Analysis of HR roles and structures

The personnel/HR function has developed considerably since its earliest welfare role, through a range of different incarnations. There is a long history of the specialist func­tion analysing its role in the organisation and promoting the way in which such roles need to develop in order for the function to gain greater power and credibility.

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Outsourcing human resources

HR administration, for example pensions, payroll and recruitment, has typically been outsourced. But more specialist aspects have been subject to outsourcing too, such as training and legal work. IDS (2003) argues that the delivery channels for outsourcing HR administration involve e-HR and HR service centres. We will deal with these separ­ately, while recognising that

Human resource shared services

Some organisations argue that a better alternative to outsourcing is to use an HR service centre or shared service centre (see, for example, Pickard 2002). Shared service centres are sometimes referred to as partnership service centres or insourcing, depending on the circumstances. For example the Window on practice shows how Rotherham Borough Council has

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The contribution of technology to effective and efficient HR provision

There is a wide range of ways in which technology can contribute to the HR function and we have discussed many of these so far in this text, for example the use of techno­logy to enhance recruitment and selection activities and to widen the range of learning experiences, and a broad summary of the

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Measuring human resource and human capital

1. MEASURING HR AND HUMAN CAPITAL The research referred to in previous chapters (especially Chapter 11 on Strategic aspects of performance) has a very clear focus on identifying and measuring a range of best practices in terms of workforce organisation and management (such as self-managing teams, high training spend, reduced status differentials) and relating

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The future demand and supply for workers

1. THE FUTURE DEMAND FOR WORKERS If current trends are maintained we can expect to see continued increases, year on year, in the number of jobs being created by British organisations. In 2006 there were 37.1 million people of working age in the UK, of whom 30.8 million were in work. Around 1.5 million

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Future contractual arrangements

While there is general agreement among commentators about the nature of the work we will be carrying out in the coming decades and the profile of the workforce that will be employed to carry it out, there is considerable disagreement about the types of contract (both legal and psychological) that will be prevalent. For

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