Shadowing Practice: #03 Strategic Types of Human Resources Management - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hello and a warm welcome.
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I'm Armin Troost, professor at the Furtwangen University in Germany and this is my series on Human Resources Strategies,
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a real master course for advanced HR students, professionals and executives.
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This series is available on YouTube and on all podcatchers like iTunes or Spotify.
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All slides that support this series are available on my website.
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For more information, please read the description to this YouTube or podcast.
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I'd also like to refer to my book, Human Resources Strategies, available at most online bookstores.
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So, again, thanks for listening.
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Have fun and gain valuable insights into the fascinating world of HR strategies.
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Whenever I meet an HR executive, I sooner or later ask one particular question,
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which is, what type of human resource management do you have in your company?
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That's a fundamental question to me.
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So you might wonder, what are these three different types?
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And I will share this with you in this episode.
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I made the decision to make this episode about the three different types very early in the series
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because I see it as something essential. So let's start.
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When you hear this term human resource management, you find the word management.
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And this is what I'm going to talk about today.
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Management means that you do things in a very structured, in a very planned, in a very formal,
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in a very targeted way.
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So you don't leave things just to chance.
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You don't do things ad hoc.
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You don't do things somehow or randomly.
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You have a plan.
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You have an idea.
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You have concrete steps to go and you want to achieve specific outcomes.
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This is what management is all about.
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And behind management, there is the idea of institutionalization.
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Institutionalization.
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So this is the first dimension I would like to talk about.
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And this is essential because there are some companies, or let's say many companies,
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who are in the beginning of institutionalization or don't have institutionalized human resource management at all,
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especially when we think of small companies.
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They do something in HR, they do something about people, but not so much.
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When you look at very big corporations, you very often find a huge variety of different things they do.
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They do employer branding, they have specific selection tool when it comes to recruiting, They have specific processes and tools and programs for training and development.
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They have all sorts of things, you know, and these things are formally described and decided, right?
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So let's talk about this institutionalization first.
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And a simple way to look at it is to understand how companies develop from their very beginning.
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That's a good way to look at it, I guess.
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So, when a company is founded, you have a founder or a team of founders.
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And these founders are very essential, not only in the beginning, but for the remaining history of a company.
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And these founders, they typically have an attitude, an attitude about what is good management.
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They have an attitude about how to treat people well.
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I mean, let's think of different founders in history of business.
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I mean, think of Richard Branson, the great founder of Virgin, the Virgin Group.
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Or think of Steve Jobs think of Bill Gates think of Hewitt
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and Packard I mean all those founders they had a specific attitude wherever this attitude came from.
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Maybe it came from their socialization, from the social environment in which they grew up.
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Maybe they follow up on a certain religion or yeah, wherever it came from, they have an attitude.
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And this attitude of the founder or the founders,
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of course, impact the way things are done in this It's a new and young and small company.
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But once the company is getting bigger, let's assume now you have 20 people, 80 people, 100 people.
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The founders cannot be anywhere anymore, right?
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I mean, that physically is not possible.
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So what they need to do is they have to shape something that we name a culture.
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A culture is, let's say, a set of implicit rules,
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a set of implicit assumption about what is good behavior, what is not so good behavior in this particular company.
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And it's not a surprise that those implicit rules very much relate to the attitude of the founders.
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So if the founders had the attitude that you better trust people and that the customers always come first.
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This attitude will be replicated in the culture.
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And of course, the people think and behave this way.
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And that's very, very important.
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That's an important step that reduces complexity.
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Even though you still don't have rules, maybe, the people know how to behave or not to behave.
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But once a company gets even bigger, you start institutionalization.
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I mean, you have to.
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Once you have 200 people, 500 people, 1 ,000 people, culture will not be enough anymore and you need roles.
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You need clear responsibilities.
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While in earlier days things were decided spontaneously or attack.
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So when a project came up, who will take care for what?
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It was decided on the spot instantly.
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But once a company gets bigger, you have to make a decision.
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You, the company, the CEO maybe, who is responsible for what?
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And now different functions emerge.
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You have clear responsibility.
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So when it comes to purchase, okay, this is this team who does this.
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When it comes to sales, these are the people who do sales.
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You have roles and you have structures.
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Structures, not only in terms of organizational structure, but also in terms of processes.
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So when it comes to the question of, okay, how will we hire people in the future?
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Or how do we buy a machine?
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Or how do we kick off a project with a newly acquired customer?
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you might have processes you have a specific way to go
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and the people are supposed to follow up on these processes and it makes life easier you also have
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structures when it comes to very simple questions like as I will show you in more detail in a minute
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when it comes to for instance business travel when somebody does business travel on long distance?
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Is the employee supposed to use business class or still economy class or even first class? Who decides upon this?
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Is there a rule?
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And the older or bigger a company,
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then the more rules you have and think this is good because it reduces complexity.
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It's not that for every case the people have to think, oh, I have to do a business travel, hmm, am I allowed to do this, am I allowed to do that?
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No, you avoid this discussion and you say, okay, here is the rule, wherever this rule comes from,
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whether it is defined by the CEO or agreed upon based on a more democratic procedure, it does not matter, you have a rule and
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that makes life easier for sure so some companies might exist just having culture roles
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and structures I mean
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when I think of let's say a university for instance I mean we mainly have this
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or many hospitals they they mainly have this but once you once you are in a competitive environment like most companies are,
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you might not only have roles,
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structures, culture you even might have something like management systems strategic management systems
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and these are very very advanced let's think of customer relationship
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management systems supply chain management systems human resource management systems you you have management systems
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and management systems can be highly complex yeah they include a lot of processes systems,
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data, and IT, all these kind of things, okay?
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So, again, we start with an attitude, the attitude is replicated in the culture,
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and the culture then is replicated in the types of roles and structures we have, and the strategic management systems,
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again, replicate roles, structure, culture, and so the attitude of the founder.
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So from culture on, when we think about role, structure, strategic management, this is what we name institutionalization, okay?
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And this also happens in human resource management.
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Very often when we look back some decades or when we look back at the beginning of some company's development,
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in the beginning you did not have so much, But now, over the course of the time, a lot of things emerge.
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Role, structure, strategic management system, and whatsoever.
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This is the level of institutionalization.
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But now, when we think of this institutionalization, there are two different paths to go.
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And again, this is a very simplified view.
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It even might be a little bit black and white, but, you know, sometimes we have to think in terms of black and white.
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It makes things a little bit easier to understand.
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I see there are two hemispheres, so to speak, or two directions where companies might go to.
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And let me share with you a very simple example, okay?
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And this example is really not about HR, not at all.
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it's about something that I already have mentioned.
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It's about travel, business travel.
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So, when you look at business travel and how companies deal with that particular matter,
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you will find a big variety.
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Some companies have a Netflix kind of business policy which says act in Netflix best interest,
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meaning, okay, you people, you are responsible.
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So if you decide to use first class, okay, go ahead, but act in Netflix best interest.
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If you have the idea that using first class in this particular situation is the best thing you can do for Netflix, then go ahead.
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Some companies have something like internal transparency saying, okay, guys, you can travel however you like.
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You decide by your own.
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You are responsible.
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But we will publish all travel costs on an intranet website so that everybody can see how much money,
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and it's the company's money, it's our shared money, how much money you spend on your business travel.
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So better be careful, right?
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Act in a responsible way.
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And when you act like this, you trust the people, you treat the people like adults, you assume that the people make right decisions,
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and you assume that the people are capable to do so.
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So this is the idea of sharing responsibility, giving responsibility to the people, trusting the people.
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You might have rules, you might have structures, you might have processes, But it's all about supporting the people,
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it's about enabling the people to take over shared responsibility.
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While in many other companies, travel policies look completely different.
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They rather look like this.
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When you want to do a long distance flight, you can use economy class.
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Okay, this is what the policy says.
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If you, no, you can use business class, sorry.
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If you think you have to use first class, you must get the approval from the CEO.
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Okay.
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Or what you find very often is that any business travel must be approved by the supervisor above your next level supervisor.
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This is the idea that it's the management, it's the executives, it's the upper level, the upper authority who has the responsibility.
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And they make the decision upon whether you as a regular employee can do this or not.
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So here, responsibility is culminated, centralized on an upper authority level.
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You see the difference?
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It's really interesting.
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And that's a fundamental difference how roles and structures and strategic management systems are designed.
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Some management systems are more hierarchical, let's say, or more focused on stability.
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where responsibility is really centered on the top or higher level of the hierarchical pyramid.
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And in some other companies, you have more something that we name agility.
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You have networks.
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You have shared responsibility on the bottom of the organization.
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Now, this is very simplified, really.
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This is very, very simplified.
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And we will need to go much deeper into this in the future.
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And I will share with you what is the difference between the one hemisphere about hierarchy
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and stability versus the other hemisphere about agility and networks.
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We're going to talk about this intensively.
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Okay, so when we look at these two dimensions,
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one dimension was institutionalization from having nothing to having a lot of role structure processes.
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And when we, at the same time, look at this difference between hierarchy on one side and agility on the other side,
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we can reflect these two dimensions in a very simple triangle.
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And this triangle now is key, really.
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This triangle is key.
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And for those who just listen to this series via podcast,
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now that needs your, that requires your little imagination.
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Imagine an isosceles triangle.
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What is an isosceles triangle?
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An isosceles triangle is a triangle where two angles have the same grades.
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So let's imagine a pyramid.
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Yeah, a pyramid.
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When you look at a pyramid, a standing pyramid from front, you see an isosceles triangle.
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The bottom two angles have the same crates and the entire triangle is pointing to the top, to the sky, so to speak.
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And now take this isosceles triangle and turn it 90 % to the left.
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Now you have an isosceles triangle that is pointing to the left,
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and on the right side you have a vertical side where both angles are of equal grades, okay?
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Imagine this triangle.
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This is a good way to look at it.
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Also, when I ask HR executives, I always draw this triangle on a piece of paper asking, okay, what is your type of human resource management?
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And every angle, every corner of this triangle reflects a specific type of human resources management.
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So one angle of this triangle, the one that is pointing to the left,
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this is a triangle that has no institutionalization at all.
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And this reflects one type of human resource management really i name it hire
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and pay okay hire and pay what is
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that some companies have this hire and pay means that
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when you think of hr you literally have no hr really
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not the only the only thing you do is you you
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you somehow hire the people right i mean you have to You hire the people,
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but in a very ad hoc and maybe unstructured way.
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Every hiring process is somehow different, and of course you have to compensate the people.
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So that's why I name it hire and pay.
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Sometimes in some organizations you do not even pay the people.
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Let's think of them as a non -governmental organization.
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But you still have to hire the people.
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But beyond this, you do nothing.
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You really do nothing.
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No level of institutionalization.
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Really nothing.
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You don't have performance appraisal.
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You don't have an employer brand.
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You don't have a structured training and development system or something like this.
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Of course you don't have an HR information technology.
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You might not even have an HR professional or you might not even use this term.
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It's simply not there.
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And I still find more companies than I've initially expected,
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mid -sized companies, who are still on this level.
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So sometimes I meet CEOs who say that's the exact way to go, having no HR at all.
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I mean, for some HR professionals that sounds a little bit risky or weird or not so professional,
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but they share some assumptions.
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They say, well, I don't need an employer brand.
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Why should I need an employer brand?
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Just be a good employer.
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And the people will spread the word.
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So just be a good employer, that's enough.
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Or I recently met a CEO who told me,
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well, we don't have dedicated selection procedures like assessment center or tests.
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We do not even want to hire the best people.
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We hire the B players, the lower B players, because they stay and these are the people I really get.
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So why should I?
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And if it turns out that an employee is not capable enough and is not capable of learning, then okay, I will fire this guy, full stop.
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So why do I need assessment centers?
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Or some say, well, I don't need something like talent management.
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Talent management.
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Talent management is about systematically identifying most talented people in your organization
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and support them in a very systematic way so
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that on the long run they get prepared for key or senior positions in the organization.
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Some CEOs would say, no, I don't need something like this.
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And they follow the assumption, well, the good will always find their way.
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The cream always comes to the top the really talented people they will they will leverage their talent anyway
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and if they don't they are not talented yeah that's that's a that's the idea
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if you're good okay be good if you're talented
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so okay go ahead and leverage your talent who stops you so you don't need systems!
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That's the idea here, right?
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So, I mean, performance appraisal.
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Some really avoid this, say, why should I need performance appraisal?
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I mean, this is work, talking about what we want to achieve, who does what, and constantly looking, okay, where are we?
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I mean, that's a regular, natural thing we do at work.
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We don't need any system for this, right?
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Okay, we sometimes use paper and pencil.
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Sometimes we use an Excel sheet to track our objectives or whatsoever, but we don't need a performance appraisal system, okay?
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I mean, you feel it?
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This is hire and pay, a very low institutionalized way of doing HR.
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So, now let's move from this corner
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and in our imaginary triangle we are now with hire
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and pay on the left corner that is pointing to the left and now we move from left to right, okay?
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And institutionalization is growing, increasing.
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Now we have more and more and more.
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We start having responsibilities, we have rules, we start having processes, we start having a system,
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we start having a program, we start having key performance indicators, we start doing a lot of things.
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So higher end pay means we do nothing.
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And high level of institutionalization, the right end of the triangle, means we do a lot.
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We spend much time, effort and money to do a lot as part of our human resources management.
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So, when we move from higher end pay to the right side, high level of institutionalization, there are two ways to go, as we have learned.
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One way is to go, in my picture, to the top, which is about… hierarchy and stability.
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In terms of HR, I would name it central planning and control.
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That's the second type of human resource management.
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How does that look like?
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Central planning and control.
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Again, as I said, you do a lot.
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You really do a lot.
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High level of institutionalization.
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But what do you do?
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There is the idea that there must be a central authority or there must be a central instance,
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like let's say the HR department, who is responsible for all people -related things.
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So, when you look into a company that is following this type of human resource management, central planning and control, and you ask the question,
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who is responsible for learning?
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this company tends to say, well, it's HR, the HR department.
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Who is responsible for hiring new employees?
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Yeah, the HR department.
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Who is responsible for the long -term development of the most talented people?
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Yeah, the HR department.
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Who is responsible for retaining the best people?
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Yeah, the HR department right
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so you have a central authority taking care for all people related things right
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so how does that feel like from an employee side
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if you are very talented let's assume you work in such a company
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and you're very talented okay then you wait and sit until hr with the cooperation of line managers,
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of course, identifies you as the most talented person.
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So, it could happen that someday you get a message saying, hey John, congratulations, you have been identified as a high potential.
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So, if you agree, we now move on.
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We tell you exactly what to do now.
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Look, John, here is the career path you are supposed to go, and these are the different steps you're supposed to go, And here are the supportive programs,
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the trainings, the projects, and things you're supposed to do as part of your entire developmental journey.
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So HR tells you what to do and is taking you by your hand, saying, We know very well what is good for you,
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we're gonna guide you, we're gonna lead you, just follow, right?
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Just follow.
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Or when it comes to recruiting, let's say there is a department that wants to hire 12 new sales engineers.
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The first thing they do is they call their, we name it today, HR business partner.
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Say, hey HR, we want to hire 12 sales engineers.
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And then HR steps in and says, okay, you want 12 sales engineers okay good so what are you looking for
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and they have a briefing yeah briefing
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and they ask okay what are the requirements of the future employees
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and then they might talk a little bit about okay
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which channels and which channels do we want to post a job ad
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or whatsoever and then HR is taking over responsibility yeah
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and then on a weekly basis the business line will knock at the HR department's door asking, okay, how is it?
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How many applicants did we get?
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And you see, at the end, HR department is responsible for bringing in the new 12 sales engineers.
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So everything which is people related is done in the HR department.
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Okay, this is a very extreme view,
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but it's not so far away from many organizations' current reality, I suppose, okay?
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And this kind of central planning and control
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that goes very much along with companies that also think in a very hierarchical way,
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with companies that want to have stable,
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predictable and solid processes that are supposed to work until eternity, right?
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Okay, so that was the second type of human resource management
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and now let's move to the third type of human resource management and I name it people -centered enablement,
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people -centered So, in our triangle, we are now on the right -hand side but on the bottom,
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on the lower hemisphere, which is about agility and networks.
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So, how does human resource management look like in that corner, people -centered enablement?
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It feels completely different.
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It says, okay, who is responsible for learning?
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The people. Who else?
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Who is responsible for long -term development of our most talented people?
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Yeah, the most talented people.
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Who is responsible for hiring 12 new sales engineers?
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The business line, of course.
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I mean, who else?
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Who is responsible for retention?
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The teams.
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Who is responsible for health?
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The people.
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So, the assumption is that the people share
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or take over responsibility for almost all people -related things yeah
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you see this is a this is a complete different way to go really
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so and and from an employee perspective if you are
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if you're an employee in a company
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that is following up on such kind of human resource management
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if you are an employee in such an organization
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and you're very very talented yeah you're a john
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and you ask okay well i think i'm very talented and i'm also very ambitious.
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I know this, so I want to develop." And then you call the HR department saying, hey, I'm John.
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I'm talented.
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I want to develop.
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The response will instantly come saying, hey, John, okay, you want to develop?
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That's cool.
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So please go ahead.
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Develop yourself.
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Take over responsibility for your career and for your life.
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Hey, man, you are an adult, so make the best out of it.
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But we will not do nothing, John.
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We are here.
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We support you.
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We're gonna open doors, but you have to walk through this.
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And look at your career not as an elevator.
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It's not that you just step in and then we will carry you upwards.
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Our careers in our organization are more stairways, so please find your right stairway.
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If you don't know what is your right stairway we're gonna help you with coaching maybe
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so that you will find your right career for yourself
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that fits to the company's need
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but then you walk upwards you will go you are responsible you are grown -up man
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so take over responsibility or even
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when it comes to recruiting you want to hire 12 sales engineers okay good luck with
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that that's something that challenging so we from hr department, we're going to help you,
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guiding you through all the necessary steps so that you will find your 12 engineers.
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Yes, got it right, you will find them.
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It's not us.
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You're going to find them because we know the best way to hire a sales engineer is to work with sales engineers.
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Penguins hire Penguins, so.
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okay so this people center enablement please don't get it wrong is not about HR department doing nothing
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really not that's not the idea here you might do a lot and you might do things in a very institutionalized,
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structured professional, formal way
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you might really do a lot you might spend a lot
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of money a lot of effort a lot of time
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but the aim is not as an HR department to take
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over responsibility for everything the aim of the HR department is
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support the business for taking over all people related things and so
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that you don't get it wrong here we talk about strategic
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things right we talk about things like learning development talent acquisition all those things we do not talk about administrative things.
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We do not talk about payroll, for instance.
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I can't imagine a people -centered payroll.
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It will never be the case that the people are responsible for their own payroll.
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No, please not.
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We do not talk about these administrative things.
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We talk about the strategic things that really matter for business, okay?
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Just to get it right here, okay?
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So, to sum it up a bit,
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We have these three different types of human resource management.
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One time is higher -end pay doing nothing.
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And then we have the two other ways of doing other types of human resource management which are highly institutionalized.
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One is central planning and control.
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A central authority like the HR department takes control for all people -related things.
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And there is the other highly institutionalized way of human resource management
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which is the people -centered enablement which more goes along with an environment of agility
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and networks where the people share or have responsibility for all people related things
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and you know this differentiation between these three different types are essential really.
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Because what we will think of in the remaining parts of this series is,
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well, how does an HR strategy look like when it is more about central planning and control?
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And how does a human resources strategy look like
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when it is more about people -centered enablement and you will see
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that even though you might deal with the same challenges and
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if you deal with the same problems you might come up with completely different strategies yeah
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and that's a that's a really something which is absolutely fascinating so take this home now the famous HR triangle love it.
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I've invented this I don't know, 12 years ago
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and in this moment I was not aware how powerful this
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became this triangle with these three different types it's really powerful please use it,
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it helps well, it's okay now, with that in mind I'd like to finish for today
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and in the next episode i will i will show you
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a overview on how to build a human resources strategy so hey thanks for listening see you then
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IELTS PrepBusiness EnglishUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 406 sentences and 4661 words to shadow. The speech runs for 36:55. The speaker talks at a steady 126 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| triangle noun | /ˈtɹaɪˌæŋɡəl/ | A polygon with three sides and three angles. |
| hire verb | /ˈhaɪɹ/ | To obtain the services of in return for fixed payment. |
| resource noun | /ɹɪˈzɔːs/ | Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel. |
| founder noun | /ˈfaʊ̯n.dəː/ | One who founds or establishes (a company, project, organisation, state, etc.). |
| talented adjective | /ˈtæləntɪd/ | Endowed with one or more talents. |
| strategic adjective | /stɹəˈti.dʒɪk/ | Of or pertaining to strategy. |
| employer noun | /ɪmˈplɔɪə/ | A person, firm or other entity which pays for or hires the services of another person. |
| angle noun | /ˈæŋ.ɡəl/ | A figure formed by two rays which start from a common point (a plane angle) or by three planes that intersect (a solid angle). |
| pyramid noun | /ˈpɪɹ.ə.mɪd/ | An ancient massive construction with a square or rectangular base and four triangular sides meeting in an apex, such as those built as tombs in Egypt or as… |
| assumption noun | /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/ | The act of assuming, or taking to or upon oneself; the act of taking up or adopting. |
| dimension noun | /daɪˈmɛn.ʃən/ | A single aspect of a given thing. |
| hemisphere noun | /ˈhɛmɪsfɪə/ | Half of the celestial sphere, as divided by either the ecliptic or the celestial equator . |
| replicate verb | /ˈɹɛplɪkeɪt/ | To make a copy (replica) of. |
| reflect verb | /ɹɪˈflɛkt/ | To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface. |
| stability noun | /stəˈbɪlɪti/ | The condition of being stable or in equilibrium, and thus resistant to change. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| take over verb | To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force. | |
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
| follow up on verb | To take further actions regarding (something). | |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. | |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. | |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. | |
| go along with verb | To acquiesce to or comply with a proposal, despite lacking a desire or value for it. | |
| kick off verb | To make the first kick in a game or part of a game. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is founded · will be replicated · were decided |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have institutionalized · have mentioned · have shared |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who do · those who just · top, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 51 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: assumption /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/, dimension /daɪˈmɛn.ʃən/, congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/, sheet /ʃit/, cooperation /koʊˌɑ.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: stability /stəˈbɪlɪti/, whatsoever /ˌ(h)wʌtsoʊˈɛvɚ/, hierarchy /ˈhaɪ.ə.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/, administrative /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stɹə.tɪv/, fundamental /ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like triangle, hire, resource.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.