Dave Ulrich's comments

From: Dave Ulrich To: omer wahab Sent: Wednesday, 21 March 2012, 16:11 Subject: RE: HI from Sudan javascript:void(0); It was a delight to meet you in Sudan. I hope to be helpful in your research. I made some edits on your letter. I also read your overview. May I ask a few pointed questions: 1. State the “phenomenon” you are interested … can you give a specific example of what you are going to test. This example (or phenomenon) offers a clear understanding of the issue your research will address. 2. Lay out clearly the logic you are studying: a. What are the outcome (dependent) variables you are interested in b. What are the independent variables c. What are the relationships you propose 3. Your effort to separate the terms core competence, RBV, capability, intangibles is very helpful. it would be good to lay them out very clearly. What do you have in mind for your sample? How will you measure some of the terms? These are my responses. Dave

My debate with Dave Ulrich on the HR transformation

Dear professor Dave In fact I was the luckiest one in Sudan who attended your valuable delivered speech about leadership Code and HR transformation. Actually, it was very fascinating professional knowledge transferred to us. It was in a simple and so useful manner. Also, I would like to thank you very much, indeed, for your encouraging and appreciating words. I did covey these words to my PhD supervisor Professor Abu Sin and he was so happy and thanking you very much for the appreciation and encouragement to me. Again I would like to take the opportunity to send to you a soft copy of my PHD model and I hope that you can go through it. In the meantime, I have a big dream to be my external examiner. But before that it is very interesting to me to have your professional comments and feedback on this model and send it back to me as it will be submitted and enclosed within my PhD documentations. In the same time feel free to use any part of this document if you think that there are some points that can be useful to you. This model is summarizing the ideas which are expressed in your books, HR transformation, HR value proposition and Why the Bottom Line Isn't: How to Build Value through People and Organization. The Model of the research is also supported by the Findings of Professor Abraham Carmeli from Israel, Ina Ehnert from the University of Berlin, Jay B. Barney (RBV), C.K. Prahalad and Norton and Kaplan. In reviewing the HR transformation I have considered your model's 4 questions about (why),( what), (How) and (who). In my research I try the best leeway to adapt the model to the case study. In fact, the above model tackles very deliberately the outcomes of the HR transformation which about reshaping the organization strategic capabilities through the intangibles. However, Tangible capital stocks that were capability builder for their possessors are now imperatives and threshold competences to just remain in business. Intangible capital stock (intangible competencies) such as HR capital, talent, leadership, cost leadership, transparency, accountability , innovation and customer care appear to be the new keys to a new nonconventional means of building the business strategic capabilities that add value to the organization key stakeholders and sustain competitive advantage. Resources competencies and capabilities Actually, many are confused by the three terms capabilities, resources and competencies and they are using them interchangeably. According to my model resources and competencies have got the same meaning, while capabilities are the outcomes of the best use of the resources and competencies or in other words strategic capabilities are built through the best use of these tangible and intangible resources (RBV). Tangible resources (tangible Competences) + Intangible resources (intangible competencies) = capabilities OR Tangible capital Stock + Intangible capital stock = Capabilities However, once the organization capabilities are built through the alignment of the tangible and the intangible competences, value can be added to the organization stakeholders so as to sustain the competitive advantage. The question of sustaining the competitive advantage We build our argument on sustaining competitive advantage on the works of Jay B. Barney (RBV) and Abraham Carmeli. We argue that tangible capital stocks are no longer organization competitive advantage enabler since all competitors equally possess these tangible competences. However, market position can be sustained through the intangibles resources (competencies), (the VRIO concept of RBV) which are the deliverable of the HR. The role of HR professional is to plan for the organization's overall competencies map. Then, from the map only 10 to 15 targeted competencies can be developed in the core competency pool. At the end only 3 to 5 distinctive competencies are to be selected from the pool to sustain the competitive advantage. Actually, there is no magic list of what competency that can suit. It largely depends on the business activities and the market structure. However, the role of HR professionals is very strategic in order to make these competencies durable and everlasting. Continuous investment in the sources of each targeted competency (source of the resource) is very essential to underpin sustainability. That means each competency has to be identified, established, built deployed and protected throughout the pipeline.