CAHRS Working Groups
The Cornell Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS) is the world’s leading partnership between industry and academia devoted to global human resource management. CAHRS partners include the senior human resource executive in more than 60 of the world’s premier companies.
Research Working Groups focus on a specific topic and meet several times each year. There is no cost for partner firms to participate in research working groups.
Current Working Groups
HR for HR Working Group
- First working group held March 13, 2008 hosted by Tricia McCulloch, VP, HR Capabilities and Development, American Express
- Summary and overview of first working group (article to be published in May/June 2008 hrSpectrum Newsletter).
- Second working group tentatively set for late September/early October 2008
Description
CEOs often cite skills gaps and talent pipeline deficiencies as critical issues that firms and the HR function must wrestle with in order for their organizations to continue performing at a high level. Although not often cited, the same critical issues are particularly salient for the HR function itself. One cause of HR skills gaps is the radical change in competencies required from the modern HR function and increased expectations on HR business partners to play an essential role in boosting the firm’s competitive advantage and performance. Research by multiple organizations, including CAHRS and the Conference Board, suggests that companies invest less than $1,000 in training per HR business partner, despite the enormous change in their roles and responsibilities. Further, organizations have also failed to invest in leadership development for HR at the same level they have in other functions, leading to dramatic deficiencies in their HR leadership pipeline. For example, Carlson Companies, CIGNA, Gap Inc., Hewlett Packard, McDonald’s Corp., and Monsanto Inc. (to name a few) have all recently hired outsiders to fill their chief HR officer openings.
These issues suggest we’ve reached a critical tipping point—a point where lack of skills and future HR leaders intersects with increasing demands being placed on the HR function to deliver value and contribute at a higher level. To address this need, many leading companies have added the HR for HR position to their organizational structure. The implicit suggestion is that these HR for HR executives and managers are serving their function in much the same way HR serves the greater organization.
Previous Working Groups
The Challenges of the CHRO: 2008
Led by Patrick Wright, William J. Conaty GE Professor of Strategic Human Resources and Director, CAHRS
As part of ongoing CAHRS research on the Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) role, we are inviting you to a small networking/discussion group February 29th, at the NY Palace Hotel in New York City. The group is ONLY open to those currently holding the CHRO role in their firm and will be a chance to bounce ideas and issues off of your peers. The group will meet from 9:00am-4:00pm. The group discussion will focus on issues such as:
- How do you define/describe your Chief HR Officer role in terms of the major activities that you have accountability for?
- What does it take to effectively manage these accountability areas?
- How do you actually spend your time in this role?
- What makes the CHRO role so different from the roles that report to it?
- What do you wish you had known about the role before you stepped into it? How might you have better prepared for it?
- What are the major challenges or issues of conflict that you face in the CHRO role?
- How do you effectively manage those challenges or conflicts?
Our hope is to construct a rich contextual description of the contemporary CHRO role from this discussion, and to use that description to help diagnose and better understand why some view the CHRO pipeline as weak or inconsistent. It is also a unique forum in which to build and expand your peer network. All conversations will be considered strictly confidential, and will only be used in anonymous and aggregated form.
