'People are our most valuable asset' is a cliché which no member of any senior senior management team would disagree with. Yet, the reality for many organizations is that their people remain under valued, under trained and under utilized.
The rate of change facing organizations has never been greater and organizations must absorb and manage change at a much faster rate than in the past. In order to implement a successful business strategy to face this challenge, organizations, large or small, must ensure that they have the right people capable of delivering the strategy.
The market place for talented, skilled people is competitive and expensive. Taking on new staff can be disruptive to existing employees. Also, it takes time to develop 'cultural awareness', product/ process/ organization knowledge and experience for new staff members.
Human Resource Management Strategy
These issues motivate a well thought out human resource management strategy, with the precision and detail of say a marketing strategy. Failure in not having a carefully crafted human resources management strategy, can and probably will lead to failures in the business process itself.
This set of resources are offered to promote thought, stimulate discussion, diagnose the organizational environment and develop a sound human resource management strategy for your organization.
Faced with rapid change organizations need to develop a more focused and coherent approach to managing people. In just the same way a business requires a marketing or information technology strategy it also requires a human resource or people strategy.
In developing such a strategy two critical questions must be addressed.
What kinds of people do you need to manage and run your business to meet your strategic business objectives?
What people programmes and initiatives must be designed and implemented to attract, develop and retain staff to compete effectively?
In order to answer these questions four key dimensions of an organization must be addressed. These are:
Culture: the beliefs, values, norms and management style of the organization
Organization: the structure, job roles and reporting lines of the organization
People: the skill levels, staff potential and management capability
Human resources systems: the people focused mechanisms which deliver the strategy - employee selection, communications, training, rewards, career development, etc.
Frequently in managing the people element of their business senior managers will only focus on one or two dimensions and neglect to deal with the others. Typically, companies reorganize their structures to free managers from bureaucracy and drive for more entrepreneurial flair but then fail to adjust their training or reward systems.
When the desired entrepreneurial behavior does not emerge managers frequently look confused at the apparent failure of the changes to deliver results. The fact is that seldom can you focus on only one area. What is required is a strategic perspective aimed at identifying the relationship between all four dimensions.
If you require an organization which really values quality and service you not only have to retrain staff, you must also review the organization, reward, appraisal and communications systems.
The pay and reward system is a classic problem in this area. Frequently organizations have payment systems which are designed around the volume of output produced. If you then seek to develop a company which emphasizes the product's quality you must change the pay systems. Otherwise you have a contradiction between what the chief executive is saying about quality and what your payment system is encouraging staff to do.
There are seven steps to developing a human resource strategy and the active involvement of senior line managers should be sought throughout the approach.
Understand your business strategy, get the 'big picture'.
Highlight the key driving forces of your business. What are they? e.g. technology, distribution, competition, the markets.
What are the implications of the driving forces for the people side of your business?
What is the fundamental people contribution to bottom line business performance?
Next develop a Mission Statement or Statement of Intent relating to the people side of the business.
Do not be put off by negative reactions to the words or references to idealistic statements - it is the actual process of thinking through the issues in a formal and explicit manner that is important.
What do your people contribute?
Step 3
Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the organization.
Focus on the internal strengths and weaknesses of the people side of the business.
Consider the current skill and capability issues.
Vigorously research the external business and market environment. High light the opportunities and threats relating to the people side of the business.
What impact will/ might they have on business performance?
Consider skill shortages?
The impact of new technology on staffing levels?
From this analysis you then need to review the capability of your personnel department. Complete a SWOT analysis of the department - consider in detail the department's current areas of operation, the service levels and competences of your personnel staff.
Conduct a detailed human resources (HR) analysis, concentrate on the organization's
culture,
organization,
people and
HR systems (culture, organization, people, systems (COPS))
Consider: Where you are now? Where do you want to be?
What gaps exists between the reality of where you are now and where you want to be?
Exhaust your analysis of the four dimensions.
Step 5
Go back to the business strategy and examine it against your SWOT and COPS Analysis
Identify the critical people issues namely those people issues that you must address. Those which have a key impact on the delivery of your business strategy.
Prioritize the critical people issues. What will happen if you fail to address them?
Remember you are trying to identify where you should be focusing your efforts and resources.
Step 6
For each critical issue highlight the options for managerial action generate, elaborate and create - don't go for the obvious. This is an important step as frequently people jump for the known rather than challenge existing assumptions about the way things have been done in the past. Think about the consequences of taking various courses of action.
Consider the mix of HR systems needed to address the issues. Do you need to improve communications, training or pay?
What are the implications for the business and the personnel function?
Once you have worked through the process it should then be possible to translate the action plan into broad objectives. These will need to be broken down into the specialist HR Systems areas of:
training
management development
organization development
appraisal
reward
employee selection and recruitment
manpower planning
communication.
Develop your action plan around the critical issues. Set targets and dates for the accomplishment of the key objectives.
Step 7
Implementation and evaluation of the action plans.
The ultimate purpose of developing a human resource strategy is to ensure that the objectives set are mutually supportive so that the reward and payment systems are integrated with training and career development plans.
There is very little value or benefit in training people only to then frustrate them through a failure to provide ample career and development opportunities.
The following check-lists present some questions which may prove helpful for you to think about when planning your development programs for human resources (your people) in your organization.
Use them to provoke thought and to stimulate discussion. Consult with others in your organization. They will help you to identify the critical human resource issues facing your organization.
The aim is to begin to explore how a considered and planned approach to people management can improve business performance, to the benefit of all.
Use this checklist in conjunction with our team building diagnostic instrument. It will, via your team members responses identify critical issues they perceive as important.
Your organization is more than likely in trouble if any of the following holds true:
chronic industrial relations problems
no means of resolving employee grievances
increasing / erratic employee turnover
increasing number of customer complaints
no pride in the organization
inter-group conflicts
no career paths for ambitious talented employees
dissatisfaction with pay and conditions
unclear job roles
no clear performance measures
quality is unimportant
bad product service / delivery records
poor recruitment standards / practices
no management development programs
no induction training for new employees
critical skill shortages
inter-departmental warfare
you do not know if any of the above are applicable
you ignore any of the above
Do your staff identify with the organization and 'the success of the organization' as being of direct benefit to themselves?
Do your staff see themselves as having common interests with their work colleagues and group? Is there a strong team spirit?
Is work allocated on the basis of individual expertise rather than position in the organization?
Are there sufficient skills / power bases in the organization?
Are there appropriate leadership skills within the organization?
Are your staff encouraged to say what they think about the organization?
Does your organization encourage innovation and creativity amongst staff?
Do your staff feel a sense of personal responsibility for their work?
Is quality emphasized in all aspects of the organization?
Does the structure of your organization encourage effective performance?
Is the organization structure flexible in the face of changing demands?
Is the structure too complex? If so in what areas?
Do your staff have clear roles and responsibilities?
Does your organization structure tend to push problems up rather than resolve them at the point where they occur?
Do your procedures and management practices facilitate the accomplishment of tasks?
Do you constantly seek to challenge your organization structure?
Do your staff have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their jobs in the most effective manner?
Do your staff understand their jobs and how they contribute to overall business performance i.e. have clear goals and objectives?
Do your staff have a customer service orientation?
Are people with potential spotted and developed for the future?
Are your staff encouraged to perform well through the giving of recognition, feedback, etc.?
Do your people know what their expected performance standards are?
Do your organization's systems (e.g. employee selection and recruitment, promotion, planning, management, information and control) encourage effective performance among your staff?
Are these systems consistent across the organization?
Are there clear rewards for effective performance within your work group?
Does the organization review its systems frequently and ensure they mutually support each other?
You may now wish to consider and write down:
(1) What are the three critical people issues facing your business?
(2) What plans /actions can you take to address these issues?