Chapter 2 - Strategy and Human Resources Planning

Question 1

Strategic planning

Answer 1

Procedures for making decisions about the organization’s long-term goals and strategies.

Question 2

Human resources planning (HRP)

Answer 2

The process of anticipating and providing for the movement of people, into, within, and out of an organization.

Question 3

Strategic human resources management (SHRM)

Answer 3

The pattern of human resources deployments and activities that enable an organization to achieve its strategic goals.

Question 4

Mission

Answer 4

The basic purpose of the organization as well as its scope of operations.
- a statement of the organization’s reason for existing and the shared purpose of the people in the organization.

Question 5

Strategic vision

Answer 5

A statement about where the company is going and what it can become in the future; clarifies the long-term direction of the company and its strategic intent.

Question 6

Core values

Answer 6

The strong and enduring beliefs and principles that the company uses as a foundation for its decisions.
- underlying parameters for how the company will act toward customers, employees, and the public in general.

Question 7

Environmental scanning

Answer 7

Systematic monitoring of the major external forces influencing the organization.

Question 8

Stakeholders

Answer 8

Key people and groups that have an interest in a firm’s activities and that can either affect them or be affected by them.

Question 9

Core capabilities

Answer 9

Integrated knowledge sets within an organization that distinguish it from its competitors and deliver value to customers.
- core capabilities can consist of a combination of three resources (1) processes, (2) systems (technologies), and (3) people.

Question 10

Value creation

Answer 10

What the firm adds to a product or service by virtue of making it; the amount of benefits provided by the product or service once the costs of making it are subtracted.

Question 11

Strategic knowledge workers

Answer 11

This group of employees tends to have unique skills that are directly linked to the company’s strategy and are difficult to replace.
- High value and high uniqueness

Question 12

Core employees

Answer 12

This group of employees has skills that are quite valuable to a company but are not particularly unique or difficult to replace.
- High value and low uniqueness

Question 13

Supporting workers

Answer 13

This group of employees typically has skills that are of less strategic value to the firm and are generally available in the labour market.
- low value and low uniqueness

Question 14

External partners

Answer 14

This group of individuals has skills that are unique but frequently are not directly related to a company’s core strategy.
- low value and high uniqueness

Question 15

Cultural audits

Answer 15

Audits of the culture and quality of work life in an organization.

Question 16

Clan culture (Organization Culture Assessment Instrument)

Answer 16

Employees are closely knit and exhibit great concern for one another and their customers, and loyalty and cohesion are highly valued.

Question 17

Adhocracy culture (Organization Culture Assessment Instrument)

Answer 17

Culture is characterized by risk taking, innovation, and a spirit of entrepreneurship.

Question 18

Market culture (Organization Culture Assessment Instrument)

Answer 18

Encourages competitive, result-orientated behaviours.

Question 19

Hierarchical culture (Organization Culture Assessment Instrument)

Answer 19

characterized by formal structures and procedures and in which efficiency and stability are greatly valued.

Question 20

Trend analysis

Answer 20

A quantitative approach to forecasting labour demand based on an organizational index such as sale.

Question 21

Management forecasts

Answer 21

The opinions (judgements) of supervisors, department managers, experts, or others knowledgeable about the organization’s future employment needs.

Question 22

Staffing tables

Answer 22

Graphic representations of all organizational jobs, along with the numbers of employees currently occupying those jobs and future (monthly or yearly) employment requirements.

Question 23

Markov analysis

Answer 23

A method for tracking the pattern of employee movements through various jobs.

• shows the percentage of employees who remain in each of the firm’s jobs from one year to the next, as well as the proportions of those who are promoted, demoted, or transferred or exit the organization.

Question 24

Quality of fill

Answer 24

A metric designed to assess how well new hires are performing on the job.

Question 25

Skill inventories

Answer 25

Files of personnel education, experience, interests, and skills that allow managers to quickly match job openings with employee backgrounds.

Question 26

Replacement charts

Answer 26

Listings of current jobholders and people who are potential replacements if an opening occurs.

Question 27

Succession planning

Answer 27

The process of identifying, developing, and tracking key individuals for executive positions.

Question 28

Human capital readiness

Answer 28

The process of evaluating the availability of critical talent in a company and comparing it to the firm’s supply.

Question 29

SWOT analysis

Answer 29

A comparison of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for strategy formulation purposes.

Question 30

Low-cost strategy

Answer 30

Means keeping your costs low enough that you can offer and attractive price to customers.
- ex. McDonald’s and Walmart

Question 31

Attrition

Answer 31

A natural departure of employees from organizations through quits, retirements, and deaths.

Question 32

Hiring freeze

Answer 32

A practice whereby new workers are not hired as planned or workers who have left the organization are not replaced.

Question 33

Termination

Answer 33

Practice initiated by an employer to separate and employee from the organization permanently.

Question 34

Severance pay

Answer 34

A lump-sum payment given to terminated employees by an employer at the time of an employer-initiated termination.

Question 35

Benchmarking

Answer 35

The process of measuring one’s own services and practice against the recognized leaders to identify areas for improvement.

Question 36

Balanced scorecard (BSC)

Answer 36

A measurement framework that helps managers translate strategic goals into operational objectives.

Question 37

Organizational capability

Answer 37

The capacity of the organization to act and change in pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage.