Human Resource Management & Applications

Book Review
March 24, 2016
Reid Hoffman
The Alliance: managing talent in the networked age
Boston, Massachusetts
Harvard Business Review Press
U.S. $25.00
The Alliance: managing talent in the networked age
Section I: Book Summary
Success in todays business world is centered on people organizations and companies building
lasting alliances with talented teams of entrepreneurial employees. Recruiting and maintaining
top talent is not all about the Google-like perks or eye-popping compensation packages. Reid
Hoffman describes it as treating an employee like an ally. You need to be honest about how
long they will be employed by the company, and then offer a promise of career transformation.
The employer-employee relationship is broken and to fix this we need to stop thinking of
employees as free agents, and start thinking about them as allies on a tour of duty.
The Alliance, started with an explanation of the old employment model. The old employment
model is when employers are offered lifelong employment in exchange for loyal service, this is
no longer attainable as well as affordable. The era that followed is described as the free-agency
style. We still incorporate this into business today. The free-agency style leads us away from
long-term investment and to a shortsighted focus on instant gratification. Reid Hoffman stated,
A business without loyalty is a business without long-term thinking. A business without longterm thinking is a business thats unable to invest in the future. And a business that isnt investing
in tomorrows opportunities and technologies is a company already in the process of dying.
The Alliance establishes a model for work that encourages companies and individuals to invest
in each other by strengthening the employee-employer relationship. The book describes a world
in which managers and employees have honest conversations, have similar goals and time tables,
and define jobs that match their interests and aspirations. The model goes on to indicate even
when an employee moves on to another employer they maintain a mutually beneficial
relationship with the company. Mutual investment adds value for companies and employees.
The impact of The Alliance extends far beyond company walls, improving the microcosm of
workplace relationships can have a major impact on society. The alliance is a small thing we
can all adopt today that will generate cumulative returns in the years to come.

As I mentioned above, Reid Hoffman focuses on tours of duty that include alliances within the
company. There are three tours of duty including Rotational, Transformational, and
Foundational, which represent incremental levels of commitment and trust between employees
and employers.

Rotational Tour: this tour is not personalized due to the fact that it is highly
interchangeable. The Rotational tour is to make certain that you are a good fit for the
company.
Transformational Tour: this tour is personalized and focuses on a specific mission or
goal. During this tour, the employee has the opportunity to transform his career and the
company.
Foundational Tour: this tour is for someone that is confident they will be employed by
the company for the duration of his career.

Having tours of duty lets the employer know how they can best help employees with their
careers within the company as well as careers after leaving the company.
Section II: Application of Concepts
Human Resource Management involves planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.
HR Management is important to every company because managers dont want to make mistakes
while managing, such as hiring the wrong person, having their company taken to court, or other
unfair labor practices. Human resource responsibilities have become broader and strategic over
time in response to a number of trends. One trend that HR is focusing on is human capital.
Human capital refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilities embedded in people. Hoffman states
that all of these things are crucial in order to have a successful business in todays world.
Strategic Human Resource Management means formulating and executing human resource
policies and practices that produce the employee competencies and behaviors the company needs
to achieve its strategic aims. One of the strategies we have talked about is the strategy map. This
map summarizes how each departments performance contributes to the companies goals. This
can help the manager and each employee visualize his role in the company. This is similar to the
book because while employees are on their tours of duty, Hoffman makes sure to hold meetings
with them that provide constructive feedback and how they are doing on this tour of duty.
Hoffman is all about honesty, and being honest during these meetings are crucial to completing
each tour of duty. As employees embark on their tours of duty, the HR department as well as
Hoffman are focused on the talent management process. Talent management is defined as the
integrated process of planning, recurring, developing, managing, and compensating employees.
The rotational tour that you begin with is implemented to make sure you fit within the culture of
the company. Once you fit within the company, the talent management aspect of HR is in full
swing deciding what projects you will be doing in order to contribute to the overall goals of the
company. Managing your employees during their tours is extremely important when deciding
what each employee can contribute to the well-being of the company.

Within the tours of duty, LinkedIn employees are constantly looking for other ways they can
contribute to the company. Hoffman believes you can obtain so much talent within your
organization. When an employee first starts their job they have goals. Goals could include being
promoted, finishing projects on time, or even to excel at their entry level position. Something
that is different at LinkedIn includes employees finding other interests and speaking to Hoffman
about it. Employees will find other interests that are included in the company and think they
would be better off moving to another department to gain knowledgeable experience. This is
where internal sources of candidates comes into play. There are many advantages to internal
recruiting:
Current employees may be more committed to the company
Morale may increase if employees see promotions as rewards
Current employees may require less orientation and training then new hires.
If current employees fit the qualifications and skills they should be able to interview for the
position. Employees can have a greater interest in the new job which can lead to increased
innovation as well as better performance throughout the company.
During this course we have learned a lot about selecting and maintaining employees. One thing
that has stuck with me is the need to be honest with employees and employers no matter the
situation. Reid Hoffmans overall thesis is that companies should approach their employeeemployer relationship as an open-ended alliance. This all starts with honesty in the interview
process. Both parties should be completely honest about what they hope to gain and where they
want to go in the future. For example, during an interview, the candidate says they want to gain
management skills in order to run or manage a company in the future. The employer now knows
the best way to train and deploy the individual in a way that will teach and motivate him/her to
achieve these goals.
The Alliance is an insightful book. It focuses on the employer-employee relationship and
emphasizes that this is such an important topic in todays business world. The Alliance helps
define what you will do for the company, what the company does for your career, aligning goals
and aspirations, utilizing your professional network, and a valuable relationship will last a
lifetime.
Section III: Required Reference
Hoffman, Reid.
The alliance: managing talent in the networked age / Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, Chris
Yeh.