People and organization

In September 2021, Patagonia ,  the outdoor clothing company long admired for its environmental commitments ,  updated its recruitment materials to explicitly state that it prioritises hiring "activists , "  people  who are not just competent professionals but genuine advocates for environmental change. This was a deliberate, strategic alignment of talent acquisition with environmental mission. Patagonia's approach offers a compelling illustration of Green Human Resource Management (Green HRM) ,  the integration of environmental sustainability into the full spectrum of HR policies and practices. It is an emerging field gaining  rapid attention  in academic and practitioner  circles , and one that may define the next evolution of strategic HRM. Defining Green HRM Green Human Resource Management (Green HRM) refers to the integration of environmental sustainability into core HR practices  to  foster pro-environmental behaviour among employe...

In 2019, Boeing faced a crisis that had many dimensions, engineering, regulatory, ethical , but at its core was also a profound failure of talent management and leadership succession. The decisions that led to the 737 MAX disasters reflected a culture in which technical expertise had been systematically undervalued. How did an organisation with such a distinguished history find itself in this position? Talent management and succession planning are not the most glamorous topics in HRM. They rarely generate the headlines that diversity initiatives or wellbeing strategies do. But few things matter more to the long-term health of an organisation, particularly a multinational corporation operating across diverse and demanding global contexts. What Is Talent Management? Talent management can be defined as a deliberate and planned method of drawing, recognising, nurturing, connecting, and keeping those who  create  substantial value to an organisation. It is not only about treating a...

In March 2020, the world conducted the largest unplanned experiment in remote work in human history. Within weeks, millions of office-based employees across the globe discovered that with a laptop and a reliable internet connection, many jobs previously requiring physical presence could be done from a spare bedroom or kitchen table. Five years on, the questions raised by that experiment remain very much alive. How do we manage performance when we cannot see people working? How do we build culture in distributed teams? What does the employment relationship look like when the workplace is no longer a place? The Scale of the Shift: What the Data Tells Us Before  COVID-19, the Office for National Statistics estimated that five percent of workers in the UK worked mainly at home. As of April 2020, the number had increased to 46%. A 2023 survey by Gallup indicated that about 52 percent of employees in jobs that can be performed remotely work on a hybrid basis. It is a fundamental redesign...

Pick up the annual report of almost any large multinational corporation today, and you will find a section dedicated to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. There will be statistics on gender representation, commitments to ethnic minority hiring targets,  and  perhaps a statement from the CEO about belonging. On paper, DEI has never been more prominent in corporate life. And still, the disconnect between what organisations declare about diversity and what occurs within them is as recalcitrant as ever. In most industries across the world, women  make up less than  30 percent of senior leadership. The most important question that HRM should ask is not whether or not diversity matters, the evidence is overwhelming, but why so many DEI programs are not bringing significant change . Defining the Terms: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Are Not the Same Thing Diversity is a condition of difference: demographic (gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, socioecono...

There is a particular kind of corporate wellbeing theatre that many of us will recognise. The fruit bowls in the kitchen. The motivational posters on the wall. The occasional "wellness Wednesday" email from HR  reminds  staff to take a walk at lunchtime. These gestures are not meaningless ,  but they are also not a  well-being  strategy. And in the aftermath of one of the most psychologically disruptive periods in modern history, the difference between cosmetic wellness and genuine strategic wellbeing has never mattered more. Well-being  of employees is no longer  a  peripheral concern of HRM, but is at its centre. Not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it has been demonstrated to be so by the overwhelming evidence, that organisational performance cannot be discussed outside the context of physical, mental ,  and social well-being of the individuals who bring it to life . What Do We Mean by Employee Wellbeing? Well-being ...

  Ask any CEO what their organisation's most valuable asset is, and the answer is almost always the same: "Our people." Yet walk into the HR department of many of those same organisations, and you will find a function still largely preoccupied with payroll processing, compliance paperwork, and reactive problem-solving. There is a striking gap between the rhetoric of "people-first" leadership and the reality of how Human Resource Management is actually positioned and practised. Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) exists precisely to close that gap — to transform HR from a back-office support function into a genuine driver of organisational performance. This blog explores what SHRM really means, the theoretical frameworks that underpin it, and what the evidence says about whether it actually works. Defining SHRM: Beyond the Buzzword The strategic Human Resource Management could be defined as the intentional matching of the HR policies and practices with the...