final exam Strategic human resource planning

1NOVA Communication Systems Inc.

As the IT director for a medium sized communication technology organization in Vancouver BC, Greg Wright knew he had to recruit and select three junior analysts as the people filling these positions had all quit with in the past week. Greg could not believe that each person doing this job had left the company at the same time. This caused a huge gap in the workforce, and employees on the same team were complaining that they would not be able to meet customer demands. 

Greg was frustrated by the loss of these employees during this particular pandemic era. He had recently read a study by the Information Technology Association of BC that found that 30% of IT jobs in BC are not being filled because of a lack of skilled workers. The study further found that six out of ten vacancies in BC IT companies in BC are taking eight months or longer to be filled and that the BC IT industry is operating at 60% capacity. He was not concerned as he did not think that these statistics reflected their organization.

Knowing he had to act quickly, Greg convinced senior management that attending the City online career fair was a strategic approach to generating interest in the organization and acquiring resumes from a wide range of people looking for IT work. The costs (registration fee, online materials, time and more) were substantial, yet the response from people attending was dismal. Only 16 people communicated with Greg and those that did only five submitted a resume. Greg had also spread word through the colleges information technology program and instructors so that they would inform students about the career fair and that his organization was actively seeking to hire junior analysts. The career fair organizers stated that attendance at the online career fair was good.

Question

Greg Wright is surprised and disappointed. He did not understand what went wrong. He has hired you to advise him on this situation so that he can ensure that when people leave the organization in the future there are not any significant gaps in the workforce. What specifically might Greg do to address this issue? Make sure you answer this question using terms, concepts, theories, practices, methods and other content from the course readings. You will want to ensure that your answer to this Case Incidents Question (PART II) does not repeat your answer to the Long Answer Question-Support or Refute (PART III). Since you can consult your course materials during the exam, be careful not to rewrite content from your textbook.

2.Urban Handyman You work for Urban Handyman, a small Kelowna home repair service business. A coworker of yours does not support the strategic human resource planning (SHRP) activities that the organization plans to engage in. He has stated that “while a larger organizations may benefit from SHRP a new small business with no historical data cannot predetermine how many employees they will need to hire”. “A small handyman service business of thirty employees in an initial startup stage of business cannot forecast their future human resource needs effectively”. He suggests that planning is a futile exercise for small business since the results may be outdated by the time the process is complete. He used the organizations recent challenges with COVID 19 as an example of the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world in which the small business operates. “The constant change borders on chaos and we are forced to play a game we have never played before, governed by rules that are created as the game progresses”. He commented further that “planning and predicting has little relevance in an unstable environment of constant and chaotic change”. Question Using your experience in strategic human resource planning, either support or refute the argument. Include a discussion of the inherent assumptions in your position and the position of your coworker. You must defend your view using content from the course readings and discussions. You want to make recommendations specific to this small startup business. You want to ensure you provide five arguments (4 marks each) that are inclusive of specific SHRP terms, models, theories, methods, techniques, concepts, and practices you learned during this course. You want to ensure your perspective is persuasive, convincing, feasible and well supported by concrete examples. Before you begin writing you will want to consider the essence of each position and the conclusions drawn. How are the conclusions different? Do the positions agree on any significant points, and if so, what are they? What weaknesses can you find in both the arguments? Prepare your argument – keeping in mind what the other side may present – in order to defend your position and identify gaps and holes in their argument. Make sure you use specific course content strengthen and support your arguments. You will want to ensure that your answer to this Case Incidents Question (PART II) does not repeat your answer to the Long Answer Question-Support or Refute (PART III). Since you can consult your course materials during the exam, be careful not to rewrite content from your textbook.