Metrics: HRM’s Holy Grail? A New Zealand case study Beth Tootell, Meredith Blackler and Paul Toulson, Department of Management, Massey University, New Zealand Philip Dewe, Department of Organisational Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 19, no 4, 2009, pages 375–392 What gets measured in business is noticed and acted on. The importance of human resource management (HRM) to be noticed as a vital key to business success has been argued profusely by the HRM profession over the last three decades. While the importance of human resource (HR) measurement is not disputed by business managers, the search for meaningful generic HR metrics is like HRM’s Holy Grail. The purpose of this research is to investigate the issues confronting a sample of business organisations concerning measurement issues. It examines the current measurement practices used and their HR measurement needs. Developing appropriate HR measures, in terms of adding value, allows organisations to refocus their resources for leverage. Inappropriate measures simply encourage inappropriate behaviours not in the long-term interests of the business. We know that HRM is less prepared than other business functions (like finance or management information systems) to quantify its impact on business performance. Our results suggest that HR metrics as the Holy Grail of HRM remain elusive. This research signals the importance of developing relevant and meaningful HR measurement models, while acknowledging that the actual metrics used (unlike accounting measures) may vary from business to business. Contact: Beth Tootell, Department of Management, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Email: B.L.Tootell@massey.ac.nz INTRODUCTION ‘Not everything that can be counted counts, not everything that counts can be counted.’ (Albert Einstein) S ince the 1980s there has been an increasing emphasis on the importance of human resource (HR) measurement. From a business perspective, measuring provides a common numerical language to communicate the size, quantity or quality of an activity. In the world of business there are few factors more important to organisational performance than measurement (Drucker, 1973). However, measurement is often management’s weakest area, and weakness in HR management (HRM) specifically has been recognised by authors like Fitz-enz (1984, 1990) and Cascio (1991, 1992), and the HRM profession itself (see http:// www.shrm.org). HR practitioners believe their role is developing more strategically doi: 10.1111/j.1748-8583.2009.00108.x HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL 19 NO 4, 2009 375 © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Please cite this article as: Tootell, B., Blackler, M., Toulson, P. and Dewe, P. (2009) ‘Metrics: HRM’s Holy Grail? A New Zealand case study’. Human Resource Management Journal, 19: 4, 375–392.