2011 No 28 EBS REVIEW

The role of Human Resource Manager:

Change Agent vs. Business Partner?
Research into HRM in Italy
Daniele Boldizzoni, Luca Quaratino
IULM University of Milan

Abstract from the quantitative perspective, the role

of change agent is adopted less than that of
The paper explores the extent to which HR business partner; nonetheless, change agent,
departments in Italy are characterized by a when adopted, appears to be sounder and
shift from administrative roles to roles focused based on rather consistent programmes and
on valuing human capital and supporting actions, while business partner seems to
organizational change, or as business partner correspond more to a formal label, coherent
and change agent, from the perspective of with managerial fashions, than to real role
HRM (Boselie, et al. 2009). behaviours.
After exploring the theoretical background The main limitation is due to the impact of the
by analysing the different roles of HRM economic crisis during the data collection and
highlighted in the literature, and referring the necessity to test the hypotheses on more
to Ulrich (1997), a survey was conducted in representative samples. The paper identifies
102 large companies operating in Italy. The possible areas of intervention for the HR
data analysis highlights critical dynamics in manager in order to become a change agent
the process of adopting the roles of business and business partner. Its value is mainly due
partner and change agent: to being one of the few quantitative studies on
HR roles in the Italian context.
the on-going economic crisis seems to have
contributed to a slowdown in the adoption of Keywords: Business Partner, Change Agent,
roles more focused on investing in people and Human Resource Department, Human
organizational development and a step back Resource Management, Human Resource
from administrative roles and the short-term Manager.
perspective;

Daniele Boldizzoni is a Professor in Organization Theory and Luca Quaratino is a researcher in Organization Theory
Human Resource Management at IULM University of Milan. He and Human Resource Management at IULM University of
graduated in Economics completing his studies at the Tavistock Milan. He has graduated in Law and completed his studies at
Institute (UK). He developed his professional experience as the Industrial and Labour Relations Department at Cornell
both HR manager and consultant/trainer for the most relevant University (USA). For more than fifteen years he has worked
Italian companies between the 70s and 90s. Today his research as consultant/trainer in HRM and organizational development
interests deal with the growth of small and family businesses, issues for major Italian companies. Today his research interests
new developments in learning/training processes in postmodern deal with “train the trainer” processes in transition economies,
society, and the evolution of HRM in Italian companies. the relationship between organizational culture, business
strategy and performance, and the evolution of HRM in Italian
E-mail: daniele.boldizzoni@iulm.it companies.

E-mail: luca.quaratino@iulm.it

Daniele Boldizzoni, Luca Quaratino 41

EBS REVIEW 2011 No 28

State of the Art and Evolution of Within this stream, consistent literature
Human Resource Management has developed analysing the role of HRM
(HRM) professionals in defining and implementing
policies and tools coherent with the strategic
Many classic contributions in the literature on goals of the organization (McKee, 1997;
the state of the art and the evolution of HRM Sparrow and Marchington, 1998; Wright and
focus on the links between the environment Snell, 2005).
and corporate strategies on the one hand, and
HRM policies and tools on the other (Schuler In particular, Ulrich (1998) maintains that in
and Jackson, 1987; Wright, Snell, Dyer, 2005; order to face the challenges coming from the
Boxall and Purcell, 2008), underlining the competitive environment, the HRM function
continuous effort in adapting HRM policies should be able to cover different roles,
and processes to strategic and organizational sometimes even contradictory, which can be
changes. This approach includes all the defined according to two main variables:
contributions related to “strategic human
- strategic/long term or operative/short term
resource management” (Fonbrun, Tichy,
Devanna, 1984; Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, - managing processes or people
Wight, 1994). From this point of view, the
evolution of HRM is considered a difficult The matrix coming from these variables
and continuous adapting to changes both outlines the following roles (see figure 1):
in the environment and in the strategies and
Business Partner: the main task of the HR
structures of the organization. Accordingly,
manager is to align the contribution of
HRM has two main tasks. On the one hand,
human resources with the company’s business
it should support the top management in
strategy;
defining the corporate strategy, and on the
other hand, it should set up all the processes Functional Expert: the main task is to design
and tools necessary to put the strategy into and manage efficient and effective HRM
action (Wright and Mc Mahan, 1992). systems (procedures, methods, tools);

Figure 1: The HRM roles (Ulrich, 1998)

42 The role of Human Resource Manager: Change Agent vs. Business Partner? Research into HRM in Italy
2011 No 28 EBS REVIEW

Employee Advocate: this role refers to managing acquisition of competencies useful to support
employee commitment and contribution to change are critical for both the credibility and
the company. It means monitoring personnel success of HRM professionals.
satisfaction with the working conditions on
a daily basis. The basic assumption is that The adoption of the “business partner” role
personnel satisfaction has a positive impact on is even more difficult because it is not just a
both productivity and company performance; matter of acquiring new competencies, but
it deals with effectively settling the structural
Change Agent: this role implies the involvement conflict with line managers related to human
of the organization in change management, resources management. This conflict is due to
and HRM professionals have to identify the fact that while line managers are mainly
and overcome resistance to change, and to interested in managing human resources
generate flexibility and adaptability among the according to productivity and the short-
personnel. term perspective, HRM professionals should
consider people management from a long-
Ulrich believes that the efficiency and term perspective and with a specific focus on
effectiveness of the HRM function depend competence development (Barney and Wright,
on the ability to play all these roles at the 1998; Paoletti, 2008). And that is the most
same time, mixing them up according to the compelling challenge against which HRM is
environmental contingencies and strategic expected to measure itself.
goals.
In recent decades, studies conducted on
Nonetheless, observations of real practice the state of HRM in the Italian context have
points out that while the roles “functional pointed out highs and lows, partly confirming
expert” and “employee advocate” can be a slowdown in its evolutionary process: on
easily adopted, “change agent” and “business the one hand, the models of “personnel
partner” are more difficult to play (Losey, administration” seem to have been abandoned
Meisinger, Ulrich, 2005), given that the first and the mere role of “functional expert” is
one implies a longer term orientation and considered insufficient. At the same time, the
a stronger focus on valuing people, and the shift towards “human resources development”
second one calls for higher strategic coherence. models and roles, which are more consistent
with strategic orientations, seem to be quite
In the first case, even if the role of leading
a distant target (Camuffo and Costa, 1993;
organizational change is generally recognized
Boldizzoni, 1997, 1999).
in theory to belong to HRM professionals, it
can actually be seen that in recent decades
changes have mostly been led directly by top Research Objectives and Methodology
management, supported by external consultants
The research presented here aims at
rather than internal HRM professionals, who
contributing to the discussion on the role
are probably considered less competent and
of HRM in Italy, trying to understand, in
reliable (Boldizzoni, 2009). It can be observed
particular, if the intention of adopting new and
that “personnel departments are very often
more challenging roles, firstly those of change
considered to be the rear-guard towards
agent and of business partner, had a concrete
innovation, flexibility and change, acting as the
translation into real practices in recent years.
guardians of traditions deeply rooted in rules
and procedures, rather than as explorers of The data was collected in 2009 through an
innovative pathways” (Ulrich, 1998), while the on-line questionnaire sent to more than 500

Daniele Boldizzoni, Luca Quaratino 43

EBS REVIEW 2011 No 28

people in charge of a HRM department. The Results and discussion

target group of respondents was selected from
a mailing list of Human Resource Managers,
The Roles of the Human Resource
members of one of the main Italian HRM
Manager
associations. A total of 102 answers were
considered valid for our statistical analysis. Beginning from the analysis of the collected
data, here follows a discussion of the
Here follows the most important characteristics
trajectories of the evolution of HRM in Italy,
of those 102 companies:
referring in particular to the roles of Change
- national/multinational profile: slightly Agent and Business Partner in order to
more multinational companies (53.9%) than understand whether and to what extent Italian
national (46.1%); HRM departments are actually moving in these
directions.
- industry: companies are equally distributed
between manufacturing (51%) and service The data analysis was based on a pivotal
sectors (49%); question in the questionnaire asking: “Among
the following roles, which one best represents
- size (companies were grouped in the the nature and the activities of Human Resource
following classes): from 250 to 500 employees Management in your company today?” (Note
(36.4%), from 501 to 1,500 employees (37.7%), 1)
from 1,501 to 5,000 employees (13.1%), more
than 5,000 (12.8%). Referring to Ulrich’s model, the collected data
indicates that the role of Business Partner is by
The companies involved in this survey far the first option (29.9%), followed by that of
cannot be considered representative of the Functional Expert (19.5%) and Change Agent
entire population operating in Italy, which (14.3%). Nobody chose Employees Advocate
is mainly composed by small and medium- (0%).
sized enterprises (97% of the companies have
less than 15 employees) where generally no The analysis of this data suggests two possible
specialized HRM function or competence is main considerations (see figure 2).
present.
Firstly, the focus on processes is definitely
We decided to focus on companies with stronger than that on people, suggesting that
at least 250 employees, given that they are human resource managers are much more
generally characterized by the following committed to answering requests coming from
features: the existence of a formally appointed the organization/management than listening
Human Resource Manager operating as a staff to single employee’s needs. In economically
of the CEO (Chief executive Officer); a HRM and financially bad times, supporting
function articulated in specialized units (e.g. organizational efficiency and effectiveness
recruitment, training, industrial relations, etc.); comes first: so the human resource manager
and the presence of formal HRM processes and spends his/her time “partnering” line
systems. From this point of view, our sample of management to achieve business results and
102 companies represents 2.98% of all Italian improving the functional processes he/she is
companies with at least 250 employees, which responsible for.
total 3,148 in 2007 according to the Italian
Secondly, it seems that the human resource
National Institute for Statistics.
manager has somehow lost his/her profile

44 The role of Human Resource Manager: Change Agent vs. Business Partner? Research into HRM in Italy
2011 No 28 EBS REVIEW

as “missionary” (Employees’ Advocate), negative performance. This was followed by

taking care of people’s everyday operational attempts by some companies to maintain
problems and requests. The focus on people their competitive advantage, especially
survives only if it is meant in terms of adapting through a search for the highest efficiency in
the human capital to the change management their internal processes. As a matter of fact,
processes of the organization, and working on if the data is analysed according to sector of
its flexibility skills. activity it is possible to observe that the role
of Business Partner is much more present in
Comparing this data with that collected in the manufacturing industry than in services
a previous survey conducted on the same (78.3% vs. 54.55%); perhaps because the
companies ten years ago (Boldizzoni, 1999), companies belonging to the former were urged
it is possible to highlight the evolution of these to restructure in order to face the competitive
orientations in Italian HRM departments pressure coming from rising economies.
referring to the last decade (see figure 2).
Moreover, if we compare national and
The fundamental trajectory of evolution shows multinational companies, it is not surprising
that there has been a significant increase of that a stronger orientation definitely exists
focus on processes, with the quantitative among multinational companies in adopting
growth of both the Business Partner and the the role of both Business Partner (78.3% vs.
Functional Expert roles; at the same time there 27.7%) and Change Agent (81.82% vs. 18.18%).
has been a relevant reduction in the Change The reason is very likely the traditional sounder
Agent and the disappearance of the Employees’ focus on human resource management policies
advocate roles, witnessing a weaker focus on and systems by multinational companies,
people inside the organization. partly ‘pushed’ by the tight relationship with
the main consultancy firms at the international
As mentioned above, it is possible to link this
level, who frequently represent a significant
strong emphasis on processes to the recent
source and vehicle for managerial innovations
worldwide economic crisis, during which
and fads.
the Italian economy reported a particularly

Figure 2: The evolution of HRM role (2000–2010)

Daniele Boldizzoni, Luca Quaratino 45

EBS REVIEW 2011 No 28

Business Partner vs. Change Agent: department, criteria for the assessment of
Data Analysis its performance, the main problems and
areas of engagement, and concrete actions
In this section the orientations and actions implemented in some key innovative areas of
characterizing the roles of Change Agent (CA) human resource management.
and Business Partner (BP) are analysed, trying
indicate the gaps and differences compared to
HRM strategic objectives
the overall sample. As a matter of fact, the aim
is to understand whether, beyond the formal The first question was aimed at identifying
statement of having adopted such roles, it is the strategic objective of HRM departments
possible to identify policies, approaches and in order to make a distinction between
concrete areas of engagement differentiating “conservative” policies centred on respect for
these HRM departments from the others who norms/contracts and on maintaining a good
participated to the survey. internal climate, and “development” policies
based on contributing to the development of
In particular, the following areas of analysis
the organizational system and the complete
were considered: the objectives of the HRM
expression of the human potential available.

Table 1: Objectives of the HRM department

CA Total BP
Ensuring respect for norms and contracts and managing 9.09% 19.48% 8.70%
relations with labour unions
Ensuring equity of treatment and maintaining good internal 9.09% 10.39% 4.35%
relations
Improving the efficiency of human resources coherently with 9.09% 24.36% 34.78
processes of organizational restructuring
Contributing to the development of the organizational 27.27% 24.68% 21.74%
system by integrating human resources with all the system’s
components
Developing human potential at all levels of the organization 45.45% 23.38% 30.43%

Note: it was possible to give only one answer

Compared to the overall sample, generally BPs instead, seem to have a slightly more
both CA and BP show a stronger orientation ambiguous orientation that is less distinct
towards valuing people. from the total sample. If on the one hand,
they show a sounder commitment to valuing
CAs are clearly oriented towards valuing people people, even if to a great degree this is lower
and integrating them into the organization. On than the same in CAs (the difference with the
the one hand, they have the objective of being overall sample is around 7%), at the same
proactive in integrating human resources into time their prevailing objective is to ensure
the overall organizational system (strategy, the efficient use of people, according to
structure, culture, technology, etc.); on the restructuring processes. In other words, they
other hand, it is even more strategic (the seem to interpret the role of BP more in terms
difference with the overall sample is more than of adaptation to the requests for efficiency
20%) for them to develop human potential at coming from the line management than as a
any level in the organization – sustaining the contribution to relaunching the company in
competitive advantage of the organization terms of organizational development.
through people (Pfeffer, 1998).

46 The role of Human Resource Manager: Change Agent vs. Business Partner? Research into HRM in Italy
2011 No 28 EBS REVIEW

Criteria for assessing HRM at understanding the expectations that the

performance different internal stakeholders/customers have
towards HRM professionals: What do they
The question of the criteria for the expect the HRM department to focus on and
assessment of HRM performance was aimed ensure for the organization?

Table 2: Criteria for assessing HRM performance

CA Total BP
Functional competence 27.27% 38.96% 21.70%
Management of staffing and labour costs 36.36% 38.96% 36.00%
People development 90.91% 50.65% 48.00%
Management of relations with labour unions 27.27% 20.78% 21.00%
Service orientation 27.27% 33.77% 43.50%

Note: two answers were possible

Compared to the overall sample, for both CA main driver is towards satisfying the requests
and BP the dimension of the pure functional of internal customers (the line manager
competence of HRM experts seems to count responsible for specific organizational
less, while attention to labour costs and staff processes) and not necessarily those of single
management is in line with the total sample. employees with whom the partnership seems
to be a little bit weaker.
A differentiated outline does emerge. For CAs,
the clearly prevailing criterion is that of “people
development”, an area absolutely consistent
Main problems and areas of
with the stated objective of the function (see engagement for HRM today
above), and on which CAs perceive they have One specific question had the objective of
to account for their actions and results. As far investigating what primary problems face
as it concerns the BPs, the distinctive criterion HRM departments today; in other words,
appears to be that of orientation to service which areas of engagement is it called to direct
instead, while referring to people development, its energies and actions towards in order to
the figures are slightly lower than the overall provide an effective answer to the requests
sample (48% vs. 50.65%), suggesting that the coming from the organization.

Table 3: Problems of HRM today

CA Total BP
Efficiency and control of costs 54.55% 50.00% 30.40%
Organizational flexibility 36.36% 21.79% 13.00%
People training and development 45.45% 29.49% 34.80%
Change management 0.00% 1.28% 4.30%
Management of work atmosphere, culture and values 27.27% 23.08% 34.80%
Service to internal customers 54.55% 33.33% 21.70%
Diversity management 9.09% 10.26% 21.70%
Work and life quality 0.00% 1.28% 0.00%

Note: it was possible to give more answers

Compared to the total sample, once again development of people and of the organization.
CAs show an overall orientation that is more As a matter of fact, these HRM departments
clearly differentiated and focused towards the are more engaged in certain critical issues:

Daniele Boldizzoni, Luca Quaratino 47

EBS REVIEW 2011 No 28

management of work atmosphere, culture line with the overall data, this seems to highlight
and values (54.55% vs. 50.00%); training and a certain delay in the entire Italian social and
development of people (45.45% vs. 29.49%); economic system, which even companies that
and search for organizational flexibility say they have adopted more advanced roles in
(54.55% vs. 33.33%). It is interesting to human resource management are unable to
observe that attention to efficiency and cost avoid.
control also remains fundamental for CAs –
any organizational change and development HRM present practices
action, in time of crisis, cannot leave this
dimension out of consideration. The last question aimed at identifying actions
concretely implemented by HRM departments
BPs on the contrary show a profile which is closer in the deployment of their functional policies.
to the overall sample, with a differentiation In particular, attention was set on specific
on the training and development of people cutting edge issues (beyond the traditional
(34.80% vs. 29.49%) and most of all on service human resource management leverages),
to the internal customer (21.70% vs. 10.26%) which should in themselves more clearly show
as already noticed. the transition of HRM departments towards
the adoption of more innovative roles.
What is striking here is the absence of both CAs
and BPs on the topic of work/life quality – in

Table 4: Present HRM practices

CA Total BP
a) To increase efficiency and productivity
Outsourcing/spin-off programs 27.27% 15.38% 17.40%
Internal entrepreneurship programs 27.27% 11.54% 4.30%
Introduction of new types of flexible jobs (part-time, job 45.45% 23.08% 8.70%
sharing, flexible time)
Introduction of remote-working 9.09% 2.56% 0.00%
Introduction of variable rewards 45.45% 4.,59% 60.80%
b) To improve the service orientation
Systematic monitoring of the quality of service 63.64% 33.33% 6.10%
Internal customer segmentation 9.09% 12.82% 8.7%
Introduction of internal accounts 18.18% 12.82% 13.0%
Internal marketing/communication plans 18.18% 11.54% 17.4%
Award for the quality of service 9.09% 11.54% 8.70%
360° appraisal methods 36.36% 12.82% 13.0%
c) To develop potential through:
Mobility/career policies segmented by educational 27.27% 12.82% 13.0%
qualification
Mobility/career policies segmented by age 18.18% 10.26% 4.30%
Mobility/career policies segmented by professional seniority 27.27% 8.97% 13.0%
Mobility/career policies segmented by gender 27.27% 12.82% 4.30%
Policies and plans for Equal Opportunities 36.36% 7.69% 4.30%
Inter-company training programs 54.55% 26.64% 30.40%
Inter-functional training programs 36.36% 32.05% 34.80%
Plans for individual and professional group competency 36.36% 25.64% 26.10%
development
d) Work and life quality
“Work-life balance” programs 9.09% 5.13% 0.00%
Agreements with sport, health-care, family services providers 54.55% 32.05% 30.40%
etc.
Introduction of corporate nursery 18.18% 10.26% 8.70%
Plans for the improvement of the work environment (beyond 27.27% 29.49% 30.40
those required by law)

48 The role of Human Resource Manager: Change Agent vs. Business Partner? Research into HRM in Italy
2011 No 28 EBS REVIEW

Anti-mobbing plans 9.09% 6.41% 8.70%

Customized support/development (counselling, mentoring, 9.09% 12.82% 17.40%
etc.)

Note: only one answer per section (a, b, c, etc.) was allowed.

Generally, a weak initiative on these crucial agreements with services providers, etc.). Also
issues does emerge, indicated by the limited on this issue, BPs appear fundamentally less
differentiation of CA and BP behaviours from oriented towards people.
the overall sample.
Overall it seems to be confirmed that while the
Focusing on each single sub-section of HRM statement of having a role of CA is generally
practices, it is possible to draw some insights supported by a stronger orientation towards
for the present analysis: valuing people; on the contrary, that of being
a BP appears to be less substantially founded,
productivity: CAs search for efficiency and almost a mere formal label with no consistent
productivity not only through variable rewards, practices and actions corresponding.
but also through flexible solutions oriented to
people’s needs (e.g. remote working) and the
promotion of internal entrepreneurship; BPs
Conclusions
limit themselves to introduce variable rewards; The aim of the research presented in this paper
was to understand the progress of companies
service orientation: BPs state that service
operating in Italy in their transition from an
orientation is the main criterion for assessing
“administrative approach” to new and more
the performance of the function, but they
challenging roles, particularly those of change
are poorly engaged in consistent actions
agent and business partner, according to
(e.g. monitoring of customer satisfaction);
Ulrich (1998).
CAs instead implement a significant range
of actions, like monitoring internal customer The analysis of the overall data highlights
satisfaction and introducing the role of the that the two trajectories of the evolution of
account (hard), as well as 360° evaluation, a human resource management seem to be
cutting edge method for developing people’s only partially confirmed in the Italian context.
competencies (soft); Even with the caution necessary when drawing
generalizations due to the limited number of
potential development: CAs show a strong
companies participating in the survey, the
and definite orientation, given that they
choice of some companies defining themselves
invest in segmenting their policies, towards
both as business partner and change agent
Equal Opportunities and focused plans for
seems to be only weakly tied to human resource
competency development (tailored for groups
management policies and practices actually
and individuals), as well as towards an opening
coherent with these “labels”.
towards external experiences (intercompany
training); BPs are actually indistinct from the Nonetheless, the collected data allows us to
overall sample, so less proactive on potential highlight rather different situations related to
development; the two roles analysed.
work and life quality: CAs seem to be more On the one hand, it is possible to underline
focused and committed to people (“work- that “business partnership” in the Italian
life balance” programs, corporate nursery, context appears to be a weak concept, given

Daniele Boldizzoni, Luca Quaratino 49

EBS REVIEW 2011 No 28

that it doesn’t seem to be univocally related and innovations likely based on the assumption
to an organic set of variables referring to that organizational change and development
the objectives and the activities of the HR processes can be effectively carried out only
department. As a matter of fact, HRM by investing in human capital – the one
departments defining themselves as Business organizational resource that can support them
Partner, at the same time declare that they successfully.
adopt practices and actions not strictly
consistent with BP. At the same time, the quantitative drop of
the diffusion of the change agent role can
It is possible to advance the hypothesis, yet be explained by referring to the on-going
to be confirmed by further surveys on more economic crisis, an issue recalled more than
representative samples of companies, that once in this paper. It might have urged many
business partnership is intended more as a HRM departments involved in company
“formal label”, adopted by HRM departments restructuring towards a short term perspective
in order to suggest to their internal (top and a stronger focus on the efficiency of
management, line management, employees) the function’s processes (here also a strong
and external stakeholders (HRM professional increase in the functional expert role).
community, experts and scholars) they are
“up-to-date”, than as a driver useful to guide In short, while there are many HRM
behaviours and concrete actions (Ulrich, 1997; departments defining themselves as business
Huselid, Jackson, Schuler, 1997). Referring partner, but limiting themselves to recall a
to neo-institutional theory (Powell and Di “label” not supported by consistent actions,
Maggio, 1991), it possible to assume that there is a smaller number of HRM departments
the HRM department is engaged in activating declaring they are adopting the role of change
isomorphic processes that are both mimetic agent, but these are prevalently coherent in
(in times of uncertainty, organizations decide their concrete behaviours and practices.
to imitate what the believed benchmarks are
The evidence from the research indicates that
doing) and normative (organizations decide
a realistic possible development of the studied
to uncritically adopt managerial models
roles (change agent and business partner)
developed and disseminated by the owner of
is based more on identifying specific useful
“professional knowledge and know how” as
contributions that the HRM department can
business schools and consultancy firms).
give the organization than on the statement of
On the other hand, it is possible to point out having adopted an abstract role.
that if the role of change agent in the last
So, it is not a matter of simply claiming the
decade has reduced its diffusion from a strictly
role of change agent or business partner, but
quantitative point of view, at the same time, it
of building over time a sound relationship
seems to be much sounder today. As a matter
with the different stakeholders with the aim
of fact it is characterized by the adoption of
of analysing and understanding their specific
HRM objectives, strategies and practices that
needs, suggesting coherent interventions
are rather coherent and based on the idea of
and actions, answering to organizational
valuing human capital – according to Ulrich’s
needs for change and development, and
model, a long-term orientation to people.
offering continuous support to top and line
So HRM departments seem to interpret the
management to achieve business results.
change agent role in terms of strong care for
people through dedicated policies, systems

50 The role of Human Resource Manager: Change Agent vs. Business Partner? Research into HRM in Italy
2011 No 28 EBS REVIEW

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Akhtar, Ding, Ge, 2008). And the analysis
Human Resource Management”, Sloan
of these links might represent an interesting
Management Review, winter.
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Chang W. and Huang T. 2005. “Relationship
Notes between strategic human resource
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Abbreviations
HRM: Human Resources Management

HR: Human Resources

BP: Business Partner

CA: Change Agent

CEO: Chief Executive Officer

52 The role of Human Resource Manager: Change Agent vs. Business Partner? Research into HRM in Italy
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