HR management. "—Book News "This work should be of particular interest to HR professionals who are aspiring to grow in their careers, as the results have strong implications for how HR people should be spending their time to add more value to their organizations and, therefore, become better business partners. For HR leaders, this book contains critical insights for how they should be organizing the HR function, and developing and deploying the skills of their staff members."—Daryl D. David, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, Washington Mutual, Inc. "Professors Lawler and Boudreau continue to take the pulse of HR in their longitudinal study. Documentation of changes occurring in the functions related to strategic HR allows readers to become aware of how unaware we are. This work is an excellent read for helping executives and leaders climb out of this era of recession." —Donna E. Ledgerwood, Associate Professor, University of North Texas, former President of the Southern Management Association and the Southwest Academy of Management "As an organization committed to advancing the strategic nature and value of HR, The Human Resource Planning Society (HRPS) is a proud supporter of CEO's continuing analysis of 'the state of the function.' It is a must read and a valuable point of reference for scholars and practitioners who are involved in developing HR's role as an effective business partner. Nobody sets the table better than Ed Lawler and John Boudreau, as they offer a strategy for success. In traditional CEO fashion, this volume makes an enormous contribution to the field; it is a solid research and a great read." —Walt Cleaver, President & CEO, The Human Resource Planning Society

• 1 What HR Can Do 1 2 Research Design 12 3 Role of Human Resources 21 4 Business Strategy 28 5 HR Decision Science 38 6 Design of the HR Organization 49 7 Human Resources Activities 56 8 HR Analytics and Metrics Uses and Comprehensiveness 61 9 HR Analytics and Metrics Effectiveness 75 10 Outsourcing 83 11 Use of Information Technology 89 12 Human Resource Skills 96 13 Effectiveness of the HR Organization 105 14 Determinants of HR Effectiveness 112 15 HR Excellence 126 16 What the Future of HR Should Be 134