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By Beth Kocher Gormley, Communications and PR Manager, College of Business

“There has been very little, if any, research undertaken on the role of continuous improvement in global HR transformation,” said Dr Linda Dowling-Hetherington from the UCD College of Business HRM and Employment Relations Subject Area. “We were interested in learning more about how continuous improvement shapes global HR transformation in multinational companies.”

Process excellence and continuous improvement methodologies are usually something associated with manufacturing environments, she explained. However, Dr Dowling-Hetherington along with co-researcher Dr Maria Belizon, ICADE, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, had a sense that these methodologies could have a useful place in the context of HR functions; and that these methodologies, including the use of lean tools and techniques, have the potential to play an important role in enabling global HR transformation.  

“There appeared to be few examples of organisations that are taking a rigorous and structured approach to continuous improvement and process excellence within the context of HR functions,” said Dr Belizon.

However, in 2020, LinkedIn established a process excellence team within its Global Talent Organisation (GTO). “As a large multinational with staff located in various parts of the world, LinkedIn are an excellent example of an organisation that has created a strong culture of continuous improvement within GTO, its HR function,” continued Dr Belizon. “Their innovative and cutting-edge approach is seeing returns for the organisation in terms of the transformation of its HR processes globally.”  

“Our journey of continuous improvement and HR transformation at LinkedIn has been deeply rooted in lean methodologies coupled with a strong customer focus,” said Hermann Mullers, Director of HR Process Excellence at LinkedIn, Melbourne, Australia. “By streamlining our processes and keeping the needs of our employees and stakeholders at the heart of everything we do, we’ve not only optimised our HR operations but also fostered a culture of innovation and efficiency within our organisation.”

“The lessons we've learned are invaluable for any organisation aiming to do more with less while maintaining high standards of process and operations,” concluded Mullers.

Dr Belizon met Mullers through her work on the HR Analytics Group and was aware that he was doing interesting work in the space. When he moved to LinkedIn to lead the Process Excellence Team within HR Operations, Dr Belizon saw the potential for a research collaboration. 

Given their innovative approach, Mullers and his team were happy to showcase their success. They were also keen to gather insights on the perspectives of the HR Operations team on the enablers and challenges they had encountered in the context of driving continuous improvement and HR transformation which would help them identify ‘pain points’ and areas where further improvements might be beneficial.

The conference is sponsored by ICBE and CIPD, and brings together HR leaders from LinkedIn, eBay, Johnson & Johnson MedTech and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, as well as HR researchers from ICADE, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Spain and UCD College of Business, Ireland.

Conversations will focus on the findings from the 28 interviews with a variety of LinkedIn employees across the EMEA, APAC and NAMER regions and will critically examine the role of continuous improvement in global HR transformation. They will address three research questions:

1.    How does continuous improvement shape global HR transformation in multinational companies?
2.    How does a global HR transformation team adopt and legitimise a continuous improvement mindset and methodology to drive their strategic goals in their multinational organisation?
3.    How do analytics and metrics support continuous improvement in global HR transformation?

The event is open to the public and will take place at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School on June 5, 2024 from 11:30 am – 3:00 pm. See full agenda here and below. 

Register here. 

Conference Agenda: "Deliver, Scale, Transform"
Continuous Improvement and HR Transformation at LinkedIn
Including Case Study from LinkedIn Global

11:00 am     Registration and Refreshments

11.30-11.35    Welcome: Professor Anne Keegan,
Head, HRM and Employment Relations Subject Area, UCD

11.35-12.20    The Adoption of Continuous Improvement in
HR Transformation at LinkedIn
●    Amanda Phillips, Senior HR Director
●    Hermann Mullers, Director of HR Process Excellence
●    Rachel Wootton, Senior Manager, Global HR Operations

12.20-1.00     The Adoption of Continuous Improvement in HR Transformation: Enablers and Challenges
●    Dr Maria Belizon, ICADE, Universidad Pontificia Comillas
●    Dr Linda Dowling-Hetherington, UCD College of Business

1.00        Light Lunch

1.45-2.50     Panel Discussion with Senior HR leaders
●    Amanda Philipps, Senior HR Director, LinkedIn
●    Sarah White, Director of People, eBay
●    Cahir O’Leary, Human Resources Leader, Johnson & Johnson MedTech
●    Claire O’Reilly, Head of Strategic HRM, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

2.50-3.00 pm  Concluding remarks