HR in a disordered world: IES Perspectives on HR 2015

Report 506 | Institute for Employment Studies | Feb 2015

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IES presents its annual Perspectives on HR publication, in which IES researchers and consultants offer their insights into the challenges of today's turbulent world for the HR function.

To help HR professionals rise to the challenges, several of these articles consider how the function steers itself through change, or how it helps others do so. IES urges employers to consider how more established ways of managing change can be replaced by evolving fluid approaches.

The report suggests new ways of leveraging HR tools such as coaching and innovation, alongside new approaches to change in itself.

The writers also consider the current issues for HR staples such as talent management and business partners, as well as new angles on topics such as capabilities and ethics.

All of these papers are united in their desire to place the HR function and its people ahead of events, better able to work with change, support those who experience it, and reflect on their own contribution in the process.

The topics covered are:

  • Organisational change: finding your way as you journey into the unknown
  •  Organisation design in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) world
  • Leveraging coaching for organisational change
  • Innovation: turning good ideas into reality
  • The role of the line in talent management
  • Beyond competence: shifting perspectives of capability
  • HR business partners: yes please or no thanks?
  • Ethical dilemmas in HR practice