1.
HR Business Partner:
A Fad or the Future?

2.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
Brad Boyson
Executive Director
SHRM MEA

3.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
Anecdote about a model

4.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
SHRM’s Top 10 global trends in HR:
#10: Shared Services 2.0

5.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
What is an “HR Business Partner”?
How is the role, title, job different
from other HR roles, jobs, titles?

6.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
If you ask the wrong question,
you will get wrong answer
What is meant by the title & notion
of an “HR Business Partner”?

7.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
Brief History of the
“HR Business Partner”
Phase 1 - Early 90s – be business-like
Phase 2 - Late 90s – be strategic
Phase 3 - Early 2000s – strategy defines
Phase 4 - Late 2000s – transformation

8.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
In theory…
Form follows from Function

9.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
In theory…
Structure follows from Strategy

10.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
Form
Structure
follows from
follows from
Human
Resources
HR
or
RH
Function
Strategy
Resources
Human

11.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
Resource Approach to HR
Fixed Costs
RH
Variable Costs
Transactional Specialized Strategic
Service
Centers
Centers of
Expertise
Knowledge
Skill
Education
Experience
HR Business Business
Degree
Partner
- Intended Consequences “Outsourcing”
‘Human’ Approach to HR
“Learning
“Credible
Organizations” Activist”
Outcomes-Based HR
Attitude
Assessment
Apprenticeship
Tests
- Intended Consequences “Business
Acumen”
“Ability to apply:
“Mastery of
fundamentals” Theory + Practice”
Competency-Based HR

12.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
Resource Approach to HR
Fixed Costs
RH Profession - Approach to HR
Variable Costs
Transactional Specialized Strategic
Service
Centers
Centers of
Expertise
Skill
Education
Experience
HR Business Business
Degree
Partner
- Intended Consequences “Outsourcing”
Knowledge
“Learning
“Credible
Organizations” Activist”
Outcomes-Based HR
Attitude
Assessment
Apprenticeship
Test
- Intended Consequences “Business
Acumen”
“Ability to apply:
“Mastery of
fundamentals” Theory + Practice”
Competency-Based HR

13.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
Resource Approach to HR
AKA
HR from the
Outside-In
RH Profession - Approach to HR
AKA
HR from the
Inside-Out

14.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
Why do we care?
We expect, if not require, “HR Business Partners”
to be strategic
but
Where and how do those people develop the
competencies AND acquire the experiences to
to be strategic if we isolate and / or outsources
elements of the HR function?

15.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
Make no mistake:
Answering/addressing
formative question(s)
precludes success in any
transformative strategy.

16.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
The formative question
Is HR a:
 Management function
or a
Profession

17.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
If HR is…
A management function then…
> you can isolate its activities to leverage
economies of scale & scope; outsource.
(and your “success” will follow from your strategy)

18.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
But if HR is…
A profession then
> treating HR as a management function risks
> creating demands on HR practitioners for
which they do not have the formative
experiences or appropriate theoretical grounding
to be successful.

19.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
In theory…
The theory is correct…
“therefore any shortcomings in success must be the
result of failure in execution”.

20.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
In practice …
Success can only come from choosing the right
theory in first place.

21.
HR Business Partner
Fad or the Future?
Conclusion
Is HR Business Partner a fad or the future?
Structure may follow from strategy, but
Strategy follows from belief system.
Whether you believe and apply HR as a
management function or a profession is
ultimately the crux of whether your HR
business partners are successful.

22.
Thank you
Brad Boyson
Executive Director
SHRM MEA