Armstrong Sharon - The Essential HR.

Three major heroes were Anne Goodfriend, who skillfully and kindly edited our thoughts and words while remaining calm throughout; Susan Devereaux, who put the final manuscript together in her typical (and wonderful) professional way; and Joyce Oliner, who went above and beyond with some important critiques and suggestions. Another significant and special friend was Mike Strand, who contributed two important chapters without breaking a sweat.

More shout-outs go to: Kathy Albarado, Marilyn Allen, Richard Armstrong, Kimberly Barton, Patti Bicknell, Jann Bradley, Irene Cardon, Ann Casso, Madelyne D’Angelo,Angela Dabbs,Amy Dufrane, Laurie Friedman, Saunji Fyffe, Cornelia Gamlem, Diane Gold,Allyn Gutauskas, Lisa Haneberg, Bob Hoffman, Anne Hull, Natalie Loeb, Joanne Lozar Glenn, Taren McCombs, Cheryl Mirabella, Naomi Morales, Kerri Koss Morehart, Tom Morris, Julie Perez, Jane Pettit, Ane Powers, Michael Pye, Leah Rampy, Maggie Saponaro, Gail Hyland-Savage, Priscilla Vazquez, and Elaine Winfrey.

And finally, two special thanks to our literary agent, Marilyn Allen, for getting us started on this journey, and to our Career Press editor and formatter, Gina Talucci, for gently bringing the book to completion, thereby ending the journey.

To paraphrase the words of William Butler Yeats, “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say our glory was we had such friends.”

In 14th-century England, masons, carpenters, leather workers, and other skilled craftsmen organized themselves into guilds, which they used to improve their work conditions. 1 1 Ivancevich, Human, 6. These guilds were the beginning of unions.

John Ivancevich, in his book Human Resource Management, tells us that, with the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, however, everything changed: divisions of labor, wages and hours, working conditions, and more. A new character in the workplace replaced the owner: the boss. 2 2 Ibid. He focused on getting the job done fast and done right.

Conflict grew between bosses and employees, and as businesses expanded they established new departments to deal with issues in the workplace. During the 1930s and 1940s, personnel departments began appearing to address hiring, firing, and the conflicts that occurred in between.

Around this time, personnel managers focused on employees and their well being, sharing their observations and suggestions with management to improve employees’ working lives.

Business guru Peter Drucker, the father of modern management and a prolific author, wrote that the role of personnel staff was “partly a file clerk’s job, partly a housekeeping job, partly a social worker’s job, and partly firefighting, heading off union trouble.” 3 3 Ibid. 7, quoting Fred K. Foulkes, “The Expanding Role of the Personnel Function.”

Gone are the days (we hope) when managers wanted only that the work be done right and fast – without regard to the “human resources,” the workers. Both good managers and HR professionals need to understand their organizations’ employees and, on their behalf, create a workplace that helps them do their best work.

Some organizations have renamed their personnel/human resources units “People” or “Human Capital” departments to emphasize the importance of their paramount resource. They know that, without good people management, nothing else matters.

Today, leaders of successful organizations understand the importance of good human resources principles and practices for maintaining a healthy business: They expect their managers to integrate good human resources management into their day-to-day work.

In fact, in order to survive in today’s increasingly challenging world of work, managers have to be lifelong learners. They have to be open to not only learning new things, but also to incorporating those things in their everyday approach to work. These two behaviors are among the most critical for honing managerial skills.

That sounds simple, but we know that human resources is a complex field. HR tools and techniques draw on a wide and growing body of knowledge and requirements. The challenge for managers is to stay informed of the field’s best practices.

What does “human resources” mean today? It is the process of acquiring, training, appraising, and compensating employees while attending to their concerns about labor relations, health and safety, and fairness. 4 4 Dessler, Human, 2.

This book covers these critical functions, working conditions, and the management actions – major or minor – that support them. It provides practical information, tools, and techniques to help managers and HR professionals excel.

When Joe Gibbs, former coach of the NFL’s Washington Redskins and three-time NASCAR champion, was asked to describe the differences between professional football and professional car racing, he replied, “There is none; it’s all about the people.” 5 5 Interview, WRC-Radio, Washington, D.C. (Nov. 21, 2005).

Now that’s a worthy mantra for managers and HR professionals: It’s all about the people. 6 6 www.wegmans.com/about/pressRoom/overview.asp#whatwebelieve www.wegmans.com/about/pressRoom/overview.asp#whatwebelieve (last visited 11/13/07).

If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there? That’s why every organization needs a statement of its purpose or mission, and a strategy for planning its future.

Managers are responsible for allocating resources to achieve their organization’s stated goals, and this is where organizational strategy comes into play. Successful management of resources depends on effective planning. Managers need to set the organizations’ strategic direction and develop a plan to implement the strategy.

That plan defines the organization’s path into the future, and implementing it involves making decisions about the allocation of resources to reach the goals.

Organizational resources include intellectual capital, products, and financial capital, but the most important resource of all is human capital – the people who make it all happen. And because most organizations spend the largest percentage of their dollars on their labor force, firms that align their people strategies with their organizational ones are the most successful.

If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there? It all starts with deciding what the organization wants to achieve throughout a reasonable period of time. In the past, standard business practice was to plan for long periods, such as five, 10, or 20 years – but, in today’s volatile business climate, most organizations plan for shorter periods such as one, three, or at most five years.

For your organization to remain competitive, it is essential to revisit your strategic plan frequently, and explore the business climate in your organization’s field to understand changes that may affect your company and its strategy. Strategy development involves evaluating the organization’s current business situation and determining where it wants to go in the future. Managing strategy is never “cast in concrete” – it is a continuous, recurring process.