Strategic Human Resource Management

Section Two
Aside from selecting human resource executives on the
basis of these qualifications, weaknesses with current personnel
can be overcome even where there are cognitive skill
mismatches. For example, pairing planners with offsetting skills
and using planning teams may minimize the effect of individual
cognitive weaknesses. The tasks of planning can also be broken
up into phases, some of which can be performed by those
whose cognitive skills are not well suited to strategy formu-
lation. For instance, greater responsibilities for information
gathering might be assigned to those whose strengths are not
consistent with strategic thinking.^111 Using teams to offset
weaknesses seems to have appeal: “Although the ‘universal
manager’ may have lost credibility, the ‘universal management
team configuration’ seems to have gained popularity.”^112