Harvard Business School

9-496-007
Rev. April 28, 1999

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Becton Dickinson (E):
An Assessment of Strategic Human Resource
Management Profiling

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Since 1988 when Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) profiling was first introduced to Becton Dickinson, it had been implemented in eight line divisions, two staff functions, the diagnostic sector, and at the corporate level. In several divisions a second profile had also been employed. Most of these profiles were conducted by managers in the company's human resource and strategy function.

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In 1992 Ray Gilmartin, CEO of Becton Dickinson (BD), wondered whether SHRM profiling was fulfilling its objective of developing an organization capable of implementing and reformulating strategy. Becton Dickinson undertook an assessment of SHRM in cooperation with Professor Michael
Beer and Russell Eisenstat of the Harvard Business School.

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The evaluation of SHRM focused on 10 units (eight divisions, the diagnostic sector, and the corporate organization) that had undergone at least one SHRM profile. Conclusions were drawn based on the following sources of information:
• The experience of management and profilers with all SHRM profiles.
• Interviews with top management and members of the employee task force (ETF) in each unit by a research assistant.

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• Questionnaires administered to the Operating Committee (OC), the ETF, and employees interviewed by the ETF in the 10 units. In all, over 1,000 employees received a questionnaire, and over 500 responded.
• An analysis of barriers to strategy implementation identified by the employee task forces in the 10 units studied.
• Feedback meetings in several divisions and at corporate headquarters where findings were discussed with the top management team and the ETF.

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Research Associate Pamela J. Maus prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Michael Beer as the