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Class #2: Strategic Design of HRD Programs
BACKGROUND ISSUES
Strategic Business Planning;
Strategic Human Resource Development; Traditional Focus of HRD
Lesson Objectives
- Background issues, the HRD practitioners
- What is Strategic Human Resource Development (SHRD) & its focus?
- Model for Strategic Business Plan (SBP)
- Eight steps of Strategic Business Planning
- Five key assumptions of SBP
- Four key assumptions of SHRD
Background Issues
- HRD practitioners defined as “Strategists”
- Develop long range plans for training and development. (Models of Excellence, 1983, p.91)
- Chief responsibility is to manage the HRD dept. strategically
- Dept. planning is important BUT organizational planning for leaning is more important
- HRD dept strategy… should be related to the organizational strategy
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Develop long range plans for what the training and dev. structure, organization & direction, policies, programs, services, & practices will be in order to accomplish the training and dev. mission (Models of Excellence, 1983, p.91)
Chief resp: manage the HRD dept. strategically rather than lead efforts to formulate & implement a unified plan to guide the direction of learning in an organization
Dept. planning is important BUT not as important as organizational planning for leaning
The strategy of HRD dept. should be related to what the org should do to encourage planned learning that supports business and staffing plans
Problem/Confusion/Dilemma?
- HRD practitioners often not included in top-level discussions about business plans..
- Problem for HR practitioners:
- Formulating their own plans when Strategic Business Plans are unclear, are not followed by top managers, are not expressed in ways that imply action in the HR dept
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HRD practitioners often not included in top-level discussions about business plans, yet most amenable to supporting business plans…least used
Problem for HR practitioners:
Formulating their own plans when Strategic Business Plans are unclear, are not followed by top managers, are not expressed in ways that imply action in the HR action
Strategic Human Resource Dev. (SHRD)
- The process of changing an organization, stakeholders outside it, groups inside it, & people employed through planned learning so that they possess the skills and knowledge needed in the future
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Focus for SHRD
- SHRD focuses on HRD effort
- Coordinated learning activities undertaken by HRD practitioners, operating managers, & employees to support business & HR plans.
- SHRD results in Org. Strategy for HRD
- Comprehensive, coordinated plan for major learning initiatives by which a firm’s managers intend to meet business & staffing objectives through organized learning.
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SHRD focuses on HRD effort:
Coordinated learning activities undertaken by HRD practitioners, operating managers, & employees to support business & HR plans.
SHRD results in Organizational Strategy for HRD
Comprehensive, coordinated plan for major learning initiatives by which a firm’s managers intend to meet business and staffing objectives through organized learning.
What is Strategic Business Planning?
- Choosing how an organization will compete (this is the main concern of top executives)
- Requires consideration of an org.’s present & future strengths, weaknesses & opportunities.
- Historically (1950’s) business were more stable, restricted range of products & served distinct customers
- Managers separated world outside the business (external enviro) from the organization(internal)
- Long range (first generation) planning was used to examine the external environment.
- Assumption was the future would be like the past.
- Planning concentrated on building from past successes & on developing existing market for the firm’s product or service
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Choosing how an organization will compete (this is the main concern of top executives)
Requires consideration of an org.’s present internal strengths & weaknesses & future external threats or opportunities.
Historically (1950’s) business were more stable, restricted range of products, & served distinct customers
Managers separated world outside the business (external enviro) & from the whole world (internal enviro)
Long range (first generation) planning was used to examine the external environment.
Assumption was the future would be like the past.
Planning concentrated on building from past successes & on developing existing market for the firm’s product or service
Strategic planning (1960’s)
- Managers faced conditions unlike the past
- External environment grew increasingly unpredictable
- Govt. passed laws, created regulations & handed down court rulings that affected hiring, employee appraisal, training , financial matters, health & safety etc.
- Experienced shortages of raw materials since wartime
- Technological innovation became more important, as the gap narrowed between basic & applied research
- Org’s became larger & more complex, businesses expanded into overseas markets, new industries, & multiple product or service lines
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…it became inappropriate to
Separate examination of external & internal enviros without making greater efforts to integrate them,
Extend assumptions about a certain past into an uncertain future
Use identical polices to co-ordinate operations across autonomous business in different industries operating under one corporate banner
First generation (long-range) planning proved inadequate, giving birth to second generation (strategic) planning
Strategic Plans
- Second generation (strategic ) planning used by managers in managing amidst growing complexity & environmental turbulence…initially plans of this kind were inflexible
- Third generation (strategic) planning added consideration of alternative plans in the events of possible changes in the environmental as plan was implemented (scenario planning)
A Model of Strategic Business Plan
Eight step process in which decision-makers:
1. Clarify the purpose:
- What’s the purpose of the firm? What should it be?
2. Select goals and objectives:
- What is the firm trying to achieve? How can the achievement be measured?
3. Identify present strengths and weaknesses:
- What is the firm doing well? not so well?
4. Analyze future threats & opportunities
- What opportunities or threats will the external environment pose to the organization in the future?
Model of Strategic Bus. Planning (cont’d)
5. Compare strength/weaknesses to threats/opportunities
How can the firm take advantage of future opportunities & avert future threats posed by the enviro, considering its present internal strength & weaknesses?
6. Decide on long term strategy.
What should be the long term direction (strategy) pursued by an org. so that it can take advantage of opportunities & avert environmental threats.
7. Implement strategy:
What changes are needed inside the organization so that its chosen strategy can be pursued with greatest success?
8. Evaluate strategy: How well do the decision makers think this strategy will work?How well is it or has it worked?
Clarifying the Org.’s Purpose
- Purpose statement that clarifies beliefs & assumptions: (rallying pt. & stimulant for action).
- Also helps to create a vision of what the organization should be like in the near future
- The vision to be concrete & u/standable by others
- The statement gives the economic rationale for the firm’s existence!
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Purpose statement that clarifies beliefs & assumptions: (rallying point & stimulant for action).
Also helps to create a vision of what the organization should be like in the near future
The vision to be concrete & understandable by others
The statement gives the economic rationale for the firm’s existence!
Addressing the Purpose
- In what areas of business activity should the firm operate?
- How much opportunity does a business activity offer the company in terms of growth? flexibility? ROI?
- What does it take to succeed in the business?
- What are the firm’s capabilities?
- How well do the firm’s capabilities match with what is needed to succeed in the business?
Addressing the Purpose (2)
- What is the firm’s likelihood of success in the business activity?
- What methods of doing business can be considered?
- How do these choices compare on the basis of feasibility?
- How do these choices compare on the basis of potential profitability?
- What business activities should the firm enter in the future? What should be its purpose?
Discussion Question
Given the assumption that strategy-making begins with clarification of organizational purpose, whose view should the organization reflect, the owners, stakeholders, employees, members of the general public or customers? Provide a rationale for your answer.
Five Key Assumptions of SBP (1)
- Strategy-making begins with clarification of org. purpose.
- Strategists should agree on purpose.
- Important stakeholders include owners or shareholders, consumers, employees, managers, members of the general public
- Each group has its own expectations about what the organization is & should be
Five Key Assumptions of SBP(2)
Strategy-making based on identification of organizational strength & weaknesses
- Are managers capable of identifying the present status of the organization?
- Managers may have hard time examining their orgs critically…they made the decision initially!!
- Can the managers step back & attack their own logic & results?
- How many orgs that have top management strategists that are less aware of operational problems than line employees?
- Do managers receive distorted information (from people that report to them)?
Key Assumptions of SBP (3, 4 & 5)
3). Strategy-making is based on the examination of the future & ext. environment
4). Strategy-making is about future implications of present decisions, NOT future decisions
5). Strategy-making is a mental activity which requires holistic thinking
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Strategy-making is based on the examination of the future & ext. environment
Assumes managers can identify important trends or events likely to affect the org in future …& draw inferences
Do they posses all information to make accurate predictions?
Hopefully, major trends & events will be identified
Four Key Assumptions of SHRD
(1). Overall purpose statement of the corp. & the HRD effort should be related to it
(2). Every major plan of the corp. to be weighed in terms of human skills available to implement it & alternatives
(3). People @ all levels in the org. should share resp. & accountability of HRD.
(4) Establish a formal, systematic, & holistic planning process for the corporation, personnel dept, & HRD
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(1). Overall purpose statement of the corp. & the HRD effort should be related to it
Link business mission to that of planned learning sponsored by the business. WHY?
(2). Every major plan of the corp. to be weighed in terms of human skills available to implement it & alternative ways of obtaining those skills
HRD is not the only way to obtain needed skills
Alternatives include: external recruitment or contracting of talent; internal transfer (short/long term) basis; redesign jobs; reliance on part-timers
Where & how to obtain these skills should be explicitly considered
(3). People @ all levels in the org. should share responsibility & accountability of HRD.
Planned learning is important to every supervisor & employee
Supervisors & employees to be evaluated on how well they developed themselves & contribute to the development of others
(4) Establish a formal, systematic, & holistic planning process for the corporation, personnel dept, & HRD
Difficult for HRD to support SBP if nothing is articulated clearly
Formal planning is desirable
Formal planning specifies what should be done, when it should be done, and who should be accountable for results
What is the traditional focus of HRD?
HRD focuses on change through learning
Three types of HRD activities
- Training:
- Geared to immediate change in job performance;
- Education:
- Geared to immediate change in indiv. capabilities;
- Development:
- Geared to general and long term improvement in the individual (Nadler,1979).
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What strategic initiatives should the HRD dept. have to fit into the overall organizational plan???