Ulrich HR Model Problems (Part 1)

The Ulrich’s HR Model is one of the favorite HR operational and business models. It is commonly used and the HRM Functions try to implement the model, usually with very compound results.

The Ulrich’s HR Model is very simple to draw and to explain to the company and the top management, but its daily usage is very difficult. It needs completely different job profiles and employees have to learn to live inside it.

The basic HR operational model is about dividing HR Roles into 4 main areas:

• Strategic Business Partner
• Change Agent
• Employee Champion
• Administration Expert

The HRM Function usually starts with the implementation of business partnering and defining HR Front Office and HR Back Office roles. The HR Back Office is usually pretty easy to be set up, but the HR Front Office (sometimes called HR Front End) is very difficult function in the HRM Function.

The employees of the HR Front Office are usually taken as Key Account Managers for the internal clients and the Sales model is copied. In reality, the skills required from the employees are very huge. The HR Front Office has to have a deep knowledge of the client, the needs of the client and all the HR Processes offered to the rest of the organization. In many cases, the HR Front Office is required to lead many activities for the client in the HRM Function.

When the employee of the HR Front Office is not mature enough and has no enough experience in the field of Human Resources, it leads to the failure of the whole HR Operational Model as the clients keep contacting HR Back Office functions directly. When the clients start to communicate with the HR Back Office directly (as HR Back Office keeps the expertise and deep know how) the position of the HR Front Office is lost.

The HR Model by Ulrich is theoretically excellent; in reality it brings a lot of issues.