while the change agent role is involved in facilitating and managing cultural change. With their expertise in cultural understanding, global mobility professionals are well set up to assist with change management as organisations enter new cultural environments. Global mobility’s role in


” WITH THEIR EXPERTISE IN CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING, GLOBAL MOBILITY PROFESSIONALS ARE WELL SET UP TO ASSIST WITH CHANGE MANAGEMENT AS ORGANISATIONS ENTER NEW CULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS.”


The four-fold model was later revised to redefine the ‘administrative’ role as ‘functional expert’, indicating the start of the distancing of HR from administration as administrative processes became outsourced. The ‘employee champion’ was


redefined as ‘employee advocate and human capital developer’. And the latter two activities were combined, with the ‘change agent’ role brought under the ‘strategic partner’ heading. This led to a three-fold model:


1. Functional expert: being a centre of excellence


2. Employee advocate and human capital


developer:


focusing on employee voice, wellbeing and people development clearly identified as a separate role, recognising its value


COMBINING ADMINISTRATIVE EXCELLENCE WITH STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES Ulrich first proposed that HR practitioners fulfilled four main roles:


1. Administrative expert: this concerned the design and efficient delivery of HR processes


2. Employee champion: this concerned the day-to-day needs of employees, such as maintaining the psychological contract and being involved in people development


3. Strategic partner: this


concerned aligning HR and business strategy


4. Change agent: this involved managing transformation and cultural change.


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3. Strategic partner: including organisational diagnosis and ensuring capacity for change.


RELEVANCE TO THE GLOBAL MOBILITY PROFESSION This early HR thinking is helpful to global mobility professionals today because it recognises the importance of being an administrative or functional expert as well as being a champion of the employee experience. If employees have an excellent employee experience on assignment, then this plays a part in human capital development. In turn, this feeds into the strategic nature of talent deployment. The role of strategic partner and


change agent are intertwined with the strategic partner function, tying into the development of human capital as part of business strategy,


managing both employees and families on the move, and in communicating with these groups during their assignment, helps to cement its capability in managing employee voice and wellbeing. These aspects are


inextricably


tied into talent development and deployment – a strategic function.


THE THREE-LEGGED STOOL OR THREE-BOX HR MODEL HR professional bodies have adopted the work of Ulrich and promoted HR’s role through what has become known as the three- legged stool/three-box model:


1. HR centres of excellence: usually small expert teams with specialised knowledge of HR solutions whose role is to help deliver competitive advantage through the HR pillars of reward, learning, engagement and talent management.


2. HR shared services: usually a single large unit that handles routine transactional services across the business, such as payroll, absence monitoring, recruitment administration and advice on simpler employee relations issues. The remit is to provide low-cost effective HR administration.


3. HR business partners or strategic partners: comprising a few senior or key HR professionals who work closely with business leaders or line managers and are often embedded in the business unit. Their role is to influence and steer strategy and play a part in its implementation. The aim is to ensure that the business makes the best use of its people and to determine how – and ensure that – HR strategy best meets organisational needs.


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