Human resource management practice I also available by michael armstrong

The general role

The CIPD Profession Map (2013: 9) stated that the 

HR profession is ‘an applied business discipline with 

a  people  and  organization  specialism’.  Research 

conducted  by  the  CIPD  in  2010  emphasized  the 

need for HR professionals to be ‘insight-led’. Sears 

(2011: 35) reported that the researchers ‘found that 

The HR shared services model at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

The HR shared services model at PwC consists of transac-

tional and professional areas. Transactional functions include 

payroll, benefits administration and the joiners/leavers pro-

cess department. The transactional functions also provide 

services  for  their  professional  counterparts.  In  contrast, 

professional areas organized into centres of expertise include 

functions such as recruitment, learning and development, 

reward, diversity, and legal and advisory.

The  centres  of  expertise  sit  within  the  central  human 

capital services centre but there are definite lines between 

them. Every centre of expertise is a cost centre, but for the 

annual budgeting process all are looked at together as part 

of the HR shared services function.

The  result  of  introducing  the  centres  of  expertise  has 

been  that  specialist  knowledge  is  now  organized  into  

discrete  units  enabling  know-how  and  experience  to  be 

more  easily  shared.  The  new  structure  means  there  is  

less duplication and the improved efficiencies allow more 

time  to  be  dedicated  to  strategic  issues.  Additionally,  a  

decrease in costs has been achieved via a combination of 

reductions in headcount, economies of scale and related 

efficiencies.

Reorganizing HR in the Greater Manchester Fire Service

Following major changes in operations, it was decided by 

senior  management  that  the  role  of  the  fire  service’s  HR 

function was to provide high-level, strategic advice from 

advisers who could work closely with them, backed up by 

specialists. In other words, a business partner model. So 

the brigade began to recruit business partners – placing a 

special emphasis on those with expertise in employee rela-

tions – and specialists to cover areas such as occupational 

health,  equality  and  diversity,  reward,  pensions  and  re-

cruitment.  Finding  candidates  with  sufficient  gravitas  to 

act  as  top-level  strategic  advisers  was  difficult.  There 

weren’t many true business partners about. A lot of people 

calling themselves business partners were really HR advisers.

When  the  team  was  in  place  the  major  developments 

were:

 

●

to introduce a more transparent promotions process;

 

●

to work on the organizational climate and leadership –  

a series of away-days for leaders using organizational 

climate tools such as 360-degree feedback and the 

Belbin Team Inventory;

 

●

the recruitment process was also modernized by putting 

together a resourcing team, building a microsite and 

developing an applicant tracking system;

 

●

to reorganize training;

 

●

a departmental competency framework was put in 

place to ensure HR staff would be able to move easily 

within the organization rather than becoming bogged 

down in specialist areas.

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