Creating Dynamic Organizations
Human Capital Issues & Options for Tomorrow's Business
Management Briefings Executive Series
By Mike Johnson
Financial Times / Prentice Hall
December 2003
ISBN: 0-273-66358-5
88 Pages, Illustrated
$247.50 paper original
Research undertaken by a leading recruitment consultancy has shown that four new human capital "needs" are rapidly emerging. Companies now need: Corporate integrationists. Senior level people developers. Multi-tasking GMs. Logistics' gurus. All these jobs have become super-critical to the success of business in Europe and the U.S.. Having acquired, merged and formed alliances, firms must now integrate what they own into a coherent whole (there is strong evidence that little has been done in pulling together disparate parts of businesses by organizations who have been on the acquisition trail).
These four job areas above are all required to achieve real integration and a real sharing of ideas, distribution systems, products and services into the business, to milk the value of the acquisition process. All these types of people are in short supply. Having identified these new corporate needs the report then looks at how to recruit, reward and retain the people to meet them. The report closes with projections for long-term executive needs.
Contents Part One : New missions and new impetus : the subtle changes in human capital needs and expectations :
The overall picture of what senior level HR and other management professionals are saying they need (in terms of talent) to get today's tough jobs completed successfully. Key Learning Points (KLPs) that will allow readers to "reality check" against their own in-house challenges.
Part Two : So, who are today's key players? The four new human capital "needs: Corporate integrationists. Senior level people developers. Multi-tasking GMs : Logistics' gurus.
All these jobs have become super-critical to the success of business in Europe and the U.S. (and further afield too) on the basis that having acquired, merged and formed alliances, firms must now integrate what they own into a coherent whole (there is strong evidence - much of which we already have in the form of desk research - that little has been done in pulling together disparate parts of businesses by organizations who have been on the acquisition trail). These four job areas above are all required to achieve real integration and a real sharing of ideas, distribution systems, products and services into the business, to milk the value of the acquisition process. All these types of people are in short supply. This chapter is about finding out what you need and then getting the right people in place.
Part Two will also look at another key area : board composition. In the wake of Enron, Global Crossing, Xerox etc, we will be asking firms what they are doing in this highly sensitive and increasingly "in the public domain" area.
KLPs that will show how companies are doing it right (and possibly wrong). In addition, for this section there will be at least three case studies that illustrate how companies have fared in their acquisition activity (on a human capital basis, at least) and how they faced the integration issue : Zurich (financial services); Alstom (transport); Interbrew (food and beverage).
Part Three : Getting the 3Rs (recruitment, reward, retention) in alignment : this section is focused on the process of getting needed skills into the business, how to reward intelligently while respecting and understanding the needs of the players involved and what types of retention strategies you need to have in place. It will also bring into the discussion the vexed question of mobility (or lack of it) and ask how firms are organizing to overcome an increased unwillingness (by key personnel) to be moved or transferred.
Part Four : Building the future today : There is already good evidence to suggest that smart companies are not just investing in "just-in-time" management appointments to meet a current need, crisis or opportunity but are thinking longer-term by developing rising stars in a broad range of skills. In addition, we will look at the future another way, by suggesting what will happen next and therefore alerting the briefing's users to key areas of human resources that they should be looking to develop now to meet tomorrow's challenges. Again, a full set of KLPs.
- Take Action ! : This will be a practical, easy-to-use/easy-to-read document, so we will add a series of "Checklist Challenges" that readers can use to see how far they have got in planning human resource needs today and tomorrow. "
- Bibliography : Some links for further reading or investigation both hardcopy and e-related.
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