| Summary: | The purpose of this descriptive study is to examine how some large organizations selected for the quality of their human resource management (HRM) practices evaluate their human resource (HR) function, and to investigate the purpose and usefulness of HRM evaluation within these organizations. Five questions are investigated: (1) Who decides whether or not to evaluate the HR function? (2) What are the objectives of HRM evaluation? (3) What is the focus of HRM evaluation? (4) What are the means used to evaluate HRM? (5) What is the impact of HRM evaluation on the direction of human resource management within the organization? === Despite the growing strategic importance of human resource management, there is still little research evaluating its effectiveness. Most participants consider that their organization does not systematically evaluate HRM. Most use indirect or informal methods. This confirms that systematic HRM evaluation is not a priority for most organizations. Some Vice-Presidents, Human Resources (VPHR) expressed disappointment with this situation and indicated that the necessary resources were not available. === Within the limited sample of 10 organizations, the HRM evaluation practices are diversified. The extent of HRM evaluation is surprising given the reservations and modesty expressed by the participants. Most organizations have evaluated multiple HRM policies, programs or services representative of multiple sub-systems within the HRM system. === The high-impact HR function uses performance measures to support its business plans and to convincingly communicate the benefits of its contribution to the stakeholders, especially senior management. Despite a strong continuous improvement culture and the participation of the VPHR in strategic decision making, measuring HRM effectiveness and benchmarking against the best HRM practices is not a systematic process in most organizations.
|
|---|
