Essay: Strategic human resource planning

Strategic Human Resource planning

Introduction:

Human resource planning has become the back bone of a profitable organisation. In this new age all the successful organisations do understand the importance of human resource planning. To understand HR planning it is said that It is the process by which management ensures that it has the right plan or strategy for there human resources. The purpose of human resource planning is to assist an organization to meet strategic goals by attracting, and maintaining workforce and also to administer them successfully. Basically the human resource planning assists organization to attract, recruit and retain the work force by keeping the overall goal, organisational working practice or culture and the legal requirements in mind. According to Miller, 1989 the key word here perhaps is "fit", i.e. a HRM approach seeks to ensure a fit between the management of an organization’s employees, and the overall strategic direction of the company.

Strategic HRM can be regarded as a common approach to the strategic management of human resources in unity with the intentions of the establishment on the future path it wants to take. It is concerned with longer-term people issues and macro-concerns about organization, excellence, society, standards, dedication and harmonizing resources to future need. It has been defined as:

1. All those activities affecting the behaviour of individuals in their efforts to formulate and implement the strategic needs of business.

2. The pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities intended to enable the forms to achieve its goals.

( WRIGHT, P.M. and MCMAHAN, G.C. (1992) Theoretical perspectives for SHRM.Journal of Management. March. pp215-247.)

(Boxall and Purcelldispute that strategic HRM is concerned with illuminating how HRM influences organisational performance. They also point out that strategy is not the same as strategic plans. Strategic planning is the formal process that takes place, usually in larger organisations, defining how things will be done. However strategy exists in all organisations even though it may not be written down and articulated. It defines the organisation’s behaviour and how it tries to cope with its environment

( BOXALL, P. and PURCELL, J. (2003)Strategy and human resource management.Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.)

In this assignment i would like to take a sporting organisation to explain or rather take as an example to understand the strategic human resource management. Arsenal F.C is among the best football clubs in UK. It is based in Holloway, North London and was founded in 1886.

The strategic management of the managers over the league is a tough job. But since the football club has influenced the population in the country, it is not that too much pressure to take some actions to bring back the capital they spent.

The arsenal fc increases their profit that is clearly driven by sales of the new driven by sales of the new development

Resource based strategy

To a big part, the philosophy and attempts for the strategical management of the human resources is based on resource based View. This points to the fact, that the reach of the resources in an organization, including the human resources which originates her own unique character and a competitive advantage.

sustainable competitive advantage derives from its resources and capabilities a firm controls that are valuable, rare, free imitable and not substitutable. These resources and capabilities can be viewed as bundles of tangible and intangible assets, including management of a business skills, procedures and organizational routines, and information and knowledge control. [1]

( Barney, jay, B.1991, “Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage”,Journal of Management17:99-120 )

areas of resources

there are four areas of resource in business

1. Physical: land, building, machinery, manufacture capacity, unprocessed material etc.
2. human: contractors, workforce and there understanding and skills.
3. financial: cash, debtor, creditor, stocks, capital, etc.
4. intellectual: intangibles (patents, trade name).

types of resource and competences:

threshold resource: threshold resource are those which are needed for the minimum requirements of the customer (logistics, to meet at the end customer with the product to come).

Unique resource: this kind of resource emphasizes on competitive advantage and speaks about to the core competence.

Core competencies

Core competences can be defined as opportunities to accomplish competitive advantages in the environment of firms. The first point for the analysis of competences keys is to acknowledge that the competition between firms is so much a running for the strengthening of knowledge, as it is the position of market and a power of market. The senior managements cannot concentrate on all activities of the firm and necessary competences to undertake. So, objective of the management is to draw attention to competences that really to influence competitive advantage.

According to C K Prahalad and G Hamel (1990) “in the 1990s managers will be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate, and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible-indeed they’ll have to rethink the concept of the corporation it self”.

Core skills are not considered stable. Core skills should be changed in reply to changes in the environment of the company. Should Be bendable and change over time. As a business evolves and adapts to new conditions and opportunities, so Core competencies will be updated and changed.

(http://tutor2u.net/business/strategy/core_competencies.htm 10/05/2010)

Dynamic capability

Is defined as “the firm’s ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly changing environments”. [2]

In other words it is more flexible approach of resource-based or The ability to replenish competences to fulfil the congruence with unpredictable environment or Emphasis is on adapting, integration internal and external organizational skills, resources and functional competences to match the supplies of changing environments.

Dynamic capability can help in

Social organizational skills like helping in activities of new pattern, spotting dysfunctional practice and avoid tactical blind spot.

( Teece, D., G. Pisano and A. Shuen, 1997, "Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management.", Strategic Management Journal, (18:7), pp.509-533 )

Developing strategic capabilities

For an organization to develop the strategical capacities it is the most important to identify its basic competence so the organization can then take advantage from them to gain strategical advantage.

Way of developing

Staffing policies: to develop particular competences by making and changing staffing policies like promoting.

Developing people’s awareness: to realize what they do in there job.

Targeted training and development: to achieve added value and develop competences by targeted training.

Organizational learning: ability of the organization to continue regenerating from a verity of knowledge, experience and skills.

general hr strategy

General strategies describe the overall system or bundle of complementary HR practices that the organization proposes to adopt or puts into effect in order to improve organizational performance.

The three main approaches are summarized below.

1. High-performance management

High-performance management practices include rigorous recruitment and selection procedures, extensive and relevant training and management development activities, incentive pay systems and performance management processes.

2. High-commitment management

as described by Wood (1996) ‘A form of management which is aimed at eliciting a commitment so that behavior is primarily self-regulated rather than controlled by sanctions and pressures external to the individual, and relations within the organization are based on high levels of trust.’

3. High-involvement management

As defined by Benson et al (2006): ‘High-involvement work practices are a specific set of human resource practices that focus on employee decision making, power, access to information, training and incentives.’putting to gather an hr strategy an organization can divid hr strategy in two components hard (competences and resource) and soft (in order to achieve competitive advantage behavior is needed). For good hr strategy these hard and soft elements are very important.

Also when considering how to integrate business and HR strategies it should be remembered that business and HR issues influence each other and in turn influence corporate and business unit strategies. It is also necessary to note that in establishing these links, account must be taken of the fact that strategies for change have also to be integrated with changes in the external and internal environments. Fit may exist at a point in time but circumstances will change and fit no longer exists. An excessive pursuit of ‘fit’ with the status quo will inhibit the flexibility of approach that is essential in turbulent conditions. ( Armstrong, michel (2009), armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice, 11th edition,

ISBN 978 0 7494 5242 1 )

Linking business and hr strategy

“Resource strategies are concerned with two-way relationship between overall business strategies and strategies in separate resource areas such as people, information, finance and technology”.

Human resource strategy is vital element to the business strategy and also vital element of the resource base.

Every organisation runs two strategies side by side long term and short term. Long term strategies has direct link with the organisation’s objectives and future aims and short term strategies are there to achieve the desired goals in the changing environment or deviation from the organisation’s goal.

( Johnson, Scholes and Wittington (2008), exploring corporate strategy text & cases, 8th edition, ISBN: 9780273711926 )

H R strategy components:

H R strategy can be divide in three basic elements

Staff as a resource

In other words staff as a resource is called the hard approach it’s all about how staff are deployed, supervised, controlled and motivated in the organization through systems and process.

It helps in classify the people based core competence for possible future strategies also target setting and performance evaluation of individuals.

It’s about recruitment and retention also about training and development.

Reward planning connected to group and working in delivery tactic.

Organisational Culture

Culture is about how the organisation organises itself, it’s rules, procedures and beliefs make up the culture of the company. In this section we are going to briefly look at six types of organisational cultures.

Power Culture

Within a power culture, control is the key element. Power cultures are usually found within a small or medium size organisation. Decisions in an organisation that display a power culture are centralised around one key individual. That person likes control and the power behind it. As group work is not evident in a power culture, the organisation can react quickly to dangers around it as no consultation is involved

Role Culture

Common in most organisations today is a role culture. In a role culture, organisations are split into various functions and each individual within the function is assigned a particular role. The role culture has the benefit of specialisation. Employees focus on their particular role as assigned to them by their job description and this should increase productivity for the company.

Task Culture

A task culture refers to a team based approach to complete a particular task. They are popular in today’s modern business society where the organisation will establish particular ‘project teams’ to complete a task to date. Staff feels motivated because they are empowered to make decisions within their team, they will also feel valued because they may have been selected within that team and given the responsibility to bring the task to a successful end.

Person culture

Person cultures are commonly found in charities or non profit organisations. The focus of the organisation is the individual or a particular aim Forward and backward looking cultures.

The human resource planning process

( desmond w erance, 1994, business a students guide, second edition pitman publishing. )

As the above example illustrates, implementing changes involve either moving existing staff to other posts, or recruiting new staff cannot be undertaken effectively overnight.

Manpower planning continually monitors what qualifications, skills, expertise and experience are required currently and in the future to enable all departments to meet there goals and objective without staffing crises or emergencies.

Attracting talent:

The ability to attract and retain talent is rapidly becoming one of the key issues for human resource managers.

One of the ways of attracting the broadening talent pool is by diversity.

What is diversity? According to Thomas (1992), “a strategy to promote values, behavior and working practice which recognize the difference between people and there by enhance staff motivation and performance and release potential, delivering improved service to customer”.

( Thomas, R.R., Jr. (1992).Beyond race and gender: Unleashing the power of your total work force by managing diversity.New York: AMACOM.)

In my company I use diverse work force firstly it reduce the cost of the workforce. Diversity allows me to have one skilled person rather then two unskilled employees and also enhance employee relationship. It improves workforce quality and performance in terms of diverse skills, creativity, problem solving and flexibility finally it enhances customer relation and market share.

Attracting talent by rewards

Rewards or remuneration package is important way of attracting bundle of skilled and talented work force. Different people have different reward in there mind my company include most of the thinkable rewards for the work force

Individual: basic pay, bonus, incentives, shares, profit-sharing.

Relational: career development, learning and development, training.

Transactional: pension, holidays, healthcare, flexibility

Communal: leadership, voice recognition, achievements, job design, work-life balance

The recruitment process

( Donald l. caruth, et al, (2008) contemporary organization: a guide to planning recruiting and selection for human resource professional, 3rd edition, greenwood publishing group. )

• Need for new post identified
• Line manager details need: reviews post for change if it exists, or lists fresh requirements if a new post is to be established
• Personnel specification is revised or a fresh on drown up like lists the physical, educational, experience, aptitudes, skills & personality requirements needed in the person who could do the job successfully, priorities requirements “essential or useful”.
• Job description is revised or a fresh one devised
• A classified or display advertisement is composed for insertion in local/national press
• After receiving the C.V or applications or forms shortlist applicants and send invitation letter to attend interview
• Write letter or email conforming job offer dispatched to successful candidates and send curtsey letter or email dispatched to unsuccessful applicants
• Job description also provided to new employee with company manual and prospectus Etc.

Job description

The main purpose of the job description is to define as clearly as possible for both its processor and his or her line manager what the key ingredients of the job are.

A job description sets out clearly the most important responsibilities and duties which make up a given job.

Reviewing the effective recruitment

The one way of tracking the development of recruitment is by examining those retained in the organization at a future date and whether they have progressed.

Person specification

It is a checklist drown up to identify what particular physical characteristics, general and/or vocational qualification, skills, aptitudes and previous work experience an ideal candidate for a given post should possess.

Methods of selection

• Application forms and CVs
• Online screening and short listing
• Interviews
• Psychometric testing
• Ability and aptitude tests
• General intelligence;
• Verbal ability;
• Numerical ability;
• Spatial ability;
• Clerical ability;
• Diagrammatical ability;
• Mechanical ability;
• Sensory and motor abilities.
• Personality profiling
• Presentations
• Group exercises
• Assessment centre
• References

( http://www.grb.uk.com/selection-methods.0.html 19-05-2010 )

Employee induction

In addition to ensuring that each newly appointed employee is made aware of the legal essential objective of employee induction are to provide a specific briefing (with training if needed) on the job’s requirements, an introduction to the people with whom the employee will directly work and an orientation towards the culture and practices of the organization working environment. (reference same as above)

Methods of selection

What is culture?

Organization culture is an amalgam and summary of the way in which activities are conducted and standards and values adapted, it encompasses the climate or atmosphere surrounding the organization, perverting attitudes within it, standards, morale, strength of feeling towards it and the general levels of good with present.

A simple way of defining organization culture is “the way in which things are done here”.

Culture is formed from the collection of traditions, values, policies, believes and specification pressures are also present.

Organization culture elements

1. History and tradition.
2. Nature of activities.
3. Technology.
4. Past present and future.
5. Purposes, priorities and attention.
6. Size.
7. Location.
8. Management style.
9. Rites and rituals.
10. Routines and habits.

( Richard pettingger, organizational behaviour, isbn no: 0-333-79279-3 )

The importance of organizational culture

According to keuning (1998), Culture “provides relatively fixed patterns for handling and solving problems also reduce uncertainty for members of the organization when confronted with new situations and reduce uncertainty in getting to the organizational goals.

( Keuning, D. 1998. Managemnt – a comtemporary approachPitman Publishing, London.)

It has boundary defining role. It creates distinction between one organization and others.

It conveys a sense of identity for organization members.

Culture facilitates commitments to something larger then ones individual self interest.

Culture is the social glue that holds the organization together by providing appropriate standards for what employee should say and do. It enhances social system stability.

Culture serves as a sense making and control mechanism that guides and shapes the attitudes and behavior of employee.

(http://www.docstoc.com/docs/7886812/Organizational-Culture-and-Change-Management 19-05-2010)

Analysis and changing culture

The Cultural Web classify six interconnected elements that help to make up what Johnson and Scholes call the "paradigm" – the pattern or model – of the work atmosphere. By analyzing the factors in each, you can begin to see the bigger picture of your culture: what is working, what isn’t working, and what needs to be changed. The six elements are:

Stories

– The past events and people talked about inside and outside the organisation. Who and what the organization chooses to immortalize says a great deal about what it values, and perceives as great behavior.

Rituals and Routines

– The daily behavior and actions of people that signal acceptable behavior. This determines what is expected to happen in given situations, and what is valued by management.

Symbols

– The visual representations of the company including logos, how plush the offices are, and the formal or informal dress codes.

Organizational Structure

– This includes both the structure defined by the organization

chart, and the unwritten lines of power and influence that indicate whose contributions are most valued.

Control Systems

– The ways that the organization is controlled. These include financial systems, quality systems, and rewards.

Power Structures

– The pockets of real power in the company. This may involve one or two key senior executives, a whole group of executives, or even a department. The key is that these people have the greatest amount of influence on decisions, operations, and strategic direction.

(http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_90.htm 19-05-2010)

Changing working practices

Because of the changing work practice worker has a positive and negative effect.

Positive effect is worker can get a better work life balance by choosing how they work. Other positive effects are retention, motivation, recruitment, psychological contract, productivity, absence, customer service, team working and knowledge sharing.

Negative effect can be the demand of technology also 24/7 working.

These changes occur because of demographics, diversity issues, the commercial world, customer demands and when there is shortage of skill worker.

The work-life balance

Employee burnout has a major impact on productivity, but that’s not its only negative effect.

• Overworked and overstressed employees are more likely to get sick and have high absentee rates.
• A lack of work/life balance affects an employee’s attitude. Unhappy workers are typically less efficient and can destroy morale.
• Burnout directly affects turnover rates. Employees can work at a frantic pace for only so long before they get frustrated and leave a company.

Flexible work hours can help an employee meet conflicting needs without compromising the amount of hours they work. If employees can regulate their hours or telecommute once in a while, they’ll be happier at work and at home.

Give time off for special occasions. Time off is always greatly appreciated. If you can afford to, consider giving your employees time off on their birthdays, holidays or other special occasions.

(http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/employee-development-employee-productivity/1242-1.html 19-05-2010)

Legal requirements

Unfair discrimination in recruitment and selection: The Sex Discrimination Act 1975; The Race Relations Act 1976, The Disability Discrimination Act 1995; The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, and The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003.

Many of these Acts have been amended since their introduction and make it unlawful to discriminate against a person, either directly or indirectly in employment on the grounds of colour, race, gender, marital status, creed, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origins, or disability.

Protection during employment: health and safety at work act 1974 and data protection act 1998 these acts protect employee’s data and also his health.

Leaving the organization: an employee may decide to leave the organization willingly or be dismissed meaning the contract of employment is terminated. There should not be any unfair dismissal. If an employee is dismissed because of bad behavior, lack of capability, idleness or legal restrictions is fair.

The role of ACAS

Role of ACAS is to help bring good relation between organization and work force.

The role of ET:

Employment tribunal are independent judicial bodies which resolve disputes between employer and workforce a hole range of employment rights issues.

Other external agencies: there are more agencies like health and safety executive (HSE), information commission’s office, equality and human rights commission (EHRC) etc all of them working for spreading awareness and the better relation, best practice and new developments in safety and also protect rights of both employer and employee.

In the end its all about human resource planning the best way to use, attract, retain and selection of work force