IFPM Center for
HRM 4.0

How can top management successfully guide their company through the transition to Work 4.0?? What supportive contribution can HRM as well as communication make in this regard?

To answer these research questions, we are conducting a study that focuses on successful models of Swiss companies in the transition to the world of work 4.0. The term «world of work 4.0» describes the spread of new forms of work and new technologies.

In transformation processes, top executives play a particularly crucial role. It is unclear what role the top management in the transition to Work 4.0 should play, so that a successful transformation can be achieved. For this reason, the planned study will focus on the role of management. theFurthermore, the Center investigates how HR management and communication can serve as cornerstones in the transformation process to Work 4.0.

A well-embedded human resource management is the foundation for an organization to achieve its strategic, operational and human goals. We focus on practices of human resource management that particularly fit within the external and internal framework of the organization and its goals. (High Performance Work Systems)

Strategic Human Resource Management: How can human resource management support the organization in developing and implementing its strategic goals, with special consideration of the external and internal context?

Operational Human Resource Management: How should organizations set up their human resource management and their human resource management– processes and integrate them into the organizational context? We investigate effective practices for recruitment, personnel development, compensation, and performance management as well as their meaningful alignment.

The shortage of skilled workers and the battle for talented employees have long been a reality for SMEs. Only the most attractive employers can assert themselves in this «War for Hearts».

But how does a company make the leap to becoming an excellent employer that attracts specialists and executives and retains qualified employees? TOP JOB offers employers the optimal basis for an individual assessment. Surveys are used to examine topics such as organizational energy, leadership, communication, and loyalty from the employee’s perspective and compare them with HR tools and practices of the company, so that a holistic picture emerges. An objective benchmarking –process also reveals one’s own strengths and areas for action. The TOP JOB employer competition is a good opportunity to compare oneself with other mid-sized employers and to put one’s employer qualities to the test.

Societal developments such as demographic change, increasing transnational mobility of skilled workers, or rising female employment lead to, the workforces of numerous companies becoming increasingly diverse. Against this background, decision-makers are particularly confronted with two challenges:

Firstly, with the development of HR strategies for targeted Diversity Management, and secondly, with the need for effective leadership of employees from different generations, cultures, and genders. On both topics fields, the research work of IFPM-HSG makes a decisive contribution.

On the one hand, within the framework of various projects, we investigate through which measures, processes, and instruments HR, together with other decision-makers in companies, can contribute to effective Diversity Management. On the other hand, we examine in studies on the topic of Diversity Leadership, what contribution leaders can make to realizing positive Diversity potentials can make. We transfer the leading expertise of our institute in these thematic areas directly into organizational practice through numerous publications and seminars.

The acceleration of change is a recognized fact. The economic environment is so dynamic that unexpected developments become the norm , instead of being the exception. Organizations are confronted with rapid in creative or even unpredictable changes in their environment. Organizational agility, i.e., a rapid adaptability to short-term developments, becomes a necessary ability to deal with volatility. Human resource management plays a significant role in the agility of the company, because only with the right leadership and human resources can changes be adequately anticipated and implemented. We investigate human resource management – practices that enable faster adaptation to strategic and organizational needs.

Strategic Human Resource Management: How can organizations anticipate change more quickly, and what influence does the strategic consulting function have from an HR perspective? How can staffing needs be better planned?

Operational Human Resource Management: How can organizations adapt more quickly to change so that they have the right human resources available at the right time and place to master the change and its implications? How can flexibility potentials be built up within the organization? What possibilities exist for accelerating HR processes? What skills, culture, organizational parameters, and cooperation relationships are desirable to enable human agility?