How is Human Capital Management Defined and Managed in Large Companies?

[Excerpt] The employer — employee relationship is in disarray: 59% of workers feel their company favors profits over people, 58% believe there are limited growth opportunities in their organization, and 69% would be more satisfied if their employer better utilized their skills and abilities. Thus, a company must consider how to reinvent people strategy to improve engagement. This summary will illustrate the value of strategic human capital management, outline how organizations have adopted a human capital mindset, and provide recommendations for the future workplace

Are There Companies that Build Business Rotations into their HR Development Strategies?

[Excerpt] Among the many important tools in the Human Resource Management toolbox, rotation programs are excellent tools for recruiting, professional development and retention of top HR talent. In a survey conducted by Hay Group involving 1279 companies to determine best business practices, offering rotational programs for high potential employees ranks among the top five. By implementing such best practices, HR managers are more satisfied with the number and quality of their HR employees. In addition, when non-HR placements are incorporated they also provide the opportunity to enhance business acuity for HR professionals. Business acumen is a badly needed skill for HR and many companies have difficulties developing the necessary skills in this area. Deloitte’s research confirms that “less than 8 percent of HR leaders have confidence that their teams have the skills needed to meet the challenge of today’s global environment and consistently deliver innovative programs that drive business impact.” Using this systematic method to expose Human Resources to different business functions, rotation programs clearly benefit both the company and employees. This paper summarizes research, and provides recommendations, surrounding business rotational programs for HR professionals

In a Highly Outsourced Environment, What are Companies Doing Around Staff Development or Their IT Workforce?

[Excerpt] IT skills are more necessary than ever for competitive strategic initiatives. With the rise of shadow IT (unauthorized IT within organizations) and the ever-increasing skills gap in the IT labor market, companies need to invest in training and developing their IT technicians’ skills, no matter where they sit. With IT workers being a large part of the contingent workforce, they are susceptible to becoming underdeveloped and often lack the skills required to succeed in their positions. Typically, organizations have been focused on hard skills, but soft skills have become a requirement for IT departments. In typical working arrangements, soft IT skills are learned through on the job experience. Experiences such as relevant training and mentoring mechanisms offer opportunities for IT professionals to develop and refine their soft and hard skills. However, in highly outsourced environments these skills are less likely to be developed. Furthermore, with the development of new and exciting fields such as cloud, AI, and blockchain, IT technicians must develop new, rare, and difficult skills. According to Gartner, 20% of companies will need to allocate 10% of their IT staff on AI-related projects by 2020. With very little available talent in this space, this need will be difficult to fill

Thermodynamics of Spin-1/2 AF-AF-F and F-F-AF Trimerized Quantum Heisenberg Chains

The magnetization process, the susceptibility and the specific heat of the spin-1/2 AF-AF-F and F-F-AF trimerized quantum Heisenberg chains have been investigated by means of the transfer matrix renormalization group (TMRG) technique as well as the modified spin-wave (MSW) theory. A magnetization plateau at $m=1/6$ for both trimerized chains is observed at low temperature. The susceptibility and the specific heat show various behaviors for different ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions and in different magnetic fields. The TMRG results of susceptibility and the specific heat can be nicely fitted by a linear superposition of double two-level systems, where two fitting equations are proposed. Three branch excitations, one gapless excitation and two gapful excitations, for both systems are found within the MSW theory. It is observed that the MSW theory captures the main characteristics of the thermodynamic behaviors at low temperatures. The TMRG results are also compared with the possible experimental data.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure