If you visit a company, you will see so many managers. You may note that a company has a head of marketing department, that company has a head of sales department, that company has a head of hihi department, that company has head of haha department and so on? And, that company also has a Human resource department.
You realise that each manager has at least one subordinate, and we can say that every manager manages human. There are so many managers, so you may have a question: why do we need a human resource department? The answer is People at the human resource Department manage resources, they manage a very special resource – human resource. Head of departments also manages people, however they focus on managing People activities.
Now, let me explain more about Human Resource Management. I have a short story, from may story you will learn more about Human Resource Management.
Mr. Peter is head of the wholesale Department, his department has 4 people, Peter, Mary, Tina, and Stifler. At the end of the month, Peter makes a plan for next month. From his plan, he will continue to maintain the relationship with current customers and look for new customers, and the expected results include: minimum sale volume is 5000 units, having a strong relationship with at least 95 percent of the current customer, total customer increases at least 10 percent when compared with previous month.
When a new month began, Peter assigned jobs to his subordinates (This process is Organising). The assignment process is illustrated below.
– Peter assign job to Marry:
+ Peter: Hi Mary
+ Mary: Hi Peter
+ Peter: This month, you and I will continue to maintain the relationship with the exit customers, and we are also looking for new customers. You will send emails to our exit customers. We will inform customers about our new product and promotion, and we also listen to their feedback. We also make contact with new customers.
+ Mary: Yes sir.
– Peter assign job to Tina:
+ Peter: Hi Tina
+ Tina: Hi Peter
+ Peter: This month, you will manage orders. You receive orders from our customers, and check the payment. If you find any successful orders, you will send bills to Stifler.
+ Tina: Yes sir.
– Peter assign job to Stifler:
+ Peter: Hi Stifler
+ Stifler: Hi Peter
+ Peter: This month, you will manage delivery. After you receive bills from Tina, you will deliver goods to customers.
+ Stifler: Yes sir.
After assigned a job to subordinates, Peter was Delegating and Controlling to his subordinates. I will talk more about Planning, Organising, Delegating and controlling in another story. Now I will talk about the HR department.
A month before Peter worked for this company, the CEO thought about a new regional wholesale department. After the CEO’s idea had been approved, he asked the head of the HR department for help.
From the order of Mr. CEO, people at the HR department analysed jobs, calculated workforce demand, set up compensation packets, designed performance appraisal systems, and hired Peter and his subordinates.
Now you know about the HR department. I close my story with a question: ?do you see any conflict between Peter and people at the HR department??.
The answer is no, and we do not have any conflict. People at the HR department help their company to find the right people (Peter and his subordinates), they also set up HR policies and are involved in some activities. In general, people at the HR department manage the resource (Human resource), Peter and other managers manage People activities.
B. Human resource management activities
Job Analysis
Imagine that you are the head of an HR department. You want to know about all jobs in your organization. If you collect all job?s information, this process is Job analysis.
Now, you know about job analysis, let me explain to you about information you need to collect when you analyse jobs. In general, when you analyse jobs, you find job contents and job?s requirements.
First, we talk about the job’s contents. Imagine that you have a small retail shop, and you need some sales representative. A Sales representative is a job, and the worker must do the following activities. First, he must interact with customers. Second, he must explain to customers about the products. Third, he must clean your shop. From the example above, I will explain to you about the job’s contents. A job has some different tasks (normally), and a task is a piece of work to be done or undertaken.
Second, we talk about job?s requirements. When we talk about a job’s requirements, we talk about the minimum qualification a person needs to perform a particular job. Simply, we need to answer the question ?Who can take this job??. Now, we continue with our example.
After analysing the job, we find out that our sales representative needs the minimum requirement below.
– He must have High school certificate or equivalent;
– He must have Some experience;
– He must have Good communication skills.
When we write job requirements, we focus on three categories. First, we indicate knowledge a person needs to perform a particular job. Second, we indicate skills a person needs to perform a particular job. Third, we indicate abilities a person needs to perform a particular job.
HR Planning
After you know about all jobs in your organisation, you want to know about worker demand. Simply, you need to answer the question “How many workers do I need at a particular time (Now, Future)?”. If you predict worker demands, this process is Human resource planning.
Now, you think about your retail shop from the example above. Your shop is a small shop, so you just need a few sales representatives (you are the only manager). You need to answer the question: “how many sales representatives do I need?”. After you collect data and do some calculations, you may recognise that this year you need 3 salesmen and next year you need 5 salesmen. Congratulations, you have made your Human resource plan.
Staffing (recruitment and selection)
Before we talk about staffing, we revise something we have done so far.
First, we analyse jobs, so we can answer the question: “Who do we need?”.
Second, we make the HR Plan, or simply we have answered the question: “How many people do we need?”
We continue with our example. I pretend that you do not have any workers yet, so this year, you need to hire 3 workers. If you hire workers, this process is staffing (or recruitment and selection).
Now, I will explain more about the hiring process. This hiring process includes two important sub processes.
– First, we should let potential candidates know about our vacancy. If they do not know about our needs, how can they apply to our job? This process is called Recruitment.
– Second, we must select the best workers among potential candidates. This process is called Selection. There are two popular methods we can use to classify our candidates, which are Interview and Test.
Because the hiring process includes two sub processes, which are recruitment and selection, we call this process recruitment and selection.
Training and development
If we get success from the previous process, we have workers. We expect that our workers work correctly, they can do whatever we expect them to do, so we must train them. Simply, we must train our workers so they know what to do and how to do their job.
From the previous example, after we hire 3 workers, we set up our training program. Our training program may include the following topics.
– Corporate culture.
– Business foundation.
– Job content and expectation.
– Business policies.
If you read Human resource management books, you always see the phrase ?training and development?. Actually there are two different activities, however both activities have something in common. Both activities aim to develop personal abilities. We use training when we develop our workers? ability for current purposes, and we use development when we develop our workers? ability for future purposes.
Performance appraisal
If we assess our worker performance, this process is performance appraisal. I continue with our previous example. Remember that you have a retail shop, and you have 3 workers. I present that your workers are Peter, Marry, Stifler. You expect that each worker must do the following activities (see job analysis for more information).
First, interact with customers.
Second, explain to customers about the products.
Third, clean the shop.
You are the shop owner, so you must check your employees’ working performance. Normally, you should observe your workers? actions everyday. For instance, after a month, you can make the following conclusion.
Peter is a very hard working man, he always goes to work on time, he always smiles at customers, he explains clearly and patiently to customers about your products, he cleans your shop carefully. Peter achieved outstanding performance.
Marry is a good worker, sometimes she does not go to work on time. She is not quite friendly to customers, however her behaviour is acceptable. She cleans your shop carefully. Mary met the standard requirements.
Stifler is a bad worker, he never goes to work on time, sometimes he is rude to customers, and he always avoids cleaning. Stifler does not meet the standard requirements.
Worker assessment results are really important to business decision making. For instance, after a month, you may give Peter a full salary plus some bonus, you give Mary a full salary, and you give Stifler a full salary but you let him go away.
Compensation
Compensation is the benefits received by an employee from an employer. If you work in the HR department, You may need to design compensation packets. For example, from the previous example, your worker’s monthly salary is 1500 USD.
Modern compensation packets may include financial benefits and non-financial benefits.
C. Human resource management philosophy
This theory tells us about personal perception and management styles. You will learn about the ways some legends thought about people, and the ways they manage people.
Confucius – Chinese legend.
Confucius’ perception
People were good at the time they were born, and education changed people’s behaviour. If we train people, we can change their perception, so we change the way they think and act. Confucius believed that law did not change people’s thoughts. If we use law and punishment, we can prevent people from doing bad things. However, if a person does not know about right and wrong, he is not ashamed of his bad behaviour. If someone does not know about right and wrong, this person may break the law. In summary, if people know about right, they never do wrong.
Confucius management style
First, We should train people, so they will know about right and wrong.
Second, the bosses must follow the rules, so their subordinates will learn from them.
Third, some people are not willing to learn, so we may need to use punishment.
Han Fei – Chinese legend.
Han’s perception
Han Fei had the opposite perception to Confucius. In his opinion, people obey the law because they are afraid of punishment. If we want to manage people, we should use bonuses and punishment.
Han’s management style
First, If we want to manage people, we should use bonuses and punishment. If someone contributes meaningfully to your organisation, we should reward them. If someone breaks the rules, we should punish them.
Second, If we want to manage people, we should do 3 important activities. We should set up rules. We should empower the managers. We should teach managerial techniques to our managers.
XY theory
This theory also tells us about manager?s perception and management?s style, however, the author does not tell us about his own philosophy.
The author found that we can divide managers into two groups, which are group X and group Y.
Group X managers
X manager Perception: People are lazy, they do not want to work.
Management style: Managers spy on their employees, they try to manage activities. Workers are not empowered.
Group Y managers
Y manager Perception: People want to work.
Management style: Managers always use MBO. Workers are empowered.
D. Organizational strategy and workers
When we talk about an organizational strategy, we talk about long term orientations. Some popular organizational strategies are Price competitive, Innovation? If you choose a competitive strategy, you may hope that your products are cheaper than your competitors’ products. If you choose an Innovation strategy, you try to bring new values to your customers. Here, I do not talk about organizational strategy, I am going to explain the relationship between organizational strategy and workers.
Normally, a company with a price competitive strategy produces a popular product, and this company does not use special technology. For the reasons above, this company does not really need to hire special workers with special skills. On the other hand, if a company chooses Innovation strategy, it needs to hire special workers.
In summary, when you choose an organizational strategy, you need workers who fit this strategy. For instance, if you choose ?Price competitive strategy?, your company just needs normal workers. If your company chooses an ?Innovation strategy?, your company needs smart workers…
E Theory
1. Defining human resource management
Human resources is used to describe the people who work for a company or organization.
When we talk about economic value of worker, we can use human capital instead of human resource. If you do not concern about the details, the phrase human resource and human capital are used interchangeably.
From Google definition, capital is wealth in the form of money or other assets owned by a person or organization or available or contributed for a particular purpose such as starting a company or investing.
Capital goods are man-made, durable items businesses use to produce goods and services. They include tools, buildings, vehicles, machinery, and equipment (thebalance.com). Financial capital is any economic resource measured in terms of money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services to the sector of the economy upon which their operation is based, i.e. retail, corporate, investment banking, etc (wikipedia.org).
Workers are resources of an organization, and they can produce goods and services, so we can call them human capital. The phrase human resource and human capital may have different meanings, but you do not need to worry about it now.
Human resource management involves overseeing all things related to managing an organization?s human capital. HRM is concerned not only with obtaining and keeping the number and quality of staff required but also with selecting and promoting people who ?fit? the culture and the strategic requirements of the organization.
When we talk about HRM, we talk about all planned and activities of an organization to build and maintain the relation between employees and the organization in order to meet both business objectives and employees expectation.
Human resource management is therefore focused on a number of major areas, including: Job analyses, Human resource planning, Recruitment and Selection, Training and development, Performance appraisal, Reward , etc.
HR functions are concerned with the management and development of people in organizations. They are involved in the development and implementation of HR strategies and policies and some or all of the following people management activities: job analyses, planning personnel needs, recruiting the right people for the job, orienting and training, managing wages and salaries, providing benefits and incentives, evaluating performance, and communicating with all employees at all levels.
2. Job analysis
Job analysis is a process for collecting and analyzing information about a job. It is A process we use to identify tasks of a job and the knowledge, skills, and abilities (can use experience) a person needs to perform the job.
– A task is a piece of work to be done or undertaken. For example, a management job has two tasks, first task is “Contract management”, second task is “Monitoring operating costs”.
– When we talk about abilities a person needs to perform a particular job, we break it down into 3 categories, knowledge, skills, and abilities. For example, if a person needs the management job above, he must have abilities below.
+ Knowledge (we may use education instead): University graduate.
+ Experience (in this case, we use experience instead of ability): At least 3-year experience in logistics.
+ Skills: Excellent Excel skills, Good problem-solving skills, Work well independently and in a team.
From job analysis, we create job description, and job description. Job description is A list of a job’s duties. Job specification is A list of requirements (education, skills, ability) a person needs to perform a particular job.
Application of job analysis:
When we know the nature of the job, we can select appropriate candidates for that job, assess worker contribution, develop training programs, and so on.
Recruitment and selection
With job description, you will know what you are looking for. You know the job responsibilities as well as the skills and other characteristics required of candidates. A part of the job description is presented in the job advert, so candidates will know about the job which they are applying.
In the selection process, we need to know the knowledge, skills, and abilities that are required to each job.
Training
The job description provides the job responsibilities as well as the skills and other characteristics required of workers. We design the training program based on the job description, because the training program must provide the necessary competencies.
Performance appraisal
Job description tells us about job’ contents. We should assess workers based on job’ contents.
…
(to be continued)
3. Recruitment and selection
Recruitment: the process that provides the organization with a pool of qualified job candidates from which to choose.
Selection: the process of picking or choosing the right candidate, who is most suitable for a vacant job position in an organization.
3.1. Recruitment
The process of finding and attracting best-qualified candidate (from within or outside of an organization) for a job opening.
| Advantages | Disadvantages | |
| Internal Candidate | – Rewards contributions of current staff – Can be cost effective, as opposed to using a traditional recruitment strategy – Can improve moraleKnowing the past performance of the candidate can assist in knowing if they meet the criteria | – Can produce inbreeding, which may reduce diversity and difference perspectives – May cause political infighting between people to obtain the promotions – Can create bad feelings if an internal candidate applies for a job and doesn’t get it |
| External Candidates | – Brings new talent into the company – Can help an organisation obtain diversity goals – New ideas and insight brought into the company | – Implementation of recruitment strategy can be expensive – Can cause morale problems for internal candidates – Can take longer for training and orientation |
The recruitment process includes analysing the requirements of a job, attracting employees to that job?. A recruitment aim to attract potential candidates from a pool of candidates. The potential candidates should be qualified to take the job. If you do not want to think too much, in this step, you simply post a job advert.
3.2. Selection
Selection process consists of five distinct aspects: Criteria development, Application and r?sum? review, Interviewing, Test administration, Making the offer.
Criteria development:
Determining which sources of information will be used and how those sources will be scored during the interview. Involves discussing which skills, abilities, and personal characteristics are required to be successful at any given job. In human resources, this is called KSAOs2, or knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personal characteristics that make a person successful on the job.
For example:
1. Two years of experience
2. A bachelor?s degree in business
3. Problem-solving ability
4. Conflict-management ability
5. Score of at least a 7.0 on IELTS test
Application and resume review: Once the criteria have been developed (step one), applications can be reviewed. People have different methods of going through this process, but there are also computer programs that can search for keywords in resumes and narrow down the number of resumes that must be looked at and reviewed.
Interviewing & Test administration:
Interviewing: After the HR manager and/or manager have determined which applications meet the minimum criteria, he or she must select those people to be interviewed. Most people do not have time to review twenty or thirty candidates, so the field is sometimes narrowed even further with a phone interview.
Test administration: A variety of tests may be given upon successful completion of an interview. These employment tests can gauge a person?s KSAOs in relation to another candidate. The major categories of tests include the following: 1. Cognitive ability tests (measure reasoning skills, math skills, and verbal skills) 2. Personality tests 3. Physical ability tests 4. Job knowledge tests 5. Work sample
Making the offer:
The last step in the selection process is to offer a position to the chosen candidate. Development of an offer via email or letter is sometimes a more formal part of this process. Compensation and benefits will be defined in an offer.
4. Compensation and Benefits
Most of us, no matter how much we like our jobs, would not do them without a compensation package. A compensation package can include pay, health-care benefits, and other benefits. “Pay is important both in its effect on employees and on account of its cost, organizations need to plan what they will pay employees in each job”.
4.1. Goals of a Compensation Plan
First, the compensation package should be positive enough to attract the best people for the job. An organization that does not pay as well as others within the same industry will likely not be able to attract the best candidates, resulting in a poorer overall company performance.
Second, once the best employees and talent come to work for your organization, you want the compensation to be competitive enough to motivate people to stay with your organization.
Third, compensation can be used to improve morale, motivation, and satisfaction among employees. If employees are not satisfied, this can result not only in higher turnover but also in poor quality of work for those employees who do stay. A proper compensation plan can also increase loyalty in the organization.
Finally, pay systems can also be used to reward individual or team performance and encourage employees to work at their own peak performance.
4.2. Types of PayWe can divide our total pay system into three categories: pay, incentives, and other types of compensation. Pay is the hourly, weekly, or monthly salary an employee earns. An incentive, often called a pay-for-performance incentive, is given for meeting certain performance standards, such as meeting sales targets.
4.3. Pay Theories: equity theory
Concerned with the relational satisfaction employees get from pay and inputs they provide to the organization. People will evaluate their own compensation by comparing their compensation to others compensation and their inputs to others inputs.
For example:
Your monthly salary is 15 million Dollars (maybe Zimbabwe dollar). You receive this amount because you can make 15 products per hour. When you compare your salary with your coworker, you realize that your coworker salary is 20M. What do you think about your coworker’s salary? Actually, you may face several cases below.
Case 1
| You | Your Coworker |
|---|---|
| 15M (your Outcome) Make 15 products per hour (your Input) | 20M (coworker Outcome) Make 20 products per hour |
Case 2
| You | Your Coworker |
|---|---|
| 15M (your Outcome) Make 15 products per hour (your Input) | 20M (coworker Outcome) Make 25 products per hour |
Case 3
| You | Your Coworker |
|---|---|
| 15M (your Outcome) Make 15 products per hour (your Input) | 20M (coworker Outcome) Make 15 products per hour |
What do you think about each case?
Normally, people will look at their own compensation packages and at their own inputs (the work performed) and compare that with others. If they perceive this to be unfair, in that another person is paid more but they believe that person is doing less work, motivational issues can occur. In HR, we need to look at two factors related to pay equity: internal pay equity and external pay equity.
Internal equity theory: Internal pay equity focuses on employees within the same organization. Within the same organization, employees may look at higher level jobs, lower-level jobs, and years with the organization to make their decision on pay equity.
People first think about their own Outcome and Input, and then they think about their coworkers’ Outcome and Input. Outcome means something you get from your organization, and Input means something you give to your organization. Normally, people are happy if their own ratio between outcome and input is almost the same as the coworker ratio.
External pay equity: External pay equity refers to what other people in similar organizations are being paid for a similar job. From this theory, people compare the ratio between outcome and input with other people in similar organizations.
When we make pay decision, we must do something so we can achieve both Internal equity and External pay equity
4.4. Job Evaluation Systems
The value of the job is a major factor when determining pay. Job evaluation is defined as the process of determining the relative worth of jobs to determine pay structure.
One of the simplest methods, used by smaller companies or within individual departments, is a job ranking system. In this type of evaluation, job titles are listed and ranked in order of importance to the organization.
In a job classification system, every job is classified and grouped based on the knowledge and skills required for the job, years of experience, and amount of authority for that job.
Sometimes we can not directly compare our inputs, we must use Job Evaluation Systems. From this system, we can calculate the value of jobs.
For example: We can calculate a job’s value based on job requirements.
| Sale representative | Head of marketing department |
|---|---|
| Do not need experience 50 | Need at least 3 years experience 150 |
| Need BSC 100 | MBA 200 |
| Simple job 100 | Complicated job 200 |
After conducting job evaluation, we can make a pay decision. Sales representative worth 250 points, head of marketing department worth 550 points. If each point is worth 2 Dollars per month, the sales representative will receive 500 Dollars per month, and the head of the marketing department will receive 1100 Dollars per month.
Play the game below, and you will learn more about Job Evaluation.
4.5. Pay Systems
Once you have performed a job evaluation, you can move to the last step, which we call pay grading. This is the process of setting the pay scale for specific jobs or types of jobs. The popular method to pay grade is to develop a variety of pay grade levels.
5. Training
Any effective company has training in place to make sure employees can perform his or her job.
During the recruitment and selection process, the right person should be hired to begin with. But even the right person may need training in how your company does things.
Lack of training can result in lost productivity, lost customers, and poor relationships between employees and managers. It can also result in dissatisfaction, which means retention problems and high turnover. All these end up being direct costs to the organization.
5.1. Steps to take in training an employee
There are four steps that generally occur: First, the new employee goes through an orientation, And then he or she will receive in-house training on job-specific areas, Next, the employee should be assigned a mentor, And then, as comfort with the job duties grows, he or she may engage in external training.
5.1.1. Orientation
Process used for welcoming a new employee into the organization.
Starting a new job can be stressful. One goal of an orientation is to reduce the stress and anxiety people feel when going into an unknown situation. If employees know from the start what the expectations are, they tend to perform better. Likewise, if employees learn the values and attitudes of the organization from the beginning, there is a higher chance of a successful tenure at the company.
A well-done orientation makes for a better prepared employee, which means less time having to teach the employee.
If an orientation is done right, it can help get the employee up to speed on various policies and procedures, so the employee can start working right away. It can also be a way to ensure all hiring paperwork is filled out correctly, so the employee is paid on time.
Employee turnover tends to be higher when employees don?t feel valued or are not given the tools to perform. An employee orientation can show that the organization values the employee and provides tools necessary for a successful entry.
5.1.2. In-house training
In-house training programs are learning opportunities developed by the organization in which they are used. This is usually the second step in the training process and often is ongoing. In-house training programs can be training related to a specific job, such as how to use a particular kind of software. In a manufacturing setting, in-house training might include an employee learning how to use a particular kind of machinery.
5.1.3. Mentoring
A mentor is a trusted, experienced advisor who has direct investment in the development of an employee. A mentor may be a supervisor, but often a mentor is a colleague who has the experience and personality to help guide someone through processes. While mentoring may occur informally, a mentorship program can help ensure the new employee not only feels welcomed but is paired up with someone who already knows the ropes and can help guide the new employee through any on-the-job challenges.
5.1.4. External training
External training includes any type of training that is not performed in-house. This is usually the last step in training, and it can be ongoing. It can include sending an employee to a seminar to help further develop leadership skills or helping pay tuition for an employee who wants to take a marketing class. To be a Ford automotive technician, for example, you must attend the Ford ASSET Program, which is a partnership between Ford Motor Company, Ford dealers, and select technical schools.
5.2. Types of training
These types are usually used in all steps in a training process (orientation, in-house, mentorship, and external training).
5.2.1. Technical training
Type of training meant to teach the new employee the technological aspects of the job. In a retail environment, technical training might include teaching someone how to use the computer system to ring up customers. In a sales position, it might include showing someone how to use the customer relationship management (CRM) system to find new prospects.
5.2.2. Quality training
Quality training refers to familiarizing employees with the means of preventing, detecting, and eliminating non quality items, usually in an organization that produces a product.
Training employees on quality standards, including ISO standards, can give them a competitive advantage. It can result in cost savings in production as well as provide an edge in marketing of the quality-controlled products.
5.2.3. Skills training
Skills training as the things you actually need to know to perform your job. A cashier needs to know not only the technology to ring someone up but what to do if something is priced wrong. This training includes proficiencies needed to actually perform the job.
For example, an administrative assistant might be trained in how to answer the phone, while a salesperson at Best Buy might be trained in assessment of customer needs and on how to offer the customer information to make a buying decision.
5.2.4. Professional training
In some jobs, professional training must be done on an ongoing basis. Professional training is a type of training required to be up to date in one?s own professional field. For example, tax laws change often, and as a result, an accountant for H&R Block must receive yearly professional training on new tax codes.
5.2.5. Team training
Team training is a process that empowers teams to improve decision making, problem solving, and team-development skills to achieve business results. Often this type of training can occur after an organization has been restructured and new people are working together or perhaps after a merger or acquisition.
5.3. Training delivery methods
5.3.1. On-the-job coaching
Refers to an approved person training an employee on the skills necessary to complete tasks. A manager or someone with experience shows the employee how to perform the actual job. The selection of an on-the-job coach can be done in a variety of ways, but usually the coach is selected based on personality, skills, and knowledge. This type of skills training is normally facilitated in-house. The disadvantage of this training revolves around the person delivering the training. If he or she is not a good communicator, the training may not work. Likewise, if this person has ?other things to do,? he or she may not spend as much time required to train the person and provide guidance.
5.3.2. Mentoring
Mentoring is a process by which an employee can be trained and developed by an experienced person. Normally, mentoring is used as a continuing method to train and develop an employee. One disadvantage of this type of training is possible communication style and personality conflict. It can also create overdependence in the mentee or micromanagement by the mentor. This is more different than on-the-job coaching, which tends to be short term and focuses on the skills needed to perform a particular job.
5.3.3. Web-Based Training Delivery
Web-based training delivery has a number of names. It could be called e-learning or Internet-based, computer-based, or technology-based learning. No matter what it is called, any web-based training involves the use of technology to facilitate training.
5.4. Designing a training program
Designing a training program includes 4 steps. Needs assessment, Make training plans, Deliver training program, Measuring effectiveness of training.
Step 1, Needs assessment and learning objectives:
This part of the framework development asks you to consider what kind of training is needed in your organization. We evaluate the organization, workers, and jobs to determine training need.
Step 2, Make training plans:
+ Consideration of learning styles. Learning styles is important to development of training programs.
+ Training method. What is the best method? Is web-based training more appropriate, or should on the job training be used? Most training programs will include a variety of training methods.
+ Budget. How much money do you have to spend on this training?
+ Audience. Who will be part of this training? Do you have a mix of roles, such as accounting people and marketing people?
+ Content. What needs to be taught? How will you sequence the information?
+ Schedule, facility?
Step 3, Deliver training program:
+ Prepare Internal training: List participates, Choose and invite lecturers, Setup facilities, et cetera.
+ Prepare External training: Choose partner for training, Sign contract, et cetera.
+ Communication. How will employees know the training is available to them?
+ Deliver training program.
+ HR managers may need to follow the training process.
Step 4, Measuring effectiveness of training.
+ How will you know if your training worked?
+ What ways will you use to measure this?
+ Once you have determined the training needed, you can set learning objectives to measure at the end of the training.
6. Performance appraisal
A performance evaluation system is a systematic way to examine how well an employee is performing in his or her job. Performance evaluations can also be called performance appraisals, performance assessments, or employee appraisals.
6.1. Performance appraisal methods
6.1.1. Graphic Rating Scale
The graphic rating scale, a behavioral method, is perhaps the most popular choice for performance evaluations. This type of evaluation lists traits required for the job and asks the source to rate the individual on each attribute.
6.1.2. Essay Appraisal
In an essay appraisal, the source answers a series of questions about the employee?s performance in essay form. This can be a trait method and/or a behavioral method, depending on how the manager writes the essay. These statements may include strengths and weaknesses about the employee or statements about past performance.
6.1.3. Ranking Methods
Employees in a particular department are ranked based on their value to the manager or supervisor. This system is a comparative method for performance evaluations. The manager will have a list of all employees and will first choose the most valuable employee and put that name at the top. Then he or she will choose the least valuable employee and put that name at the bottom of the list. With the remaining employees, this process would be repeated. Obviously, there is room for bias with this method, and it may not work well in a larger organization, where managers may not interact with each employee on a day-to-day basis.
6.1.4. Management by Objectives (MBO)
First, the manager and employee sit down together and develop objectives for the time period. Then when it is time for the performance evaluation, the manager and employee sit down to review the goals that were set and determine whether they were met.
To write objectives, they should be SMART:
Specific. There should be one key result for each MBO. What is the result that should be achieved?
Measurable. At the end of the time period, it should be clear if the goal was met or not. Usually a number can be attached to an objective to make it measurable, for example ?sell $1,000,000 of new business in the third quarter.?
Attainable. The objective should not be impossible to attain. It should be challenging, but not impossible.
Result oriented. The objective should be tied to the company?s mission and values. Once the objective is made, it should make a difference in the organization as a whole.
Time limited. The objective should have a reasonable time to be accomplished, but not too much time.
6.2. Designing a Performance Appraisals program
Step 1: The first step in the process is to determine how often performance appraisals should be given. The advantage to giving an evaluation twice per year, of course, is more feedback and opportunity for employee development. The downside is the time it takes for the manager to write the evaluation and discuss it with the employee. If done well, it could take several hours for just one employee. Depending on your organization?s structure, you may choose one or the other. For example, if most of your managers have five or ten people to manage (this is called span of control), it might be worthwhile to give performance evaluations more than once per year, since the time cost isn?t high.
Step 2: Determining who should evaluate the performance of the employee is the next decision. It could be their direct manager (most common method), subordinates, customers or clients, self, and/or peers.
Step 3: Choice the right method
Step 4: Set the target
6.3. Completing and Conducting the Appraisal
– Best Practices in Performance Appraisals
– Training Managers and Employees
– Organizing the Performance Appraisal Process
– Performance Appraisal Interviews
7. HR Plan
I. Definition
When you make an HR plan, you predict our workforce demand. Simply, you are going to answer the question “How many workers do we need at a particular time?”. For example, this year you need 10 workers, next year you need 15 workers. Some HR plans may include action plans, for example, we need 10 more workers so we are going to hire 10 workers.
More example: This year we need 44 salesman and 4 managers, next year we need 50 salesman and 5 manager and so on.
| This year | Next year | |
| Salesman | 44 | 50 |
| Manager | 4 | 5 |
II. Process
If you want to estimate your workforce demands, you may follow the activities below.
1st, You should know about your company goals. Your company may make goods, or provide services to customers. When you make your HR plan, you should know about the quality and quantity of your company’s product or services.
When you Quality research, you are going to answer the following question. “What kind of products will we make?”, and/or “What kind of services will we provide to your customer?”.
When you do Quantity research, you should know about your production/sale plan, and you are going to answer the following question. “How many products will we make at a particular time?”, and/or “How many customers will we serve at a particular time?”, and/or “What is our expected revenue”. For instance: You are going to make 1.2M products this month.
2nd, You should identify the qualifications of every worker. You should know about your workers’ abilities. Simply, you are going to answer the question “How many products a worker can make per time period (day/month/year)?”. For example, after conducting your research, you find that a worker can make 1000 products per day.
After you conduct two activities, you can predict your workforce demand. You can use a very simple formula, it is Workload/worker’s ability.
For example, You are going to make 40 000 products this month (1.2M products/30 days = 40 000 products). Because one worker can make 1000 products/day, We need 40 workers (40 000/1000).
3rd, GAP analysis. Normally, your company has some workers. For instance, your company has 30 workers. We need 40 workers, we need 10 more workers (We need to hire 10 more workers, it does mean that we will. We may train our workers).
Sometimes, you have more workers than you need. For instance, You already have 50 workers, but you just need 40 workers (from your prediction) . Sometimes you need 40 workers, and you also have 40 workers.
III. Workforce Estimate Methods
There are so many methods to calculate current and future human resources needs. Some people calculate based on worker output and marketing plan. Others calculate based on chronological data.
a. Calculate based on worker output and marketing plan
We can predict our workforce demand based on our marketing plan. Normally, a marketing plan includes the production (or sale) plan. When we read the marketing plan we can answer the question “How many products will we make?’ or “How many customers will we serve?”.
Examples.
– You work for a production company. This year, your company is going to make 100 products per day. You know that one worker can make 10 products, so you need 100/10 = 10 workers.
– You work for a retail company. This year, your company is going to serve 200 customers per day. You know that one worker can serve 50 customers, so you need 200/50 = 4 workers.
– You work for a service company. This year, your expected revenue is 5B.
You know that revenue per employee is 500M , so you need 5B/0.5B = 10 workers
More example:
– Business demand: This year, we want to sell 660 millions.
– Worker output: Each worker can sale average 15 millions
– The human resource needs equal 660/ 15 = 44.
– The human resource need: 44 workers.
Marketing plan shows us the business demand over the years, so we can calculate the worker demands each year.
From marketing plan, we can predict future human resources needs.
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Business demand | 660 | 759 | 986 | 1973 | 2565 |
| Salesman | 44 | 50 | 66 | 132 | 171 |
b. Calculate based on chronological data.
We use regression to predict time series. By using a statistical model, we can estimate worker demand.
| Year | Worker |
| 2012 | 7210 |
| 2013 | 7287 |
| 2014 | 7291 |
| 2015 | 7312 |
| 2016 | 7348 |
From the data table above, we can find the association between labor demand and time. The equation (y = 30.1x – 53332) predict the labour demand each year.
IV. Make HR plan for Big company
From the example above, you should know that you have just made HR plans for very small companies. A small company just has the owner and worker, so the workforce planning process is very simple. If you make a HR plan for a big company, you can make your HR plan for individual departments and then combine them together.
If you make an HR plan for a big organization, you can follow the process below.
1st Drawing organization’s structure.
2nd, Estimated workforce demand for individual departments.
3rd, Drawing replacement charts.
4th, Make an HR Plan for individual departments.
5th, Make an HR plan.
6th, Make an action plan (if any).