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Considers the four foundations of exceptional human resource (HR) leadership – strong business acumen, trustworthy leadership, great HR expertise and cultural stewardship – that must be in place to meet current and future human resource challenges.

Considers the four foundations of exceptional HR leadership – strong business acumen, trustworthy leadership, great HR expertise and cultural stewardship – that must be in place to meet current and future human-resource challenges.

Advances the view that if one of the cornerstones is weak or ineffective, the ability of the HR leader and his or her team to be exceptional is greatly impaired.

Reveals how to take HR to the next level.

Demonstrates how HR leaders can add value and improve the competitiveness of their enterprises.

Explains how HR can best overcome the challenges it faces in respect of talent gaps, process failures, compensation and benefits repositioning, workforce realignment, dealing with budget cuts and fiscal constraints, lack of front-line management buy-in, compliance, increased time constraints and the need to help with technological implementation, strategy execution and improving profitability.

The purpose of this two-part paper is to explore the current practices being employed in the formal performance appraisal process in a cross-section of US service and manufacturing organizations. In this paper, the authors identify the current trends that emerged from this research study and the improvement opportunities that exist for organizations that currently engage in the practice of formally appraising their personnel.

The formal performance appraisal process, procedure, and rating form from 183 US organizations were reviewed by a three-person review panel and were content analyzed to identify current trends and opportunities for improvement.

This qualitative analysis revealed that the average rating procedure had been in place for 5.5 years, to serve a wide variety of purposes, identified critical gaps in training, made it clear that organizations employ a wide variety of performance criteria in assessing their people.

The biggest limitation of this research is the fact that a convenience sample of 183 organizations was employed as the basis for this study.

Data on the actual formal performance appraisal process of organizations are rather limited and this research provides critical insight into current practice limiting potential generalizability.

The social implications of this research suggests that organizations can do a much better job of equipping their leaders/employees to more effectively reap the organizational benefits of this key practice.

Research in this area is not prevalent so this is a descriptive research study that both researchers and organizations can use to further their knowledge in formal performance appraisals.

The aim of the paper is to discuss specific HR practices that business leaders must embrace to create HR value and competitive advantage for their organizations.

The paper integrates the authors' previous research on critical HR practices.

The paper reveals that HR value creation is driven by: progressive HR thinking and planning; staffing for success; talent development; results‐orientated performance management and appraisal systems; aligned compensation and incentive systems; line‐managers acting as HR managers; and fostering an ethical culture.

The paper discusses specific practices directly related to improving an organization's ability to create competitive advantage through its people.

The paper contends that better HR practices lead to stronger organizational performance and greater use of human‐resource assets.

The paper reinforces the importance of taking HR beyond administrative activity.

Presents the distilled wisdom of two human-resource (HR) award facilitators.

Takes in the form of ten questions that make a difference for HR leadership.

Asks: Are you trusted by the members of your organization? Do you possess a real and comprehensive understanding of how your business makes money? Do you keep yourself up to speed on the legal and compliance issues that are most important to your organization? Do you think strategically and execute operationally? Are you measuring and monitoring the most meaningful metrics that measure mission-driven performance? Are you working hard to create business partnerships with your stakeholders that increase the likelihood of success? Are you taking steps to help all managers in your organization to operate like great HR leaders? Are you using your talents and influence to build teams and solve organizational problems? Do you seek out and apply innovative HR practices that can truly affect your organization’s bottom-line performance? Do you ensure that people have the information they need to perform in an optimal fashion?

Urges HR specialists to review, reflect on and assess their response to each of the questions.

Suggests that each question identifies key behaviors and activities that can become a target for improvement.

Provides valuable insight rarely available to HR specialists.

This article is intended to provide the necessary tools to attack the causes of management training failures.

The top ten managerial training failures identified from a sample of 323 seasoned managers in rapidly changing organizations are discussed along with specific suggested solutions.

A revised content analysis revealed the most frequently cited causes of why organizations fail to train their managers properly.

The findings provide an up‐to‐date list of the causes of ineffective training and the discussion focuses on ways to close the managerial skills gap by providing specific solutions to identified problems.

Presents the top ten reasons that senior managers identified for business leaders voluntarily leaving their current employers. Offers recommendations to prevent organizations from unnecessarily losing their managerial talent.

Presents the top ten reasons that senior managers identified for business leaders voluntarily leaving their current employers. Offers recommendations to prevent organizations from unnecessarily losing their managerial talent.

Reveals that: bad bosses drive out good leaders; toxic and dysfunctional work cultures drive up management turnover; unethical or illegal business dealings tell managers it is time to go; when managers are consistently disrespected and disempowered it leads to them having a sense of being disenfranchised; professional stagnation creates a powerful incentive to leave; when business leaders find themselves consistently working in an environment where they are asked to pursue overly aggressive goals and performance outcomes without the requisite tools, staff, information, budget, authority, planning or access, they experience high frustration and frequent failure; less-than-competitive compensation causes managers to look for new employment; being on a sinking ship will cause managers to exit when hope is lost; and when managers are not challenged or feel bored they look for greener pastures.

Challenges organizations to review the key lessons derived from the study and to use this knowledge to reduce the loss of critical managerial talent.

Highlights how organizations can gain competitive advantage by holding on to their key personnel.

Unlike most previous studies, which concentrate on lower-level employees, looks at the factors that cause managers to resign.

This paper reviews research findings from 149 managers who work in 22 different US manufacturing and service organizations concerning the top ten rater skills identified as necessary to effectively conduct formal performance appraisals, and why organizations fail to conduct effective rater training with their managers. Four basic integrated stages in the performance appraisal process are identified. The key management skills required in each stage are discussed in terms of how they help organizations improve the operation and quality of their appraisals systems.

This paper aims to determine the key criteria used by managers in rapidly changing organizations to make promotion decisions.

A survey was conducted of 311 managers from over 100 different US service and manufacturing enterprises experiencing rapid organizational change. Managers were asked to identify no more than five factors that were most critical in their organization to actually getting promoted. Results were content analyzed.

Top ten factors influencing promotion decisions included: getting desired results/strong performance track record; possessing strong business networks; interpersonal/communication skills; strong knowledge‐experience base; demonstrating a strong work ethic; ability to build teams and being a team player; personality, attitude, and ego factors; solving a major problem or getting a “big hit;” demonstrating character, integrity, and trustworthiness; and, preparation and being in the right place at the right time.

Results indicate what organizations are currently using to make decisions but it does not provide a normative guide for what organizations should be using. Also, further research should attempt to differentiate dimensions used at each level of management.

The results provide a useful guide for managers who are looking for a leg up in the competitive fight for promotions. Results also suggest criteria to be considered when organizations update management assessment tools to better reflect the demands on managers working in the new global business environment.

The study focuses on promotions in rapidly changing organizations and uses a sample that is very familiar with how organizations actually make promotion decisions.

This article reports the results of a study on management development practices in US service and manufacturing organizations. Data and statistical analyses from a sample of 433 middle and front‐line managers from 59 different US service and manufacturing organizations are reported which examined: What specific management development practices are most important from a manager’s perspective to improving their performance in rapidly changing organizations; and, are managers actually getting the development experiences they need to be effective in these organizations? Among the top ten important practices identified by managers as improving their performance, focus, feedback, and learning (e.g. problem solving, new communication and leadership) by experience are re‐occurring themes. The results also point to startling differences between the management development experiences they want and what they are actually getting from their organizations. Based on the data a series of lessons for improving the effectiveness of managers is provided.

This paper aims to explore why organizations often focus little attention and resources on management training and provides a useful checklist of ways to close the managerial skills gap through training.

Seasoned managers (278) in rapidly changing organizations were surveyed on their experiences with management training.

A content analysis revealed the most frequently cited causes of why organizations fail to properly train their managers.

Generalization of these findings to non‐rapidly changing organizations may be limited.

Results indicate that organizations fail to properly train managers for a host of reasons. Many of failures to train are caused by misconceptions about training needs, the ability of managers to handle their own training or the value of training to the organization compared with other efforts. Lack of accountability and poor implementation are other key reasons cited for training failures.

The findings provide a useful list of the causes for ineffective training and the discussion focuses on ways to close the managerial skills gap.