Strategic Human Resource Management

Section Two

function’s contributions is often difficult because of their
indirect effects. Nonetheless, valid measures of human resource
effectiveness can be developed. One means by which this
might be accomplished is through external benchmarking.
Benchmarking provides a useful means of both evaluating the
quality of human resource programs, activities, and impact as
well as a means of identifying areas in which resources should
be concentrated. The following quotation by David Ulrich,
Wayne Brockbank, and Arthur Yeung describes this practice:

Benchmarking HR practices provide the means of

focusing attention on highest value-added HR

activities—those practices which are more likely

to be practiced by successful companies. Rather

than fall into the trap of trying to do everything

well and please everyone with insufficient

resources—which results in no one being

satisfied—HR professionals could use

benchmarking to focus limited resources on

critical activities.^66

Evaluation of the human resource function can also be
accomplished by asking other mangers in the organization to
evaluate the quality of services provided by the human
resource management function.^67 One guide for evaluation is to
place greatest emphasis on measuring the most critical human