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.

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.

1. What HR Needs to Do
2. What HR Does
3. The Strategic Role of HR
4. HR Decision Science
5. HR Organization and HR Skills
6. Measuring Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Impact
7. The Results of HR Metrics and Analytics
8. Information Technology in HR
9. The Effectiveness of HR
10. Determinants of HR Effectiveness
11. Determinants of Organizational Performance
12. How HR Has Changed
13. What the Future of HR Should Be