What is the relationship between the design and management of the HR function and HR’s role in organizational strategy? This is the key design question and one that can be answered by examining the research evidence from John W. Boudreau’s (CEO) and Edward E. Lawler’s III (CEO) international survey of hundreds of HR leaders that has been done every three years since 1995.
Working Papers
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
The Future of Employee Compensation: Compensation Café Entries
Gerald E. Ledford, Jr. (CEO) This collection is a three-part series that appeared in Compensation Café, the leading blog on reward systems, from December 1-3, 2014. See www.CompensationCafe.com for the original entries and reader responses to them.
Sustainable Effectiveness Governance Model: Moving Corporations Beyond the Philanthropy Paradigm
This article by Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) and Jay A. Conger (CEO) argues that the ‘sustainable effectiveness’ model of how organizations should operate is a stark contrast to the philanthropic.
The Crucial-and Underappreciated-Role of HR in Sustainability
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) and Susan A. Mohrman (CEO) explain that companies that perform well with respect to sustainability can be distinguished from those that don’t by an array of organizational design features.
The Sustainable Effectiveness Governance Model: Moving Corporations Beyond the Philanthropy Paradigm
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) and Jay A. Conger (CEO) discuss how historically, organizations have adapted themselves to the paradigm of sustainable effectiveness either by adding a philanthropic function or a department focused on sustainability initiatives. However, both approaches fall seriously short in terms of effectiveness.
Paying for Skills, Knowledge, and Competencies
Gerald E. Ledford, Jr. (CEO) shares that implementation of skills, knowledge, and competency pay has become commonplace, and usage has gradually increased in the last three decades.
Talent Agility is Critical
Although there is great agreement that organizations have to get better at changing, there is much less agreement on what organizations need to do in order to become more agile. In our recent book, The Agility Factor, Chris Worley, Tom Williams, and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) provide an answer.
Sustainable Effectiveness and Organization Development
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) shares that there is growing movement around the globe to broaden the definition of organizational effectiveness. Fewer and fewer countries and societies are willing to accept that financial performance is all that matters when it comes to organizational performance.
The Changing Landscape of Employee Rewards: Observations and Prescriptions
This article by Gerald E. Ledford, Jr. (CEO) examines the dramatic changes in employee rewards since the Center for Effective Organizations (CEO) was created 35 years ago.
Effective HR Management: Will HR Capabilities Face the Future
USC professors John Boudreau and Ed Lawler describe a unique longitudinal study of the evolution of the HR function that began in 1995 with data collection done every 3 years. The results suggest that HR is changing slower than most HR leaders believe, and they suggest how to accelerate the path to a more effective HR profession.
What is the future of HR?
John W. Boudreau (CEO) Ian Ziskin (CEO) and Carrie Gibson (CEO) take a different departure point by starting with prominent emerging general trends and examining their potential effect on HR, now and in the future, and HR’s desired and actual role in addressing them.
Designing Organizations for Sustainable Effectiveness: A New Paradigm for Organizations and Academic Researchers
The article by Susan A. Mohrman (CEO) and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) examines design features that enable an organization to address today’s complex and increasingly pressing global issues in ways that are sustainably effective. It identifies key social and environmental issues and reviews research examining how organizations can respond to them.