January 2026
Intermediate to advanced
776 pages
29h 22m
English
book
Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 17th Edition
by Michael Armstrong, Stephen Taylor
Content preview from Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 17th Edition
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69 Business acumen
Chapter objectives
The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate the need for HR professionals to have business acumen – understanding how their business makes money and what they can do to make this happen, and knowing about how the financial affairs of the company are managed. The chapter is set out under the following headings:
The need for financial acumen
Business skills
Financial skills
Business models
The need for financial acumen
HR professionals who work in a business need to see themselves – and be seen – as business people with particular expertise and interest in people, rather than HR people who happen to work for a business. To make an effective contribution, they must possess business and financial skills. They ...
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