Center Name:
1.1 Explain the importance of Strategic Human Resource Management to the institute’s success. Highlight the need for medium and long term planning. (150 words) AC 1.1
The success of any organization is directly influenced by strategic human resource management. When an organization is set up, there is need to fill in the job position with the right people. Strategic HRM helps an organization to fill the job positions of the organization with the required personnel. Notably, the employees who are sourced and recruited by an organization determine the propensity of achieving the set goals and objectives of the organization. If an organization has the right employees, it is possible to cultivate a culture that fosters novelty and flexibility in management. In order to achieve the goals of the organization, it is important make use of Strategic HRM which helps in the development of policies and activities that enhance employees’ competency levels.To achieve short term planning, Strategic HRM considers the internal capacities of the organization and attempts to fine-tune them to the aims of the organization. The gaps identified in the internal capacities are bridged by sourcing external expertise. In long term planning, Strategic HRM helps in ensuring smooth transition and succession in various job disciplines. Nevertheless, retention of employees is significant in both long term and short term planning.
In the strategic planning of an institute, Human Resource professionals play significant roles. For the organization to be able to align its corporate strategies to the business strategy, the executive strategic planning team should have human resource professional. HR professionals should be included to perform the following duties:
- Help to recognize and advice on the key human issues that needs to be considered in business strategy. The professional helps in advising the organization on important human resource factors that the organization must promote to succeed.
- Steer and implement strategic plan for the institute. A meaningful plan is that which takes into account all the fundamental aspects of the business. As such, Strategic HRM is able to create a useful strategic plan
- Provide the know-how required to make the strategic planning process meaningful. HR professionals have the skills and intelligence needed in the strategic planning process
- Help in creating a roadmap on the specific human resource activities that make the institute to be worthwhile
- Fostering and spearhead organizational change. Some situations in the institution may require organizational change. HR professionals are able to initiate and implement change.
- Help in developing customer-oriented service programs
As mentioned earlier, Strategic Human Resource Management helps in translating the corporate strategies into operational and business strategies.
Human resource planning is the process used by an organization to determine its current and future human resources requirements. The human resource requirement is determined both in terms of number of personnel and the skills needed.The process relies on institutional operations, plans, strategies and organizational structure. It is important to underscore that the entire process is influenced by both internal and external factors. Internal factors are those that are within the organization while external factors are those from outside the organization.
The internal factors include:
- Current and future plans of the organization which determines the overall operation levels and activities of the organization. The desired position of the organization after a given period is very fundamental to consider when doing human resource planning
- Current manpower available in terms of talents and experiencethe organization and the needed skills that should be filled.
- Policies and practices within the organization that directly or indirectly influence employment practices. Factors such as remuneration are very influential on the human resource planning
- The structure, strategy and culture of the organization
- Training needs of the current staff to elevate them to the desired level of the organization
External factors
- External competition in the industry determines the kind of personnel an organization should hire to remain competitive. In most cases, well established and performing institutions attract qualified and skilled personnel without necessarily having to advertise job positions. In order to attract competent manpower, the human resource department needs to keep in mind the level of competition in the industry.
- Compensation offered in the industry also influence human resource planning. The fluctuations in in the labor supply market need to be evaluated from time to time to ensure that the organization attracts and retain qualified personnel
- Legislation regarding retention of personnel influences human resource planning. As such, organization must train their managers to equip them with necessary skills as policies may require
- The needs of the target market
- Novelty and innovations in the market also influence human resource planning. As technology changes, new products and services are needed in the market. Therefore, HR planning must be able to attract personnel who can deliver the required quality
As mentioned earlier, increase in the number of students in the institutions implies that the staffing needs will proportionately increase. It is, therefore, important to develop a plan for the summer period of July and August. The plan is a shown below:
Employees Required in Summer July/August
- Critically evaluate how a human resources plan can contribute to meeting the institute’s objectives. (80 words) AC 2.4
Plan is a very important aspect of every activity. Institutional objectives can only be met if a proper plan is put in place. Just like any other plan, HR plan play an important role in meeting the needs of the organization. HR plan helps in meeting the objectives of the organization in a number of ways. It contributes in achieving the objectives of the organization by:
- Through HR plan, the organization is able to assess future supply and demands for human resources. The needs of the organization are addressed through the plan.
- HR plan helps in providing appropriate means of doing away with gaps that may exist between supply and demands. The task force needed can be aligned to the supply through HR planning.
It is important to note that implementation of the organization’s strategic plan requires an effective HR planning. Besides, profitability of an organization depends on HR policies. In other words, the achievement of the objectives of the organization relies on the Human Resources planning. It makes it possible to create a match between the employees’ requirements and qualification.
3.1 Explain with examples the purpose of human resource management policies in the Institute and analyze the impact of complying with regulatory requirements on human resource management policies. (150 words) AC 3.1 & 3.2
Human resource policies refer to formal rules and regulations used by an organization to guide the process of hiring, training, assessing and rewarding its workforce. These policies are important in an institution because they lay a guideline within which all the practices within the organization are structured. Usually, there may be misunderstandings between employees and employer if the policies are lacking. HRM policies help in creating an environment that fosters good relations between the employees and the management. HRM policies help in ensuring that the rights and duties of the employees as well as the responsibilities of the management are outlined.
Most importantly, HRM policies should ensure that there suitable working environment that creates a balance between the need of the employees and those of the institution. To have such an environment, HRM policies are mandatory. It is important to ensure that HRM policies of an organization are in compliance with the regulations of the country where the organization operates. It is notable that different countries and states have standard policies regarding rights of the employees. It is, therefore, important that an organization comes up with HRM policies that agree with the state laws or federal laws.Whenever a case arises that pertains to employees rights and policies, courts will usually rule the case based on standard policies.
For example, any organization that operates in the United States must ensure that its HRM policies are congruent to the state and federal policies regarding labor. The policies of the organization must guarantee the employees the rights that are stipulated in the federal and state labor laws. Nevertheless, individual organization may opt to offer more rights and privileges to its employees in order to increase the retention capacity of the employees. As long as the policies comply with the requirements of the federation or state, additional policies made in favor of the workers are permissible. For instance, an organization may decide to extend the leave period for its employees as a means of motivating them.
4.1 Analyze the impact of an institute’s structure and culture on the management of human resources. (150 words) AC 4.1 & 4.2
Human resource management is defined as the management of an organization’s workforce or human resources. It entails a number of activities such as attraction, selection, training, assessment, rewarding as well as motivation of the employees. Human resource management helps in filling job positionsand vacancies with the right persons qualified for those positions. Once positions are identified in the organization, human resource personnel take the responsibility of ensuring that the organization attracts qualified personnel and recruit them to fill the positions as required by the organization. However, the institutions’ structure and culture have significant influence on HRM.
Organization culture refers to the way an organization carries out its activities based on the beliefs and values that are held by the organization. Structure on the other hand is the lay out of the organizational operations and standards. When sourcing personnel to fill the position in an institution, it is important to consider the structure and culture of the organization. Employees who are not comfortable or incompatible to the culture of the organization are not able to survive for a long time.
If an organization embraces corporate culture, the management of the staff and human resources should be based on the get go. The culture must be congruent to the needs of the staff in place. Such an organization will always create a flexible culture that can be adjusted to the needs of the staff involved. Nevertheless, an organization may as well have a more relaxed environment and trend inclined. In such a case, the staff must be ready to put up with this culture.
As far as organizational structure is concerned, the employees should be able to understand the nature of the institution in which they work. A company may be bureaucratic, centralized, decentralized, matrix, democratic and so forth. The employees should know the nature of their company in order to adjust accordingly. The nature of the organization will determine the communication lines that the organization will use. Therefore, HRM will ensure that the workers are managed in accordance to the organizational structure.
4.2 Examine how the effectiveness of human resource strategies is monitored in an institute? Identify performance indicators that can be used in monitoring the efficacy of human resource strategies in achieving organizational goals. (150 words) AC 4.3
It is important to come up with ways of monitoring the effectiveness of human resource strategies. Employees will always test limits and act creatively in workplace situations. A strategy is needed for developing, communicating and enforcing policies and practices that reflect the desired practice in the organization. Once human resource management strategy is mapped out, there is need to monitor its effectiveness and success. Effective tools should be used to monitor the operations and the effectiveness of the strategy.
Evaluation and monitoring of the effectiveness of human resource management strategies can be done using tools such as SWOT analysis and Scorecard evaluation. In SWOT analysis, four important aspects play a central role in determining the effectiveness of human resource management strategy. They include internal strengths and weaknesses alongside the external opportunities and threats. An effective HR strategy should have more strength and weaknesses as well as more opportunities than threats. Therefore, SWOT evaluation is done by scanning the internal environment to determine the strengths and weaknesses as well as scanning the external environment to understand the opportunities and threats associated with the HRM strategy.
HR Scorecard is another important tool for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the HR strategy. The scorecard determines the effectiveness and efficiency of HRM in improving the behaviors of the employees with the aim of achieving the strategic goals of the company. A number of factors need to be considered to create a good HR scorecard. The scorecard should contain the company’s strategy, the links between the HR activities, the behavior of the employees, the expected outcomes of the organization, goals and the metrics for measuring all the activities and outcomes.
4.3 Al Mahra Computer and Business Training Centre has a rigid and formal organizational structure. The cultural climate is cold. There is high turnover of staff. Make justified recommendations to improve human resource management in Al Mahra. (80 words) AC 4.4
Employees’ productivity and dexterity is dependent on the level of motivation. It is important to create a stimulating working environment that promotes good performance of the employees. Without a warm environment, the working environment becomes cold and boring to the employees. The performance of the employees in such an environment is low. The following recommendations if implemented can help improve the situation at Al Mahra:
- Creating flex working hours for the employees to choose on the most convenient working time based on personal interest
- Should create activities that can engage the employees and enhance their autonomy
- Initiate regular awards and performance appraisal to help motivate the employees and boost their morale
- Should create workshops and interactive sessions for the employees to freely exchange and share their interests and experience.
- Create forums for the employees to share their personal interests, hobbies and unique practices that others may not know about them.
- Should create in-house soft skill training program to make the employees develop interest towards the organization
- Should create development days for the employees to have their own time together to meet and learn more about each other
- Should create short breaks in the working hours to enable the employees to relief themselves of the stress and regain strength
- Should allow and engage the employees in CSR activities such as environment management programs and charitable events
Bibliography
Armstrong, M. (2003). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Press.
Armstrong, M. (2008). Strategic Human resource Management: A Guide to Action. Kogan Page Limited.
Ashe-Edmunds, T. B. (2014, January 13). External & Internal Environmental Factors Influencing HR Activities. Houston Chronicle, p. D45.
Holbeche, L. (2008). Aligning Human Resources and Business Strategy, 2nd Edition. Butterworth-Heinemann,.
Mullins, L. (2004). Management and Organisational Behaviour. Prentice Hall.
Saunders M, M. M. (2007). Strategic Human Resource Management: Contemporary Issues . Financial Times/Prentice Hall.
