Thursday, 1 August 2013

STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING


Strategic human resource planning

From Tafadzwa Maidza

 

Human resources planning is a process that identifies current and future human resources needs for an organization to achieve it goals. Human resources planning should serve as a link between human resources management and the overall strategic plan of an organization. Aging worker populations in most western countries and growing demands for qualified workers in developing economies have underscored the importance of effective Human Resources Planning.

Contents

 [hide]

 

    1 Best Practices

    2 Implementation Stages

        2.1 Stage 1

        2.2 Stage 2

    3 Overarching Policy, Process & Tools

        3.1 Common Competency Dictionary and Architecture

        3.2 Human Resource Information Management Infrastructure

        3.3 Governance / Accountability Structure

    4 Process Implementation Stages

        4.1 Stage 1

        4.2 Stage 2

 

[edit] Best Practices

Hr-planning-model.png

 

The planning processes of most best practice organizations not only define what will be accomplished within a given timeframe, but also the numbers and types of human resources that will be needed to achieve the defined business goals (e.g., number of human resources; the required competencies; when the resources will be needed; etc.).

 

Competency-based management supports the integration of human resources planning with business planning by allowing organizations to assess the current human resource capacity based on their competencies against the capacity needed to achieve the vision, mission and business goals of the organization. Targeted human resource strategies, plans and programs to address gaps (e.g., hiring / staffing; learning; career development; succession management; etc.) are then designed, developed and implemented to close the gaps.

 

These strategies and programs are monitored and evaluated on a regular basis to ensure that they are moving the organizations in the desired direction, including closing employee competency gaps, and corrections are made as needed. This Strategic HR Planning and evaluation cycle is depicted in the diagram below.

[edit] Implementation Stages

 

The following implementation stages are suggested for mid to large organizations implementing competencies in support of Strategic Human Resources Planning.

[edit] Stage 1

 

Short - Term HR Planning

 

 

    Establish a Competency Architecture and Competency Dictionary that will support Strategic Human Resource Planning.

    For each group to be profiled, define the roles and career streams to help identify current and future human resources needs.

    Determine how competencies will be integrated with the existing HR Planning process and systems (e.g., Human Resource Information Management systems; other computer-based tools, for example forecasting models).

 

[edit] Stage 2

 

    Build or revamp HR Planning tools, templates and processes to incorporate elements as determined in Stage 1.

    Train managers and / or facilitate corporate HR Planning process.

    Continuously monitor and improve processes, tools and systems to support HR Planning

 

[edit] Overarching Policy, Process & Tools

[edit] Common Competency Dictionary and Architecture

 

Establishing a common Competency Dictionary and Architecture is fundamental for the successful implementation of competencies throughout the organization. Maintaining this common architecture is essential for ensuring that all human resource management applications are fully integrated and that maximum efficiencies can be gained. It is important, therefore, to identify an organizational group accountable for the maintenance of the Competency Dictionary and Architecture on an ongoing basis.

[edit] Human Resource Information Management Infrastructure

 

In a recent review, the Gartner Group noted that CBM talent management initiatives have not necessarily yielded the desired benefits and return on investment, for the main part because organizations have not invested in the talent management software systems and infrastructure to facilitate full and effective implementation. To gain maximum benefit from CBM, organizations need to have a human resources management system and on-line tools and processes that will support many of the implementation recommendations contained in this document.

[edit] Governance / Accountability Structure

 

Organizations that have effectively implemented competencies on a corporate-wide basis have ensured that there is an appropriate project management, governance and accountability framework in place to support the development, maintenance and revision / updating of the competency profiles to meet changing demands.

[edit] Process Implementation Stages

 

The following implementation stages are suggested for mid to large organizations.

[edit] Stage 1

 

    Identify the infrastructure and system requirements to support full implementation (e.g., Human Resources Information Management System; other on-line software tools needed to support various CBM applications).

    Develop the competency profiles.

    Implement the competency profiles in a staged-way to demonstrate benefits and create buy-in (e.g., as soon as profiles for a group are developed, implement quickly within a low-risk high-benefit planned application for the group).

    Communicate success stories as competency profiles are implemented.

    Good for organization.

 

[edit] Stage 2

 

    Develop, revise / update competency profiles to meet changing deman

The organizational architecture is a description of the systems existing in the organization. Each organization has a lot of systems in place, some of them are extremely formal and many are informal and they are not described in any official document. The organizational architecture describes the systems, which make the organization living organization. The ability to design, develop, integrate and use such organizational systems is the basis for the efficient organization.

 

The organizational architecture is about creation of roles in the organization, processes to handle inputs and outcomes and formal reporting lines in the organization for the management purposes. Traditionally, Human Resources is expected to play a significant role in the organizational architecture and for HR Business Partnering concept, the organizational architecture is extremely important as the HR Business Partner can provide the regular consultancy to the business leaders and managers.

 

There are many models describing the organizational architecture around us. The most classical ones are the Star Model by Jay Galbraith and 7-S organizational architecture description by McKinsey.

 

The Galbraith’s Star Model describes 5 most important factors of the efficient organizational architecture:

 

    Strategy

    Structure

    Business Processes and Lateral Links

    Rewards Systems

    Human Resources Management

 

The McKinsey’s 7-S organizational architecture model describes 7 factors of the successful organizational architecture:

 

    Strategy

    Structure

    Systems

    Staff

    Style

    Skills

    Super ordinate Goals/Shared Values

 

In both models, there is a huge responsibility of Human Resources as in both models, HR Role is significant and has a significant impact on the efficient organizational architecture and operation of the whole organization. The competitive advantage always starts with the winning organizational architecture and HR Business Partner is a key player in the setting of such an organizational architecture.

 

The HR Team has to understand the theory of the organizational design as they can play a useful role in the creation and design of the new architecture. Without the theory behind, the advices given are just based on the gut feeling and they cannot be respected by the internal clients.

Like it? Share it, please

 

    Facebook

Digg

    del.icio.us

Mixx

HRA HR Alignment Architecture™

 

HRA partners closely with organization stakeholders to understand the big picture, map out a strategic direction and then develop plans for aligning human resources. Once we understand business goals and how human capital can best be aligned, we work with with our clients to design and develop state-of-the-art, yet deeply practical, human resource architecture, processes and systems.

 

Specific service areas include: HR strategic planning, system design, job design, assessment programs, performance management, appraisal, 360-feedback, talent management, succession planning and workforce readiness.

 

HR Strategic Planning. This includes: prioritizing human resource initiatives; developing short- and long-term business plans; clarifying the HR vision, identity and brand; and building cross-unit synergies, partnerships and alignment. Goals are to: assure HR is up to date, aligned with business goals and drives organizational success, identify and integrate the most critical initiatives with strategic and tactical action plans; and to clarify HR identity, roles and accountabilities.

System Design. Design and develop integrated on-line systems for talent management, performance management, succession planning. Goals include: providing employees with integrated portal, web-based tools and data base for all talent management activities; and developing a central data base to manage the company talent portfolio and performance in real time.

    Job Design (New and Existing Jobs). Define job and cross-functional roles and responsibilities to accomplish key objectives. The primary goal is to redesign job roles and relationships to meet emerging business needs.

Assessment Programs. Develop valid and systematic programs to assess results and competencies needed for top performance. The primary goals are assessment programs for employee selection, placement, succession, performance management and development.

    Performance Management/Appraisal and 360 Feedback. Develop performance appraisals, performance management, coaching, mentoring and 360-degree feedback programs. The primary goals are: to develop systematic processes for performance evaluation and development; and to provide vehicles for employees to provide each other with focused, constructive feedback.

Talent Management and Succession Planning. Develop procedures for assuring bench strength and optimizing talent movement. The goals are to assure mission-critical positions are filled with strong talent; redeploy underperformers and o optimize individual contribution and talent capability.

Workforce Readiness and Redeployment. Develop plans to consistently adapt a workforce to emerging conditions. The key goal is to provide proactive implementation of plans to adjust workforce size, deployment and capabilities.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Organisational Analysis: Organisations are everywhere and come in many different forms. Their ubiquity and complexity means many of our social problems are organisational in nature and that is why we need to study organisations.

From the moment a person is born he/she begins the lifelong process of organizational interaction. A person is usually born in a hospital wh...