Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/94708
Technicalities process ownership models, learn to rely on outsourcing vendors, and develop or enhance shared service strategies. As shown in Figure 4, 58 per cent of firms use a hybrid of shared services and outsourcing models. Behind these business strategies, cultures must be prepared for new organisational realities. New organisation designs are required, and executive leadership must be cultivated to manage more responsibility that is spread globally. Along with new organisational designs, business leaders need to update performance management processes to reflect new goals. As one human resources executive from a global chemicals company explained, "The pace of organisational change is so great, executives are struggling to keep their leadership focused. But the real challenge is developing and maintaining a leadership pipeline while the world around us changes every three months." Technology impacts every employee. Technology no longer remains the domain of the operations employee tasked with performing Figure 4: Organizational Operations Models administrative work. Today, IT provides rich analytics necessary to forecast financial performance, analyse customer and supplier dynamics, monitor workforce behaviour, and track product performance. More importantly, complex transaction management requires sophisticated use of tools to analyse problems, preferences, and historical patterns. Whether an employee is adjudicating a claim, managing product development, or collecting overpaid funds, he or she must have the technology skills to perform the necessary research and take action. One human resources executive explained his dilemma this way, "When we replaced our global shipping logistics system, our supply chain ground to a halt. We had spent months training users on the system—they knew how to use the application in the classroom, but the business process was so different, our users didn't know how to use it in the real world." The good news is that despite the lack of investment in the function, human resources executives are still viewed as the leaders in areas that matter. As shown in Figure 5, the human resource executive is viewed as a critical leader and advisor to business stakeholders. [42] HRO TODAY GLOBAL | FALL 2012