HPWP Practices and HRM Policies of HR Planning - Research Paper Example

Human Resource Planning Approaches and Techniques Michael Wilkins, the CEO of Promina defines Talent Management, “Talent management is about making sure that you have the right people in the right places for both themselves and the organization” (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2006). The importance of talent management has increased nowadays, so do the role of human resource department. Since strong talent management may increase the workforce productivity therefore, companies are rapidly recognizing that they cannot be successful unless that create a strong talent management strategy. The successful companies have been effectively developing talent management strategies and through rewarding candidates and providing them nurturing climate, they are nourishing talent. Another process that is considered central to employee motivation and workplace productivity is High Performance Workforce Practice (HPWP). HPWP is recognised as a bundle of practices that are very essential for holistic workplace environment, and for increasing effectiveness of employees. In the report of India government studies, the identified HPWP Practices include cross training and job rotation, multi-skilling, job enrichment, job enlargement, mentoring, systems of communication, performance rewards, flexible working, growth in discretion, peer review and 360 degree evaluation, knowledge management and sharing of learning resources, career coaching, self directed production and services teams and flexible job descriptions (India Gov). On the other hand, International Labour Organisation (ILO) has defined four main areas of HPWP including job design and employee involvement, communication and information sharing, support for learning skills and rewarding and acknowledging performance through rewarding and recognition (India gov, n.d.). Hiring the right people is very important for the organization and there is a strong relationship between HR involvements in internal branding. Moreover, human resources also play a significant role in incorporating brand into work activities. For creating strong organizational branding, companies are putting great focus towards talent management and HPWP. It means, talent management and HPWP are very significant, thereby, making human resources planning an important part of strategic planning. Human resources planning can be defined as “the process of anticipating and providing for the movement of people into, within, and out of an organization (Bohalnder and Snell, 2007). There are various techniques of human resources planning and many of them are very complex. These techniques and approaches are employed by professionals. A general approach used for human resource planning consists of four stages including forecasting future demand for human resources, forecasting future internal supply of human resources, forecasting future external supply of human resources and formulating responses to the forecasts. At each stage of human resources planning approach, different techniques are used. For example, at the first stage of forecasting demand for human resources, different techniques can be used such as systematic techniques (mathematical and statistical techniques), Management analysis etc (Taylor, 2002). Nowadays, organizations are using different dynamic approaches to human resource planning to improve their internal organizational branding. Interestingly, the process of human resource planning is very creative and there is no single approach for developing any human resources planning strategy. The approaches usually vary from organization to organization. To critically evaluate the process of human resources planning, the example of an approach to human resources planning could be given. According to this approach, there are six stages of human resources strategy. The first step is to set up the strategic direction for the organization. The second step is to design the human resources management system. The third step is to plan the total workforce required to achieve the strategic goals. Generating the required human resources come in the fourth step. The fifth step deals with the investments made in human resource development and performance. The final and sixth step is to asses and sustains organization competence and performance (Workinfo, n.d.). Source: A Strategic Human Resource Management System for the 21st Century. Naval Personnel Task Force, September 2000 This model provides a very standard but complex approach to the process of human resource planning. Although this model has been developed to achieve the strategic aims of the company however, at each step of this model, the importance of workforce is highlighted. For example, in the first stage of setting up the strategic directions, recognizing the internal capabilities of the organization is very essential. The second stage of this model is very important because at this stage, the organization has to develop cost effective and lawful HRM policies. Again, this stage is an essential component of HR planning however, since policies may vary from organization to organization therefore, the human resource management process of organizations differs. Moreover, a good approach of an organization towards suitable HRM policies enhances HPWP practices at workplace. In this way, each stage of any human resources planning model is an important determinant of talented workforce, friendly HRM policies and success to obtain strategic goals of organization. One mistake which most of the organizations make while practicing human resource planning process is not to take strategic goals into account and selecting talented and highly skilled workforce without analyzing the requirements of skills to obtain the targeted goals. Talent management approach is usually integrated with HR practices (Ibrahim). Talent management study shows that various organisations are not collecting and analysing information that might help them for future (Pitt-Catsouphes et al, 2009). This process is different from the traditional career development processes because it is an evolving process and it integrates previously independent and disconnected processes by employing technology (Knowledge Infusion, 2006). JoAan Moeller argues, “(talent management) is giving us better quality and better control of our HR processes. That’s particularly important in a large and fast-growing global organization (Oracle, 2008). Different electronic talent management software has been also introduced and HR departments of various organisation demand electronic assistance to screen, sort and manage such things (Sumser, 2006). Apart from talent management programs, HPWP practices at workplace are also important. It is a proven methodology to increase effectiveness of workplace (Preferred Training Networks, 2009). HPWP practices are limited in service industry such as highly regulator sector banks (Murphy & Olsen, n.d.). However, nowadays, companies are highly relying on technologies such as HPWS (Kintana et al, 2006). Organizations have made talent management an important part of human resources planning and development. To understand how organizations achieve talent management, let me give some examples of talent management practices at IBM. Through a formal selection and recruitment process, IBM hires people, however, the true talent management process starts when the people join IBM. The talent management process of IBM focuses on two areas including talent development and career development. According to IBM, since it is a service company and expertise and skills of the organization are the determinants of its market value therefore, to achieve long term, competitiveness organization focuses on talent management plans (Wolf, 2004). To promote talent development at workplace, organization focuses on 4 Tier Learning model. This model advocates to learn from Information (Internet), Interaction (Multimedia), Collaboration (Practice it with others) and Cooperation (Face to face through building relationships). At selection and recruitment stage, IBM creates pipelines of diverse talent pool based on performance of people for three kinds of positions including executive resources, technical resources and top talent or management resources. After pooling the talent into various groups, a formal and standard process of assessment centre is conducted. Managers do the initial identification and finally BU executives screen the candidates. After entering into organisation, a continuous pressure is given to motivate the employees to build expertise (Wolf, 2004). The first cycle to build expertise is employee development cycle, in which personal business commitments, individual development plan, general learning resources and specific learning areas are considered. The leadership development resources at IBM include mentoring, advisors, and manager action net and coaching stimulators. Furthermore, career development process is another important part of talent management at IBM and the tools used for career development include career talks, e-learning, virtual career coach, learning classes, job positing and job sculpting and rotation. Therefore, the talent management process of IBM shows that IBM follows a very formal way to manage talent. The process starts from recruitment and selection, and ends when an employee leaves the organization. Similarly, the HPWP system of IBM has also yielded high-performance practices across IBM and it includes multiple and reinforcing practices that has influential impact to produce synergies and to reinforce the business model (Murrell et al, 2009). American Express is also popular because of its talent management program. The following model presents how the organization enhances the personal competencies to organization learning of the workforce. 2004 ASTD Competency Model Source: ASTD Org Moreover, an extension to performance management process, American express has introduced a skills learning track system. Three levels of skills have been introduced including basic facilitation skills, basic leadership skills and advanced leadership skills (Stewart et al, 2007). The figures shows that the learning track format of American Express. TSII Employee Development Learning Track Source: ASTD Org Another way through which organizations can increase the effectiveness of their human resource planning process is by giving considerable attention towards the selection of candidates. Moreover, proper selection methods also increase the efficiency of talent management of the company thereby, enhancing the effectiveness of HPWP practices. In order to understand, how companies can adopt different selection methods, let me define different selection methods. The traditional method of selection is filling up form, attaching letter of reference and interview. It is interesting to note that with time a gradual change has been seen in the fairness of this process and changing format of application form. Some organizations have improved the interview conducting styles, some have improved ratings of training and experience in application form whereas, some have added behavioral competencies. The emergence of internet technology also has brought changes in selection styles. For example, various companies ask the candidates to appear in online assessment tests before applying. Such tests are created to ensure the right kind of applicants for the position. Online software programs have been developed that automatically screens CVs and shortlists the students. Moreover, in the current selection methods, psychological tests, group exercise and work sample tests are frequently used. All selection methods have some limitations and a standard selection procedure cannot be introduced because the requirements of selection methods may vary based on the kind of job, nature of organization etc. Interestingly, the selection methods may vary from country to country such as in a survey of 251 US employers, the most common selection method found was reference checks followed by interviews, drug tests and unstructured interviews whereas, the rare selection methods were biodata, assessment tests and psychological tests. The survey results in the UK showed that traditional method of selection is common in the UK. In Europe, selection practices are different because in France, graphology is considered as the best selection technique, in Netherlands application forms is the common method, in Spain references are used, in Portugal psychometric testing is common and in Netherlands and Spain, aptitude tests are popular (Wiley, n.d). A very interesting thing about selection methods is that they are highly influenced by macroeconomic factors. For example, in the periods of high unemployment or economic recession, organizations introduce stringent methods. The reason is that organizations get access to a diverse pool of people and they want best fit. There are various problems, which an organization also faces during recruitment and selection such as shortage of qualified candidates, competition and problems in identifying the right applicants. However, by making the selection-process an important part of HR planning process, organizations can overcome such issues. Organizations should realize that selection process is an important part of Human resource planning and strategic planning. Therefore, the selection methods should be selection in consideration to various issues in focus. The most important thing for an organization whilst opting for a selection method is the reliability of the method. By reliability of selection method, I mean, that it should give a consistent account of the candidate. Second, selection method should be valid and it should facilitate the organization to distinguish the good and poor candidates. Third, selection method should be opted for after considering the nature of job for example, to select a civil engineer, a written test will be more suitable whereas, to select a cook, a written test will never be a good option. Moreover, selection methods should be cost effective for the company and they should not be a part of huge budgets. In a research of recruitment and selection, it was found that good organizations are more likely to use selection methods such as behavior based interviews, motivational fit inventories, ability tests, trainings and experience evaluations, biographical data and motivational fit inventories (Rious and Bernthal, n.d.). Outsourcing the recruitment and selection processes is also an increasing trend in the organizations. No doubt, the service providers are highly specialized firms offering such services. However, recruitment and selection process is an important component of overall strategic human resources planning, and external firms can never realize the internal capabilities of the organizations. Therefore, such practices should be formalized within the organization. After the selection process, the organizations should give great consideration towards talent management and HPWP practices. Moreover, rather than delegating talent management completely to HR department, the strategy should be driven from the top and it should be linked with overall strategy planning. Therefore, HR planning should be considered as a very critical process and each step of this process should be given a considerable attention because only a formal and perfect procedure can facilitate the organization in the achievement of its goals. Moreover, talent management, HPWP practices, selection methods and HRM policies are very important areas of consideration of HR planning. References Bohlander, W., G., Snell., S., (2007). Managing Human Resources. [Online] Engage Learning. Available from: http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=J1MgADAhyr8C&dq=Managing+Human+Resources+14+illustrated&source=gbs_navlinks_s [Accessed: 22 February 2010]. Economist Intelligence Unit, (2006). The CEO’s Role in Talent Management. [Online] Available at: http://www.ddiworld.com/pdf/eiu_ddi_talentmanagement_fullreport.pdf [Accessed: 22 February 2010]. Ibrahim, C. (n.d.) Talent Management Definition. [Online] Available at: http://www.citehr.com/99747-talent-management-definition-importance.html [Accessed: 22 February 2010]. India Gov. (n.d.) Introduction to High Performance Work Practices Through Performance Related Incentive Schemes (PRIS). [Online] Available at: http://india.gov.in/govt/studies/annex/2.5.5.pdf [Accessed: 22 February 2010]. 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[Online] Available at: http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:SevP4yirJNEJ:www.wdi.umich.edu/files/old/hrn/workshops/download_files/spring_2004/present/ibm.ppt+Talent+Development+and+Career+Management+at+IBM&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk [Accessed: 22 February 2010]. Workinfo. (n.d.) A Guide to Strategic Human Resources Planning. [Online] Available at: http://gametlibrary.worldbank.org/FILES/844_HR%20planning%20principles.pdf [Accessed: 22 February 2010]. Read More