Journal of Business & Leadership: Research, Practice, and Teaching (2005-2012) Volume Number Journal of Business & Leadership Article 20 1-1-2007 An Analysis of Branding HR Department Activities For Strategic Value Creation Catherine Giunta Seton Hill University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/jbl Part of the Business Commons, and the Education Commons Recommended Citation Giunta, Catherine (2007) "An Analysis of Branding HR Department Activities For Strategic Value Creation," Journal of Business & Leadership: Research, Practice, and Teaching (2005-2012): Vol : No , Article 20 Available at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/jbl/vol3/iss1/20 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Peer-Reviewed Journals at FHSU Scholars Repository It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Business & Leadership: Research, Practice, and Teaching (2005-2012) by an authorized editor of FHSU Scholars Repository h eir Giunta Giunta: An Analysis of Branding HR Department Activities For Strategic Journ(ll or and 13u S lll~ SS Leade crch rShip P Resea Va ti Ce Cl lld Tc3C hlll g_ 2007 Vo l No I 16 1- 168 AN ANALYSIS OF BRANDING HR DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES FOR STRATEGIC VALUE CREATION Ca th erine Giunta, Seton Hill Universit y This study explored Human Resource Executives ' (H REs) perceptions of H R branding actions all(/thfound at bran ding human resources creates organizational Aany dditional( th e valu co e )', mp and human resource alignment appeared to affect human resource branding Ill any participants describ ed H R programs and services th at were impl_e~~te nted i~t companies !11ost examples provided, th ough, did not include branding per se, of th ose II R acttl'tlles Tlus finding strongly suggests that l111m an resource branding is in a11 ear(J' stage of development The aled stud1•that reFe HREs perceive that branding is a ben eficial toni to facilitate the demonstration of 1111111an resource strateg ic 1·alu e creation I NTRODUCT ION o f it s prod ucts T hi s stu dy co nce ntrates on that perspec ti ve It uses branding to denote th e id entit y of I-IR and its program s U lri ch and B rockba nk note that "i dea ll y a firm should be in c ludin g w hat ac ti ons it co ndu cts how it impl ements th em , respon si ve to difference s in indi vidu al customer preferences u ns and se r vice s w hy it co ndu cts th em , and how th ese progr: (regarding th e number and type o f co ntac t po int s) HR be nefi t its c li ent s practi ces shou ld retl ec t and rein fo rce target customer va lu e 1\ an tm desc rib es th e impac t of a co m pan tem rewa \\ rd s;.s propos iti ons" (2005 : 65) T hey also re co mm end tllilt co mpani es upor1 it s value pmpo siti on and it s subse qu ent brand in th e taletnt "crea te th e substance o f th e br·and th en co mmuni ca te it " (2005 : mad ,e (a s c it ed in U!'ron , G:llld ossy.s Gold mith 2003 : 166) 12 7) Y et, I-IR co mp ani es acco mpli sh thi s for th e I-IR brand A dditi onal rese arch demo nstrates th e sign ifi cance of brand ing itself? Do th ey crea te th e substance o f th e brand of II R as one of th e mai n so urce s of co mpetit ive advan tage (U lri ch & practices and co mmuni ca te it ? I f th ey do th ey th en fo ll ow Brock bank , 200 ) U I ri ch and Brod.bant no ted th at "the bes t U lrich and Brockbank's nex t recomm end ati o n to " co mmuni cate brand is o ne th at wo rk s both in sid e and outside th e co mpany, th e brand im age and th en wmk to sustain it" ? (2005: 127) Th e sendin g co nsistent messages abo ut w hat th e co mpan y stands authors later suggest th at co mpani es should "d eve lop the most for Th e qu alit y o f empl oye e and c ustom er co mmunicati ons powerful identity in th e ds of sum ers" (2005 : 158) Yet, m ay be mea sured by th e percent age of both empl oyees and the 1-1 R depar1m ent s impl ement thi s strategy for th e 1-1 R customers "h o fee l th at th e co mpany hea rs and res po nd s to prac ti ces brand and for th e co mpani es' brand as an empl oye r o f ed in th ese th eir nee ds" (2005 : 64) HR Es nee d to be inhvo choice? va lu e crea tin g bran ding ac ti o ns th