ADM HRThe people & work library
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The model shelf

Ideas worth understanding.

Explore motivation, work psychology, team development and strategic HR models. Every sketch is an original simplification, with attribution and practical limits.

People analytics · models & decisions01

The HR value chain & causal chain

Connect HR investment with employee, operational and business outcomes—and test the links.

David E. Guest3 min
AMO framework02

Ability, motivation and opportunity

A performance problem may be about capability, willingness, or the chance to contribute. Diagnose before prescribing.

Thomas Bailey2 min
There is no single best way03

Contingency theory & strategic fit

Choose HR practices that fit the work and its context, while keeping legal and ethical standards consistent.

Paul R. Lawrence2 min
Capabilities that last04

The resource-based view

Look beyond headcount to the knowledge, relationships and routines that enable an organisation to do something distinctive.

Jay B. Barney2 min
Stakeholders & consequences05

The Harvard HRM framework

Connect people-policy choices with stakeholder interests and their longer-term effects on work, organisations and society.

Michael Beer, Bert Spector, Paul Lawrence, D. Quinn Mills2 min
What HR needs to deliver06

Ulrich’s four HR roles

Balance future strategy, change, dependable operations and employee contribution instead of treating “strategic” as a job title.

Dave Ulrich2 min
Mobilise & sustain change08

Kotter’s change framework

Use the framework to organise support and remove obstacles, with room for feedback rather than a rigid campaign script.

John P. Kotter2 min
A historical lens on needs09

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

A useful prompt for looking beyond pay—but not a universal staircase every employee must climb.

Abraham H. Maslow2 min
Conditions & the work itself10

Herzberg’s two-factor theory

Separate preventable dissatisfaction from the features of work that can create meaning, achievement and growth.

Frederick Herzberg, Bernard Mausner2 min
Autonomy · competence · relatedness11

Self-determination theory

Support the quality of motivation by making room for agency, mastery and connection.

Edward L. Deci2 min
Effort → performance → outcomes12

Vroom’s expectancy theory

People need to believe that effort can work, performance will lead somewhere, and the outcome matters.

Victor H. Vroom2 min
Fairness is comparative13

Adams’ equity theory

Understand why an apparently attractive reward can still feel unfair when people compare contributions and outcomes.

J. Stacy Adams2 min
Clarity, challenge & feedback14

Locke & Latham’s goal-setting theory

Design goals that focus attention without encouraging shortcuts or pretending complex learning is a simple target.

Edwin A. Locke2 min
Design the work, not just the reward15

The job characteristics model

Look at the features of a role that make work meaningful, give people responsibility and show them the results.

J. Richard Hackman2 min
Workload & the resources to meet it16

Job demands–resources

Investigate the design of work when strain rises, instead of assuming the answer is greater individual resilience.

Evangelia Demerouti, Arnold Bakker, Friedhelm Nachreiner2 min
Learning requires speaking up17

Psychological safety in teams

Make it possible to ask, challenge and admit mistakes while keeping standards and accountability clear.

Amy C. Edmondson2 min
Perceived promises at work18

The psychological contract

Understand the unwritten expectations that shape trust, without confusing them with the legal employment contract.

Denise M. Rousseau2 min
Assumptions shape management19

McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

Examine the beliefs about people hidden inside management systems, rather than sorting employees into two types.

Douglas McGregor2 min
How teams find their way20

Tuckman’s team development model

Use the stages as a conversation about team needs, not a timetable or an excuse to tolerate damaging conflict.

Bruce W. Tuckman2 min
Culture · diagnosis & change21

Schein’s three levels of culture

Move from visible routines to the beliefs beneath them, and investigate why stated values and daily decisions can diverge.

Edgar H. Schein4 min
Readiness · movement · stability22

Lewin’s change lens

Explore what keeps a pattern in place, what makes change possible and what will sustain a better way of working.

Kurt Lewin2 min
Culture · diagnosis & change23

Deal and Kennedy’s culture model

Explore how the stakes of decisions and the speed of learning about their outcomes shape working habits.

Terrence E. Deal4 min
Culture · diagnosis & change24

Handy’s four organisational cultures

Understand where authority comes from: personal influence, defined roles, specialist expertise or professional autonomy.

Charles Handy4 min
Culture · diagnosis & change26

Hofstede’s cultural dimensions at work

Use national-level comparisons to ask better questions about international work, without stereotyping individuals.

Geert Hofstede4 min
Culture · diagnosis & change27

Johnson and Scholes’ Cultural Web

Trace the stories, routines, symbols and systems that keep an organisation’s assumptions in place.

Gerry Johnson4 min
Culture · diagnosis & change28

The Denison organisational culture model

Connect mission, adaptability, involvement and consistency with a disciplined discussion of organisational effectiveness.

Daniel R. Denison4 min
Culture · diagnosis & change29

McKinsey’s 7-S framework

Check whether strategy, structure, systems and people arrangements support the same direction.

McKinsey4 min
Culture · diagnosis & change30

Choosing and combining culture models

A practical route from understanding culture to selecting a change and evaluating what happens.

ADM HR editorial synthesis4 min
Leadership · judgement & practice31

Adair’s Action-Centred Leadership

Balance achievement, teamwork and individual development without pretending that each needs equal time every day.

John Adair3 min
Leadership · judgement & practice33

Transformational leadership

Connect meaningful direction with learning, individual development and credible everyday behaviour.

James MacGregor Burns3 min
Leadership · judgement & practice34

Transactional leadership

Use clear expectations and fair exchanges while distinguishing active management from waiting for failure.

James MacGregor Burns3 min
Leadership · judgement & practice36

Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid

Explore concern for people and concern for production as two dimensions, rather than a single trade-off.

Robert R. Blake3 min
Leadership · judgement & practice37

Goleman’s six leadership styles

Choose among direction, development, connection, participation, high standards and command with attention to their effects.

Daniel Goleman3 min
Leadership · judgement & practice39

Servant leadership

Prioritise the growth and agency of others while retaining clear standards and responsibility.

Robert K. Greenleaf3 min
Leadership · judgement & practice40

Leader–Member Exchange theory

Examine the quality and fairness of each leader–employee relationship, including access to opportunity.

George B. Graen3 min
People analytics · models & decisions42

Logic models for HR interventions

Separate resources, activities and deliverables from the changes an initiative is meant to produce.

Programme-evaluation tradition3 min
People analytics · models & decisions43

Balanced Scorecard & the HR scorecard

Connect measures to a strategy across financial, stakeholder, process and learning perspectives.

Robert S. Kaplan3 min
People analytics · models & decisions44

Human capital ROI: formula and interpretation

Calculate a broad workforce-cost ratio and understand why it is not an individual employee valuation.

Workforce financial-metrics tradition associated with Jac Fitz-enz3 min
People analytics · models & decisions45

Employee-lifecycle analytics

Follow attraction, recruitment, onboarding, development, performance, retention and exit with consistent definitions.

Common HR practice framework3 min
People analytics · models & decisions47

Turnover prediction & flight-risk models

Understand probabilities, validation and fairness before using a model to support retention decisions.

Predictive modelling practice3 min
People analytics · models & decisions48

Employee lifetime value: a scenario model

Explore onboarding, development and retention scenarios without assigning a price to a person.

Practitioner concept associated with Maia Josebachvili3 min
People analytics · technique49

Cohort analysis: compare like starting points

A cohort is a group defined by a shared starting event or period, such as joining in a particular quarter.

Statistical and evaluation practice2 min
People analytics · technique54

Survival analysis for retention

Survival analysis studies time until a defined event.

Statistical and evaluation practice2 min
People analytics · technique57

A/B tests and pilot evaluation in HR

A pilot explores feasibility; an impact evaluation asks what changed because of an intervention.

Statistical and evaluation practice2 min
People analytics · practical playbook58

From a business question to a measured outcome

A complete worked route through casual-worker retention, from definitions to a fair pilot and an honest conclusion.

ADM HR editorial workflow3 min