A Guide to the Human Resource Body of Knowledge (HRBoK)

Sandra M. Reed

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781119374916
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

An essential reference for HR professionals

A Guide to the HR Body of Knowledge (HRBoK TM ) from HR Certification Institute (HRCI ® )is an essential reference book for HR professionals and a must-have guide for those who wish to further their expertise and career in the HR field. This book will help HR professionals align their organizations with essential practices while also covering the Core Knowledge Requirements for all exams administered by HRCI. Filled with authoritative insights into the six areas of HR functional expertise: Business Management and Strategy; Workforce Planning and Employment; Human Resource Development; Compensation and Benefits; Employee and Labor Relations; and Risk Management, this volume also covers information on exam eligibility, and prep tips.

Contributions from dozens of HR subject matter experts cover the skills, knowledge, and methods that define the profession's best practices. Whether used as a desk reference, or as a self-assessment, this book allows you to:

• Assess your skill set and your organization's practices against the HRCI standard
• Get the latest information on strategies HR professionals can use to help their organizations and their profession
• Gain insight into thebody of knowledge that forms the basis for all HRCI certification exams

As the HR field becomes more diverse and complex, HR professionals need an informational "home base" for periodic check-ins and authoritative reference. As a certifying body for over four decades, HRCI has drawn upon its collective expertise to codify a standard body of knowledge for the field. The HRBoK is the definitive resource that will be your go-to HR reference for years to come.

1
The Human Resource Body of Knowledge
HRBoK™

The way organizations of today utilize the human resource (HR) department tells the story of HR. Some companies continue to view HR as personnel departments and compliance officers, managing the transactions of payroll, processing new hire paperwork, and terminating nonperformers. The second type of company uses human resources to its strategic advantage. Organizations of the second type recognize and support the valued contributions of a high-functioning HR department, delivering outcomes through people management, group management, and ultimately the management and understanding of the organization as a whole (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Human Resource Management

The Building Blocks

The inconsistencies in the ways companies use their HR competencies mirror nearly perfectly the evolution of the profession. As the business landscape has changed, the HR industry has changed as well, and some businesses and industries have been better at keeping the two aligned than others.

The early twentieth century was characterized by enormous growth in industrialization and the country's labor pool. Large factories in the northern states expanded beyond textiles and into the middle states, creating a boom of work and many lifetime jobs. This industrialization required more workers, and the European immigrant population from countries such as Italy and Hungary grew as a result. Railroads expanded, decreasing the cost of transportation. Workers continued to organize for better working conditions. Human resources had a new job, and it was the industrial relations manager—relations with labor unions and interactions between humans and processes, and between humans and machines.

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Industrial Relations

The relationship between an employer and its employees

The relationship between the management of an industrial enterprise and its employees, as guided by specific laws and regulations

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Automating manufacturing processes fostered the development of mass production, bringing a whole new perspective to the workplace. For the first time, U.S. businesses had to think about managing full-scale operations and the people it took to perform them. How should large companies be structured? How should the work be organized? How should people be managed? Personnel became a staff unit, an independent department whose job was to advise all line management functions.

It wasn't just businesses that were seeking answers. The government took a keen interest in the way these taxpaying giants were behaving, and began influencing how businesses would be run through laws. HR added new responsibilities to its job description: policy maker and compliance officer.

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Staff Units

People who support line management

Work groups that support the major business of an organization with activities such as accounting, customer service, maintenance, and personnel

Line Management

People who create revenue for organizations

Work groups that conduct the major business of an organization, such as manufacturing or sales

Compliance

Obedience, conforming

Following established laws, guidelines, or rules

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As companies evolved and thought leaders of the day discovered that businesses could significantly influence individual employee behavior to achieve strategic goals, the transactional nature of HR work was not enough. Everything was in motion, with a mix of moving targets made up of the competitive and the resource management needs of the business (financial, physical, and knowledge). HR began to address the interpersonal skills of the workforce, applying principles of communication, leadership, and team-building skills. The human relations role of HR came to be. As the market deepened into international waters and competition increased, it became essential to employers that they find, develop, and retain key talent, adding the development and management of a human capital strategy to HR's increasingly important role.

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Human Capital Strategy

Employment tactics, plan for managing employees

Methods and tools for recruiting, managing, and keeping important employees

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The academic and scientific communities were experiencing momentum similar to that of other industries. As technological and economic progress was made in the workplace, psychology and the social sciences were creating a bank of empirical evidence on how best to manage organizational, individual, and group performance through systematic interventions. This work formed the basis for industry best practices around organizational development. Enter HR as the behavioral scientist.

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Organizational Development

Planned process to improve an organization

Planned process that uses the principles of behavioral science to improve the way an organization functions

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Finally, the globalization of the workforce and business structures created a need for HR practices across geographic borders. Decreased trade barriers, the search for new markets, the rapid development of technology, and the rise of e-commerce platforms have all contributed to the internationalization of business. HR was tasked with international human resource management (IHRM) strategies—adapting home country practices to global ...