Consultation Competency Flashcards
KSAOs
knowledge, skills, abilities
The KSAOs [knowledge, skills, abilities] needed to work with organizational stakeholders in evaluating business challenges and identifying opportunities for the design, implementation and evaluation of change initiatives, and to build ongoing support for HR solutions that meet the changing needs of customers and the business.
Consultation
The solutions HR may propose to increase organizational effectiveness are described throughout
HR Expertise competency
An HR consulting team wants to better understand the odds that a particular initiative can be implemented successfully. What tool is designed to support this analysis?
Force-field analysis
It examines the factors that favor and oppose a particular change. The process can be used to score different possible approaches. This type of analysis might be used to further develop a multi-criteria decision analysis tool.
Force-field analysis
Which analysis should the HRBP use to win leadership’s support for a cross-divisional teams pilot program?
Cost-benefit analysis
The best way to win support for the initiative is to demonstrate to management its potential value. This could include tangible factors such as a higher number of solutions that can be implemented more easily and with greater success. It could also include some intangibles, such as the impact of employee participation on workforce engagement.
Cost-benefit analysis
A member of the HR function wants to develop consultative skills. The HR director notes that the individual has a natural talent in analyzing problems and in relationship building. What other skill or knowledge could the individual develop to support their growth?
Understanding of the organization’s business and environment
What is the best time to involve HR when a major internal workforce change is being introduced into an organization?
During initial management discussions of the proposed change
Which likely workforce reactions should the vice president of HR include in a presentation to executive leadership regarding an upcoming company reorganization?
Short-term decline in performance and then rapid growth to a new level of performance
A company has undergone downsizing, an organizational restructure, and the creation of a new business model to be set up for renewal. HR works with management to increase employee support of the changes, which critical issue should be the initial focus?
Attitudes and perceptions
What should leaders understand about managing change?
Managing change involves employees’ cognition, emotions, and behavior.
A company with many long-term employees is facing challenges due to upcoming retirements and the resulting knowledge gaps in a variety of departments. The company promotes from within, and the vice president of operations (VPO) is concerned that the internal information loss coupled with a lack of external influence will negatively affect the company. The VPO requests the HR manager to conduct an external job evaluation to assess the utility of several jobs across the organization. The HR manager finds that, compared to similar companies, the company lacks technical skills, participates in fewer professional development opportunities, and pays a higher salary to senior-level leaders. The HR manager recommends implementing a technical training program and proposes organizational restructuring.
A supervisor requests support from HR to develop a knowledge transfer plan for a senior-level employee who is retiring in six months. What should the HR manager recommend?
Make sure that this position is assessed in the planned job evaluation
A company with many long-term employees is facing challenges due to upcoming retirements and the resulting knowledge gaps in a variety of departments. The company promotes from within, and the vice president of operations (VPO) is concerned that the internal information loss coupled with a lack of external influence will negatively affect the company. The VPO requests the HR manager to conduct an external job evaluation to assess the utility of several jobs across the organization. The HR manager finds that, compared to similar companies, the company lacks technical skills, participates in fewer professional development opportunities, and pays a higher salary to senior-level leaders. The HR manager recommends implementing a technical training program and proposes organizational restructuring.
A mid-level manager e-mails the HR manager to express concern about job security due to a lack of technical skills. How should the HR manager respond?
Arrange a meeting between the employee and the employee’s supervisor to discuss the skill gaps.
A company with many long-term employees is facing challenges due to upcoming retirements and the resulting knowledge gaps in a variety of departments. The company promotes from within, and the vice president of operations (VPO) is concerned that the internal information loss coupled with a lack of external influence will negatively affect the company. The VPO requests the HR manager to conduct an external job evaluation to assess the utility of several jobs across the organization. The HR manager finds that, compared to similar companies, the company lacks technical skills, participates in fewer professional development opportunities, and pays a higher salary to senior-level leaders. The HR manager recommends implementing a technical training program and proposes organizational restructuring.
While examining organizational restructuring options, the HR manager determines that several nontechnical positions could be eliminated by implementing an expensive software solution. Which action should the HR manager recommend to the VPO to decide if the software should be implemented?
Evaluate the cost savings that will be achieved by eliminating the positions.
A technology company with two divisions located on opposite sides of a large country decides to consolidate operations to a single location to reduce costs. As a result, more than 3,000 employees will need to relocate across the country to the other location.
Senior management knows that it will be very expensive to provide corporate relocation assistance to all of the affected employees but also wants to offer an incentive bonus to motivate employees to make the move. Management is confident that the mass relocation effort can be completed within nine months and tasks the HR department with the effort. The CEO is targeting a 60% take rate, meaning that six in ten employees must accept the company’s relocation offer. Those who decline the offer will receive two weeks of severance pay at the end of the nine-month transition period. The CHRO asks the HR director to lead the relocation effort.
Which is the most effective approach for the HR director to take to achieve the 60% acceptance target?
Develop and distribute an informational booklet with all of the details about the relocation incentives.
A technology company with two divisions located on opposite sides of a large country decides to consolidate operations to a single location to reduce costs. As a result, more than 3,000 employees will need to relocate across the country to the other location.
Senior management knows that it will be very expensive to provide corporate relocation assistance to all of the affected employees but also wants to offer an incentive bonus to motivate employees to make the move. Management is confident that the mass relocation effort can be completed within nine months and tasks the HR department with the effort. The CEO is targeting a 60% take rate, meaning that six in ten employees must accept the company’s relocation offer. Those who decline the offer will receive two weeks of severance pay at the end of the nine-month transition period. The CHRO asks the HR director to lead the relocation effort.
What potential alternative could the HR director take to retain a higher percentage of employees and potentially reduce overall costs associated with the move?
Allow those who decline to relocate to work remotely.
A technology company with two divisions located on opposite sides of a large country decides to consolidate operations to a single location to reduce costs. As a result, more than 3,000 employees will need to relocate across the country to the other location.
Senior management knows that it will be very expensive to provide corporate relocation assistance to all of the affected employees but also wants to offer an incentive bonus to motivate employees to make the move. Management is confident that the mass relocation effort can be completed within nine months and tasks the HR department with the effort. The CEO is targeting a 60% take rate, meaning that six in ten employees must accept the company’s relocation offer. Those who decline the offer will receive two weeks of severance pay at the end of the nine-month transition period. The CHRO asks the HR director to lead the relocation effort.
The HR director has never coordinated relocation before and is unfamiliar with the options provided by vendors. Which approach should the HR director take to most effectively select a relocation vendor?
Answers
Meet with leadership to develop a list of priorities to consider when choosing a relocation vendor.
An operations manager at a 300-employee manufacturing plant notifies the HR department that the plant has high turnover in the equipment operator position and this is decreasing the plant’s productivity. The operations manager states that half of all operators hired in the past 12 months either resigned or were terminated for performance problems. The operations manager believes the plant’s recruiting and hiring procedures are burdensome and ineffective because the operations manager is solely responsible for conducting applicant interviews, completing post-interview documentation, and conducting facility tours with applicants.
While reviewing equipment operator applicant records for the past 12 months, the HR director notices that post-interview documentation for applicants was not submitted to HR in a timely manner and was frequently incomplete. What should the HR director do?
Meet with the operations manager to discuss the challenges associated with conducting applicant interviews.
An operations manager at a 300-employee manufacturing plant notifies the HR department that the plant has high turnover in the equipment operator position and this is decreasing the plant’s productivity. The operations manager states that half of all operators hired in the past 12 months either resigned or were terminated for performance problems. The operations manager believes the plant’s recruiting and hiring procedures are burdensome and ineffective because the operations manager is solely responsible for conducting applicant interviews, completing post-interview documentation, and conducting facility tours with applicants.
What is the first action the HR director should take to address the operations manager’s concern about the recruiting and hiring procedures?
Invite the operations manager to a meeting with HR to create an action plan to address the recruiting and hiring challenges.
An operations manager at a 300-employee manufacturing plant notifies the HR department that the plant has high turnover in the equipment operator position and this is decreasing the plant’s productivity. The operations manager states that half of all operators hired in the past 12 months either resigned or were terminated for performance problems. The operations manager believes the plant’s recruiting and hiring procedures are burdensome and ineffective because the operations manager is solely responsible for conducting applicant interviews, completing post-interview documentation, and conducting facility tours with applicants.
What should the HR director do to decrease the turnover rate among equipment operators?
Implement exit interviews to identify the most common causes of employee resignations.
A growing consumer electronics company that primarily operates at a regional level acquires a major global competitor, allowing the company to establish a global footprint and significantly increase market share. The acquisition deal is scheduled to close in four months and will double the company in size to 20,000 employees globally and increase revenues to $10 billion. The CEO and the executive leadership team are committed to achieving a strategic goal of being one of the top three consumer electronics companies in the world within three years; however, they also recognize that there are significant challenges that must be overcome.
The chief human resources officer (CHRO) is asked to partner with the business line leaders on the talent integration agenda. The CHRO believes that it is essential to redefine and energize the organization’s culture. A more global mindset will place culture as the forefront issue for the merged entities. Many business line leaders have expressed concern that very rapid growth has put the company at risk of losing its original culture. However, part of the acquired company’s success was driven by its culture, and that culture should be considered for adoption. The CHRO is convinced that this is actually an opportunity for the company to create a new culture that would include components of both the legacy and acquired company cultures. But introducing a completely redefined culture is a risky proposition at a time when the company is already vulnerable due to the high rate of extensive change.
Which is the first step the CHRO should take to facilitate consensus and gain support for initiating culture change in the merged company?
Meet with resistant executive committee members to gain understanding.
A growing consumer electronics company that primarily operates at a regional level acquires a major global competitor, allowing the company to establish a global footprint and significantly increase market share. The acquisition deal is scheduled to close in four months and will double the company in size to 20,000 employees globally and increase revenues to $10 billion. The CEO and the executive leadership team are committed to achieving a strategic goal of being one of the top three consumer electronics companies in the world within three years; however, they also recognize that there are significant challenges that must be overcome.
The chief human resources officer (CHRO) is asked to partner with the business line leaders on the talent integration agenda. The CHRO believes that it is essential to redefine and energize the organization’s culture. A more global mindset will place culture as the forefront issue for the merged entities. Many business line leaders have expressed concern that very rapid growth has put the company at risk of losing its original culture. However, part of the acquired company’s success was driven by its culture, and that culture should be considered for adoption. The CHRO is convinced that this is actually an opportunity for the company to create a new culture that would include components of both the legacy and acquired company cultures. But introducing a completely redefined culture is a risky proposition at a time when the company is already vulnerable due to the high rate of extensive change.
Which proactive step should the CHRO take first in order to initiate a smooth cultural integration once the decision is made?
Conduct a cultural assessment of the legacy and acquired companies.
A growing consumer electronics company that primarily operates at a regional level acquires a major global competitor, allowing the company to establish a global footprint and significantly increase market share. The acquisition deal is scheduled to close in four months and will double the company in size to 20,000 employees globally and increase revenues to $10 billion. The CEO and the executive leadership team are committed to achieving a strategic goal of being one of the top three consumer electronics companies in the world within three years; however, they also recognize that there are significant challenges that must be overcome.
The chief human resources officer (CHRO) is asked to partner with the business line leaders on the talent integration agenda. The CHRO believes that it is essential to redefine and energize the organization’s culture. A more global mindset will place culture as the forefront issue for the merged entities. Many business line leaders have expressed concern that very rapid growth has put the company at risk of losing its original culture. However, part of the acquired company’s success was driven by its culture, and that culture should be considered for adoption. The CHRO is convinced that this is actually an opportunity for the company to create a new culture that would include components of both the legacy and acquired company cultures. But introducing a completely redefined culture is a risky proposition at a time when the company is already vulnerable due to the high rate of extensive change.
Which is the first step the CHRO should take in order to develop a more global mindset in the organization?
Survey the employees to gain understanding of current viewpoints and thoughts.
A growing consumer electronics company that primarily operates at a regional level acquires a major global competitor, allowing the company to establish a global footprint and significantly increase market share. The acquisition deal is scheduled to close in four months and will double the company in size to 20,000 employees globally and increase revenues to $10 billion. The CEO and the executive leadership team are committed to achieving a strategic goal of being one of the top three consumer electronics companies in the world within three years; however, they also recognize that there are significant challenges that must be overcome.
The chief human resources officer (CHRO) is asked to partner with the business line leaders on the talent integration agenda. The CHRO believes that it is essential to redefine and energize the organization’s culture. A more global mindset will place culture as the forefront issue for the merged entities. Many business line leaders have expressed concern that very rapid growth has put the company at risk of losing its original culture. However, part of the acquired company’s success was driven by its culture, and that culture should be considered for adoption. The CHRO is convinced that this is actually an opportunity for the company to create a new culture that would include components of both the legacy and acquired company cultures. But introducing a completely redefined culture is a risky proposition at a time when the company is already vulnerable due to the high rate of extensive change.
Once the new culture is defined, which is the best approach for the CHRO to take for fostering its adoption by all employees?
Establish ongoing and regular two-way communication with all employees.
Due to a lack of organizational success and productivity, various funding agencies have decided to apply pressure to an organization’s CEO by reducing the organization’s budget. The funding agencies hope that the CEO will use this as an opportunity to evaluate the organization’s overall structure, operating model, and finances. Due to the budget cuts, the CEO has decided to reduce the overall workforce. The CEO requests that the recently hired HR director work with the head of each department to devise a plan to reduce its personnel costs by 10% within a 30-day time frame.
The new HR director meets with the head of each department and studies the culture of the organization. During these meetings, it immediately becomes apparent that performance metrics are lax and that the skill sets of the workforce are severely outdated. The workforce’s average length of employment is seven years, and almost 60% of the workforce has made no effort to obtain any certifications or degrees beyond what they carried at the start of their employment. The work environment is unprofessional; employees operate more as a family and were mostly hired based on existing personal relationships. The new HR director learns that attempts at changes by predecessors were futile because of the personal relationships between department heads and employees. In fact, the department heads have a history of sabotaging previous HR directors’ attempts at change.
What is the first step the new HR director should take after discovering the issues that are affecting the organization?
Present the issues to the CEO and provide solutions on how to best move forward.
Due to a lack of organizational success and productivity, various funding agencies have decided to apply pressure to an organization’s CEO by reducing the organization’s budget. The funding agencies hope that the CEO will use this as an opportunity to evaluate the organization’s overall structure, operating model, and finances. Due to the budget cuts, the CEO has decided to reduce the overall workforce. The CEO requests that the recently hired HR director work with the head of each department to devise a plan to reduce its personnel costs by 10% within a 30-day time frame.
The new HR director meets with the head of each department and studies the culture of the organization. During these meetings, it immediately becomes apparent that performance metrics are lax and that the skill sets of the workforce are severely outdated. The workforce’s average length of employment is seven years, and almost 60% of the workforce has made no effort to obtain any certifications or degrees beyond what they carried at the start of their employment. The work environment is unprofessional; employees operate more as a family and were mostly hired based on existing personal relationships. The new HR director learns that attempts at changes by predecessors were futile because of the personal relationships between department heads and employees. In fact, the department heads have a history of sabotaging previous HR directors’ attempts at change.
What should the HR director propose to fix the weak performance metrics and standards?
Partner with CEO and the head of each department to create strong performance metrics that are aligned with the organization’s mission.
Due to a lack of organizational success and productivity, various funding agencies have decided to apply pressure to an organization’s CEO by reducing the organization’s budget. The funding agencies hope that the CEO will use this as an opportunity to evaluate the organization’s overall structure, operating model, and finances. Due to the budget cuts, the CEO has decided to reduce the overall workforce. The CEO requests that the recently hired HR director work with the head of each department to devise a plan to reduce its personnel costs by 10% within a 30-day time frame.
The new HR director meets with the head of each department and studies the culture of the organization. During these meetings, it immediately becomes apparent that performance metrics are lax and that the skill sets of the workforce are severely outdated. The workforce’s average length of employment is seven years, and almost 60% of the workforce has made no effort to obtain any certifications or degrees beyond what they carried at the start of their employment. The work environment is unprofessional; employees operate more as a family and were mostly hired based on existing personal relationships. The new HR director learns that attempts at changes by predecessors were futile because of the personal relationships between department heads and employees. In fact, the department heads have a history of sabotaging previous HR directors’ attempts at change.
How should the HR director present the skills gap issue to the CEO?
Analyze the company’s mission compared to the skills possessed by the company’s workforce, and then provide solutions to the CEO.
Due to a lack of organizational success and productivity, various funding agencies have decided to apply pressure to an organization’s CEO by reducing the organization’s budget. The funding agencies hope that the CEO will use this as an opportunity to evaluate the organization’s overall structure, operating model, and finances. Due to the budget cuts, the CEO has decided to reduce the overall workforce. The CEO requests that the recently hired HR director work with the head of each department to devise a plan to reduce its personnel costs by 10% within a 30-day time frame.
The new HR director meets with the head of each department and studies the culture of the organization. During these meetings, it immediately becomes apparent that performance metrics are lax and that the skill sets of the workforce are severely outdated. The workforce’s average length of employment is seven years, and almost 60% of the workforce has made no effort to obtain any certifications or degrees beyond what they carried at the start of their employment. The work environment is unprofessional; employees operate more as a family and were mostly hired based on existing personal relationships. The new HR director learns that attempts at changes by predecessors were futile because of the personal relationships between department heads and employees. In fact, the department heads have a history of sabotaging previous HR directors’ attempts at change.
What criteria should the HR director propose to use in order to determine how to reduce personnel costs?
Use a combination of performance evaluations, current skill sets needed, and salary information.
Type of analysis in which a team determines critical characteristics of a successful decision and then uses a matrix to score each alternative and compare results.
Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)
Visualization of the impact of change on productivity. When change is introduced, there is typically a decrease in productivity and then a gradual return to or, ideally, a surpassing of previous levels of productivity.
J curve
Providing guidance to organizational stakeholders; involves diagnosing problems or identifying opportunities, developing effective solutions, winning support for solutions, and implementing them effectively.
Consultation
Type of analysis in which a group identifies strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results; a framework that combines fact finding with an organization’s goals and desires, presenting an analysis of the organization’s actual state and how it will measure achievement.
SOAR analysis
Tool designed to analyze the forces favoring and opposing a particular change; a group identifies and weights factors that could influence an outcome in either a negative or positive manner according to their possible impact and then uses these factors to score different opportunities.
Force-field analysis
Coaching, career development, talent management, skill development, diversity and cultural awareness, changes in structure or culture, employer branding, employee engagement are examples of what?
HR Expertise competency
Sometime this process is referred to as gathering information and building support for solutions
Process of consultation
It looks at forces that are either driving the movement toward a goal (helping forces) or blocking movement toward a goal (hindering forces)
Force field analysis
Combine to equip HR professionals to be organizational problem solvers, presenting sound, evidence- based proposals to leaders to improve performance
The Consultation and Analytical Aptitude competencies
Collecting data to define the gap between desired and actual performance and identify possible causes for the gap.
Defining the problem - first step in the consulting model.
Consulting model steps
- Define problem
- Design and implement solution
- Measure effectivness
- Sustain improvement
(Repeat the cycle)
Anyone whose work or experience is affected by the potential outcome of a change initiative—including employees, managers, vendors, and customers.
A stakeholder
Throughout the four steps that make up the consulting model, one of HR’s key responsibilities is
to communicate with and management of stakeholders.
During the change management process, HR professionals should be aware of what?
of the organization’s (or individual’s or group’s) readiness to change and the members’ ongoing emotional responses to changes. They should plan and then implement ways to increase acceptance and assimilation (sometimes called buy-in) of new values and practices.
Identifing potential threats, challenges, and liabilities that could be addressed by a change initiative. Information that will affect the eventual plan is also gathered.
Defining the problem - first step in the consulting model.
