Strategic Human Resource Management Plan
Strategic Human Resource Management Plan
Scenario: American Plastics had fared
rather worse than its competitors during the economic downturn. With revenue,
quality, and productivity down, management set several goals to reverse the
company’s fortune. One area in need of improvement was human resources and
“Janet,” the newly appointed HR Director faced a daunting challenge:
to quickly re-invent the Human Resources function, reposition it a strategic
partner to the business, and improve employee perceptions of her department.
Her predecessor retired after leading a major reduction in force causing a
significant exodus of key talent, some unexpected. Janet was charged with
finding a way to retain top talent and develop a steady but highly-qualified
stream of candidates to fill regular as well as critical positions. The
CEO agreed with her that differentiating the human resources function was
essential for the company’s strategic plan to succeed.
In her first two weeks
on the job Janet discovered:
- Job descriptions were inconsistent,
long but vague lists of high level “duties and responsibilities”
and qualifications - Job titles didn’t reflect the
work people did, used instead as a framework for budgeting and
compensation as many were doing unique work requiring different knowledge
and skills. - Aside from providing a
coordinating function, human resources had outsourced recruiting to third
parties who presented candidates based on their internet postings and
other sources. No matter the level or criticality of the open position,
human resources rarely conducted interviews or assessments before or after
handing over the third party resumes to the hiring organization and would
get involved again only when a candidate was selected. - HR’s participation in the
onboarding process of new employees was limited to having them attend a
half-day orientation session where, between a video and a slide
presentation about the company, they filled out benefits-related, payroll,
ID and other paper forms. - Training and Development
(T&D) had largely been outsourced to several companies that provided
generic on-line courses. - The recent departure of several
mission-critical employees disclosed no systematic means of capturing
expertise from employees; when they left, their knowledge left with them. - The Performance Employee
Evaluation Program didn’t align with anything, was viewed by managers and
individual contributors alike as a burdensome annual chore that interfered
with people’s “real jobs.”
The management of talent
is one of a handful of strategic services human resources can offer. The
decline of traditional HR functions through automation, self-service, and
outsourcing demands a “culture change” within human resources: adopt
a business focus by an organization still structured largely around benefits
administration, time and attendance reporting, labor cost processing, and
similar transactional operations.
Assignment:
Write: a communications plan not to exceed 1,050 words
to support the strategy of American Plastics.
Justify: why they were important for your strategic HRM
planning process.
Recommend: how to address these considerations.
Focus: on resolution of the human resource management
challenges in order to support operational strategies.
Cite: all sources according to APA formatting
guidelines.
