Metrics of Business

As the new economic paradigm continues to recognize people as a company’s key competitive advantage, Human Resources managers are required to deliver services that are not only efficient and effective but also support their organization’s strategy and objectives. It’s no longer sufficient for the Human Resources function just to drive down costs; rather it must also help the organization create value and differentiate itself from competitors. In today’s economy, it’s the human capital in organizations that will be the differentiator and ultimately decide how an organization performs. To that end, Human Resource managers play an instrumental role in helping their organizations perform by providing HR deliverables that address the human capital issues that are key to executing the business strategy. This includes utilizing metrics to gauge the performance of deliverables and the impact they have on supporting the organization in executing its strategy. It has been well documented that in this new role, Human Resources should be positioned and designed as a strategic business partner that participates in both strategy formulation and implementation. And this requires Human Resources to be aligned with the business strategy so that the appropriate deliverables and metrics are implemented. The prerequisites for an organization’s human capital to be effectively aligned with its business strategy are further discussed in Chapter 2, A Path to Alignment, which identifies three fundamental steps.