The Bottom Line HR Function

Citation

Wapshott, R. (2006), "The Bottom Line HR Function", Personnel Review, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 352-354. https://doi.org/10.1108/00483480610656739

Paul Kearns believes that people management functions can and should make a contribution to organisations' bottom‐line. Personnel Today recently published his ranking of businesses' human capital management effectiveness and, perhaps partly as a result, he also entered their Top 40 “Power Players” poll. Kearns' view of the “average personnel function” is close to one of “… the wrong role, employing the wrong people, doing the wrong things with the wrong systems  … ”. In this book, Kearns seeks to explain why this is the case and presents a way forward for those practitioners trying to challenge the status quo. In doing so he produces a comprehensive and readable text for those seeking an introduction to the links between human resources and business performance.

Kearns aims his book at those with a general interest in the subject matter rather than purely personnel or HR practitioners. His introductory section “Choose your own introduction” is an original address to directors, operations managers, and HR directors/managers, suggesting what each group might take from the text. The section also indicates what is apparent throughout the text: that this is not a book aimed at the academic market. Having identified his target audience, Kearns moves quickly onto the arguments.

Kearns divides his case into three sections: the first, “Do you need a new HR function?” explains what is wrong with current people management. In part 2 (“The strategic HR function”) Kearns prescribes the remedy of genuine strategic involvement. This leaves the third section, “HR as the performance management function” to recap the main points from the preceding eight chapters.

In addition to outlining the traditional weaknesses of personnel management (namely the people, the systems, the consultants they use, and the (then) Institute of Personnel and Development) Part 1 is part history lesson, part critical analysis. As well as re‐tracing the well‐worn steps around the history of current people management functions, Kearns addresses the changing roles and perceptions of the functions. He also challenges the value of “meaningless measurement” and of “off‐the‐peg” benchmarking sold by some business consultants.

Kearns does more than point out some of the more apparent problems of poor (people) management, he also advances a proposed solution. Part 2 emphasises the need for the HR function (having distinguished it from personnel management) to be strategically aligned with the business. This is about more than having an HR strategy and Kearns uses the effective analogy of an electrician to illustrate how the HR strategy must be “correctly wired” into the business plan. While his view of a business strategy might be too rational rather than emergent for some, Kearns does provide a useful checklist to assess the status of strategic thinking in the reader's business. His motivation for this strategic focus is to ensure that the function only does those things that contribute to business success, that is value adding activity. This point is emphasised in the final part of the book.

Part 3 recaps the preceding ideas by suggesting how the HR function can be transformed into a high value‐added contributor to businesses. Once again, Kearns focuses on the importance of measuring aspects of performance that are relevant for the business and using this information to improve those aspects from an HR perspective. As with the problem/solution linking of Parts 1 and 2, Part 3 is complemented by useful Appendices.

From the outset it is clear that the book is aimed at practitioners and the Appendices provide a set of simple “tools” for understanding “Are you a high added value HR practitioner?” or “Distinguishing between the cause and effect of an HR problem”. Similarly, there are mechanisms to get practitioners thinking about topics such as “Reviewing existing HR activities and their relative priorities”. It is to Kearns' credit that he does not present these tools as leading to specific answers. The sense is that they are to guide readers in the right general direction. In other words, they provide some orientation to those managers or practitioners who suspect there is something amiss in their HR function but are unable to identify the problem. The clear, simple structure of the book means that its core message is kept simple and is reinforced through repetition.

Kearns takes a direct approach to his writing and he rarely pulls a punch. This method works most effectively when he has a clearly defined target and an interesting point to make. Chapter 6 on “Benchmarking the HR function” provides a good example of Kearns' effectiveness when he tackles the usefulness of benchmarking data. His central point, consistent with the book's wider line of argument, is that lists of figures produced by some management consultancies, combined with “spurious analysis and recommendations”, cost organisations money to acquire yet offer little bottom‐line return. Kearns demonstrates his point through a brief series of questions highlighting the limited use of data such as personnel staff to permanent employees ratios and the time taken to fill a vacancy. At such times Kearns gets quickly to his point and sticks with it. However, this is not always the case.

On occasion Kearns seeks out targets unnecessarily and in doing so detracts from the fluency of his own arguments. Whether or not this is borne out of a general frustration, Kearns has issues with the IPD (as it was at the time of writing – 2001). Periodically he lines‐up the organisation for criticism, often on its perceived failure to encourage a business‐focused HR function. Debating the grounds for such criticism goes beyond the scope of this review but what can be said is that Kearns' desire to challenge the IPD and its representatives breaks his own flow. This is a shame because Kearns could use such diversions to provide a change of pace in his writing. The direct nature of Kearns' style can become wearying over several chapters, especially if read in one sitting. While his passion and urgency conveys Kearns' belief in what he proposes, they tend to lose their effect when spread out across a whole book.

1 Summary

This book argues in an efficient and generally readable manner for HR becoming a business‐focused function; it also contains some useful practical guidance for practitioners. Readers who are already familiar with the personnel/HR debate and other books advocating a strategic role for HR functions may find little new ground here and at times Kearns' writing style can become tiring. Overall, as an introductory text for practitioners or managers seeking to get more out of their people management function, The Bottom Line HR Function is a good place to start.