Explore the new HR Value Proposition with a who's who of human resource thought leaders.

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Advantage Michigan

Redefining HR for the 21st Century

In many companies, the human resource field has split, as traditional transactional and administrative HR functions -- payroll, benefits, training, etc. -- have been outsourced, reengineered, and automated, leaving HR professionals with more strategic responsibilities and roles. Recognizing this seismic shift, and informed by insights gained from the Ross School of Business Human Resource Competency Study with a global database of 40,000 HR professionals (the world's largest), Michigan's Strategic Human Resource Leadership programs are actively defining the future of HR.

Wayne Brockbank and Dave Ulrich have developed a novel way of defining, assessing and expanding the role of HR in the 21st century organization. Their HR Value Proposition guides our executive development programs and research agenda, presenting and exploring new ways to help HR professionals deliver value to both internal and external constituencies. Their work will help employees be more competent and committed; line managers accomplish their business strategies; customers buy more; and investors gain confidence.

Practical tools and applications

• Gaining strategic clarity
• Defining the organization capabilities and individual competencies required for business success
• Creating more competitive organizations
• Ensuring performance and accountability throughout the organization
• Communicating the right messages both inside and outside the organization
• Designing workflow that ensures that people collaborate and work well together
• Engaging the workforce in business success

Resource for Leading-Edge Learning

Each participant receives a one-year subscription to Human Resource Management Journal (HRMJ). HRMJ, edited by Teresa Welbourne, publishes articles on HR leadership, change management, organization structure, staffing, development, rewards, communication, diversity, HR measurement, and culture. Articles bridge academic research and real-world practices for academics and practitioners. HRMJ is published by the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management and John Wiley & Sons publishers.

Centered on HR, focused on solutions.

Michigan's HR / Talent Management programs focus on:

• Value-added HR agendas and practices
• Innovation in HR practices for people, performance, communication, and work
• Design of HR strategies and structures to deliver value
• Clarity of HR competencies and roles that drive performance
• Investment in HR development to ensure professionalism
• Measuring the value added by HR
• Results-based leadership
• Identifying and creating economic intangibles through effective leadership and HR practices
• Creating market-centric organizations
• Best practices in executive coaching
• Developing more effective leaders
• Diagnosing organization capabilities that are required for sustainable business success
• Defining and improving individual competencies

HR Update

Dave Ulrich

Dave was recently ranked #2 in the 2005 Excellence 100 for HR leadership, excellence and consulting, and was named the #1 management educator and guru by Business Week in 2001. While at Michigan, Dave has helped generate multiple award-winning databases that assess alignment between strategies, human resource practices and HR Competencies.

Book Offers Fresh Perspectives on HR

Harvard Business School Press, John Wiley & Sons Publishers and the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) collaborate to publish The HR Value Proposition by Dave Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank (Harvard Business School Press, 2005) has been described as "groundbreaking and comprehensive" by Ram Charan, co-author of the best selling book Execution and Confronting Reality. The HR Value Proposition provides an integrated blueprint for the future of HR and actionable tools to implement at your organization.

The major outlets for Michigan's best-in-class ideas and tools are the three senior-level HR executive development programs at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Business Week has rated these three programs as the best in both Europe and the United States since 1990.

Advanced Human Resource Executive Program

Michigan's preeminent program for senior human resource executives has been ranked #1 in the world for five years in a row by Business Week. Two intensive weeks of immersion in leading-edge, real-world learning provides a dynamic opportunity to enhance executives' leadership competence to become a key strategic resource within their organizations.

Human Resource Executive Program

This two-week program prepares HR managers to become strategic partners in creating and implementing successful business strategies. Techniques and skills that contribute to a firm's competitive advantage are presented along with insights on assuming a leadership role within an organization.

Strategic Human Resource Planning

This program provides senior HR executives with a logic and process for integrating their firm's strategic business challenges with human resource strategies and practices. The program's learnings enable HR managers to assess their organization's strategic human resource capability and acquire a comprehensive framework for strategic development.

Following Michigan's long tradition of HR thought leadership, our faculty includes academic professionals and business leaders with a rich legacy of working with the world's best-managed companies. Faculty members regularly conduct joint research that expands the empirical knowledge base of the field, as well as conceptual work that pushes the boundaries of existing HR knowledge and practice.