Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) and John W. Boudreau (CEO) share that for several decades, the HR function in corporations has been encouraged to become a strategic partner. Data from a longitudinal study of large corporations suggest that HR is not now a strategic partner and that little or no movement toward it becoming one has occurred.
Research and Insights Archive
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
Pay at the Top: When does HR Make a Difference?
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) and John W. Boudreau (CEO) discuss how executive compensation, board compensation, and management succession are among the most important issues confronting corporate boards. Decisions in these areas should be informed by valid information and expert knowledge.
Beyond HR: The New Science of Human Capital
Beyond HR (John W. Boudreau and Peter M. Ramstad (Harvard Business School Press, 2007)) shows how organizations can uncover distinctive talent contributions, strategically differentiate their HR practices and metrics, and more optimally allocate talent to create value.
Informal Developmental Experiences and Career Success: A Study of Qualitative Differences in Work Experience
George S. Benson (University of Texas), Alec R. Levenson (CEO), and John W. Boudreau (CEO) This study examines the informal developmental experiences and career success of current and former employees of a large professional services firm.
Occupational Human Capital and Career Dynamics
In this paper Alec R. Levenson (CEO), George S. Benson (University of Texas), and John W. Boudreau (CEO) revisit the concept of human capital accumulated on the job to allow functionally-specific and managerial human capital to coexist in a job or person.
Achieving Strategic Excellence: An Assessment of Human Resource Organizations
Edward E. Lawler, John W. Boudreau, and Susan Albers Mohrman (Stanford Press, 2006) This is the Center for Effective Organizations’s (CEO) fourth national study of the human resources (HR) function in large corporations. It is the only long-term national study of this important function.
HR Support for Corporate Boards
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) and John W. Boudreau (CEO) share how corporate boards in the United States are changing as a result of new regulations and performance demands
The Time Has Come for Strategic Talent Segmentation
John W. Boudreau (CEO) and Peter M. Ramstad (Personnel Decisions International) explain that when it comes to their talent resources, organizations often have similar human capital programs across all business units (“build bench strength”, “improve retention,” “base rewards on performance”). Generic human capital allocations lead to non-optimal human capital investments, just like generic financial or marketing allocations.
Talentship and Human Resource Measurement and Analysis: From ROI to Strategic Organizational Change
In this article, John W. Boudreau (CEO) and Peter M. Ramstad (Personnel Decisions International) extend earlier work by proposing a framework of four elements integrating HR measures within a system for achieving strategic organizational change.
Beyond Cost-per-Hire and Time to Fill: Supply-Chain Measurement for Staffing
John W. Boudreau (CEO) and Peter M. Ramstad (Personnel Decisions International) state that identifying and acquiring talent is one of the most important processes in human resource management.
Talentship and the Evolution of Human Resources Management: From “Professional Practice” to “Strategic Talent Decision Science”
John W. Boudreau (CEO) and Peter M. Ramstad (Personnel Decisions International) explain that the value and importance of human capital, or talent, is increasingly obvious to business leaders, yet they are increasingly frustrated by the current state of human resource (HR) management.
HR Metrics and Analytics – Uses and Impacts
In this article by Edward E. Lawler III (CEO), Alec R. Levenson (CEO), and John W. Boudreau (CEO), whether and how the HR function in corporations uses metrics and analytics is studied.