NEXT GENERATION HR - CIPD

A CIPD company 

Chartered Institute of 

Personnel and Development 

Next Generation HR 

The growth option: turbo-charging HR’s impact in Asia 

NEXT 

GENERATION HR 

ASIA

NEXT GENE 

Written by Jerry Connor with 

contributions from Claire McCartney 

Research conducted in collaboration with HKIHRM. 

We would also like to extend our thanks to HRA for their help with this project.

RATION HR 

CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 2 

CONTEXT AND OVERVIEW 4 

The growth option: turbo-charging HR’s impact in Asia 4 

Phase 1: Next Generation HR UK 7 

Phase 2: Next Generation HR Asia 8 

What do we mean by HR being a catalyst for growth? 9 

What is Next Practice HR in Asia? 10 

THE FOUR CORNERS 12 

1 Insight 12 

2 Community 17 

3 Purpose 20 

4 Performance 25 

CONCLUSION: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR HR IN ASIA? 28 

The future of HR in Asia 28 

What would this mean for the function? 30 

A VISION FOR HR: OUR INTERVIEWEES’ WORDS 32 

Insight 32 

Community 32 

Purpose 32 

Performance 32 

APPENDIX 33 

Organisations we spoke to 33 

References 33 

A SIGNIFICANT HISTORY 34 

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development: approaching 100 years 

in business 34 

Bridge: over 20 years in leadership and strategic change 34 

NEXT GENERATION HR 1


AN INTRODUCTION 

Across Asia, unprecedented rates of growth and levels of change are making strong 

demands on the strategic agility of organisations, on their ability to innovate and on their 

creativity. Building organisations that thrive, and developing the talent pool to lead them are 

challenges at the heart of business strategies. 

We’ve developed new insight into these challenges through our Next Generation HR research 

project in Asia. This paints a picture of a regional HR profession that can overtake current 

global best practice to deliver uniquely Asian HR strategies that are truly growth-oriented. 

Through our combined experience and histories, by applying what this research has told 

us, and by investing in local capability, we are committed to maximising our contribution. 

We’re adapting and applying our qualifications and globally recognised standards to the 

development of the HR profession in the region. And we’re supporting organisations and 

individuals through consulting and coaching support tailored to specific local challenges. 

We’ve been excited and inspired by our work in Asia so far, and we look forward to building 

long and productive partnerships in the region in the coming years. 

Jackie Orme 

Chief Executive 



Jerry Connor 

Director 

Bridge 

2 

NEXT GENERATION HR


簡介 

在整個亞洲 , 前所未有的增長速度和變化水準強烈要求各組織機構提高策略靈活性、創造 

性以及創新能力。建立欣欣向榮的組織機構、培養領導組織機構發展的人才庫是企業策略 

的核心挑戰。 

我們透過我們在亞洲的「新一代人力資源」(Next Generation HR) 研究項目提出了對這些挑 

戰的新見解。它描述了區域人力資源職業的情況 , 他們可以超越目前全球最佳實踐 , 交付 

獨特的真正以增長為中心的亞洲人力資源策略。 

借助我們豐富的經驗和悠久的歷史 , 運用該項研究的結果 , 並透過投資發展地方能力 , 我 

們致力於最大程度發揮我們的作用。我們正在採用並實施我們的資格審查和全球認可的標 

準來發展該地區的人力資源職業。我們透過根據特定地方挑戰量身定制的諮詢和指導支援 

為各組織和個人提供支援。 

到目前為止 , 我們為我們在亞洲的工作而感到興奮和鼓舞 , 我們期待著在未來數年裡在該 

地區建立長期而富有成效的合作夥伴關係。 



The growth option: turbo-charging HR’s 

CONTEXT AND OVERVIEW 

impact in Asia 

Despite the relative immaturity of much of the HR profession in Asia, this research indicates 

the beginnings of a silent revolution in Asian HR practice. The revolution is emerging as HR 

helps organisations come to terms with four unique challenges (insight, community, purpose 

and performance) that will define the success of the growth aspirations of the region. 

Faced with this, traditional (Western) HR orthodoxy is a double-edged sword. Instead we 

have witnessed the development of a much more agile and business-centred version of HR 

in some organisations as HR steps outside of its conventional space and starts delivering 

HR solutions that are essentially Asian in feel and deeply relevant to their context. You will 

not find this so-called ‘next practice HR’ in any textbook – and therein lies its strength. It is 

a wonderful example of practice on the ground getting ahead of academic thinking, and 

appears to offer a template for turbo-charging HR’s impact in a growth region such as Asia. 

Western HR orthodoxy 

It is relatively well documented 1 that in many parts of Asia, HR as a profession is in a 

state of flux and can be less mature and more emergent than in Europe or the US. For 

example, in some countries HR operates more as a business specialism, rather than a fully 

fledged profession with its requisite qualifications and professional status. There are also 

organisations in which ‘business partnering’ concepts are still evolving and the function 

invests a lot of its energy in traditional ‘services’, supporting the business in areas such as 

payroll, recruiting and training. 

For many companies, especially international and multinational corporations, the solution 

is to put in place structures, processes and ‘ways of working’ that reflect best practice HR 

internationally. Words such as ‘business partner’, ‘specialist teams’ and ‘service centres’ are 

unsurprisingly becoming common parlance throughout Asia. On the face of it, this makes 

good sense (Figure 1). 

Figure 1: The best practice option 

Developing 

or emergent 

profession 

Implement 

international 

best practice 

1 

This gap has been identified by a number of authors, for example Zhu and Warner (2004) talk about ‘a lag in 

practice that still exists in reality’. 

4 



But this research implies that doing only this, organisations may be missing a big 

opportunity. 

Beyond orthodoxy 

The great news is that, in the course of our research, we’ve found something more exciting, 

the so-called ‘Next Generation’ (beyond Western best practice) HR in small pockets. While 

the Western models of HR founded on Ulrich-inspired logic have merit, it is crucial to 

appreciate that there are two underlying issues that, if addressed early in the life of HR in 

Asia, will enable the development of the ‘turbo-charged’ HR that is so needed in the region. 

Purpose and positioning of the function 

There is a subtle but significant difference in the way that these Next Generation HR 

functions see themselves and in what they think they are there for. In short, they see 

themselves as business functions first that have a people and culture brief that is in 

support of the business agenda. For them, HR is an applied business discipline. It means 

they are actively involved in acts of leadership in the business that sit outside of the classic 

people arena. Crucially, the underlying purpose here is about driving short- and long-term 

business success. This has clear echoes with the Next Generation report in the UK where 

those functions focusing on driving sustainable business performance avoided the trap 

of becoming too internally facing and disconnected from the business context they were 

operating in. 

This is in contrast with those functions that have a much more limited sense of purpose that 

confines itself to being a people function in support of the business agenda. These functions 

are applied people functions and are concerned with ‘pure’ HR and people issues. While 

they add value, it is very easy for this way of thinking about HR to disconnect it from the 

business and drive it lower down the value chain, often leading to it being much more of a 

transactional and administrative function rather than a key driver of short- and long-term 

success. 

Critical capabilities 

In the Next Generation HR functions, there is evidence that the critical capabilities that 

exist in the best HR leaders are not focused on HR and people skills alone. Indeed, they 

demonstrate a rich understanding of the business, a deep appreciation of the wider context 

outside of the organisation allied to a real feel for the issues of people and culture. This 

powerful blend not only enables them to keep the HR solutions they develop highly relevant 

and impactful, but more importantly, it puts them in a position to demonstrate deep insight 

and a unique viewpoint on how to tackle the most pressing organisational challenges in a 

dynamic and creative way. 

A great example lies in the innovation currently going on in India around medicine. For 

example, Narayana Hrudayalaya health city has applied Henry Ford type management 

principals to build scale and specialisation into medicine. It can offer operations such as 

open-heart surgery for around US$2,000 compared with $20,000–100,000 in the US, and 

with equivalent success rates. 2 

2 

Statistics taken from the Economist Magazine. “The World turned upside down”. April 17 2010. 



One of our interviewees had recently worked in this industry. How did HR play its role in 

building such a model? 

‘We decided, given the shortage of surgeons in India, to hire expat Indians from overseas. To 

attract them we sold a vision. Come back and be part of building a new India. … Work for 

us and you’ll be able to help and cure so many more people a week than you can in Europe 

or America. And because of the vision doctors come back to India – to work far longer hours 

and for much less money than they did before.… We were brave enough to think bigger 

than anyone else and passionate enough to get others to back our vision.’ 

This kind of thinking is about tearing up the rulebook. There is no orthodoxy in sight, just a 

big vision and the confidence to go for it. And yet it is just one of many remarkable stories 

we heard over the last six months in what, for us, has been a very different research project. 

We are left convinced that, at its best, in pockets there is an emerging ‘Asian’ brand of HR 

that focuses HR onto the unique challenges of operating in a high-growth region (Figure 2). 

Figure 2: The growth option 

Developing 

or emergent 

profession 

Implement 

international 

best practice 

The growth 

option 

There is a choice here for the function in many Asian countries. Stand back, look at what is 

working and develop an approach to HR that learns from the Western gurus but that blends 

it with the best of growth-based Asian practice. Or only adopt the mantras, structures and 

ideas that are becoming global orthodoxy. 

We hope it chooses the former. 

6 



Phase 1: Next Generation HR UK 

Next Generation HR Asia is the second phase of a research programme initiated by the 

CIPD and Bridge in 2009. Phase 1 of the project involved interviews with some of the most 

innovative HR practitioners in Europe. We found that listening to these leading-edge HR 

practitioners ‘on the ground’ and looking at some of the remarkable work they are doing, 

provided a fascinating window into a potential route through the inflection point described 

above. 

In particular, this research told of an inflection point for the profession, and one that is 

rooted in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. 

Take, for example, the HR function of a British bank, at the time widely regarded as one of 

the best-run banks in the country. Winners of countless awards, they prided themselves on 

the innovative and sophisticated ways in which they tackled the bank’s HR challenges. But 

when the global financial crisis hit, the bank was hopelessly poorly positioned. It could not 

meet its debts and was taken over by the British Government. 

While no one would question the excellence of the HR team at the bank, this and other 

similar stories do raise a question. How relevant can HR claim to be if so-called ‘best practice’ 

is so divorced from the potential business calamity round the corner? 

In Europe this has been extrapolated by the tendency, especially where the Ulrich model 

had been implemented without a truly compelling overriding purpose, for the function to 

become ever more specialised and fragmented. 

The inflection point for Europe lies here. Is it enough to build a function built on a collection 

of expertises around core people priorities? Or do we need to be bolder and build the 

capability to generate rule-breaking insight and to act as guardians of the long-term 

commercial success of our organisations? 

Interestingly enough, Next Generation HR, as defined naturally by some of our HR Asian 

leaders, appears to bypass and avoid the very issues and concerns that are being raised in 

Europe. 



Phase 2: Next Generation HR in Asia 

This report summarises the second phase of the research, focused on innovative HR leaders 

in Asia. As part of the research, we spoke to 27 companies operating throughout the region 

in countries that ranged from Singapore and Hong Kong, to South Korea, China and India. 

The research seeks to identify the essence of the Asian brand of Next Generation HR. 

Rather than being about HR in Asia today, it is about HR in Asia tomorrow. And in trying 

to describe HR in Asia tomorrow, we’ve unashamedly sought out the most interesting and 

stimulating practice. 

The report is also not attempting to compare HR against classical ‘templates’ of best practice. 

We will avoid comparing HR in Asia against Western filters, so won’t be drawing lessons 

‘from Asia’ for the wider world. 

This study is written in Asia for Asia. We’ve spoken to over 25 of the foremost and most 

innovative HR leaders in the region. And we’ve found the beginnings of a recipe for HR 

leadership in the region. We try wherever possible to use their words in describing it. 

These leaders are responding to a unique set of pressures and challenges – and they are 

responding in a uniquely dynamic and innovative way. This study attempts to articulate 

their response and to use it to begin to create a vision for HR that can shape the destiny of 

organisations in Asia. 

And this vision is all around HR’s role as a catalyst for growth. 

8 



What do we mean by HR being a catalyst 

for growth? 

Asia represents one of the most fast-moving and creative business environments in the world 

today. And it has some of the world’s most dynamic and creative HR leaders, all responding 

to the challenges and opportunities of living in a high-growth environment. 

In particular, growth and the Asian business environment are creating two forces: 

• The war for talent: the competition for talent in Asia has a fundamentally dynamic 

nature to it. It changes rapidly. Often talent is in scarce supply and is hard fought after. 

Attrition rates can be shocking (we heard one story of a company that started the year 

with around 50 graduates and ended it with one). There are extreme levels of diversity 

– between, and within, nations – and between generations. China for instance is a very 

diverse country, which consists of many different regions, has as many as 40 nationalities, 

and many different languages 3 . This hot house is creating the conditions for some 

remarkable innovations in finding and retaining talent. 

‘The global war for talent has shifted its battleground to emerging markets. 

As multinationals work towards gaining share in these markets, the competition for 

people grows more intense.’ 

Neumeister and Stoian 2010 

• Building businesses in a fast-paced region: so much has been written about the pace 

of Asian growth and about the innovative business practices it has spawned. But for HR 

leaders the combination of high levels of change and significant market opportunities has 

put growth at the heart of the way they see HR. And the best of them are doing this in a 

way that really leverages the power of HR to drive business success. As Yeung et al (2008) 

maintain, ‘the growth and globalisation of firms in Asia and the evolution of HRM in the 

region are two faces of the same phenomenon.’ 

And each of these two forces takes place in the most dynamic of environments. For example, 

twenty-first-century technologies are leapfrogging twentieth-century ideas and are being 

rapidly adopted in many countries – and significant demographic changes (for example 

ageing populations) are having an increasing impact. Operating in such a context demands 

high levels of organisational flexibility – and a unique HR response. 

3 

April, K. and Smit, E. (2010) Diverse discretionary effort in workplace networks: serving self over community in 

China. In: Syed, J. and Özbilgin, M. (2010) Managing cultural diversity in Asia. A research companion. Edward Elgar, 

Cheltenham: 73-102. 



What is Next Practice HR in Asia? 

As in any fast-changing environment, Next Practice HR leaders find themselves wrestling with 

the challenges of business-building and talent from both a short-term (that is, solving today’s 

challenges) and a long-term vantage point. 

And as we were seeking ‘Next Generation’ practices, a theme began emerging that 

resonated well with the latest thinking in Europe. Next Generation HR leaders in Asia are 

insights-led. They use their deep knowledge of the broader context and market, of the 

business itself and of the culture and capabilities of the organisation to generate insights 

that help the organisation grow. 

These insights fall into four areas, and if we take short- and long-term time horizons and the 

two core challenges, four ‘corners of next practice’ emerge (Figure 3): 

Figure 3: Four corners of growth-based HR 

Winning today’s 

battles 

Performance 

Community 

Growing 

the 

business 

Insight 

Purpose 

Winning 

the war for 

talent in 

Asia 

Building a future 

fit organisation 

• insight – ‘leveraging insights thinking’ 

• community – ‘building the open family’ 

• purpose – ‘caretaking dreams’ 

• performance – ‘competition, coaching and capability’. 

As this report progresses, it will outline these corners in more detail. The corners represent 

centres of great practice that relate to very specific business challenges. They do not, for 

example, attempt to redefine the ‘role of HR’. What they do offer, however, is a vision for HR 

in Asia that can leapfrog the development of the profession in the West, but leapfrog it by 

focusing on specific Asian issues. We hope you find it as provocative as we did. 

10 



The best companies will already know the challenges 

There is no questioning the excitement that is currently surrounding Asia as a business region 

and the growth it is currently experiencing. Nor is there much debate that to tap into the 

potential in the region, there are key questions to answer, such as finding talent, responding 

quickly to market opportunities and leveraging performance across different national and 

regional cultures. 

But will they have an HR function that can lead them? 

The question is not about whether these questions are faced up to. It concerns whether 

HR’s contribution sits at the heart of this, or plays an enabling role on the periphery. Chief 

executives can and will focus on these issues, but they will be solved better through a 

dynamic partnership between the chief executive and HR director. But this can never happen 

unless HR seizes its opportunity to become a catalyst for growth. 

And the four corners offer a structured map on how to create this. 



THE FOUR CORNERS 

1 Insight 

‘Leveraging insights thinking’ 

The HR leaders we interviewed tend to define their key sphere of influence at one of four 

levels (Figure 4). 

Figure 4: Four levels of influence 

Shaping 

the 

future 

Delivering 

strategy 

Culture and 

people 

HR leaders who operate as strategic architects 

of the future, actively seeking out future growth 

opportunities 

HR leaders who define their role as seeking to 

ensure the business is able to deliver its business 

strategy 

HR leaders who define their role as seeking 

competitive advantage through shaping the culture 

and the capabilities of people in the organisation 

Core people 

processes 

HR leaders who define their role by the processes 

they support, for example recruitment, training 

and development 

Those leaders who operate near the top of this pyramid (Figure 4) are able to use their 

knowledge of the business itself (‘business savvy’), of the opportunities in the environment 

(‘contextual savvy’) and of the people in the organisation (‘organisational savvy’). It is when 

these three come together that HR seems to make the most difference. 

12 



Case study: Shui On Construction Ltd 

First established as a construction and materials company, SOCAM realised that the 

construction market in Hong Kong faced limited growth, making it necessary for the 

corporation to step up its planning for new business streams around a broad aim to 

diversify and expand into the fast-growing markets of China. To do this they needed to 

reposition and placed a strategic focus on property development. They also needed a 

niche that leveraged their core capabilities. Through a combination of all three savvies, 

HR found a solution – recruiting highly seasoned executives who had worked in Shui 

On before and who had held senior management positions in property and related 

businesses to return to the company to spearhead the growth of the property businesses 

all over China. They rejoined the company at the autumn of their careers with two 

briefs: as business champions (build the business) and as development champions (build 

your succession): 

‘So we look around and think about the knowledge transfer model – meaning we 

recruit some very knowledgeable professionals who are, or will be, retirees, in a 

relatively short period of time. Then we invite a few key executives to spearhead the 

businesses in China, supported by local staff. Because when you work in China, you 

have to know China well and have the necessary networks. As they will retire in three 

to four years’ time, they know they have to build, operate and transfer businesses and 

commercial know-how to the second generation. Not only do they need to set up a 

property business, but they have another agenda – to groom the successors. So this is 

the staff model which has successfully driven the transformation of the company in the 

past few years, and which has provided a long-term solution to preserve the intellectual 

capital of the organisation.’ 

In the business hot house that is Asia, we’ve many examples of HR leaders actively driving 

strategic business initiatives through their own insight. Examples we’ve heard range 

from opportunities to expand services to other companies in the group (New World 

Telecommunications Ltd) to the need to take an established local company and make it 

globally competitive (MTR: transport industry) and venturing into completely new business 

areas (Jebsen). 



Case study: New World Telecommunications Ltd 

At New World Telecommunications Ltd in Hong Kong, HR has played a leading role in the 

business transformation from landline and mobile to broadband. They are now highly 

involved in a range of business innovations – such as offering broadband services to hotels 

that take a mature landline business and turn it into an innovative broadband one. 

‘HR in our organisation is not doing HR, it is really on a business partnership; we have to 

know the business well in advance…. 30% of my time is on HR. 70% is on business.’ 

Case study: Hong Kong rail and property company MTR 

Hong Kong’s major public transportation company MTR faces two main challenges: 

managing the massive growth and expansion they are developing in Hong Kong itself 

and learning to be a global organisation. They already have operations in mainland 

China, London, Sweden and Australia. 

‘Hong Kong is our base in which we continue to excel, and from Hong Kong we 

expand into the international markets. Our Hong Kong expertise has facilitated our 

growth internationally, and in turn our global experience has strengthened our ability 

to do even better in Hong Kong. At the centre of this change are the MTR people. It 

is the MTR people who are the change and learning agent for our Hong Kong and 

international operations. HR has a core role to play in building an enterprising and 

learning culture that supports this change. By taking up the various challenges posed 

by our international businesses and overcoming them, we are growing stronger and are 

moving closer to achieving our vision – to be a globally recognised leader that connects 

and grows communities with caring service.’ 

At its best this is not about building HR strategies that support the business strategy. It is 

about partnering the business so that HR levers are key, integrated, ‘insight-led’ elements of 

the business strategy itself. 

14 



New business thinking 

The business media have paid increasing attention to the new thinking that is emerging in 

Asia. And Next Generation HR is playing a leading role in some of this thinking, especially 

where insight-led HR leaders at the top of organisations have used their unique people-led 

perspective to build quite different business models. 

From competition to partnership 

Case study: Ngong Ping 360 – Hong Kong tourist attraction rebuilding its brand 

after cable car dislodgment 

HR played a lead role in crisis and change management and championed a big vision for 

tourism in Hong Kong, seeing other attractions not as competitors but as partners – all 

working together for the good of Hong Kong’s tourist industry. They have developed 

a win–win view of business. This view opens up a number of innovative co-operative 

partnerships with what would otherwise be competitors. 

‘We always position ourselves as partnering with Hong Kong Disneyland or Ocean Park 

and not as our competitors. We had exchange and sharing of experience, joint promotion. 

We both open the door…’ 

Using the ‘university’ as a model for corporation 

Case study: Founder Group (a corporation owned by Peking University) 

Founder Group sees its access to the country’s top talent as a core source of competitive 

advantage and invests heavily in hiring the best students – even before they are sure there 

are specific jobs for them. It then uses this unique human capital advantage to work in 

areas that range from the financial sector to software development. And it leverages its 

university brand to win business. 

‘We have close connections with Peking University. There are several reasons behind it. 

Number one is that the university is our majority owner. And number two is we still get 

a lot of people from Peking University to work here. Number three is that there is a lot 

of technology jointly developed with the university. And number four, in China, Peking 

University is a well-respected, well-known university and that means we can easily get 

trust and support from central and local government…, “This enterprise, the owner is 

Peking University” means a lot. We can easily get their trust because they know that this is 

one of the most prestigious universities.’ 

In both cases, an HR-led strategy has interesting business implications from treating 

competitors as partners to a business model that merges state, commerce and academia into 

a unique form. 



The dilemma 

The paradox here is that a number of our interviewees described how many Asian leaders 

(perhaps due to the education system’s heavy and highly competitive focus on academic 

subjects and passing examinations) are not naturally strong at true insights thinking: 

‘Culturally it is a tell culture…people are used to being told what to do and doing it and not 

necessarily challenging.’ (Asia-Pacific HR director on insights thinking in the region) 

This presents a dilemma. If so many Asian leaders are not natural insights thinkers, how 

come we are finding examples of great practice? Is this thinking the preserve of a few 

exceptional leaders, or is it something that HR can develop as a core competence more 

broadly? 

Insights thinking – the core capability for growth 

And if HR can codify what these leaders do, and teach the essence of insights thinking so 

that it does not rest with a few individuals but runs through HR, it will be developing a 

critical competence that is of value to the whole organisation. 

HR in Asia does seem to be at an inflection point. On the one hand, there is a clear drive 

to build the profession. Naturally, this will focus on building business partners, centres of 

excellence and the like. And with this thinking will come many of the issues that are familiar 

to global HR functions, such as how to develop ‘business partners’, avoid fragmentation and 

so on. 

However, given the importance of business insight to fast-growing economies and the 

need to develop ‘insights thinking’ more broadly in the region, there does seem to be an 

opportunity for HR. By explicitly focusing on this capability, it could add a different dimension 

to its professional practice and, in doing so, leapfrog much contemporary practice. 

And of course, insights thinking can be applied to classic HR challenges. In the following 

pages we explore how insights-led HR functions have been thinking about problems of 

community, purpose and performance against the backdrop of rapid growth. 

Growth-based HR – leveraging insights thinking 

• HR offers insight on the business as a whole. HR leaders are valued for their challenge 

and thinking about business issues well outside of the HR area. 

• HR leverages its traditional ‘people expertise’ (for example, culture, capability, and so 

on) to open up new market and growth opportunities. 

• HR managers talk about insight and growth. 

• There is no need to talk about the HR strategy supporting the business strategy. They 

are one and the same thing. 

• HR can leverage its own strengths to promote and build insights capability and 

thinking in the broader organisation. 

16 



2 Community 

‘Building the open family’ 

The importance of Asian values 

‘We’re not like an American company’ is a phrase that appeared early on in a number of 

the interviews. And it occurred in a number of cultures (albeit with a different emphasis). 

For many interviewees, leading American companies are synonymous with individualism and 

internal competition. This can appear at odds with core values such as ‘community’ and with 

the traditions in many cultures of family businesses that look after and show high degrees of 

loyalty to their employees. 

The best HR leaders found ways to honour and pay attention to the core, traditional values 

of their businesses. 

But these values are under pressure… 

Case study: China Mobile 

China Mobile sees the hiring of best talent as part of their social responsibility, providing 

jobs and opportunity for talents to perform and develop to their maximum potential. 

‘…the people that I work with, from the top management to my immediate boss, the 

people and the organisation demonstrate what we talk about in our core values. They are 

responsible to all colleagues, customers and society at large. I feel good about working 

here.’ (recent graduate at China Mobile) 

We encountered many cases in which these values are under pressure. In some cases, this is 

due to the competitive environment. 

For example, in China the core capability of a property development company (Sino- 

Oceanland) was, until recently, all about getting land in the right place and building on 

it quickly. But now consumers are becoming more demanding. They want communities, 

somewhere for their children to play and so on. This means property developers need to 

become more customer focused and creative in the way they work. 

But traditional cultures based on values such as community, respect and a strong hierarchy 

don’t necessarily build creative, responsive cultures. The property company faced a dilemma: 

how to honour traditional values and build the culture the business needed. 

But in our interviews the biggest tension came between generations. Whether described as the 

ubiquitous Generation Y, or (in China) sometimes by decade of birth, it seems clear that many 

countries’ younger workers are entering businesses with radically different expectations. 



In particular, they want to be trusted to make decisions and are more open and willing to 

challenge. They want a culture of honesty and openness. 

‘The young generation, they come into the workforce and they have very different working 

expectations. They have their own value they want to perceive. They’re more technology 

orientated. They basically have a resources-rich life, and they are much more self-orientated 

compared with the past generation…. They have a stronger intention to achieve what they 

want to achieve. They much prefer open communications. They prefer less hierarchical 

organisation. They would prefer getting them more freedom, a platform for them to use 

their talent. They have probably less patience, they want to move faster.’ 

‘You’d be very surprised. In China, particularly the younger generation, they are very open. 

They do come up, they do challenge the authority where they see things which they feel are 

not fair. They come up to you or they write a lot of anonymous letters, even our chairman 

receives a lot of anonymous letters – roughly at least one a month.’ 

And they are highly media-savvy. This means organisations need to be prepared to be more 

open with the wider world as well. 

For example, one interviewee spoke about hiring nurses. In recent years they have found 

new ‘Gen Y’ nurses to be very technology-savvy. In particular they use online sharing tools 

such as Facebook to describe their experiences. This means stories get in the press quickly 

(and of course medical concerns are highly newsworthy). As a result, the hospital has had to 

learn to be more open and media-savvy. 

18 



Embracing the future, respecting the past 

The ‘open family’ insight 

The most impressive HR leaders are navigating this in a way that respects the past and builds 

distinctly Asian cultures – but that uses these new pressures to create a culture that embraces 

ideas such as autonomy and openness. In doing so they are able to blend the best of both. 

In other words, they are building communities that combine the values of: 

• being ‘open’ – demanded by young people; critical for driving performance; essential to 

global business working 

• maintaining ‘family’ – capturing the essence of the collective good, of caring for one 

another and of loyalty and service to the community (the core values associated with 

traditions such as Confucianism). 

It is this ‘open family’ model that so often underpins the cultures of the most impressive 

organisations we met. 


China’s leading employer is a state-owned enterprise that focuses on openness to 

integrate its traditional culture with more modern values. Its approach to graduate 

branding has three fits – right person for the position, right person for the team, 

right person for the culture. The organisation deliberately role-models openness and 

transparency in all dealings and throughout the recruitment process. This seems to merge 

traditional Chinese values with Gen Y aspirations for transparency and internationalism. 

Case study: Samsung Tesco 

Samsung Tesco in Korea deliberately runs itself as a Korean rather than a Western 

business. Other global supermarkets operating in Korea made the mistake of setting up 

with expats, who did not have the local knowledge about Korean policies, employees and 

customers. For this reason they failed to make their business a success and have had to 

change that model. Samsung Tesco took a ‘glocal’ approach – global policies and processes 

but utilising local Koreans. This combination worked well. In other organisations the 

corporate culture is centred around the CEO, but at Samsung Tesco the culture transcends 

individuals. And in doing so it is able to respond to ‘Generation ‘Y’ issues such as openness 

and balance without compromising its social ‘Korean’ identity. 

Case study: SOCAM 

SOCAM has instituted backwards mentoring – Gen Y mentoring older employees on 

technology and new media: 

‘We have a reverse mentoring programme. While the older generation has lots of real-life 

experience, the younger generation is resourceful. Why? Because of the Internet and the 

emergence of the social media. The younger generation has many friends online through 

a valuable virtual community. So while we may still be talking, they may already be 

sharing and tapping into a gold mine of the latest information and data.’ 



3 Purpose 

‘Caretaking dreams‘ 

‘Always my motto is that we are a caretaker of your dreams. Share any dream with us and 

then I see whether I can take care of your dreams.’ (Pan-Asia HR Director) 

The talent market for Asia is never static. Organisations we spoke to describe it as 

‘ferocious’, ‘intense’ and ‘highly competitive’. The impact of this varies, but at its extreme we 

met organisations (for example within certain sectors in China) suffering extreme levels of 

staff turnover (40–90%). 

Aspirations are moving fast and expectations are shifting with them. Not only that, but in 

many countries there is an intense sense of national pride and of increasing self-expression. 

The best organisations are rapidly trying to differentiate. And to differentiate in a way that 

taps into these trends. 

Case study: Samsung Tesco (Korea) differentiates for younger employees 

Traditionally in Korea employees work long hours – this has led to high productivity but 

poor work–life balance. The younger generation do not have the same values as older 

employees and are not prepared to work long hours, nor do they value overtime. The 

Samsung Tesco CEO has led a number of initiatives to help people to work more efficiently 

with family support, such as flexible working. There is a general desire for organisations 

in Korea to become great workplaces and work–life balance issues are key to that and to 

retaining people. 

And the best kinds of differentiation are whole-business solutions. Next Generation HR 

leaders have, in these cases, taken the idea of aligning the employer brand and market 

brand to a new level, one that creates a whole-business personality that is appealing to 

customers and staff alike. Thus the alliance between marketing and HR becomes the 

backbone of the business’s identity. 

Case study: New World Telecom 

New World Telecom mirrors its customer and employee offering. ‘As a customer what 

I want is innovation, I want quality and I want service. What I want as a team member 

is warmth, community and learning, which creates the innovation, and I want honesty, 

which creates the quality. So you are talking about just directly mirroring the two.’ 

20 



Case study: The Founder Group 

The Founder Group in China has a remarkable success rate at attracting top graduates 

from its parent university (Peking University) and from other top universities. It does this 

through adopting and modelling its culture on the brand of a top university. For example, 

it is actively involved in the universities themselves (through prizes, internships, training, 

two-way dialogue). And when graduates join the organisation they find many elements 

of the culture and employment proposition familiar, for example the focus on excellence 

and applied technology, a rigorous performance culture (with clear success and failure) 

and a high investment in mentoring and other learning support. 

Case study: Ngong Ping 360 

Ngong Ping 360 is responsible for one of Hong Kong’s most iconic tourist attractions, 

including a 5.7km cable car journey leading to the Tian Tan Buddha statue. Customer 

service therefore is central to all activities. 

‘Customer service is driven from the heart; we want our staff to be passionate, to be frank 

and to be patient. Fundamentally, starting from recruitment we have already decided 

on the criteria on what we want. …mindset is more important than the qualification. So 

mindset is important here while we are selecting people, so we need to put the skills to 

select the right people and then when they come here how we enforce and build on the 

customer service guidelines to let them know what we want them to be.’ 



Tapping into the power of shared purpose 

The insight: two key levers, authenticity and purpose 

Growth-based HR leaders, however, are going beyond this. They are looking to build deep 

and enduring engagement, tapping into the passion, dreams and aspirations of their people 

to power long-term growth. 

One way to look at this is through a simple metaphor for relationships (Figure 5). 

Figure 5: A metaphor for relationships 

Social 

Getting to know one another; the social glue of 

organisations 

Business 

Understanding roles, strengths, weaknesses; 

giving feedback; setting goals 

Trust 

The more personal questions that drive our 

behaviour; self-talk, feelings, dreams and values 

Two key levers: 

AUTHENTICITY and PURPOSE 

For a long time engagement and brand alignment was about behaviours and the customer 

and employee experience. Next Generation HR leaders seem to be able to look beyond this. 

In the long term, engagement and talent attractiveness will be determined by factors that go 

on ‘below the iceberg’. 

This means being able to compete on two dimensions: authenticity and purpose. 

22 



Authenticity 

Authenticity is rooted in a different level of openness. On the one hand, the organisation is 

confident, being genuinely open and acting in a way that is consistent with its values. On 

the other hand, there is sufficient trust for individuals to be able to explore their own hopes, 

dreams and concerns in a genuinely safe way. 


China Mobile, one of the world’s biggest telecoms companies, has won awards as best 

employer in China for the past six years. They attribute a great deal of this to their 

efforts to be transparent and open with their employees. 

Case study: Standard Chartered 

Standard Chartered, a global bank, budget for 80% of their income and profits in 

Asia. They believe that authenticity and humility are crucial to succeed and have 

consciously focused on authentic leadership and on role-modelling it from the top of the 

organisation. 

‘What we are constantly focusing on is effective employee engagement and the term 

that we use is “authenticity” because for us being authentic is critical. The role of the 

manager, the role of the leader in the organisation is absolutely very much linked to the 

performance of the bank and we have all sorts of data showing how important it is and 

the difference it makes on revenue growth, to profit and so on.’ 

And in order to build a transparent culture, HR needs to role-model openness, because the 

Chinese culture encourages harmony, a balance. If the HR department has this kind of a 

role, what about other departments? 

‘The other huge quality that our Group CEO Peter Sands and the other executives at the 

top of the bank have is humility. So there is no arrogance, there was no cheering when 

many of our competitors were struggling. The initial reaction that most senior people had 

was to try and help governments.’ 

Case study: Logica 

Logica has recently launched its Employee Value Proposition and Client Value Proposition built 

around client intimacy, both internally and externally. They believe this will differentiate them 

externally in the IT market and internally by building a fantastic place to work. 

Case study: Maquarie Bank (Australia) 

Maquarie Bank in Australia realised the opportunity to merge its natural entrepreneurialism 

and commercial competence with a more collaborative style of working to help further the 

client-focused culture within its retail business based in Shelley Street, Sydney. The catalyst for 

this was the building of one of Australia’s most innovative workspaces. 

It used the transitions to the innovative physical environment to promote an open, 

transparent and collaborative culture (the environment is designed to promote and encourage 

flexibility, innovation and collaboration). Crucially, it also tried to ensure the way it managed 

the transition to this environment acted as a trigger for broader cultural development. 



Inspiring a bigger sense of purpose 

Many Asian countries are facing exciting times. And people know this. It is a time to dream 

and to think about nation- and community-building. The best organisations tap into this and 

inspire their people with a sense of bigger purpose and of grand ambition. 

Case study: Indian construction company 

We spoke to one of India’s premier infrastructure businesses. And it has to attract a highly 

scarce resource – construction project managers. They do this by appealing to a larger 

sense of purpose. 

‘First we plan our campaign. We never build a road. We build a highway…and it is part 

of building a new India…. We then launch the project to the press. Really build up the 

prestige of it. It is only at that point that we begin to talk to potential project managers. 

And by this stage we have something really prestigious and exciting to sell them. They feel 

as if they are making a difference.’ 

Case study: Glaxosmithkline 

Glaxosmithkline, a global pharmaceutical, is tapping into the increasingly intensive 

competition in attracting and retaining sales people in China. And one way it does this is 

by tapping into a sense of broader ‘societal’ purpose – expanding access to medicines. 

‘A lot of people in emerging markets are inspired by the potential of pharma to expand 

access of medicines for developing countries. The Asian employment offer for GSK might 

then become inspiring purpose, geographical travel and great development.’ 

24 



4 Performance 

‘Competition, coaching and capability’ 

A common frustration expressed by HR directors concerns the way in which their 

organisations focus on performance. 

A reluctance to deal with poor performance 

Many HR leaders describe their efforts to encourage their managers to coach and to 

performance-manage poor performers. In some cases, in a growing business it is easy for 

underperformance to become hidden. In other cases, our interviewees describe a cultural 

reluctance to confront and discuss these issues. 

‘Generally speaking there is less evidence of the challenger or provocateur in the Asian 

culture and it is less culturally acceptable. Less able to “hold up the mirror”.’ 

Some HR functions (such as China Mobile) have explicitly defined the role of HR as being 

about role-modelling this, and in doing so have consciously demonstrated an alternative to 

the Chinese focus on ‘harmony’. 

Development is more about qualifications than 

competence 

Our interviewees also describe a tendency to equate learning and development with 

attending courses and winning qualifications rather than actual on-the-job learning and 

genuinely focused development. One interviewee described this as: 

‘CV-building rather than capability-building. There is a big emphasis on getting a certificate 

at the end of something and then it is done and let’s move on.’ 

Seniority and length of service 

And in some cases, an overemphasis on values such as community and respect has led to 

promotion becoming tied to length of service rather than competence and achievement. 

‘There is a real expectation of staff in Asia that your salary and your promotions, if you like, 

job title, is dependent on your length of service as opposed to your performance.’ 

The insight: the three Cs of competition, coaching and 

capability 

Building a performance culture is a big part of the short-term agenda described by many 

of our leading HR interviewees. And they tend to do it through a focus on the three Cs: 

competition, coaching and capability. 



Competition 

Although ‘confronting’ poor performance is seen as counter-cultural in some parts of Asia, 

many of the same countries have highly competitive education systems. People leave them 

well accustomed to ‘rigorous performance evaluation’. By tapping into this ethos some 

organisations have made great progress embedding the performance culture they seek. 


The Founder Group in China has transformed its performance culture. Graduates join used 

to a highly evaluative and competitive academic environment. By consciously sustaining 

and building on this they have found a natural way to use competition to leverage a 

performance culture. 

‘We set a very high performance standard for our employees; if you cannot meet the 

standard we defined for you, it is ok for the first time. We’ll give you a second chance. 

We make it very clear what does it mean when you fail to meet the defined standard at 

the end, and people know that if his or her performance appraisal result is not okay the 

better choice is to leave. Therefore for me as HR Head I never force people to leave; we 

just tell them their performance result. Let them know that within Founder, that means 

their future is just here that’s it. This is the point.’ (HR Director, Founder Group) 

Coaching 

This has been accompanied by a heavy emphasis on the role of the line manager as coach. 

‘Coaching’ is becoming increasingly important across Asia and the best organisations are 

investing heavily in enhancing the abilities of their leaders to coach their people. 

When the Indian construction company hires ex-pat project managers, it limits their contracts 

to two years. And during this time it gives them two targets, both equally remunerated. The 

first is to deliver the project. The second is to discover and groom a successor. 

Case study: Glaxosmithkline 

A similar response has emerged for Glaxosmithkline in China. The HR function here is 

placing much emphasis on developing the first-line manager to engage, motivate and 

retain valued employees set against a context of extremely high turnover rates in Asia. 

26 



Capability 

It is also important that driving performance is not at the expense of teamworking and does 

not diminish the respect (or face) of each individual. 

Case study: Standard Chartered 

‘One of the things that attracted me to Standard Chartered Bank and that still keeps me 

is the fact that it is a strength-based organisation. A lot of organisations today are still 

focusing on the things that they don’t see in individuals. What we do is to try and identify 

those little strengths, those nuggets that individuals have that we can build on, so we try 

and position people in a way where they can perform to their best every day.’ 


The Founder Group, founded by Peking University in 1986, has grown to become one of the 

largest conglomerates in China. The HR team deliberately recruits for talent rather than role. 

‘We only hire potentials. When we make an employment decision, we do not focus too much 

on their suitability to the openings. We pay high attention on their development potential, 

we check if they have potential for a higher position. I push hard this recruiting philosophy 

within the Founder Group. I won’t just recruit people specifically for a position. I care how 

excellent the person is, if their competency is above average then you are the one for this 

company. Then I will try to attract you and figure out what kind of position for you.’ 

Performance – what might a growth-based HR function do? 

• Relentlessly drive the performance culture. Embed the systems and processes that 

support this. 

• Role-model challenge and openness. 

• Consciously hold up the mirror to line managers who don’t give feedback to their team. 

• Know that performance can only be driven by a focus on competence rather than 

qualifications. They see their role as championing and educating their business 

around this. 

• Drive performance through the three Cs – competition, coaching and capability: 

– using competition as a natural lever to focus on performance 

– investing in building a coaching culture 

– emphasising capability (rather than focusing on development areas). 



CONCLUSION: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR 

HR IN ASIA? 

The future of HR in Asia 

As we said at the beginning, the function that was described to us in Asia is in a state of 

flux. In many places, it is still developing and emerging. 

‘HR in Asia when I arrived was very transactional, admin based, lots of paper, lots of 

checking and re-checking and sign off…’ 

‘The HR profession in China is in its infancy…. The majority are unlikely to have five years’ 

experience and little experience in different businesses.’ 

‘The HR team has 47 people, but almost no people with an HR background.’ 

Professionally, the situation is mixed. There are some well-established professional institutes 

in Asia, whereas other countries treat HR as a business discipline rather than a profession 

that requires a professional qualification. 

And yet, as we’ve described within this dynamic and fast-changing context, we’ve 

experienced some truly remarkable HR leaders and some highly innovative HR practices. 

And it strikes us that HR in the region faces a choice. 

It will be easy for HR in Asia to follow the Western development path and adopt many of the 

‘best practice’ models currently abounding in the literature. In many ways, there is nothing 

wrong with this. 

But this report outlines a different, perhaps more exciting alternative. We’ve called this the 

growth option (Figure 6). 

Figure 6: The growth option 

Developing 

or emergent 

profession 

Implement 

international 

best practice 

The growth 

option 

28 



And the growth option seems to be built around the four corners of business imperative 

described in this report. They seem to offer the potential for an Asian blend of HR. And a 

blend that is insight-driven from the start. 

And what are the characteristics of ‘Next Generation’ HR 

leaders? 

We’ve been fortunate in this research to meet some pretty amazing HR leaders. And the 

best of them have an unusual set of leadership capabilities. 

Our suggestion is that if HR in Asia is to genuinely fulfil the growth option outlined here, 

then this might be a good template for HR leadership more generally. 

Purpose 

All the best HR leaders we met have a big and ambitious agenda. This agenda seems to 

flow from a clear sense of personal purpose that combines a set of values and a vision for 

the legacy they want to leave. They realise that while HR is a key component to deliver 

the business’s strategy, defining their role purely in service of this is too limited. They see 

themselves as architects of the organisation’s future in their own right. 

Humble authority 

But they do this in a gentle and subtle way. HR leaders cannot ‘set direction’ in the way 

a CEO can. The best of them are humble enough to influence and shape the business 

through others. But they never let this diminish the size of their dreams. 

Ironically this kind of humble authority enhances and magnifies the presence of the 

individual leader and they are actively looked up to. This is especially important at a senior 

level in a large organisation where a leader’s impact with junior employees is based on 

their impressions, as opportunities for personal contact are limited. 

Insight creator 

We’ve spoken already about how the best HR leaders are able to see new sources of 

competitive advantage and to spot different opportunities beyond traditional HR 

boundaries. This thinking capability – common in the best CEOs – is something that could, 

if explicitly developed, begin to redefine and shape HR’s role and influence in the region. 

Willing to be different 

The best HR leaders are definitely willing to be challenging and provocative at times. But 

what makes this so much more effective is their willingness to take risks: 

• They take risks in what they try to do (carrying out some remarkably creative and 

different activities). 

• They take risks in how they behave. For example, if they want more challenge in the 

culture, they start by role-modelling it themselves. 



What would this mean for the function? 

A clear articulation of HR’s purpose and positioning 

accordingly 

If HR doesn’t seize the opportunity to define and shape its unique role in the Asian story, it 

will be limited by its own current positioning and miss the opportunity to act as a key catalyst 

for growth in the region. 

Obviously this is dependent on attaining excellence in HR’s core role. But given the pace of 

change in the region, the pull for HR must be to focus both on building core capability and, 

at the same time, to step beyond this and to actively take on the mantle of insight leadership 

within their respective businesses. 

And success in this is dependent on defining HR’s role as being about finding new and 

creative solutions to the growth challenges facing organisations. To do this, we need to focus 

on a few big ideas rather than becoming bogged down by process ownership or through 

many small HR transactions. 

The growth option is about using insights thinking to identify a few breakthrough things 

to do well – and to do this the function will need to be positioned as a core component of 

business and strategic leadership. 

Invest in the four corners 

And to take the ‘growth option’, HR will need a clear strategy for each of the four corners: 

Growth-based HR – focusing on the four corners of growth 

• Drive value through business insight. 

• Build the open family – embrace the future while respecting traditional cultural values. 

• Leverage the three Cs to ensure performance improvement keeps pace with market 

growth. 

• Inspire current and future employees with a vision that goes ‘under the iceberg’ and 

taps into authenticity and bigger purpose. 

30 



The centrality of deepening our capacity to be insight-driven 

Insights thinking does appear to be one of the key levers both in differentiating the function 

and in unlocking the four corners of growth. It should therefore be central to the function’s 

capability-building agenda: 

• We should consider building the ‘savvies’ at all levels of the function. Contextual 

‘savvy’ (knowing the broader environment), business ‘savvy’ (commercial acumen) and 

organisational ‘savvy’ (knowing how to leverage culture and performance in your own 

organisation). 

• We should also build processes and capabilities for gathering data, turning it into insights 

and using the insight to leverage breakthrough solutions. 

Building a movement for change 

Sometimes the best way to build an agenda like this is across sector and by tapping into 

some of the leading lights in the profession itself. In the UK we’ve tried to do this with 

the Next Generation HR Leadership Programme. Perhaps there is potential to bring key HR 

leaders in Asia together with a similar purpose in mind? 

The inflection point is now 

A lot has been written in this report about the pace of change in Asia. But of course in a 

dynamic context opportunities don’t last for long. There is a real danger of HR being left 

behind on this agenda if it doesn’t respond soon. The growth option is available right now 

and if we as a profession don’t take it we will remain an important business service but we 

will have missed the opportunity to leverage HR as a catalyst for growth. And for us that 

would be a terrible shame. 



A VISION FOR HR: OUR 

INTERVIEWEES’ WORDS 

We asked each of our interviewees for their own personal vision for Next Generation HR leaders 

in Asia – the skills and behaviours that it takes to lead the way or trail-blaze in this uniquely Asian 

context. As you will see, their ideas have strong synergies with and further illustrate the four 

corners of business imperative at the heart of this report. We wanted the final word to be from 

the innovative HR practitioners who inspired our thinking. 

Insight 

‘Fundamentally everything is coming up from the business. I need to understand what the kitchen 

staff are doing and job duties and how the position drives the revenue and delivers the business 

performance and how that is linked with the outside world.’ 

‘Having a global mindset and cultural adaptability…’ 

‘I think having awareness of cultures, and having the ability to work with people on all different 

levels is pretty key.’ 

‘Two things: one is know your region. And if your region, say, is in China you need to know all the 

region of what’s happening economically, education things. The flow of human capital. And the 

other thing is the networking. And a lot of things you can steal from people’s brains. So you have 

a bigger pool of ideas to solve the HR issues.’ 

‘If we do not know the business, how can we build the plan for implementation and to groom the 

people for two to three years’ time? We should have a vision together with a global network to 

see what is happening in the world around.’ 

Community 

‘You need to have that awareness to understand why people believe and feel what they feel here.’ 

‘HR should not only play a guardianship role to help the organisation remain true to its values 

but should also be entrusted to help employees internalise those values, especially when new 

members are welcomed to the organisational family.’ 

Purpose 

‘There needs to be a common focus on integrity, and personal integrity particularly, because of 

past corruption in Asian businesses.’ 

‘Always my motto is we are not here to police, that we are a caretaker of your dreams. Share any 

dream with us and then I see whether I can take care of your dreams.’ 

Performance 

‘HR leaders need to be focused on business strategy and to be able to coach line managers to 

develop a performance culture.’ 

‘You always have to dance with them, don’t let them dance alone or they will go and find another 

partner than you.’ 

‘HR as PR – the first three months I am not taking up a role as HR I’m basically a PR. The majority 

say ok HR I will call you when I need you.’ 

32 



APPENDIX 

Organisations we spoke to 

BG Group 

Lloyds Banking 

Lloyds Register Asia 

GSK 

IBM Growth Markets 

Logica CMG, Sdn Bhd 

Maquarie Bank 

Standard Chartered Bank 

Tesco International 

City Telecom (HK) Ltd 

Jebsen & Co. Ltd 

Sony Ericsson 

New World Telecommunications Ltd 

The Hong Kong and China Gas Ltd 

Ngong Ping 360 Ltd 

Richemont Asia Pacific Ltd 

MTR Corporation Ltd 

Shui On Construction and Materials Ltd 

Ericsson 

Sino-Ocean 

China Mobile 

JP Morgan 

Volvo 

Founder Group 

References 

CIPD. (2010) Talent development in the BRIC countries [online]. Hot topic. London: Chartered 

Institute of Personnel and Development. Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/ 

lrnanddev/general/_talent_development_bric.htm [Accessed 23 November 2010]. 

NEUMEISTER, C. and STOIAN, R. (2010) Human resources in emerging markets. Workspan. 

Vol 53, No 4, April. pp22–26. 

YEUNG, A., WARNER, M. and ROWLEY, C. (2008) Growth and globalization: evolution of 

human resource management practices in Asia. Human Resource Management. 

Vol 47, No 1, February. pp1–13. 

ZHU, Y. and WARNER, M. (2004) The implications of China’s WTO accession for employment 

relations. European Business Journal. Vol 16, No 2. pp47–58. 



A SIGNIFICANT HISTORY 

Chartered Institute of Personnel and 

Development: approaching 100 years in 

business 

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is leading the global 

standards for best practice in HR. Our aim is to drive sustained organisation performance 

through HR, shaping thinking, leading practice and building HR capability. We have 

over 135,000 members, including over 50,000 who are Chartered, representing the 

most influential senior HR leaders from the world’s leading organisations and the next 

generation of HR professionals. 

Founded in 1913 as the Welfare Workers’ Association (WWA), we went through several name 

changes and successful mergers as the nature of the profession changed. As a result, our 

membership and standing in the profession continued to grow exponentially, establishing us 

as the largest body of personnel and development specialists in the world. On 1 July 2000 we 

were granted the Royal Charter recognising our pre-eminence, stability and permanence in the 

profession – we became the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). 

The CIPD is the only HR professional institution in the world with ‘Chartered Members’. 

Being recognised as a Chartered Member of the CIPD means an HR professional has met the 

gold standards we set for the profession, representing the very best in HR. Our membership 

continues to grow in significance, with representation across 120 countries, signalling the 

importance of professional recognition and showcasing individuals impacting change in 

organisations through HR. 

Bridge: over 20 years in leadership and 

strategic change 

Bridge has an excellent reputation, being recognised for the quality and innovation of its 

work, and for fostering change through the latest leadership thinking. Its core capability 

and continued aim is to provide world-class leadership and organisation transformation 

programmes that challenge and stimulate lasting change within many of the world’s most 

influential and complex organisations, including Pepsi Co, Tesco, Kraft/Cadburys Fonterra, 

and The Climate Group. 

In 2009, Bridge was acquired by the CIPD and is our senior leadership and strategic change 

specialist. Bridge continues to breathe new life into organisations through its understanding 

of strategy, change and business insights and leads the CIPD’s work on the flagship ‘Next 

Generation HR’ research programme in the UK and Asia. 

Bridge has regional offices in London, Singapore and Sydney, with a network of consultants 

located throughout Europe, Asia and the Pacific. In addition to English, Bridge has multilingual 

consultants speaking: French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Japanese, Bahasa, 

Mandarin and Cantonese. 

34 



重要的歷史 

英國特許人事和發展協會 : 涉足商業發展已近百年 

英國特許人事和發展協會 (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 簡稱 CIPD) 

領導著 HR 最佳實踐的全球標準。我們的目標是透過 HR、塑造思維方式、引領實踐和培養 

HR 能力推動組織的持續績效。我們擁有超過 135,000 名會員 , 其中 50,000 多名獲得了特 

許 , 代表著來自全球領先組織的最有影響力的資深 HR 領導者、和新一代 HR 專業人員。 

我們成立於 1913 年 , 當時名為「福利工作者協會」(Welfare Workers’ Association, 簡稱 

WWA)。隨著該職業性質的改變 , 我們也歷經幾次重新命名和成功合併。結果 , 我們的會 

員人數和我們在該職業上的地位繼續快速增長 , 使我們成為全球人事和發展專家的最大機 

構。2000 年 7 月 1 日 , 我們被授予皇家特許狀 , 表彰我們在該職業的傑出、穩定和持久 

表現。我們成為了特許人事和發展協會 (CIPD)。 

CIPD 是全球唯一擁有 ‘ 特許會員 ’ 的 HR 專業機構。被認定為 CIPD 的「特許會員「意味 

著 HR 專業人員達到了我們制訂的該職業金級標準 , 代表著 HR 領域的最佳水準。憑藉在 

120 個國家的代表 , 傳遞專業認可的重要性 , 顯示透過 HR 個人對組織變革的影響 , 我們 

的會員在重要性上不斷提高。 

Bridge: 超過 20 年的領導地位和策略變革經驗 

Bridge 擁有良好的聲譽 , 在工作的品質和創新以及透過最新的領導思維促進變革方面都廣 

受認可。其核心能力和持續目標是提供世界一流的領導地位和組織轉變計劃 , 在眾多世界 

最有影響力和最複雜的組織內引起和刺激永久變革 , 包括 Pepsi Co、Tesco、Kraft/Cadburys 

Fonterra 以及 The Climate Group。 

2009 年 ,Bridge 被 CIPD 併購 , 成為我們資深領導地位和策略變革專家。Bridge 將透過它 

對策略、變革以及業務洞察力的理解繼續為各組織帶來新的活力 , 領導 CIPD 在英國和亞洲 

的 ‘ 新一代 HR’ 旗艦研究計劃。 

Bridge 在倫敦、新加坡和雪梨設有地區辦事處 , 擁有遍佈歐洲、亞洲和太平洋地區的顧問 

網絡。除了英語 ,Bridge 還擁有可以講法語、德語、西班牙語、葡萄牙語、泰語、日語、 

巴哈薩語、普通話以及粵語的多語言顧問。 



36 


RATION HR

NEXT 

GENERATION HR 

ASIA 

A CIPD company 

Head office: 

Bridge 

5–7 The Avenue Newmarket Suffolk, UK CB8 9AA 

Tel: +44 (0)1638 666400 Fax: +44 (0)1638 666402 

Email: info@bridge-partnership.com 

www.bridge-partnership.com 



Head office: 

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 

151 The Broadway London SW19 1JQ, UK 

Tel: +44 (0)20 8612 6200 Fax: +44 (0)20 8612 6201 

Email: cipd@cipd.co.uk 

Incorporated by Royal Charter Registered charity no.1079797 

www.cipd.co.uk/nextgenasia 

Issued: December 2010 Reference: 5348 © Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2010

NEXT GENERATION HR - CIPD

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