From Partners to Players: Extending the HR Playing Field

Abstract

HR professionals must always be “becoming” or constantly changing and adapting. For the lastdecade, many have argued the business partner role as a complement to traditional HR administrative work. Weargue in this paper that HR professionals should move beyond partners to become players. HR professionals asplayers are “in the game, on the field, making a difference” through their HR work. In this article,we suggest that to become players, HR professionals must learn to coach, architect, build, facilitate, lead, andprovide a conscience to business leaders. Specific knowledge and tools for each of these roles are described.© 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.