M1A3

this course, you will examine the role human resources (HR) plays in strategic planning of technology and people. You will also learn the skills and knowledge needed to lead and manage the human resource function within an organization. The activities in this course will equip you with the skill sets and tools you will use in real life.

In Module 1, you will explore the challenges faced by HR professionals in the twenty-first century. You will also learn about the impact of such challenges on the HR function.

In Module 2, you will compare and contrast the role of compensation and benefits on employee motivation, morale, and productivity.

In Module 3, you will focus on specific civil rights and labor laws that govern HR policies and practices.

In Module 4, you will examine some of the tools used to design, develop, implement, and evaluate HR training and development (T&D) functions.

In Module 5, you will learn how HR policies and procedures can add value to a strategic HR plan.

You will also complete two major assignments—Required Assignments in Module 3 and 5 respectively. In M3: Assignment 2, you will develop a plan to resolve some ethical and legal issues involved in a merger. In M5: Assignment 2, you will recommend the components of a career development planning program and explain how the plan will integrate the organization’s mission and value statements. The discussions and assignments throughout this course will help you achieve the objectives of this course by providing opportunities to apply course concepts and knowledge.

In this module, you will learn about HR’s role in the strategic management of an organization. You will also learn about the support HR provides in the planning, acquisition, and development of resources for an organization as well as explore the role HR plays in policy development and implementation within the organization.

Leadership and management are about leading and managing employees to achieve organizational goals. HR plays a significant role in strategic decision-making by providing strategic, operational, and tactical knowledge and offering relevant data to the decision makers to optimize the organization’s performance.

A key element in an organization’s strategic decision-making is succession planning. HR ensures that the right employees are recruited to fill key roles in the organization. In other words, HR assists organizations in getting the right people on the bus in the right seats to meet organizational goals and objectives.

For example, as HR Manager, you may be tasked with finding a suitable candidate to fill the role of Vice President of Operations. What plan or process would you follow to informally search and vet external and internal candidates for such a high-level position? Alternatively, how would you train your internal resources to develop the skills and capabilities required to fill such a position?

Succession planning is vital for an organization to meet its strategic goals. The loss of one key executive can disrupt the management of an organization and impede its ability to meet its business goals. Equally important is the strategic decision to groom existing employees to fill future high level management positions or to seek outside talent for fresh ideas and perspective.

This module focuses on HR’s role in the talent and strategic management of an organization and examines the impact of social, political, economic, and technological changes on HR.

In the first assignment of this module, you will discuss the challenges HR faces in relation to people and technology in terms of strategic planning. In the second assignment, you will study the strategic and ethical issues involved in acquisitions and mergers.

Challenges of HR

HR managers need to ensure that the goals and objectives of an organization align with its vision and mission statements. They should put in place the tools required to measure the achievement of these goals. They should also develop their talent management strategy to accomplish the organizational goals. They need to know if their talent management strategy adds or creates any value; and if it does, how effective is this strategy.

Operationalization of talent management strategy requires HR to not only recruit employees but also to develop their knowledge, skills, and capabilities to create value for an organization. It also requires HR to measure the effectiveness of the strategy by establishing tools such as return on investment (ROI) or cost-benefit analysis.

The four forces that shape and affect HR talent management programs are as follows:

· Social: The needs of groups of people including the following:

· Recruiting and retaining talent

· Providing competitive salary and benefit packages

· Providing meaningful training and development programs

· Managing diversity

· Enabling flexibility

· Managing change effectively

· Technological: New innovations and creativity including tools to effectively manage the following elements:

· Recruitment and retention

· Benefit packages

· Performance appraisals

· Incentives

· Grievance procedures and labor disputes

· Economic: Financial considerations of an organization including the following aspects:

· Competitiveness

· Globalization

· E-Commerce

· Virtual work environments and telecommuting

· Quality management programs

· Political: The roles of government and regulations including (but not limited to) laws that govern the following issues:

· Fair pay, overtime, family and medical leave

· Workplace safety

· Unemployment

· Healthcare

These forces affect the demand for and supply of talent, making the HR manager’s job in terms of talent management complex and challenging.

Best Practices

To overcome social, technological, economic, and political challenges, HR strategy must be proactive and reactive. That means HR needs to be anticipatory and forward looking as well as responsive to current forces and regulations.

Those involved in creating HR strategy must scan the environment and develop strategic, tactical, and operational plans to deal with changes—anticipated or unanticipated. That means making sure the HR strategy is in accord with larger organizational strategic planning.

HR managers are in the business of dealing with people. There are many challenges associated with working with people in terms of managing talent, such as retaining skilled talent in a competitive market, ensuring employee engagement, and resolving interpersonal conflict.

Unit 1: Module 1 - Impact of Technology; Demographics; and Ethnic Differences

http://www.tlnt.com/2011/03/17/the-role-of-technology-in-the-evolution-of-hr/

http://www.inc.com/author/dave-kerpen

Impact of Technology; Demographics; and Ethnic Differences

Technology Technology is a major tool and driver in shaping the HR strategy. There are off-the-shelf as well as custom-developed technology tools to help HR managers use information effectively. There are macro and micro technology tools that range from social networking to online learning applications and project management tools to enterprise-wide software applications. HR managers must carefully choose the kind of technology that can add value to organizations. It is important that HR managers use technology to meet strategic needs and not be driven by the apparent usefulness of the technology. For example, HR managers should identify the best ways to use social media to add value to organizational culture and effectiveness. Similarly, they need to measure the impact of online learning on employees’ performance based on a ROI. Demographics and Ethnic Differences In the twenty-first century, there has been a trend toward multiculturalism owing to evolving demographics and increasing ethnic differences. This trend has affected talent management in terms of acceptance of cultural norms as part of HR strategy. Instead of rigid policies and procedures, HR strategy has become more tolerant and inclusive in terms of cultural norms as groups once marginalized are gaining significantly in terms of size and resources in society and organizations. HR managers must be aware of trends in evolving demographics and increasing ethnic differences as they help develop organizational culture through policies and procedures. You can learn more about evolving demographics for the country as a whole or for your specific geographic region through the US Census Bureau, which provides a wealth of population information based on its collection of data every ten years. The most recent census conducted in 2010 shows a 9.7% increase in the US population from the previous census conducted in 2000 (Mackun & Wilson, 2011). Not only has the population increased from 281.4 million to 308.7 million in that ten-year period, but the ethnic mix of the population has also changed. Access specific data at http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-01.pdf. Mackun, P., & Wilson, S. (2011). Population distribution and change: 2000 to 2010. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-01.pdf United States Census 2010. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/2010census/ Using the navigation on the left, please proceed to the next page.

· From Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits (9th ed.), read the following chapters:

· Human resources in a globally competitive business environment

· The financial impact of human resource management activities

· Planning for people

· Recruiting

· From The executive guide to high-impact talent management: Powerful tools for leveraging a changing workforce, read the following chapters:

· New role for leaders in managing talent

· An executive framework for talent management

· Aligning talent investments to support business strategy

Managing talent in the new economy: Six lessons from the leading edge