In the future, will human resource management emerge as an even more critical factor in developing and maintaining a company's competitive edge, or will it become just one more outsourced function overseen by managers busy juggling several other responsibilities at the same time? Will HR departments buckle under the constant pressure to do more with less, or will inspired leaders develop practices that link HR to overall business strategies and improved organizational capabilities? Tomorrow's HR Management is about creating the future right in your own company—adapting to meet the needs of your enterprise and the demands of a changing business environment.

In this remarkably visionary volume, 48 of the most perceptive and imaginative HR executives, consultants, and scholars from around the world offer their views on the future of the field and prescribe courses of action that will help CEOs and HR managers shape that future. Each of the book's six sections advocates a strategic goal designed to increase HR's productivity, efficiency, and adaptability. Each chapter analyzes obstacles and formulates tactics designed to help reach these goals. This book helps HR managers and business leaders to:

• Manage HR like a business—define and deliver clear outcomes
• Play new roles in the competitive environment of the future
• Prepare for the future
• Build an infrastructure and discover how to measure progress
• Remember the human in Human Resources
• Go global through advances in technology.

Whether the future brings a steady and gradual curve of change or dramatic events that require drastic, overnight adjustments to radically new business environments, Tomorrow's HR Management will help lead the way in meeting these challenges and can be used by anyone from the CEO to the newest HR professional to create a more competitive organization.

Delivering Results: A New Mandate for Human Resource Professionals by Ulrich David
Human Resource Champions by Ulrich, David
The HR Scorecard: Linking People, Strategy, and Performance by Becker, Brian
Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School by Delves Broughton, Philip

Excellent Overview
This book presents a wondeful overview of the topics affecting HR. I admit I was a little wary, because this is supposed to be about "tomorrow's" HR trends, and I bought it four years after publication. Despite that, it seems fresh, some of the forecasted trends have already come to pass, and this book is as impressive and essential as when it was first published. Maybe more so. Kudos all the way 'round.

In this context, Ulrich, Losey, and Lake organize the 37 essays into six general sections.Each of these sections deals with a series of questions such as :

Section I :

* What is the strategy of HR?

* What are the products and services of HR?

* How should HR be organized to ensure that the strategy is executed?

Section II :

* What are the future deliverables from HR work?

* What are the metaphors of the HR professional of the future?

* What are the actions for future HR professionals?

Section III :

* What is the history of HR?

* What of the past should be left in the past, and what should be adapted for the future?

* What set of conditions will create a new future?

Section IV :

* Where should HR work be done?

* How do we measure HR work?

* How do HR executives align HR work both inside and outside?

Section V :

* How is intellectual capital operationalized?

* How can HR practices be created that motivate and commit employees?

* What is the impact of humane treatment of employees?

Section VI :

* What are the HR implications of a more global business?

* How can HR practices help a business develop a more global outlook?

* What are the competencies of global leaders?

"If our purpose is to propose a debate about the future", D.Ulrich writes, "it is better to end with questions than with answers. Questions elicit new frameworks, approaches, and alternatives, so, the final two questions we would ask (with our answer) are :

* Do you want to play in this always changing and at times unclear future?

* Are you having fun?

Without a doubt, all the authors in this volume and many others of the best HR professionals we know answer with a resounding 'yes' (p.360)."

I highly recommend.