HR Business Model: Analyzing Ulrich Model and Organizational Success

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the HR Business Model, focusing on the model developed by Dave Ulrich. It begins by examining the key components of the model, which include the HR Business Partner, Change Agent, Administrative Expert, and Employee Advocate roles. The essay then explores the evolution of the model over two decades, highlighting the shift towards a greater emphasis on organizational capabilities and talent management. It discusses how the role of HR professionals has changed, particularly in the context of technological advancements and the need to align HR strategies with overall business goals. Finally, the essay concludes by emphasizing the contribution of the HR Business Model to sustainable organizational success, including its role in creating a culture of business success, attracting and retaining talent, and making informed decisions that benefit both employees and the organization. The essay references key academic sources to support its arguments.

Running head: HR BUSINESS MODEL
HR BUSINESS MODEL
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Human Resource Department is considered to be one of the most important aspects of the
business organization. The work culture demands that the human resource department works
hand in hand with the management so as to enable the various activities and to increase the
productivity of the organization (Ulrich 1997). The given essay is aimed at highlighting the
Human resource business model as developed by Dave Ulrich. Dave Ulrich had stated that
Human Resource is an important aspect of the organization without which a business cannot
function. The model developed to become the Ulrich Model which began to serve as a relevant
benchmark for the HR Professionals today. The essay is divided into three critical parts. The first
part of the essay throws light on the critical analysis of the literature available on the model
followed by the evolution of the model over a span of 20 years (Purce 2014). The last part of the
essay states how Human Resource Business Model tends to contribute towards organization`s
sustainable success.
The Human Resource Business Model was formed to help the giant organizations to
divide the Human Resource functions into four different segments.
Figure 1: The HR Business Model (Source: Ulrich and Brockbank 2016).

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The four key roles or departments in which the HR Function of the organization can be
divided into are the HR Business Partner, Change Agent, Administrative Expert and as an
Employee Advocate. According to Renwick, Redman and Maguire (2013), the role as a Human
Resource Business Partner is the primary function of a HR Department. The primary purpose of
the department is to build long lasting and sustainable relationships with the internal clients of
the business environment (Ulrich 1997). These clients can be described as the employees who
have been working for the organization. Together with the firm, the Human Resource
Department must help out the employees and motivate them to achieve the goals of the
organization. The functions of HR as a Business Model range from various duties from handling
their pay roll, to recruiting and selecting new employees in the organization. Goetsch and Davis
(2014), state that the Human Resource Department is a strategic business partner of a large
organization because it performs cross functional projects which aim to fulfill the goals of the
organization and increase their productivity.
According to Hameed, Ramzan and Zubair (2014), the second role of a HR Manager is to
act as a Change Agent. As a change Agent, the human resources team has to take part in the
change management which the organization witnesses. Change is a critical part of any
organization and it is the duty of the HR Department to motivate and help the employees during
the process of change. Hayes (2014), states that during the times of change, the organization
conducts various training sessions for the existing employees in order to help them to adapt by
the change which is important for the progress of the organization. Hence, as stating by
Marchington et al. (2016), through this role, the HR Function of the organization makes the
various changes easy for the employees and plays its role as a Change Agent for the
organization.

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The third role that the Human Resource Organization has to play is that of An
Administration Expert. According to Gatewood, Feild and Barrick (2015), this role of the Human
Resource Department is transactional. It is very important for a Human Resource Department to
be a trustworthy administrator who manages various aspects of the Employee relations and
management in the firm. These aspects include work and safety rules, regulations, and
legislations. Alfes et al. (2013), states that they are bound to maintain a database of all the
employees and have to manage their well being in an organization.
The fourth role according to the Model stated by Dave Ulrich is the role of the Human
Resource Department as an advocate of the employees of an organization. According to Bratton
and Gold (2017), the HR Department needs to protect the needs of the employees and ensure that
the strategic initiatives of the organization are maintained. The department conducts meetings
surveys in order to recognize the gap which exists in the organization and make changes in the
same. The training and support sessions that are conducted by the Human Resource Department
helps to improve the relative experience of the employees. Cascio (2018), States that that the
Human Resource Department needs to carry out various grievance processes in order to ensure
that the employees are satisfied in an organization.
The given section highlights the evolution of the model over the years. The model stated
by Dave Ulrich dates back to 1997 which was twenty years back. Since that time the various
roles and functions of the organization with respect to its Human Resource Department has
evolved greatly. The Business organizations today tend to depend greatly on the soft agendas
which may be referred to as organizational capabilities and talent management. The main
purpose of the HR Professionals is now concerned with providing the right job to the right

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skilled people. The recent competitive business environment has raged a talent war where all the
companies want to hire the best talent in an organization.
The HR Business model had stated that the Human Resource Department is concerned
with making strategies of the organization for the development of the employees. However,
according to Cascio (2018), just making strategies for the business organization is not the only
relative factor now, the Human Resource Department will also be responsible for assisting the
organization to carry out and implement these strategies.
As the nature of businesses has been changing continuously, the business partner model
tends to now focus on the issues that the general management tends to face. The requirements of
a business model have thus, become more demanding than ever.
According to Ulrich and Brockbank (2016), the Business partner model of human
resources has changed completely as not all Human Resource Professionals will be able to
perform the role of a business partner. This is because of the varied size of the organization; they
will not be able to link the day to day work to the results which are required out of the business.
Bratton and Gold (2017), state that the HR profession is now quickly evolving and aims to add
more value through a refined strategic focus.
However, based on the old model, the HR professionals are unable to live up to the
expectations of the current environment. With reference to the Change Manager, research states
that only the top 20% of the Human Resource Individuals are being able to live up to the new
expectations and are becoming a part of the change management. Whereas, the lower 20% is not
being able to get there. However the middle 60% can achieve their goals through little training.
Hence, if all the Human resource employees are not being able to become a part of the change

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initiative they will not be able to become a business partner as they will not be able to practically
connect their work to the results of the business.
When this model was developed back in 1997, technology had just started changing our
lives and hence, the model does not make adequate considerations about the technological aspect
of the business environment. With the advent in technology, the Human Resource Professionals
need to have adequate knowledge and skills about the use of technology and its application in
business. Earlier, their focus lied on negotiating and managing the policy terms with respect to
the employee transactions (Ulrich 1997). However, in today`s business environment the business
partner model demands the HR Professionals to connect their daily work to the business but
these skills are necessarily not present in the employees. Hence, the failure to possess these skills
will diminish the role of the HR as a business partner.
Therefore, as the business environment has evolved the given model has also evolved and
now demands a variety of changes from the side of the Human Resource Department. From the
analysis it could be stated that the given business model goes a long way in contributing towards
the sustainable success of the business organization. The model is extremely useful as it clearly
divides the work of the organization into four different aspects. This helps in easy functioning of
the organization and is useful for the given reasons.
It creates a culture of business success. The business model is successful in setting the
business culture. It helps the employees to associate themselves with the business organization
and helps them to build a positive aspect about the firm. The Business partner aspect helps the
organization to achieve the right talent through successful recruitment and selection techniques.
When the right candidates are selected for the organization then the organizational vision is

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upheld. The Business HR Model also helps a firm to evaluate the activities of the Human
Resource Organization based on the company goals. As a strategic business partner, the
department assists the firm in carrying out the various activities of the organization and helps in
increasing the productivity.
Another important contribution of the business model is to assist the firm in making the
best decisions for the organization. As the human resource department makes the employee
decisions and employees are considered to be the best aspect of the organization hence, the
business model of Human Resource assists the organization to make the best use of their
employees in achievement of business goals.

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References
Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C. ,2013. The link between perceived human
resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation
model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), pp.330-351. Routledge.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J.,2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Cascio, W. ,2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Gatewood, R., Feild, H.S. and Barrick, M. ,2015. Human resource selection. Nelson Education.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B. ,2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Hameed, A., Ramzan, M. and Zubair, H.M.K. ,2014. Impact of compensation on employee
performance (empirical evidence from banking sector of Pakistan). International Journal of
Business and Social Science, 5(2).
Hayes, J.,2014. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A. ,2016. Human resource
management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
Purce, J. ,2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New
Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.
Renwick, D.W., Redman, T. and Maguire, S. ,2013. Green human resource management: A
review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(1), pp.1-14.

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Ulrich, D. and Brockbank, W., 2016. HR Business Partner model: past and future perspectives:
international waters-HR strategy. HR Future, 2016(Dec 2016), pp.16-21.
Ulrich, D., 1997. Measuring human resources: an overview of practice and a prescription for
results. Human Resource Management, 36(3), pp.303-320.