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Objectives of HRP

The objective of human resource planning is to ensure the best fit between
employees and jobs, while avoiding manpower shortages or surpluses.
Human resource planning is a sub-system of the total organizational
planning. It constitutes an integral part of corporate plan and serves the
very purpose of organization in many ways. The primary purpose of human
resource planning is to prepare for the future by reducing organizational
uncertainty in relation to the acquisition, placement, and development of
employees. Human resources planning is done to achieve the optimum use
of human resources and to have the right types and correct number of
employees to meet organizational goals.

The main objectives of Human Resource Planning are:

1. Achieve Goal: Human Resource Planning helps in achieving


individual, Organizational & National goals. Since Human resource
planning is linked with career planning, it can able to achieve
individual goal while achieving organisational and national goal.

2. Estimates future organizational structure and Manpower


Requirements: Human Resource Planning is related with number of
Personnel required for the future, job-family, age distribution of
employees, qualification & desired experience, salary range etc and
thereby determines future organisation structure.

3. Human Resource Audit: Human resource planning process is


comprised of estimating the future needs and determining the present
supply of Manpower Resources. Manpower supply analysis is done
through skills inventory. This helps in preventing over staffing as well
as under-staffing.

4. Job Analysis: The process of studying and collecting information


relating to operations and responsibilities of a specific job is called Job
analysis. Job analysis is comprised of job description and job
specification. Job description describes the duties and responsibilities
of a particular job in an organized factual way. Job specification
specifies minimum acceptable human qualities necessary to perform a
particular job properly.

The following are the important objectives of human resource


planning in an enterprise:
1. Making assessment human resource requirements for future and making
plans for recruitment and selection.
2. Assessing skill needs in future.

3. Determining training and development needs of the enterprise.

4. To assess the surplus or shortage of human resources and avoiding


unnecessary dismissals.

5. To minimise imbalances caused due to non-availability of human


resources of right kind, right number in right time and at the right place.

6. Ensuring optimum use of existing human resources in the enterprise.

7. Keeping the enterprise ready to meet with the technological development


and modernisation.

8. Controlling wage and salary costs.

9. Ensuring higher labour productivity.

10. Ensuring career planning of every employee of the enterprise and


making succession programmes.

Role of HRP in HRM

6. Identification of Gaps in Existing Manpower. Human resource


planning identifies gaps in existing manpower in terms of their quantity and
quality with the help of suitable training and/or any other steps, these gaps
can be filled in time. Existing manpower can also be developed to fill future
vacancies.

7. Career Succession Planning. Manpower planning facilitates career


succession planning in the organization. It provides enough lead time for
internal succession of employees to higher position through promotions.
Thus, manpower planning contributes to management succession as well as
development.

8. Improvement in Overall Business Planning. Manpower planning is an


integral part of overall business planning. Effective manpower planning will
lead to improvement in overall planning also. No management can be
successful in the long run without having the right type and right number of
people doing the right jobs at the right time.

9. Growth of the Organization. Manpower planning facilitates the


expansion and diversification of an organization. In the absence of human
resource plans, the required human resources will not be available to
execute expansion and diversification plans at the right time.
10. Creates Awareness in the Organization. Manpower planning leads to a
great awareness about the effectiveness of sound manpower management
throughout the organization. It also helps in judging the effectiveness of
human resource policies and programmes of management.

11. Beneficial to the Country. At the national level manpower planning


facilitates educational reforms, geographical mobility of talent and
employment generation.

Advantages of Work Study:

(1) It is direct means of improving productivity.

(2) It results in uniform and improved production flow.

(3) It reduces the manufacturing cost.

(4) With its help fast and accurate delivery dates are possible.

(5) It provides better service and consumer satisfaction.

(6) It improves employee-employer relations.

(7) It provides job satisfaction and job security to workers.

(8) Better working conditions are possible for workers.

(9) It is most important tool of analysis and can help in providing better
wages to workers on scientific basis.

(10) Most accurate method and yet provides a sound basis for production
planning, control and incentives for man power.

(11) Everyone concerned with industries is benefited from it such as worker,


consumer and management of the unit.
Discuss the qualitative methods of demand forecasting.
What are the barriers to HRP process?

Manpower planning involves forecasting the demand and supply of human


resources. Thus, the effectiveness of planning depends upon the accuracy
of forecasts. If the forecasts are not cent per cent accurate, planning will not
be hundred per cent accurate.

1. Identify Crisis:

Many human resource specialists and the managers do not understand the
whole manpower planning process. Because of this, there is generally an
identity crisis. Till the specialists develop a strong sense of purpose,
planning cannot be effective.

2. Support of Top Management:

Employees and trade unions resist manpower planning. They feel that the
planning increases their overall workload and regulates them through
productivity bargaining. They also feel that it would lead to widespread
unemployment, especially of unskilled labour.

3. Insufficient Initial Efforts:

Successful human resource planning flourishes slowly and gradually.


Sometimes sophisticated technologies are forcefully introduced, just because
competitors have adopted them. These may not be successful unless
matched with the needs of the environment of the particular enterprise.

4. Management Information System:

Effectiveness of planning depends upon the reliability of the information


system. In most of the Indian Industries, human resource information
system has not fully developed. In the absence of reliable data, it would not
be possible to have effective planning.

5. Uncertainties:

It is risky, to depend upon general estimates of manpower, in the face of


rapid changes in the environment. Absenteeism, turnover, seasonal
employment, technological changes and market fluctuations are the
uncertainties, which serve as constraints to manpower planning. Although
discounts are made for these factors, while preparing the plan, but these
factors cannot be estimated correctly.,

6. Expensive and Time Consuming:

Manpower planning is an expensive and time consuming process.


Employers may resist manpower planning, feeling that it increases the cost
of manpower.

7. Coordination with other Managerial functions:


There is generally a tendency on the part of the manpower planners, to
remain aloof from other operating managers and to become totally absorbed
in their own world. To be effective, manpower planning must be integrated
with other management functions.

8. Unbalanced Approach:

Many human resource experts give more importance on the quantitative


aspect of manpower, to ensure that there is adequate flow of people in and
out of the organization. They overlook the qualitative aspects like career
development and planning, skill levels, morale, etc. are overlooked by them.
Such unbalanced approach affects the effectiveness of manpower planning.

Thus, manpower planning suffers from two types of problems. One is


inherent because of problems of forecasting and second comes from human
weaknesses.

GUIDELINES FOR MAKING HRP EFFECTIVE

Some of the suggestions for making HR planning effective are as given


below:

1. Integration with Organizational Plans. Human resource planning must


be balanced with organizational plans. It must be based on the
organizational objectives and plans. This requires development of good
communication channels between organization planners and the human
resource planners.

2. Period of HR Planning. Period of the planning should be appropriate to


the needs and circumstances of the enterprise in question. The size and
structure of the enterprise as well as the anticipated changes must be taken
into consideration.

3. Proper Organization. To be effective, the planning function should be


properly organized. If possible, within the human resource department. A
separate cell or committee should be constituted to provide adequate focus
and to coordinate planning work at various levels.

4. Support of Top Management. To be effective in the long run, manpower


planning must have the full support of the top management. The support
from top management is essential to ensure the necessary resources,
cooperation and support for the success of the planning.

5. Involvement of Operating Executives. Human resource planning is not


a function of manpower planners only. To be effective, it requires active
participation and coordinated efforts on the part of operating executives.
Such participation will help to improve understanding of the process and
thereby reduce resistance.

6. Efficient and Reliable Information System. To facilitate human


resource planning, an adequate database must be developed for human
resources.

7. Balanced Approach. The human resource experts should give equal


importance to both quantitative and qualitative aspects of manpower.
Instead of matching existing people with existing job, stress should be laid
on filling future vacancies with right people. Promotion should also be
considered carefully. Career planning and development, skill levels, morale,
etc. should be given due importance by the planners.
Manpower Inventory.
“Manpower Inventory involves the classification of characteristics of personnel
in an organization, in addition to counting their number. ”

The term inventory is often used in relation to counting of physical objects


like raw materials, work in progress, finished products etc. It may also
include the qualities and the abilities of persons working in a company. In
that case an inventory is called a manpower inventory the items that are to
be included in it are hard to pin down. It is because it involves the
classification of characteristics of personnel in an organization, in addition
to counting their number. Both present and future characteristics of
personnel are recorded in the manpower inventory. The first step in
manpower inventory is to decide who should form a part of it. Whether
inventory should be in relation to only executives or it should cover all
persons in the organization. Generally it is prepared for persons working on
significant posts. For example, the executives and some persons from the
working staff are covered in it. While taking persons from the operative staff
only those persons are included in the inventory that has the potential of
taking up higher responsibility tasks. After determining the persons to be
included in manpower inventory, information regarding them is collected in
considerable detail. Some information is collected from records while some
may be collected through meetings or talks with the concerned people. The
factual information such as age, sex, experience, education, wealth, health,
etc. is noted from the records. The brief interview with a person helps in
understanding his calibre, mind-set, aspirations, etc. A summary statement
of information is prepared about each person and is kept ready for
consultation. This information helps management to find out the suitable
person in an organization for taking up senior position in future. The next
step is to pass on to talent catalogue. The present and future capabilities of
persons are assessed. Some scale is prepared for the appraisal of persons.
It is meticulously tried that the scale is a uniform one so that a common
appraisal ground is available for all the personnel involved in a particular
department or section of the business. Besides appraisal tests, remarks
about persons are also given. The remarks may relate to their talent, choice
taking ability, training required, etc. In this way promotions are also dealt
with easily as manpower inventory says much about job specialization of the
concerned persons.

Name the different methods of collecting job analysis data.

Job analysis is based on job data. Hence the question: how to collect job

related data? A variety of methods are available for collecting job data. The

method that was historically linked to the concept of job analysis was

observation supplemented by the interview. In recent years, questionnaires,

check lists, critical incidents, diaries, personnel records and technical

conference method have also been experimented for collecting job-related


data. A brief description of each method is in order.

Observation:

Under this method, data is collected through observing an employee while at

work. The job analyst on the basis of observation carefully records what the

worker does, how he/she does, and how much time is needed for completion

of a given task. This is the most reliable method of seeking first hand

information relating to a job. This method is suitable for jobs that consist

primarily of observable physical ability, short job cycle activities. The jobs of

draftsman, mechanic, spinner or weaver are the examples of such jobs.

However, the flip side of this method is that this method is not suitable for
jobs that involve unobservable mental activities reveal overlaps and grey
areas and have not complete job cycle. That it is time consuming is it’s yet

another handicap. Given these, the job analyst needs to be quite skilful in

collecting data about jobs with a high degree of discretion or decision


content. Training can make the job analyst skilful.

Interview:

In this method, the job analyst directly interviews the job holder through a

structured interview form to elicit information about the job. This method is

found suitable particularly for jobs wherein direct observation is not

feasible. By way of directly talking to the job holder, the interviewer job

analyst may extract meaningful information from the job holder about

his/her job. However the interview method is both time consuming and

costly. Particularly, the professional and managerial jobs due to their

complicated nature of job, require a longer interview’ This may also be a

possibility that bias on the part of the analyst and the job holder i.e., the

respondent may cloud the accuracy and objectivity of the information

gathered through interview. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of the interview

method will depend on the ability of both interviewer and respondent in


asking questions and responding them respectively.

Questionnaire:

Questionnaire method of job data collection is desirable especially in the


following two situations:

First, where the number of people doing the same job is large and to
personally interview them is difficult and impracticable.

Second, where giving enough time to employees is desirable to enable them


to divulge and explore the special aspects of the jobs.

In this method, the employee is given structured questionnaire to fill in,


which are then returned to the supervisors. The supervisor, after making the
required and necessary corrections in the information contained in the
questionnaire, submits the corrected information to the job analyst.
Questionnaire provides comprehensive information about the job.
Information so obtained can be quantified and processed in the computer.
The greatest advantage of the questionnaire method is that it enables the
analyst to cover a large number of job holders in the shortest possible time.
However, the method suffers from certain shortcomings as well. In the
absence of direct rapport between the job analyst and the employee, both
cooperation and motivation on the part of the employee tends to be at low
level. Often employee due to lack of training and skill, do not express the job
related information in a meaningful and clear fashion. As such, job related
data tends to be inaccurate. Moreover, the method is time-consuming and
costly.

Checklists:

The checklist method of job data collection differs from the questionnaire
method in the sense that it contains a few subjective questions in the form
of yes or no. The job holder is asked to tick the questions that are related to
his/her job. Checklist can be prepared on the basis of job information
obtained from various sources such as supervisors, industrial engineers,
and other people who are familiar with the particular job. Once the checklist
is prepared, it is then sent, to the job holder to check all the tasks listed in
the list he/she performs. He/she is also asked to mention the amount of
time spent on each task by him/her and the type of training and experience
required to do each task. Information contained in checklist is, then,
tabulated to obtain the job-related data. Like questionnaire method, the
checklist method is suitable in the large organisations wherein a large
number of workers are assigned one particular job. Since the method is
costly and, therefore, is not suitable for small organisations.

Critical Incidents:

This method is based on the job holder’s past experiences on the job. They
are asked to recapitulate and describe the past incidents related to their
jobs. The incidents so reported by the job holders are, then, classified into
various categories and analysed in detail. Yes, the job analyst requires a
high degree of skill to analyse the incidents appropriately described by the
job holders. However, this method is also time-consuming one.

Diaries or Log Records:

In this method, the job holder is asked to maintain a diary recording in


detail the job-related activities each day. If done judiciously, this method
provides accurate and comprehensive information about the job. This
overcomes memory lapses on the part of the job holder. As recording of
activities may spread over several days, the method, thus, becomes time-
consuming one. The disadvantage associated with this method is that it
remains incomplete because it does not give desirable data on supervisor
relationship, the equipment used and working conditions prevalent at the
work place.

Technical Conference Method:

In this method, a conference is organised for the supervisors who possess


extensive knowledge about job. They deliberate on various aspects of the
job. The job analyst obtains job information from the discussion held among
these experts/supervisors. The method consumes less amount of time.
However, the main drawback of this method is that it lacks accuracy and
authenticity as the actual job holders are not involved in collecting job
information.

Edwin B. Flippo has defined job analysis as the process of studying and
collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a
specific job. The immediate products of this analysis are job descriptions
and job specifications”. Job analysis refers to the process of collecting
information about a job. In other words, it refers to the anatomy of the job.
Job analysis is performed upon ongoing jobs only. It contains job contents.
For example, what are the duties of a supervisor, grade II, what minimal
knowledge, skills and abilities are necessary to be able to adequately
perform this job? How do the requirements for a supervisor, grade II,
compare with those for a supervisor, grade I? These are the questions that
job analysis answers.

There are two major aspects of job analysis:

These are:

1. Job Description

2. Job Specification

A brief description of these follows:

Job Description:

Job description is prepared on the basis of data collected through job


analysis. Job description is a functional description of the contents what the
job entails. It is a narration of the contents of a job. It is a description of the
activities and duties to be performed in a job, the relationship of the job with
other jobs, the equipment and tools involved, the nature of supervision,
working conditions and hazards of the job and so on.

Job Specification:
While job description focuses on the job, job specification focuses on the
person i.e. the job holder. Job specification is a statement of the minimum
levels of qualifications, skills, physical and other abilities, experience,
judgment and attributes required for performing job effectively. In other
words, it is a statement of the minimum acceptable qualifications that an
incumbent must possess to perform a given job. It sets forth the knowledge,
skills and abilities required to do the job effectively. Job specification
specifies the physical, psychological, personal, social and behavioural
characteristics of the job holders.

Redeployment & redundancy


According to the International Labour Office (ILO) “Job evaluation is an
attempt to determine and compare the demands which the normal
performance of a particular job makes on normal workers, without taking
into account the individual abilities or performance of the workers
concerned”.

Advantages of job evaluation:

According to an ILO publication job evaluation offers the following


advantages:

1. Job evaluation being a logical process and objective technique helps in


developing an equitable and consistent wage and salary structure based on
the relative worth of jobs in an organisation.

2. By eliminating wage differentials within the organisation, job evaluation


helps in minimizing conflict between labour unions and management and,
in turn, helps in promoting harmonious relations between them.

3. Job evaluation simplifies wage administration by establishing uniformity


in wage rates.

4. It provides a logical basis for wage negotiations and collective bargaining.


5. In the case of new jobs, job evaluation facilitates spotting them into the
existing wage and salary structure.

6. In the modem times of mechanisation, performance depends much on the


machines than on the worker himself/herself. In such cases, job evaluation
provides the realistic basis for determination of wages.

7. The information generated by job evaluation may also be used for


improvement of selection, transfer and promotion procedures on the basis of
comparative job requirements.

8. Job evaluation rates the job, not the workers. Organisations have large
number of jobs with specialisations. It is job evaluation here again which
helps in rating all these jobs and determining the wages and salary and also
removing ambiguity in them.

Discuss the process of role analysis.

Role analysis is the process of defining a role in the context of its work
system, interims of expectation of important persons, detailing specific tasks
under each function, and elaborating the process, standards and critical
attributes namely knowledge, attitude, skill, habits (KASH) required for
effective role.
Issue of surplus:-

Handling labour surplus

In a perfect world, the only labour problem a Human Resources Manager or


a small business owner would face would be that of a labour shortage
caused by expansion of his business too quickly to keep up with staffing. In
reality, however, you’ll need to face downturns in business that leave you
with too many workers than you need to meet the demands of your
business. While most businesses can weather a short-term labour surplus,
Human Resources Managers must develop a strategy to eliminate
unnecessary costs associated with excess employees.

Implement a hiring freeze All companies can expect a bit of churn on


their labour force simply because of their employees’ life situations, with
workers leaving for other positions or retiring. By not filling the positions left
by these departures, managers can let workforce attrition balance labour
surpluses without having to resort to layoffs.

End outsourcing contracts In many cases, it may be as cost-effective


to shift work responsibilities back to employees. While this creates corporate
self-reliance, the rise in on-site responsibilities can be absorbed by your
excess workforce. This strategy is only viable when there are in-house
workers of the same skill level and pay rate as those employed by the
outsourcing company.

Begin a mandatory furlough system By requiring all employees to


schedule an unpaid week into their upcoming long-range schedule, you
reduce the burden of labour cost while providing employees with a
substantial benefit time off which has a smaller impact on morale than
across-the-board pay reductions. You must be extremely careful to forbid
labour regulations which exempt employees from performing any work
during their leave, as that may endanger their exempt status.

Offer early retirement or buyout plans for workers with seniority.


These offers not only help to eliminate excess employees when workers take
advantage of the offer; they tend to remove workers with the highest
salaries, which has a combined cost-cutting effect.

Reduce workers’ hours or pay across the board. While these


strategies typically negatively impact worker’s morale, these reductions
directly impact the primary problem of cost containment associated with
excess labour.
Layoff excess employees This is the last option to be considered in this
case if all the above steps are not effective. Layoff strategies may be
determined by seniority status, individual or collective employment
contracts or on a case-by-case basis.

What are the objectives of computerized HRIS?

HRIS is the system which seeks to merge the activities associated with
human resource management (HRM) and information technology (IT) into
one common database through the use of enterprise resource planning
(ERP) software. The goal of HRIS is to merge the different parts of human
resources, including payroll, labour productivity, and benefit management
into a less capital-intensive system than the mainframes used to manage
activities in the past. Also called Human Resource Management Systems
(HRMS).
What are the challenges faced in implementing HRIS in a traditional
organisation?

The following are the challenges of Human Resource Information


System:

Training the users to use HRIS.

Cost to purchase and implementation of HRIS.

Time to adapt the HRIS.

Lack functional expertise in designing.

Improper vendor provide illegal copy of HRIS.

4.1 Training the users to use HRIS

The first challenge of company to implementation the Human Resource


Information System (HRIS) is ensuring that a HRIS for a company involve
one key issue that is have the users that can use this HRIS as well as
he/she can said by William (2006). The HRIS could be count as the latest
technology to operate to human resource department, but there is not every
manager and employees know to use this system well and some of them
even do not know what this system is and what this system is for. For this
case will make the company face the challenge to use this HRIS to help their
human resource department to do its jobs perfectly. This will also cause the
company cannot work efficiently, quick access to information and the
information will be have risk to stole by other company easily. So, human
resource department need to provide training to employee of a company in
certain areas and the human resource department must make sure that the
employees in the company are properly trained to use the HRIS well.
However, teaching the employees how to use system is not the only
component needed and it is also critical to teach the employees know to use
the HRIS to locate the answers to solve the human resource questions. This
requires the employees who under this training program need to adopt the
new mindset of self-service rather than turning the human resources
questions to the answers by using the Human Resource Information System
(HRIS) and make employees become a part of HRIS.

4.2 Cost to purchase and implementation of HRIS

Next, the one of the most significant challenge facing by the company to run
the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is the cost to purchase and
implementation of a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) said by
William (2006). If the company is looking the cost to justify a HRIS new
system or upgrade one, they will much need new HRIS software. But for the
company already have a policy to cost justifying any new technology for their
produce and investment and this cause the company facing the lack capital
problem to purchase and implementation of HRIS. Besides that, HRIS
system represents a large investment decision for company of all sizes to
purchase and implementation this HRIS and this will become the challenge
that is the lack capital problem facing by the company. Therefore, some
company does not want to upgrade their HRIS system to a new one, even
some of the company still using the traditional way to operate their human
resource department. This situation will lead the company cannot get the
benefits from HRIS that is improved accuracy of information, the provision
of timely and quick access to information and the saving the costs of human
resource. So, having an HRIS system in the company are very important and
it can also bring a lot of benefits to the company and help to reengineer the
entire Human Resource (HR) function to work more effective and help the
human resource department can use full of HRIS advantages and the
company can operate properly too.

4.3 Time to adapt the HRIS

Besides that, the challenge facing by the company is the time that
employees and managers need to take to adapt the Human Resource
Information System (HRIS) said by K. Michele (2006). Although for the
company have already send the employees and managers who in certain
area of human resource department to training to use the HRIS, but the
employees and the managers need to take times to adapt the new system.
Even if the employees and managers know how to use the system, it will not
serve the company if they cannot perceive any benefits from its use said by
K. Michele (2006). Besides that, some employees are not good in using
computer, they will take very long time to adapt this new system even they
are trained employees. Not only that, by using the Human Resource
Information System (HRIS) will help to reengineer the entire Human
Resource (HR) function and this also need take time for employees and
managers to adapt this system. Some of their company's HRIS system are
lack flexibility will cause the employees and managers use more time to
adapt the system. Even this HRIS need some time for employees and
managers to adapt for it but HRIS still can bring a lot of convenient to
human resource department and it can help the company can operate
properly.

4.4 Lack of functional expertise in designing

The challenge facing by the company is lack of functional expertise in


designing of Human Resource Information System (HRIS) said by K. Michele
(2006). The HRIS could be count as the latest technology to operate to
human resource department to do the job properly, but there are not yet
become a flexibility system for operate the department and company need to
hire the expert in this HRIS system keep maintain the system in perfect
condition. The lack of flexibility of HRIS would have a risk hacking by theft
of information, the company's information would easily know by other
people. Besides that, the HRIS cannot solve the difficulty situation and
sometime the system will solve wrong problem because of the lack of
functional expertise in designing of HRIS. But if the company can keep
upgrade the functional expertise in designing of HRIS and it can overcome
this problem and it can help company operate the human resource
department work efficiency. So, the company need to keep maintain the
HRIS system and always make sure the system are at the perfect situation.

4.5 Improper vendor provide illegal copy of HRIS

The last challenge that face by the company is the improper vendor that
provide the illegal copy of HRIS said by Pamela (2006). It is because the
HRIS is the latest technology for the company to operate the human
resource department and implementation HRIS are expensive, so many of
company willing to implementation the illegal copy of HRIS because the
improper vendor cost the company cheaper than others. The illegal copy of
HRIS possible have the virus that always make the system clash down then
the company need to ask the improper vendor repair it and improper vendor
can keep charge the company repair fees. Besides that, the illegal copy of
HRIS possible have the spyware that let the improper vendor have the
backdoor that allow the improper vendor can stole the information from the
company. So, for every company need to avoid buy the illegal copy from
improper vendor.

How HRIS can be implemented effectively?

 EXECUTIVE SPONSORSHIP AND GOVERNANCE

At HRMS, we believe it is critical that an executive sponsor be identified and


have regular involvement (i.e. consistent attendance for status meetings and
project milestones, discussions about future business processes, workflows,
dashboards and metrics) in a HRIS project. Why? Because there is a
considerable amount of knowledge transfer and application translation that
happens along the course of the deployment and having the executive
sponsor consume and digest this information directly will significantly
increase the likelihood of a successful project outcome.

Case in point, have you ever played the game “telephone” with a group of
people? You know the one I’m talking about, where the objective of the game
is to successfully relay a message through a line of people without the
message being misheard or altered along the way. The first person whispers
a message to the ear of the next person in line until the last player
announces the message received to the entire group. In the end, it is not
common to hear the message in its orginal form. Errors typically occur
during the various retellings and as a result, the original intent of the
message is lost.

 SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT (POC)

Designating a dedicated, accountable, single POC with HR domain and/or


technical experience will streamline communication, increase accountability,
and provide better management of the client’s resources (i.e. time, people
and money**). We all know that having too many chefs in the kitchen, with
too many strategies and approaches; will ensure a bad meal and eventually
an overall bad dining experience. Appointing an organized and motivated
POC is essential to the success of any HRIS implementation. And appointing
a POC who has a sense of urgency is priceless for a project deployment.

 IMPLEMENTATION METHODOLOGY

A proven implementation methodology that consistently delivers successful


projects is a characteristic of an experienced implementation firm. An
implementation methodology is different than a project plan. A project plan
consists of the individual components, series of tasks, and project
milestones with associated due dates and responsible parties/people. The
methodology is the approach and the guideline for which the project plan
follows.

It is recommend prior to purchasing any solution and/or services from a


vendor that it is discussed and understood the provider’s implementation
methodology. Every software vendor and system implementer has their
preferred method for deploying their application. However, not every
implementation approach will work with how your organizations operate,
what our company requires or expects. If we end up engaging with a vendor
and find our self requiring changes in the implementer’s methodology, this
change could easily result in additional costs (e.g. more meetings, more
resources, extended timelines, increased expenses, etc.). This research and
knowledge will give us a better understanding of what to expect during the
project and the opportunity to avoid issues during the implementation.

 CONFIRMATION OF DETAILED “STATEMENT OF WORK” (SOW)

Reviewing, understanding and verifying the “Statement of Work” (aka Scope


of Work) is imperative. Both the client and implementation partner need to
confirm the work and services to be delivered as outlined in the
implementation provider’s scope of work document and come to a consensus
of how the work and requested services will be delivered. This clarity will
eliminate surprises, reduce scope creep and unexpected costs, create
specificity of the deliverables and establish a joint project plan and timeline.

As mentioned above, your implementation partner will have a methodology


they prefer and hopefully follow. I would even recommend requesting from
the vendor an explanation of their approach and potentially even a picture
or diagram to demonstrate to you what the implementation process will look
like for your project. And, this information about their approach should be
included in the SOW.

 PROJECT COLLABORATION TOOL

Utilizing an effective project collaboration tool provides a connected hub


where all team members assigned to the project can create, discuss and
organize work efficiently. The project teams work is always synchronized
and helps everyone to understand the context and implications of the
decisions and actions being made. Team members that do not need or want
day-to-day updates will have complete transparency by accessing the project
collaboration tool anytime.

 PROJECT DUE DATES AND DEADLINES

Meeting project due dates and deadlines sounds so obvious, but I continue
to see clients and implementation partners miss target dates for their
respective project. Assembling the team on a regular basis to review project
deliverables, expectations and general project status is vital. What is the
point of setting due dates and deadlines if no one is going to be held
accountable? If deadlines aren’t being met, new achievable dates need to be
defined and mutually agreed upon. Along those same lines, the onus is on
the implementation firm’s project manager and executive sponsor to ensure
any project delays are brought to the client’s attention immediately. As little
as one week of delay can lead to significant milestone delays down the line.

 EFFECTIVE CHANGE MANAGEMENT, COMMUNICATION AND


COLLABORATION PLAN

Embracing the change involved in an HRIS/HCM implementation is an


amalgamation of confidence in the application; an understanding of the
company’s culture and trust in the team leading you to the finish line. Being
mentally prepared and willing to accept change opens the doors to creativity
and flexibility. Communication, clear direction and transparency are key to
a successful deployment and the transfer of knowledge.

 CORE TEAM ORIENTATION (CTO)


It is not uncommon for the project team to begin an implementation with
various assumptions surrounding the capabilities and feature sets of their
new solution. If the team has gone through vendor evaluations, decoupling
all those presentations to just the specific solution acquired can be a
challenge. Typically, there is a large timeframe gap between product
demonstrations during the evaluation process to the actual beginning or
kick-off of a project. To reassert the proper expectations, we provide the
client project team with application orientation or CTO. This pre-
implementation activity is not a sales demonstration or application training,
but time spent reviewing specific application functionality and configuration
choices the team will need to make in the coming days and weeks. We have
found that core team orientation reduces application misunderstandings,
clarifies implementation expectations and helps avoid having the project
team come to the end of the implementation and state “if I knew then what I
know now, I would have implemented this application totally different”. That
is a failed implementation.

 REVIEW OF PROJECT PAIN POINTS

We understand you may have articulated your project pain points over and
over to different people from each vendor you evaluated, but these
individuals are most likely not an integral part of your implementation and
therefore it is imperative that the assigned project manager of the chosen
vendor validates and verifies your pain points and assigns them based on
mutual agreement. Verifying and validating these pain points with the
executive sponsor and project team members will provide the clarity to get
the implementation off to a great start.

Factor Comparison Method:

Merits:

This method enjoys the following merits:

1. It is more objective method of job evaluation.

2. The method is flexible as there is no upper limit on the rating of a factor.

3. It is fairly easy method to explain to employees.

4. The use of limited number of factors (usually five) ensures less chances of
overlapping and over-weighting of factors.

5. It facilitates determining the relative worth of different jobs.

Demerits:
The method, however, suffers from the following drawbacks:

1. It is expensive and time-consuming method.

2. Using the same five factors for evaluating jobs may not always be
appropriate because jobs differ across and within organisations.

3. It is difficult to understand and operate

In the words of Edwin B. Flippo. "Job evaluation is a systematic and


orderly process of determining the worth of a job in relation to other jobs."
Limitations of Job Evaluation:

Job evaluation system suffers from the following limitations:

1. Human bias cannot be eliminated completely from any job evaluation


method even if efforts are made to make it systematic. The element of
human judgement is present in all the methods of job evaluation.

2. The factors considered for job evaluation sometimes overlap. The weight
age given to them and their reliability becomes questionable.

3. Job evaluation will have to be done regularly because the factors


considered for it today may not remain valid tomorrow because of
technological changes.

4. There are apprehensions among workmen when job evaluation is


introduced for the first time. It may create doubts in the minds of those
whose jobs are evaluated.

5. Job evaluation programme requires lot of time and specialised technical


personnel.

6. The introduction of job evaluation scheme may require substantial


changes in the existing set up. This change may involve appreciable costs
and the concern may not be able to bear this financial burden.

7. This system is suitable to big concerns only because it is very expensive.

8. The trade unions consider it as an encroachment on their right to


negotiate for wage structure.

9. This system causes inflexibility. The demand and supply of labour is the
main cause for wage differentials.

10. There may be a conflict about the factors to be chosen for job evaluation.
Workers insist on the inclusion of some factors which they feel favourable to
them.
Discuss in brief the steps in HR Audit.
5. Firm up the audit plan.

Strategic HR planning is an important component of strategic HR


management. It links HR management directly to the strategic plan of your
organization. Most mid- to large sized organizations have a strategic plan
that guides the organization in successfully meeting its mission.
Organizations routinely complete financial plans to ensure they achieve
organizational goals and while workforce plans are not as common, they are
just as important.
Even a small organization with as few as 10 staff can develop a strategic
plan to guide decisions about the future. Based on the strategic plan, an
organization can develop a strategic HR plan that will allow to make HR
management decisions to support the future direction of the
organization. Strategic HR planning is also important from a budgetary
point of view so that you can factor the costs of recruitment, training, etc.
into your organizational budget.

The strategic HR planning process:

The strategic HR planning process has four steps:

1. Assessing the current HR capacity


2. Forecasting HR requirements
3. Gap analysis
4. Developing HR strategies to support organizational strategies

Assessing current HR capacity:

Based on the organization's strategic plan, the first step in the strategic HR
planning process is to assess the current HR capacity of the organization.
The knowledge, skills and abilities of your current staff need to be identified.
This can be done by developing a skills inventory for each employee.

The skills inventory should go beyond the skills needed for the particular
position. List all skills each employee has demonstrated. For example,
recreational or volunteer activities may involve special skills that could be
relevant to the organization. Education levels and certificates or additional
training should also be included.

An employee's performance assessment form can be reviewed to determine if


the person is ready and willing to take on more responsibility and to look at
the employee's current development plans.

Forecasting HR requirements

The next step is to forecast HR needs for the future based on the strategic
goals of the organization. Realistic forecasting of human resources involves
estimating both demand and supply. Questions to be answered include:

 How many staff will be required to achieve the strategic goals of the
organization?

 What jobs will need to be filled?

 What skill sets will people need?


When forecasting demands for HR, we must also assess the challenges that
you will have in meeting your staffing need based on the external
environment.

 How will the external environment impact on our HR needs?

Gap analysis

The next step is to determine the gap between where your organization
wants to be in the future and where you are now. The gap analysis includes
identifying the number of staff and the skills and abilities required in the
future in comparison to the current situation. One should also look at all
your organization's HR management practices to identify practices that
could be improved or new practices needed to support the organization's
capacity to move forward. Questions to be answered include:

 What new jobs will we need?

 What new skills will be required?

 Do our present employees have the required skills?

 Are employees currently in positions that use their strengths?

 Do we have enough managers/supervisors?

 Are current HR management practices adequate for future needs?

Developing HR strategies to support organizational strategies

There are five HR strategies for meeting your organization's needs in the
future:

1. Restructuring strategies
2. Training and development strategies
3. Recruitment strategies
4. Outsourcing strategies
5. Collaboration strategies

1. Restructuring strategies

This strategy includes:

 Reducing staff either by termination or attrition


 Regrouping tasks to create well designed jobs

 Reorganizing work units to be more efficient

Attrition - Not replacing employees when they leave - is another way to


reduce staff. The viability of this option depends on how urgently you need
to reduce staff. It will mean that jobs performed in the organization will have
to be reorganized so that essential work of the departing employee is
covered. Careful assessment of the reorganized workloads of remaining
employees should include an analysis of whether or not their new workloads
will result in improved outcomes. It is important to consider current labour
market trends (e.g., the looming skills shortage as baby boomers begin to
retire) because there may be longer-term consequences if you let staff go.
Sometimes existing workers may be willing to voluntarily reduce their hours,
especially if the situation is temporary. Job sharing may be another option.
The key to success is to ensure that employees are satisfied with the
arrangement, that they confirm agreement to the new arrangement in
writing, and that it meets the needs of the employer. Excellent
communication is a prerequisite for success.

2. Training and development strategies

This strategy includes:

 Providing staff with training to take on new roles

 Providing current staff with development opportunities to prepare


them for future jobs in your organization

3. Recruitment strategies

This strategy includes:

 Recruiting new staff with the skill and abilities that your organization
will need in the future

 Considering all the available options for strategically promoting job


openings and encouraging suitable candidates to apply

For strategic HR planning, each time you recruit you should be looking at
the requirements from a strategic perspective. Perhaps your organization
has a need for a new fundraiser right now to plan special events as part of
your fund raising plan. However, if your organization is considering moving
from fund raising through special events to planned giving, your recruitment
strategy should be to find someone who can do both to align with the
change that you plan for the future.
4. Outsourcing strategies

This strategy includes:

 Using external individuals or organizations to do some tasks

Many organizations look outside their own staff pool and contract for certain
skills. This is particularly helpful for accomplishing specific, specialized
tasks that don't require ongoing full-time work.

Some organizations outsource HR activities, project work or bookkeeping.


For example, payroll may be done by an external organization rather than a
staff person, a short term project may be done using a consultant, or
specific expertise such as legal advice may be purchase from an outside
source.

Each outsourcing decision has implications for meeting the organization's


goals and should therefore be carefully assessed.

5. Collaboration strategies

Finally, the strategic HR planning process may lead to indirect strategies


that go beyond your organization. By collaborating with other organizations
you may have better success at dealing with a shortage of certain skills.

Types of collaboration could include:

 Working together to influence the types of courses offered by


educational institutions

 Working with other organizations to prepare future leaders by sharing


in the development of promising individuals

 Sharing the costs of training for groups of employees

 Allowing employees to visit other organizations to gain skills and


insight.

Documenting the strategic HR plan

Once the strategies for HR in your organization have been developed they
should be documented in an HR plan. This is a brief document that states
the key assumptions and the resulting strategies along with who has
responsibility for the strategies and the timelines for implementation.
Implementing the strategic HR plan

Once the HR strategic plan is complete the next step is to implement it:

Agreement with the plan

Ensure that the board chair, CEO and senior managers agree with the
strategic HR plan. It may seem like redundant step if everyone has been
involved all the way along but it's always good to get final confirmation.

Communication

The strategic HR plan needs to be communicated throughout the


organization. Your communication should include:

 How the plan ties to the organization's overall strategic plan

 What changes in HR management policies, practices, and activities


will be made to support the strategic plan

 How any changes in HR management will impact on staff including a


timeframe if appropriate

 How each individual member of staff can contribute to the plan

 How staff will be supported through any changes

 How the organization will be different in the future

It is impossible to communicate too much (but all too easy to communicate


too little), especially when changes involve people. However, the amount of
detail should vary depending upon the audience.

Legislation and mandate

Ensure that the actions you are considering are compliant with existing
laws, regulations and the constitution and bylaws of your organization.

Organizational needs

Whether you are increasing or reducing the number of employees, there are
implications for space and equipment, and on existing resources such as
payroll and benefit plans.
Evaluation
HR plans need to be updated on a regular basis. You will need to establish
the information necessary to evaluate the success of the new plan.
Benchmarks need to be selected and measured over time to determine if the
plan is successful in achieving the desired objectives.

Describe in brief the four strategies of HRP.


1. Assess current HR capacity

The first step in the human resources planning process is to assess your
current staff. Before making any moves to hire new employees for your
organization, it’s important to understand the talent you already have at
your disposal. Develop a skills inventory for each of your current employees.
You can do this in a number of ways, such as asking employees to self-
evaluate with a questionnaire, looking over past performance reviews, or
using an approach that combines the two.

2. Forecast HR requirements

Once you have a full inventory of the resources you already have at your
disposal, it’s time to begin forecasting future needs. Will your company need
to grow its human resources in number? Will you need to stick to your
current staff but improve their productivity through efficiency or new skills
training? Are there potential employees available in the marketplace?

It is important to assess both your company’s demand for qualified


employees and the supply of those employees either within the organization
or outside of it.

Demand forecasting

Demand forecasting is the detailed process of determining future human


resources needs in terms of quantity—the number of employees needed—
and quality—the calibre of talent required to meet the company's current
and future needs.

Supply forecasting

Supply forecasting determines the current resources available to meet the


demands. With your previous skills inventory, you’ll know which employees
in your organization are available to meet your current demand. You’ll also
want to look outside of the organization for potential hires that can meet the
needs not fulfilled by employees already present in the organization.

Matching demand and supply


Matching the demand and supply is where the hiring process gets tricky—
and where the rest of the human resources management planning process
comes into place. You’ll develop a plan to link your organization’s demand
for quality staff with the supply available in the market. You can achieve
this by training current employees, hiring new employees, or combining the
two approaches.

3. Develop talent strategies

After determining your company’s staffing needs by assessing your current


HR capacity and forecasting supply and demand, it’s time to begin the
process of developing and adding talent. Talent development is a crucial part
of the strategic human resources management process.

Recruitment

In the recruitment phase of the talent development process, you begin the
search for applicants that match the skills your company needs. This phase
can involve posting on job websites, searching social networks like LinkedIn
for qualified potential employees, and encouraging current employees to
recommend people they know who might be a good fit.

Selection

Once you have connected with a pool of qualified applicants, conduct


interviews and skills evaluations to determine the best fit for your
organization. If you have properly forecasted supply and demand, you
should have no trouble finding the right people for the right roles.

Hiring

Decide the final candidates for the open positions and extend offers.

Training and development

After hiring your new employees, bring them on board. Organize training to
get them up to speed on your company’s procedures. Encourage them to
continue to develop their skills to fit your company’s needs as they change.
For more ideas on how to develop your own on boarding process, read our
blog post or customize this on boarding.

Employee remuneration and benefits administration

Keep your current employees and new hires happy by offering competitive
salary and benefit packages and by properly rewarding employees who go
above and beyond. Retaining good employees will save your company a lot of
time and money in the long run.
Performance management

Institute regular performance reviews for all employees. Identify successes


and areas of improvement. Keep employees performing well with incentives
for good performance.

Employee relations

A strong company culture is integral in attracting top talent. Beyond that,


make sure your company is maintaining a safe work environment for all,
focusing on employee health, safety, and quality of work life.

4. Review and evaluation

Once your human resource management process plan has been in place for
a set amount of time, you can evaluate whether the plan has helped the
company to achieve its goals in factors like production, profit, employee
retention, and employee satisfaction. If everything is running smoothly,
continue with the plan, but if there are roadblocks along the way, you can
always change up different aspects to better suit your company’s needs.

What are the tools used for strategic HRP?


Mission, Vision and Values

A company’s mission, vision and values statements define its purpose and
give it direction. Human resources managers use mission, vision and values
in planning by incorporating these elements in recruiting, development and
retention practices. For example, if a company’s mission is to be a top-
quality producer of cookware nationwide, the human resources department
would focus on national recruiting of candidates experienced in cookware
manufacturing. If company vision includes becoming a world-class
employer, human resources must plan world-class employee development
and retention programs.

Environmental Analysis

Environmental analysis involves monitoring internal and external factors


that influence the company. A common tool is SWOT analysis, which
identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and plans how
to address them to the company’s advantage. SWOT analysis of human
resources tasks is a valuable tool to use at the beginning of project
planning, for analysis of a short-term challenge and for long-term planning.
Forecasting

Human resources managers forecast labour needs so they can plan to


maintain or expand a work force, acquire new employees through mergers
and acquisitions or reduce a work force when closing business units.
Forecasting labour needs involves participation in corporate strategy,
working with senior managers to learn the direction they plan for the
company and analyzing historical employee data such as turnover and
employee numbers in relation to revenue.

Evaluation and Assessment (How is strategic HRP evaluated?)

Human resources managers use work force evaluation and assessment to


understand and monitor business data such as payroll and benefits costs,
revenues earned per employee, total employee hours, absenteeism rates,
training costs, separation costs, turnover rates, and HR metrics, including
HR expenses per employee and number of employees per HR professional.

Write a short note on human resource accounting. Discuss


any one method of human resource accounting.
Flamholtz., who has done considerable work in the area of human resource
accounting, has defined it as follows: “Human resource accounting is
accounting for people as an organizational resource. It involves measuring
the costs incurred by business firms and other organizations to recruit,
select, hire, train and develop human assets. It also involves measuring the
economic value of people to the organization.”

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