Title: Modern Human Capital Management
Seminar date: 30th of May 2008
Course: Master thesis in Business Administration, 15 ECTS
Authors: Madita Feldberger
Supervisor: Lars Svensson
Keywords: Human capital, SWOT Analysis, Strategic Map, Balanced Scorecard
Research Problem: Despite of the success of Human Capital Management (HCM) in
research it did not arrive yet in the HR departments of many companies.
Numerous firms even have problems to set their strategic goals with focus on
HR. The HR Balanced Scorecard approach could be a big opportunity as a help
method to assist HCM entering the doors of many organizations and it even could
reach understanding about the usefulness of HCM.
Research objectives: The purpose of this thesis is firstly to make a SWOT
analysis with focus on Human Resources for a specific company, secondly to
develop a Strategic Map and thirdly to create an HR Balanced Scorecard for that
organization in order to illustrate a way to create understanding about the
usefulness of HCM.
Methodology: In this master thesis, it has been selected to employ a case study
approach in a single organization, Sigvaris, where the data collection is based
on both from existing available sources of information and from qualitative
interviews. To give this dissertation a practical point of view a thorough SWOT
analysis about the Swiss company Sigvaris with focus on human capital was made.
Three employees of the HR department were interviewed. The results out of the
SWOT analysis are applied to develop a Strategy Map. Then this Strategy Map was
shown to the three interview partners and the strategic goals were discussed
and the links between them were reviewed as well. For the development of the HR
BSC the three interview partners’ assisted to decide which strategic goals are
important, which measures are useful, defined the target values and gave
examples for the action plans.
Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework includes an explanation of the
Human Capital, the HCM methods to collect data, the SWOT analysis and the
Balanced Scorecard.
Conclusion: The conclusion is that regardless of the catchphrases about
employees that they are their most essential asset, a lot of managers haven’t
methodically explored how and where human capital makes winning strategy
execution in their firms. The present HCM realization is characterized through
the following three aspects: 1. Quantitative orientation; 2. Operative
orientation; 3. Related to the past orientation. The analysis of the HR
department at Sigvaris approves this as well. That means that the difference
between traditional and modern HCM does not exist in the time dimension. You
can not say “yesterday” means traditional HCM, “today” means modern HCM. The
practical example with the company Sigvaris shows that the SWOT analysis is a
useful tool for obtaining a first impression of an organization’s strategic
situation and a big aid to develop the strategic goals. To develop a Strategic
Map for Sigvaris made clear how the HR department generates value and therefore
it is an important task for planning a...
