1. William J. Conaty GE Professor of Strategic HR
The Strategic HR Organisation: Building Competitive Advantage Through People
Patrick M. Wright
William J. Conaty GE Professor of Strategic HR
Cornell University

2. Developing an Effective HR Strategy
Business, People, and HR Strategy
Business Strategy: Pattern in a stream of decisions where those decisions are about where, how, and with what to compete.
People Strategy: Answers who is important to the business strategy, why are they important, and how can they be leveraged to create competitive advantage?
HR Strategy: Provides a roadmap for how the activities of the HR Function will support the execution of the strategy by having the right people in the right places doing the right things at the right cost

3. Strategic Human Capital Management
What is Strategic HCM?
Strategic HCM consists of defining, designing, developing, and delivering competitive advantage through people

4. People Operations (Doing) Strategy (Deciding) Business Operations
Business Strategy
Business
Deliver
Define
People
HR Operations
HR Strategy
Design
Develop
HR Function

5. People Operations (Doing) Strategy (Deciding) Business Operations
Business Strategy
Business
Define
People
HR Operations
HR Strategy
HR Function

6. Define
Defining consists of helping business leaders to identify the people implications of the business strategy including key talent pools (which jobs/people are critical to the successful execution of the strategy?) and key people issues (competencies, retention, engagement, cost)

7. People Operations (Doing) Strategy (Deciding) Business Operations
Business Strategy
Business
Roles:
Full Contributor
Facilitator
Subject Matter Expert
Define
People
HR Operations
HR Strategy
HR Function

8. People Operations (Doing) Strategy (Deciding) Business Operations
Business Strategy
Business
Define
People
HR Operations
HR Strategy
Design
HR Function

9. Design
Design entails identifying the most important priorities for the HR function, and developing an HR strategy to guide the function toward supporting the business strategy

10. People Operations (Doing) Strategy (Deciding) Business Operations
Business Strategy
Business
Define
People
HR Operations
HR Strategy
Design
HR Function
Role:
Implementer

11. People Operations (Doing) Strategy (Deciding) Business Operations
Business Strategy
Business
Define
People
HR Operations
HR Strategy
Design
Develop
HR Function

12. Develop
Develop refers to the creation and/or modification of HR systems and processes that will enable the firm to attract, develop, motivate, and retain the human capability necessary to successfully execute the strategy.

13. People Operations (Doing) Strategy (Deciding) Business Operations
Business Strategy
Business
Define
People
HR Operations
HR Strategy
Design
Develop
HR Function
Key Issues/Levers:
HR Processes
HR IT (data)
HR Professionals
Skills/Perspective

14. People Operations (Doing) Strategy (Deciding) Business Operations
Business Strategy
Business
Define
Deliver
People
HR Operations
HR Strategy
Design
Develop
HR Function

15. Deliver
Delivery consists of ensuring that HR processes are effectively and efficiently conducted by line managers in the organization to achieve the human capability necessary to execute the strategy.

16. People Operations (Doing) Strategy (Deciding) Business Operations
Business Strategy
Business
Key Issues/Levers:
Line Managers’ HR
Engagement
Process Simplicity
HR Professionals
Competencies
Deliver
Define
People
HR Operations
HR Strategy
Design
Develop
HR Function

17. Key Findings
Our work reveals the following features of an effective people strategy.
A focus on business needs before deciding what to do.
A good understanding of how the organisation’s people and capabilities enable success.
Clear linkages between HR actions and business outcomes.
Tracking and communicating performance against metrics.
A feedback loop for evaluating the effectiveness of strategy and supporting the planning cycle.

18. Summary
While the research for the report began with a focus on HR strategy, what became quickly apparent is that HR strategy cannot be clearly understood without the context of the business strategy and operations.
While HR strategies varied in terms of formality, codification, etc., the key is that effective HR strategy is seamlessly connected to business priorities.