An extract of findings from the 1998 Study Group Annual Report: A Report on HR Professionals as "Business Partners" is based on findings and input from the Global Business Culture Study Group, convened at the Global Human Resource Institute, November 1998, by Roger Anderson

HR Professionals are "Business Partners" because they have an active role in achieving the enterprise’s results. If they are to be effective, they must have a solid understanding of the business. They must also enable leaders to make the changes that will allow them to provide better leadership to the organization’s people.

But today’s HR Professionals are more than this - they lead and administer their own organizations, act as team leaders and team members, and provide a consulting role throughout the enterprise. The HR professional needs to know when to do, when not to do, when to enable and facilitate, when to take action, when to judge, when to lead and when to follow. As the pace of change accelerates, balance, perspective and a sense of stability are attributes that become essential.

More than ever before, HR professionals will have to be tough, resilient people. Various conclusions drawn from the GHRI 1998 Global Business Culture Study Group were as follows: