Human resources can’t get no respect. If your only exposure to HR was through Fast Company and The Office, you’d think all HR managers are business-school dropouts, timid and spineless, getting in the way of doing real work.

The truth is, though, that for organizations that “get it,” HR is an essential part of their success. Companies like Starbucks and General Electric have great business strategies, but so do many of their competitors. What allows them to sell more over-priced coffee and high efficiency light-bulbs than their competition isn’t just their strategies, but how effectively they use their people to achieve them.

I know how obvious that sounds, but it’s staggering how many companies just don’t get it (or do, but fail miserably at doing anything about it). Their HR department still just moves paper around, when they could be doing so much more. In the name of full disclosure, I may be a little biased – I work in human resources – but research backs me up.

A study by Mark Huselid, Professor of HR Strategy at Rutgers University (www.MarkHuselid.com) found that “an increase of one standard deviation in scores on a ‘high-performance HR practices’ scale (see below for a definition) was associated with a 23 percent increase in accounting profits

Hopefully (if you didn’t already) you’re beginning to recognize that the effective use of people is critical if you want to push your company to the next level. In future articles, I’ll tell you what HR really does (or in many cases, should be doing), and show you how to analyze your team or organization and develop a comprehensive plan get the most out of your people (without working them bone bare).

How is HR perceived at your company? Add your comments below!

(High performance HR practices were defined as the use of things like employee attitude surveys, pay for performance programs, formal communication programs, and employment tests)