Strategic HR A different slant
and provide a longer-term sense
of belonging. This is the type of
flexible resource pool
arrangement traditionally used by
professional services firms, but it
replaces bureaucratic functional
groups with looser more peoplefocused
communities.
HR networks of change
and engagement
Certain things HR does can often
be delivered and supported best
through networks. For example,
lots of change programmes
involve change champion
networks that promote the change
across the organisation. Networks
can also be used to maintain
existing programmes, often
supporting a particular
community of expertise. For
instance, a recruitment
community may set up a hiring
manager network or an employee
advocate network to link more
closely with these broader groups.
One example of an organisation
doing this is Vistaprint, which
uses an agile champions network
to facilitate retrospective reviews
and a feedback champions
network to train teams on
giving and receiving feedback
(Denning, 2018).
Most HR networks will consist
of more people from the rest of
the business than from HR.
People from HR may also
participate in broader business
(non-HR) networks, for example
working with IT to help build
adoption of a new digital system.
Other roles and
responsibilities in the
HR network
Most HR practitioners will work
in these centres or communities,
with most being pulled out to
work on projects (though there
may be some full-time specialists
too). However, HR may also take
on new roles and responsibilities
relating to the new organisation
groups in the rest of the business.
People working in these peopleoriented
roles may all sit
within HR.
HR may also add overall
oversight of communities and
networks to its existing focus
on the people working across
the organisation.
HR network brokers
A particularly important type of
network broker as far as HR is
concerned will be the one
connecting HR with the rest of
the business. It is this new role
that really distinguishes the
HR network model from
other attempts to update the
Ulrich model.
Given the increasing need for
people centricity, HR business
partnering is becoming more
important. However, business
partner as a job largely disappears.
Partnering with the business is
still an important activity; but
who are we going to partner with?
Often there will be too many
teams and communities, and
they will be too small, selfmanaging
and changeable to
partner with.
So business partners will
largely be replaced by similar
staff working through the
organisation’s various networks,
connecting people to provide the
About the author
appropriate support as well as
providing some of this themselves.
From research to reality
In the late 1990s the Ulrich model
offered a new HR solution to an
existing organisational
arrangement (functional
organisations). It could apply
to any organisation of more
than a few hundred people
trying to balance centralisation
with decentralisation.
But this does not mean any
organisation meeting these
conditions could just copy the
model. The Ulrich model was
never intended to be a
standardised solution and neither
the business nor HR should copy
a standardised solution (whether
this is holacracy, the Ulrich
model, the HR network model...)
Instead HR should identify a best
fit response to its own objectives.
The key drivers for
organisational transformation
should always be the required
people and organisational
outcomes, organisation
principles, and employee
expectations (Ingham, 2019).
The key drivers for HR
transformation should be HR’s
own organisational outcomes
(e.g. its effectiveness as a strategic
References
l Sanjuanbenito, B. (2018).
‘Journey to Becoming an Agile
Organization’. Available at:
bbva.info/2MoV338 Accessed
18 October 2019.
l Mazor, A., et al. (2017). The
High-Impact HR Operating
Model. Available at: bit.
ly/2feO6PA Accessed 18
October 2019.
l Denning, S. (2018)
‘Transforming HR as Agile
Business Partner: The Case Of
Vistaprint’. Forbes, 6 April.
l Zeoli, M., et al. (2017). The EY
business-led people operating
model. Available at: go.ey.
com/2VT4laR Accessed 18
October 2019.
l Ingham, J., and Ulrich, D.
(2016). Building Better HR
Departments. Strategic HR
Review, 15(3), p129-136.
l Ingham, J. (2017). The Social
Organization. Kogan Page.
l Ingham, J. (2019). ‘The role of
people-centric groups in
organisation design’. HR
magazine, October edition.
l Sparrow, P. (2014). ‘Do we
need HR? How the function
has developed’. Available at:
bit.ly/2VXLn2L Accessed 18
October 2019.
Jon Ingham is a former
international HR director who
now works as a strategic OD
consultant, researcher,
trainer, speaker and writer.
He has been a co-author
with Dave Ulrich and is the
author of The Social
Organization, which explains
how people and
organisations can be
developed to create
effective connections,
relationships and
conversations, or
social capital.
Ingham has been
recognised as one of 2019’s
top global influencers in HR
technology by Human
Resource Executive.
partner) required to support and
inform the business; its own
principles, cascaded from those of
the organisation; and the
expectations of HR practitioners
and others working within the HR
network. Therefore, it is generally
only when a company becomes a
network organisation that HR
needs to become networked too.
But it will still be useful to keep
this model in mind when
undertaking HR transformation.
Doing this will help ensure HR
groups are designed for the future
rather than just the needs of
today. And while it may not be
appropriate to implement the
full network model, there may
still be opportunities for using
project teams and communities
rather than centres. This will
ensure that HR moves in a
direction potentially most
relevant in future. HR
40 HR November 2019 hrmagazine.co.uk
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