TABLE OF CONTENTS Organizations are realizing that their human capital extends beyond their permanent full-time employees. In today's environment, organizations have expanded their reach to include other groups that are critical in achieving the mission of the organization. These entities include contractors, part-time employees, outsources, interims, temps, consultants, universities, international partners, strategic third-party suppliers, and others.
In a briefing on competitive advantage through people, the London Business School describes key ideas on managing human capital strategically (http://www.bestofbiz.com/briefings):
People are the key strategic resource in an information-based, knowledge-intensive, service-driven economy.
Competing for the hearts and minds of talented people and their knowledge and/or technical expertise is just as crucial as competing for markets and customers.
Rather than just allocating financial capital to competing projects, programs, units, or divisions and leveraging them for a financial return on investment, top managers should also nurture individuals' expertise and initiative and leverage those qualities through sharing knowledge across the organization.
Employees should be seen as more than raw material to be acquired and consumed.
Responsibility for the strategy of developing people lies with the chief executive, the top team, and all managers.
The London Business School also found that leveraging human capital is typically done through social interaction and informal social networks. Managers should therefore nurture these networks and identify key players. For example, at British Petroleum, social networks were developed and encouraged. British Petroleum created cross-unit collaboration and knowledge sharing through online communities and "peer assists/peer groups"; for example, frontline people in one unit were encouraged...
