Prof. Dr. Stephan Weinert, Professor of International Human Resources Management at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU), together with the German Association of Human Resources Managers (BPM), presents a study on human resources competence in the supervisory boards of German DAX companies. The publication of the study was accompanied by the association as well as by the FAZ and the trade magazine Personalwirtschaft.
The results report of the study "HR Competence on the Supervisory Board" is available exclusively to the F.A.Z. publishing group. As part of a quantitative content analysis, a team led by Professor Dr. Stephan Weinert at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU) analyzed 716 curricula vitae of supervisory board members on the shareholder side in DAX, M-DAX and S-DAX companies for activities in the field of human resources (it should be noted that the period of analysis was before the changeover to DAX-40). Of the 150 companies analyzed, 45 have at least one representative on their supervisory board who has already held an HR position. Of the 716 supervisory board members analyzed, 52 have concrete HR experience. According to the study, only 4 percent of the supervisory board members have in-depth or longer-term HR experience.
"There is a lack of expertise on the subject of human resources (HR) on German supervisory boards," says FAZ business editor Inken Schönauer, summarizing the results of the study. Inga Dransfeld-Haase, President of the German Association of Human Resources Managers (BPM), also makes it clear: "In far too many DAX-listed companies, HR work takes place at the control level without HR specialists. Numerous supervisory boards have an open flank when it comes to HR." The BPM had initiated the study together with the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences.
"It is now a truism that, in view of the shortage of skilled workers in many industries, HR has become the decisive strategic competitive advantage for companies," says study director Stephan Weinert. "And when HR competence is not even to be found in every third company surveyed among the supervisory boards on the shareholder side, that is sobering," says the expert.
Cliff Lehnen, editor-in-chief of the trade journal Personalwesen, points out a limitation of the study: It is based exclusively on the activity in a personnel department as proof of "HR competence. At the same time the analysis supplies however, which one always wishes from the personnel management: Tangible numbers instead of diffuse Lamentos.
You can find more information about the study here:
Technical contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society
Department of Marketing and Human Resources Management
Prof. Dr. Stephan Weinert
Chair of International Human Resources Management
Tel. 0621/5203-131
E-mail: stephan.weinert@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de
