Managment, the Definition of Strategic Staffing - Assignment Example

Strategic Staffing Question No.1 What is the definition of strategic staffing? What is the objective of strategic staffing and what are the primary issues or challenges in developing a strategic staffing approach? Answer No.1 Strategic staffing is defined as the process that the organizations use for identification and addressing the requirements of staff or workforce for successful implementation of their plans and strategies that are vital for their business operations. The primary objective of strategic staffing is to help organizations in predicting their needs for future staffing which is followed by description of the staffing actions that can be taken to eradicate any problems that may arise in future. The main problems or challenges that are encountered in the strategic staffing approach are inaccurate prediction of the staffing needs, lack of management’s expertise and skills in forecasting the future staffing needs, improper mechanisms for implementation of the strategic plan and the top management may be reluctant to implement this approach as it may not consider this approach valuable for the organization. Question No.2 Explain the difference between a staffing strategy and a staffing plan? Answer No.2 The staffing strategy has a long-term approach for the organization which has one objective and within this context various staffing decisions are made for effective working of the organization. A staffing strategy is described as the long-term and directional plan that provides description of what a company is going to do for a certain time period or some planning horizon such as a year, two years or three years for ensuring that it has adequate supply of staff to match the staffing demands of the company. On the other hand, a staffing plan is a short-term and tactical plan that describes the actions an organization will do in the specific period such as the present year or quarter for addressing the instant requirements of filling the staffing gaps or making adjustments for any surpluses in staffing. Question No.3 How would you go about defining the right staffing levels for your company? Answer No.3 In order to define the right staffing levels for a company, there is a process for determining the staffing needs and then implementing the process for hiring a right staff. The first step is the identification and prioritizing of the long-term staffing challenges and consequences that arise from the business plans and strategies. The next step is to create a model of staffing that will calculate surpluses and shortages of staff which includes defining the types and number (capabilities and staffing levels) of employees which will be required at some particular time in the future for implementation of organization’s plans, determine the current staffing resource availability, forecasting the talent supply which might be available in future and calculating any differences between the forecasted supply and demand of staff. Then the staffing strategies will be developed to ensure that there will be appropriate number of workforce in the future to support the continuation of an organization’s business operations. Question No.4 Provide three uncontrollable and three controllable staffing actions that could occur when creating a staffing model? Answer No.4 The three uncontrollable staffing actions encountered during creation of a staffing model are management’s unwillingness to continue with the development of staffing strategy, high employee turnover and lack of resources for fulfilling staffing budget requirements as the money needs to be invested in survival of the business. The controllable staffing actions are lack of insufficient data as it can be acquired from other reliable sources, the process is considered to be time-consuming and HR people’s unwillingness to carry on the process and any unfavorable past experiences in the development of staffing strategy (the problems faced in the previous strategy can be avoided when developing a new strategy). Question No.5 Staffing ratios is one of the simplest forms of defining required staffing levels, provide an example of what a staffing ratio is, and how you would use it in determining staffing levels. Answer No.5 Staffing ratios are useful in understanding the relationships in numerical terms as they help in creating a relationship between the output volume and work required and the number of staff that will be needed for doing that work or producing the required level of output. Generally, the relationships are expressed in the form of a ratio of output or volume per person (Bechet, 104). For example, if a company has a staffing ratio of 40 units per worker and it wants to have 12,000 units at the end of a month, then it will have to employ 300 workers (12000 units divided by 40 units per worker) so that the required unit level can be achieved. With the help of staffing ratios, an organization can determine the number of staff people that will be required to achieve the desired output or work. Question No.6 In getting line managers engaged in the workforce planning process, what are the four solutions within the context of the 30,000-foot approach? Answer No.6 The four solutions for getting the line managers involved in the workforce planning process in accordance with the 30,000 feet approach are as follows: 1. The line managers should be clarified that they will be accountable for strategic staffing and they will have to ensure that they identify and address the staffing issues and challenges. 2. The line managers will be accountable for the output; it implies that the line managers will have to develop strategic staffing plan and then implement the strategy to ensure that the required output level is achieved. 3. The line managers should be given discretion power which means that the process should be flexible so that they can effectively manage the staffing requirements. 4. The required tools and supporting mechanism need to be provided to the line managers so that they can get engaged in the effective implementation of workforce planning process. Question No.7 How do companies develop management candidates in advance of their needs? Answer No.7 In order to develop the management candidates in advance, the companies develop strategic plans so that they have an idea about the requirement of staff in future. During the development of staffing model, the companies also analyze the capability requirement of each staffing level so that they can develop those skills in particular candidates. In order to develop the required competencies, most of the organizations either ask the supervisors to train their subordinates or send them for various training sessions so that they can acquire those skills that will prepare them for their future positions. Some of the companies even delegate the potential candidates the projects or tasks that they will have to do at management positions so that they are prepared for that position in the future (Wei, 50). Question No.8 How could you apply staffing strategies in workforce planning if top management is resistant to accepting staffing plans to address a given problem? Answer No.8 When the top management is resistant in the implementation of staffing strategies, then the foremost thing that needs to be done is to make them understand the importance of staffing strategies. For instance, if there is shortage of staff in the organization, then a report should be developed about the consequences of this problem on the organization’s performance; the top management will understand the problem only when they are given detailed information about the impact of this issue on the effectiveness of the organization. The top management is looking for facts that can help them in realizing the need of implication of the staffing strategies. In order to convince the top management, the only effective solution is to show them the relationship between staffing strategy effectiveness and organization’s improved performance. Question No.9 What does a “zero” based approach mean? Explain how this concept applies in workforce planning. Answer No.9 A Zero-based approach means that a company develops a plan with a blank slate which implies that everything mentioned in the plan or budget needs to be explained and justified that it will help a company to address the current needs and resources. According to this approach, the previous data should not be used; an entirely new set of data is created that helps a company to move in a right direction by focusing on its present position. In workforce planning, the zero based approach will ensure that a company identifies its current needs regarding the staffing requirements; it helps the managers to start thinking in terms of availing new opportunities and creating efficient workforce for the organization’s improved performance. It will allow the managers to think in a strategic way and will ensure that true and fair picture of the staffing requirement is diagnosed and a right staffing strategy is developed for the company. Question No.10 Identify the four steps of the strategic staffing process and the most important elements in each step. Answer No.10 The four steps of the strategic staffing process are as follows: 1. Defining the critical staffing issues – The long-term context of the business should be understood so that right level of staffing requirements can be developed which will support effective implementation of business plans and strategies. 2. Defining gaps and surpluses in staffing – It is important for an organization to decide about the appropriate mix of staffing level and capabilities so that any gaps or surpluses can be avoided in future. 3. Development of effective staffing strategies – There should be alignment between the business plan and staffing plan so that appropriate number of staff is available for meeting the organizational goals. 4. Defining the staffing plans – The staffing plans should provide details about the actions that will be implemented to ensure that the staffing strategies will be effective in achievement of an organization’s goals and objectives. Question No.11 Do you believe the horizontal or the vertical approach for implementing your workforce planning process is better? What is your basis for your position? Answer No.11 The best approach for the implementation of workforce planning is vertical framework as it will ensure that each position will be filled by a competent person in the future; it even allows the management team to implement appropriate measures for the development of staff so that future needs of staffing can be fulfilled. The vertical approach will allow the organization to ensure that it has appropriate blend of capabilities and number of employees for meeting the prospective staffing needs. With the help of this approach, an organization can easily keep track of its performance as effectiveness of the staffing process is monitored on a frequent basis; the impact of strategic staffing is evaluated to ensure that business plans are effectively followed. Question No.12 Describe the two types of implementation frameworks. Which one is generally more effective, and why? Answer No.12 The two types of implementation frameworks are defined according to the scope and impact. In the scope framework, the scope is defined as the group size that will be included in the process and it can be defined in terms of the number of job levels, functions, jobs, organization units or locations. While, in the impact framework, the impact is defined as the degree to which a new process is affecting the organization in a positive way; the extent of impact can range in between low to high. The most effective framework for implementation of strategic staffing process is the impact implementation framework as it will assist an organization to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of this process on the organization’s performance and it will ensure that appropriate measures are taken to ensure that staffing requirements of the organization are met for proper implementation of business plans and strategies. Read More