Begley, T. M. & Boyd, D. T. (2001). Harvard Business Review.


More and more, the task of the HR department is one of identifying and articulating primary strategic values of the corporate culture. As an example, Texas Instruments shelved its cumbersome approach to updating HR policy and switched to a system that allowed the rapid response needed in a fast-changing environment. In companies with a strongly articulated value-based culture, the challenge is to apply that culture to the formulation of specific HR policies. Doing so requires that HR policies be examined for relevance to the current business environment, connection to strategic goals, adaptability to changing circumstances, applicability across the firm's theater of operations, familiarity to employees, ease of interpretation and application, specification of the bounds of acceptable employee behavior, and extent of commitment to policies by employees. The process of designing HR policies in a value-based culture is illustrated by the experiences of Texas Instruments, Bell Atlantic, and Unisys.