HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN CONTEXT LECTURE 3

contents

• HR planning & strategy

• Flexibility and labour use

• Talent management

Learning objectives

• Identify the contextual factors which influence how, why and in what ways human resources are used in the workplace

• Evaluate HR planning in the workplace

• Evaluate the different approaches to using human resources or labour in the workplace

Influences on the organisation

Industry/sector

Competitors

The environment

The organisation

The macro environment – a PESTLE framework

The organisation

Technological •Internet •Communications •Production processes

Economic •Levels of employment •Exchange rates •Inflation rates •Earnings

Social •Demographic trends •Consumer patterns •Attitudes to work •Mobility

Environmental •Protection laws •Re-cycling and waste •Resources

Legal • Corporate law • Employment law • European law

Political •Government orthodoxy •Legislation •International law •Social policies

THE PROCESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Business strategic

plans

Resourcing

strategy

Demand/supply

forecasting Scenario planning Labour turnover

analysis

Work environment

analysis Operational

effectiveness

analysis

Human resource

plans

Resourcing Retention Flexibility Productivity

Work environment

HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING DEFINED

Human resource planning determines the human resources

(human capital) required to meet the organization’s goals. It also

addresses issues related to how people are employed and

developed in order to improve organizational effectiveness. It

answers five basic questions:

1. How many people do we need?

2. What sort of people do we need?

3. How can we ensure that we attract and retain high-quality

people?

4. How can we make the best use of our people?

5. How can we ensure that we create a work environment that

gives people the opportunity to obtain satisfaction from their

work and to use and develop their skills?

CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Limitation: impossible to produce long-term forecasts of the demand and the supply of people with any accuracy bearing in mind the complex and frequently changing nature of the business environment within and outside the firm. Necessary to focus on skills requirements with only broad indications of numbers in the longer term. The four main HR planning activities are therefore:

• A monitoring activity: of stocks and flows of human resources to establish a base to respond to what may be unforeseen events.

• An investigatory activity: the exploration of the human resource implications of changing requirements for people and problems of attraction and retention so that alternative plans can be made.

• A skills analysis activity: studying the existing skills base and deciding what changes may be required and how they could be achieved through development and training activities as well as recruitment.

• A ‘soft HR’ planning activity: considering what behaviours and attitudes are necessary and making plans to develop them.

Core group Primary workers

Internal labour market Functional flexibility

Self-employed

First peripheral group Secondary workers

Internal labour market Numerical and functional flexibility

Secondary peripheral group Secondary workers

External labour market Numerical flexibility

Increased outsourcing

Agency workers

Atkinson 1984 The Flexible Firm

Sub- contracting

Types of flexibility

• Functional flexibility

• matching skills to needs, multi-skilling

• Numerical flexibility

• adjusting numbers employed to business needs

• Temporal flexibility

• variations in hours worked

• Financial flexibility

• matching pay to performance

• Behavioural flexibility

• encouraging adaptability and versatility

Flexibility and the flexible firm

• Review and compare your organisation’s working patterns. What forms of flexibility have been introduced in the past five years?

• Identify and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of flexibility

• for employers

• for employees

Business strategy Resourcing

strategy Role

Management

development

Management

succession

The talent

pool – a

skilled,

engaged &

committed

workforce

Career

management

Continuing talent audit

External

resourcing

Internal

resourcing

Performance

management

Talent

relationship

management

Total

reward

Attraction and

retention

policies

Learning and

development

Engagement/

commitment

TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

The psychological contract

Causes Organisational characteristics Type of organisation HR practices Individual characteristics/ circumstances

Change Employment change Job change Organisational change Work-related change Change in personnel policy

Content

Fairness

Trust

Delivery of the deal

Outcomes ATTITUDINAL Commitment, satisfaction, work-life balance, security BEHAVIOURAL Motivation, effort, citizenship, intention to stay, performance

Guest and Conway 1999