As a field, human resources has been slow to evolve, despite a great need and opportunity for change. Human Resource Excellence delivers the newest findings about what makes HR successful and how it can add value to today's organizations. Tracing changes in a global sample of firms across the US, Europe, and Asia, this landmark volume provides an international benchmark against which to measure a company's HR practice.

For over twenty years, USC's Center for Effective Organizations has conducted the definitive longitudinal study of the human resource management function. Analyzing new data every three years, the Center charts changes in HR and offers guidance on how human resource professionals can drive firm performance. In this latest survey, Edward E. Lawler III and John W. Boudreau conclude that HR is most powerful when it plays a strategic role, makes use of information technology, and has tangible metrics and analytics. Their insights offer an essential understanding of HR's changing role in strategy, big data, social and knowledge networks, and the gig economy.

Edward E. Lawler III is Distinguished Professor of Business and Director of the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California. John W. Boudreau is Professor and Research Director at the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California.

"Using both national and international data as well as insights from cutting-edge research, Lawler and Boudreau have written a book that HR leaders and senior line managers alike need to read. It not only puts HR in a historical context, but also shows how it can truly add value to an organization."—Fred Foulkes, Boston University --- "Human Resource Excellence provides great thought leadership. This seminal and longitudinal view of human resources eloquently explains where the HR profession is and where it needs to go."—Jeff T.H. Pon, Former Chief Human Resources and Strategy Officer, Society for Human Resource Management --- "Lawler and Boudreau present exceptional research with marvelous insights about the HR profession. Their ideas are conceptually innovative, research-based, and useful for anyone committed to advancing HR. The HR profession is privileged to have true thought leaders like Lawler and Boudreau."—David Ulrich, University of Michigan