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Background and Context for Writing the AHROP- The annual HR operating plan is a plan for the organization that HR writes based on HR expertise, to support its business direction. It is not a plan for running the HR department and its staff. Strategic planning and operational planning involve two different types of thinking. Strategic decisions are forward thinking, directional, and over-arching. They guide everything that the organization is doing for a particular timeframe. Operational decisions, on the other hand, primarily affect the day-to-day implementation of strategic decisions. While strategic decisions usually have longer-term implications, operational decisions usually have immediate (one year or less than one year) implications.

Strategic Planning

· Views future as unpredictable

· Views planning as a continuous process

· Expects new trends, surprises and changes

· Considers a range of possible futures & emphasizes strategy development based on assessment of the organization's internal (strength and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) environment.

· Asks: Based on our current understanding of environment, are we doing the right thing? How can we best use our resources to achieve or mission? What are our sources of sustainable competitive advantage?

Operational Planning

· Views future as something that needs to be implemented now

· Focuses on setting short-term (less than one year) objectives

· Assumes much more detailed planning regarding who and how activities will be accomplished

· Asks: What do we need to be doing for the upcoming year/immediately to best accomplish our mission, guided by current business objectives and strategies

Strategic planning provides the vision, direction and goals for the organization, but operational planning translates that organizational strategy into the everyday execution tactics of the business that will ultimately produce the outcomes defined by the organizational strategy. Simply stated, operational planning is the conversion of strategic goals into managed execution. Operational planning must produce the plan outcomes while managing constraints.

Every strategic plan serves as the basis and guide for the annual operating plan for each department and/or division. The HR department is unique in that, unlike other departments who merely run their own department, HR creates an operating plan to guide the entire organization, based on HR expertise, e.g., regulatory compliance, succession planning, pending mergers or acquisitions, knowledge management, organizational capacity (to do what the organization says it will do, etc.).

NOTE: The following is an outline of the key sections and subsections which operating plans should have. Your plan must have these. In developing your Annual Operating Plan for HR, you must use the AHROP Template precisely as it is, not altering language in the headings or the numbering -- both must remain exactly as the Template displays them.

*Double Space your entire document and do not alter the template sequence, flow or language.

**Delete all directions and this page for your final document, using the sample completed AHROP posted by your faculty as a helpful guide.

Annual Operating Plan for the Human Resource Department/Division for <insert Company Name>

1. Organization’s Mission & Vision (Directions: Identify both the overarching mission statement and the vision statement of the organization as a whole. If you cannot find these statements, make assumptions from your research and write these statements).

1.1. Key Business Objectives (Directions/Delete in final copy: Write an academic introduction first, then list the objectives. Usually 2 – 4, general in nature and sets the direction the organization will head during the timeframe of its strategic plan).

1.1.1. Objective

1.1.2. Objective

1.1.3. Objective

1.1.4. Objective

1.2. Key Strategies (Directions/Delete in final copy: Begin with academic introduction, then list strategies. Usually 3 – 5, created during the strategic planning process that will allow the organization, as a whole, to achieve its targeted direction and plans to continue to support its mission and vision as complicated by current shifts and trends within their environment and industry, etc.; write each as a single sentence)

1.2.1. Strategy

1.2.2. Strategy

1.2.3. Strategy

1.2.4. Strategy

1.2.5. Strategy

2. HR Department Vision (Directions/Delete in final copy: Write the HR Department’s vision statement, built upon the mission and vision of the organization and derived from its strategic plan, declaring HR’s intent for its future work; often published, but you may need to write it based on your research).

3. HR Environmental Analysis (SWOT) - Write an academic introduction first, then complete the listing by category.

3.1. HR Strengths – (Directions/Delete in final copy: Examples include, strong senior leadership team, low churn rate for employees, no gaps in benefits, supportive team-oriented culture , etc. – list as many as you can, since these are used for planning your future work.

3.2. HR Weaknesses – (Directions/Delete in final copy: Examples include excessive open positions, no in-house recruiter, no advertising budget, no training plan for employee or leader development, etc. – list as many as you can, since these are used for planning your future work.

3.3. HR Opportunities (Directions/Delete in final copy: e.g., outsourcing for existing services related to non-strategic services such as payroll or benefits administration, acquisition of business units or knowledge capital, hiring away top talent from a competitor that is experiencing financial difficulties

3.4. HR Threats- Directions/Delete in final copy: e.g., , new governmental regulatory regime that will impose a significant administrative burden, new competitor arrival tempting employees to leave, diminished benefit package, influx of traffic conditions increasing employee commute times and gasoline costs, etc.

4. Annual HR Objectives and Strategies -

4.1. Annual HR Objectives - (Directions/Delete in final copy: Write an academic introduction first, then list the objectives, which set the overall direction and intent the HR Department will pursue to help the organization’s achieve its strategic plan for the business using its HR knowledge and expertise).

4.1.1. Objective 1

4.1.2. Objective 2

4.1.3. Objective 3

4.2. Annual HR Strategies (Directions/Delete in final copy: Begin with academic introduction, then list strategies. Usually 3 – 5 and often flow from the combination of the HR SWOT and HR Gap analysis of HR, that builds weakened areas or capitalizes on opportunities, and attempts to fulfill larger operational business plans, like the plans to downsize, to targeted market growth, changes in location, etc. They can include everything from outsourcing to succession planning, organizational restructuring , restructuring of employee position classifications to meet changing environments, training and development to build the knowledge capital needed for new business direction; write each as a single sentence)

4.2.1. Strategy – Write the strategy as a single sentence showing action and which can be measured, then list 6-8 action steps required to accomplish this strategy.

· Action Step

· Action Step

· Action Step

· Etc.

4.2.2. Strategy

· Action Step

· Action Step

· Action Step

· Etc.

4.2.3. Strategy

· Action Step

· Action Step

· Action Step

· Etc.

4.2.4. Strategy

· Action Step

· Action Step

· Action Step

· Etc.

4.2.5. Strategy

· Action Step

· Action Step

· Action Step

· Etc.

5. Implementation - (Directions/Delete in final copy: Write an academic introduction first, then address and plan for both challenges, collaboration and communication as part of your plan)

5.1. Constraints – (Directions/Delete in final copy: This section is 2 – 3 paragraphs and anticipates and identifies likely barriers, roadblocks and challenges (internal and external) that may get in the way of the HR plan, and then, right here, plans for how to address these likely constraints to mitigate them.

5.2. Collaboration –( Directions/Delete in final copy: This section recognizes that HR cannot implement their plan without the involvement of others in the organization, and so it plans for opportunities to create buy-in and support, builds trust, shared ownership, build teams and/or camaraderie, etc. This is part of the plan, so specific groups or departments are identified with a plan for how they will support the implementation of the AHROP).

5.3. Communications – (Directions/Delete in final copy: This is essential a mini-communications plan for the implementation of the AHROP. This section plans for timely and carefully crafted messaging throughout the implementation of the AHROP during its different phases, to ensure that everyone who needs to know what is going on is informed at the right time).

6. Measurement and Assessment – (Directions/Delete in final copy: (Begin with academic introduction regarding the purpose and value of having measurements to assess the progress and status of the AHROP.

6.1. HR Metrics - (Directions/Delete in final copy: this section identifies the 3 categories of HR metrics that the HR department employees, identifies the specific HR metrics that it will use, and also refers to and discusses the Balanced Scorecard that shows the top 2 – 3 HR metrics in each of these categories that is specific to your company.

6.2. Reports Metrics to the Organization – (Directions/Delete in final copy: In this section, you identify which metrics will be reported to whom (which level or group in the organization, which will be public and which will not be, etc.), identifies what monthly reports need to be reported and distributed, etc.

7. References

8. Appendix

A. HR Gap Analysis

B. HR SWOT Analysis

C. HR Balanced Scorecard