The operational model of 4 HR Roles by Mr. Ulrich is excellent on the paper, in theory, but in reality it can bring a lot of issues, when the HRM Function tries to implement it. The successful implementation is not that common as you could think, many HRM Function operate using the 4 Roles HR Model by Mr. Ulrich, but they are not that successful as they want to.
The HRM Function usually divides its operation into three main blocks:
- HR Front Office
- HR Back Office
- HR Centers of Excellence
This is a great idea, but it produces a lot of issues, when the employees and managers have to live in such a moment. The HRM Function faces a issue of increased need for the communication and coordination.
As the HR Front Office is the only function to deal with the internal and external customers, the HR Front Office tends to promise deliveries and deadlines to the internal clients. This would not be a problem, when HR Centers of Excellence are able to make an adjustment to the deadline promised to the internal client. As they are not included in the negotiation process, they have to meet deadlines, which are really deadly sometimes.
The other issue is to keep one common HR Policy and HR Strategy, when the model is fully implemented. As the HR Front Office has a lot of internal clients and they are assigned to one specific HR Employee, this employee becomes the advocate of the internal client at the HRM Function, not the advocate of the HRM Function at the client side.
The departments starts to demand their customized solutions and the HRM Function is not able to keep one common policy for all the clients as the HR Front Office promises customized solutions, not the solutions compliant with the current HR Policies and HR Strategy.
The 4 Roles Model by Mr. Ulrich is great solutions for big companies, but there must a strong supervision above the departments in the HRM Function as they have to coordinated strongly and the products and procedures cannot be offered automatically to be customized for each internal client.
Many HRM Functions try to implement managerial meetings to coordinate and communicate, but then the pressure at the individual employees start to bring a small exception and the manager of the Center of Excellence does not have to be aware of.
The only cure is very limited responsibility of the HR Front Office to make a real promise without a signature of the HR Center of Excellence, but it really limits the possibility of the HR Front Office to become a real Business Partner for the internal client. But in reality, it is better to start small before finishing in big troubles.
