Organization Flashcards
HR’s Administrative Role
Managing compliance issues and record keeping
HR Administrative Role: using technology to capture and analyze data
HRIS. Facilitates that can drive HR’s role as a consultant to the organization’s leaders. HR data can be integrated into an enterprise management tool that enables more timely access to shared data throughout the organization. HR to analyze data, identify issues and developing trends, and begin planning.
HR Administrative Role: Using technology to reduce transactional time
HRIS manage HR data (eg employee records) and create compliance reports.
HR Administrative Role: Focusing on core capabilities
Tasks that are low in strategic value and are necessarily considered core HR functions can be outsourced to allow HR to focus on strategic activities.
HR’s Operational Role
Recruiting and hiring, resolution of employment issues, employee communication-attend to the day-to-day management of people. Requires HR to develop performance assessment and improvement processes and design effective reward systems
Operational Role: Knowledge management
Can help the organization capture and share the wisdom and experience of all its members. HR can show leaders what and where talent and specialized knowledge reside in the organization so that it can be deployed toward attaining strategic objectives.
Operational Role Targeted talent acquisition in development
HR can use data and its organizational skills (job analysis, consultative skills) to identify potential disconnects between current job descriptions and actual job competencies
Operational Role Incentive systems
Rewarding increased customer satisfaction rather than decreased call time; Rewarding the size of single sales rather than the number of smaller sales
Operational Role Employee engagement programs
Target increased productivity and retention-
Which characteristic separates a profession from an occupation
Credentialing organization
Primary responsibilities of executive management are to:
- Develop and communicate strategy to the organization’s components
- Monitor and control implementation of strategic and operational activities through control of financial resources.
Primary responsibilities of executive management are to:
- Be the primary interface with the organization’s stakeholders, from investors and regulators to customers and communities
- Lead the organization through a shared vision and the values they model in all interactions.
Primary responsibilities of finance
Focuses on how the organization uses its financial assets to operate in the short and long term.
Primary responsibilities of finance
Supporting operations and strategic initiatives through the creation and monitoring of operating and capital expenditure budgets.
Primary responsibilities of finance
Involved in decisions regarding global expansion, technology investments, and structuring strategic alliances.
Primary responsibilities of finance
Managing the organization’s treasury through short-and long-term investments and borrowing
Primary responsibilities of accounting
Focuses on tracking financial transactions and reporting financial information to finance
Accounting activities include
Tracking revenue and expenses through accounting. Must comply with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)
Marketing and sales
This brings in revenue. Responsibility of marketing is managing the 4 Ps: Price, Product, Promotion, and Place
marketing strategy: Push strategy
Focuses on getting products/services in front of customers. Companies may have showrooms
marketing strategy: pull strategy
Attracts customers to the product. Ex: carbonated drinks industry, invests heavily in advertising and promotion to create brands and boost sales
Research and development (R&D)
Responsible for future revenue. Focuses on performing theoretical research (as opposed to applied research), promoting science and new technologies, performing public-interest scientific research.
Operations
Develops, produces, and delivers products and services to customers.
Information Technology
Manages the storage, access, exchange, and analysis of information across the enterprise through hardware and software systems.
Information Technology
Support integration of data from different organizational processes through an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
HR is well positioned to serve as a cross-functional bridge
Facilitate the high degree of cross-functional understanding an collaboration required to deliver results.
Use its mission to advise core functions on how to align with the organization’s strategy.
HR is well positioned to serve as a cross-functional bridge
Identify and support the need for additional resources or training
Locate necessary talent resources dispersed throughout the organization.
HR with executive management
Recruiting executive candidates in highly competitive markets.
negotiating attractive compensation packages that are responsible and comply with regulatory restrictions.
HR with executive management
Consulting on strategic issues such as talent management, organizational effectiveness, or culture
Finance and Accounting with HR
Coordinating requirements of different markets in terms of currency, taxation, benefits, reporting. Selecting an external auditor.
Marketing and sales with HR
Aligning incentives/compensation programs with strategies and local cultures and practices.
Research and Development with HR
Developing talent pool with requisite expertise. Promote processes that allow R&D personnel to devote more time to the task of innovation. ensuring security of patents and intellectual property.
Operations with HR
Ensuring physical security of operations, coordinating with local, legal, regulatory, and cultural requirements.
Managing labor relations in different markets
Information Technology with HR
Selecting the HR information system and implementing it
Using database analysis to support decision making and strategic initiatives
Using internet and extranet to foster better communication, knowledge sharing, and coordination among internal and external stakeholders.
The role of an HR leader
Bring information about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the organization’s strategy to other leaders and participate in the development of overall strategy.
The role of an HR manager
Responsible for employee relations, talent acquisition, and organizational development. Plan, direct, and coordinate the activities for their unit and provide input to the leader for HR strategy
The role of an HR specialists
expertise in specific areas such as compensation and benefits design, talent management, metrics, IT, occupational health and safety, organizational development, and workforce relations.
The role of HR Generalists
Familiar with all of HR’s varied services. May have expertise in one or more specialty areas of HR but are generally proficient enough in each area to provide sound advice and direction to employees and managers. Work closely with their specialist coworkers to ensure that the information and programs they are providing to their employees are accurate and complete.
HR business partners
More experienced generalists who are assigned to represent HR services directly to other business functions. Use a deeper understanding of the business- both the organization and the function- to find ways that HR can help functions achieve their goals.
Centralized HR
Characterized by having all HR personnel located within the HR department and from there delivering services to all parts of the organization. Headquarters (or corporate) makes all HR policy and strategy decisions and coordinates all HR activities and programs.
Decentralized HR
Each part of the organization controls its own HR issues. Strategy and policy may still be made at headquarters, with HR staff within each function, business unit, or location carrying out the required activities.
Functional HR Structure
Headquarters HR is staffed with specialists who craft policies. HR generalists, who may be located within divisions or other locales, implement these policies adapt them as needed, and interact with employees.
Dedicated HR Structure
Allows organizations with different strategies in multiple units to apply HR expertise to each unit’s specific strategic needs. This is in some ways a “corporatized” HR, with an HR function at headquarters and separate HR functions located (or “embedded”) in separate business units.
Shared services model
Frequently used in organizations with multiple business units. Rather than having to develop its own expertise in every area, each unit can supplement its resources by selecting what it needs from a menu of shared services.
Common processes folded into shared service centers include
payroll, procurement, accounts payable/receivable, travel expenses, health benefits enrollment, and pension administration.
Top 4 positive outcomes for organizations that have implemented the shared services concept are:
Reduced staff time spent on administrative tasks
Reduced administrative costs
Consolidation of redundant functions
Better tracking of employee data
Outsourcing
Third-party vendor provides selected activites
Cosourcing
A third party provides dedicated services to HR, often locating contractors within HR’s organization
Human Resource outsourcing (HRO) Can administer or implement
Payroll, employee benefits programs, employee self-service centers, learning and development systems, including training and knowledge management, employee data retention and analytics, recruitment programs
The outsourcing process includes 9 steps
- Analyze needs and define goals
- Define the budget
- Create a request for proposal (RFP)
- Send RFPs to the chosen contractors
- Evaluate contractor proposals
- Choose a contractor
- Negotiate a contract
- Implement the project and monitor the schedule
- Evaluate the project
Parts of a request for proposal
Executive summary: Contains a synopsis of the vendor’s product or service and usually includes an understanding of the client’s needs.
Parts of a request for proposal
Company information: Provides information on the vendor company’s size, financial stability, business viability, and experience in the field
Parts of a request for proposal
Project team/resources: Explains who will be involved in the project from both the client and vendor companies.
Parts of a request for proposal
Deliverables: Outlines how the vendor will meet client needs/objectives
Parts of a request for proposal
References: Lists previous clients for whom the vendor has performed similar work.
Parts of a request for proposal
Outlined development process: Includes a detailed description of the project plan, with the objectives, scope of the effort, and a time line.
Parts of a request for proposal
Cost: Lists potential charges and prices for all products and services involved in the project
Types of HR Audits
Compliance: Focuses on how well the organization is complying with current employment laws and regulations
Types of HR Audits
Best practices: Helps the organization maintain or improve a competitive advantage by comparing its practices to those of employers identified as having exceptional HR practices
Types of HR Audits
Strategic: Focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of systems and processes to determine whether they align with the HR departmental and/or the organizational strategic plan.
Types of HR Audits
Function-specific: Focuses on a specific area in the HR function (payroll, performance management, records retention, etc.)
Steps to perform the audit: determine the scope and type of audit
Identification of exactly what areas should be targeted for review (example: comprehensive review of all practice areas or a limited review of those adequacy of a specific process or policy)
Steps to perform the audit: Develop the audit questionnaire
Development of a comprehensive document that elicits information during the inquiry (example: a list of specific questions)
Steps to perform the audit: Collect the data
use of the audit questionnaire as a “road map” to collect information
Steps to perform the audit: benchmark the findings
Comparison of the audit findings with HR benchmarks (Example: results for other similarly sized employers, national standards, or internal organizational data)
Steps to perform the audit: Provide feedback about the results
Review of data and presentation of summarized findings and recommendations (Example a written report and discussions) for the organization’s HR professionals and senior management team.
Talk about the risk level (high, medium, and low)
Steps to perform the audit: Create action plans
Development of action plans for implementing the changes suggested by the audit, with the findings separated by order of importance: high, medium, and low
Steps to perform the audit: Foster a climate of continuous improvement
Constant observation and continuous improvement of the organization’s policies, procedures, and practices (Continuous monitoring of HR systems to ensure that they are up-to-date and have follow-up mechanisms
What is the most important characteristic of an effective metric?
Strategic alignment
Organizational effectiveness and development (OED)
process or tool to identify and clear away internal obstacles to an organization’s drive toward its strategic goals and continuous improvement.
Organizational development (OD)
Defined as the process of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization and the well-being of its members through planned interventions
Organizational Development (OD) Efficiency in using resources to create value
A common metric is the ratio of revenue or income to cost of sales and goods Could also be measured by the number of hours or full-time employees it takes to produce a good or service.
Organizational Development (OD) Effectiveness in achieving its strategic goals
This may include a much broader range of metrics that evaluate, for example, the organization’s ability to: Attain its targets
Develop key competencies (innovation, customer focus, quality)
Create the internal environment leaders envision (collaborative work, distributed decision making, diverse teams, ethical decision making)
Proactive OED Interventions
Identify and correct potential problems before they begin affecting performance.
Proactive OED Interventions can help organizations that must compete in a rapidly changing marketplace to develop:
Communication networks that allow critical information to be exchanged quickly, free of hierarchical structures that slow communication.
Proactive OED Interventions can help organizations that must compete in a rapidly changing marketplace to develop:
Iterative work processes (Developing a product through increasingly functional versions) that control the costs of mistakes while allowing continuous learning and improvement.
Proactive OED Interventions can help organizations that must compete in a rapidly changing marketplace to develop:
Structures that allow employees to make decisions quickly and independently.
Proactive OED Interventions can help organizations that must compete in a rapidly changing marketplace to develop:
Intrinsically motivated employees who feel they can try new ideas without being punished for worthy failures
Remedial interventions
Make changes that bring an organization back on course toward its strategic goals.
Remedial interventions: long-term problems: Diminished capacity, capability, and agility
The organization no longer has a the quality or quantity of HR to remain competitve
Remedial Interventions: long-term problems:Misaligned organizational structure
Employees may be forced to perform duties for which they are not equipped. Managers may be neglecting strategic work to accomplish immediate tactical tasks
Remedial Interventions: long-term problems: Broken work processes
Processes are not redesigned to the conditions. Rather, they work around current limitations and grow less efficient and effective
Remedial Interventions: long-term problems: Declining workforce engagement
Feeling stressed and underpaid for their increased workloads, employee productivity may decline. If the economy has improved, valued employees may leave.
OED requires a distinct set of competencies
- Relationship management, including the ability to build trust, emotional intelligence, political awareness, and influencing, negotiation, and conflict management skills
OED requires a distinct set of competencies
- personal characteristics, including honesty, openness to differences, objectivity, willingness to take risks, consistency, and imagination
OED requires a distinct set of competencies
- Professional skills, such as communicating results orally and in writing
OED requires a distinct set of competencies
- Critical evaluation: The ability to gather and analyze data
OED requires a distinct set of competencies
- Consulting: diagnostic and design abilities and managing the OED project
OED requires a distinct set of competencies
Business acumen, spans the perspectives within the organization and includes awareness of the organization’s environment
OED requires a distinct set of competencies
Expertise in various interventions, including quality management, team building, coaching and mentoring, restructuring, and business process analysis
OED Model: Define Problem
The OED team collects data to define the gap between desired and actual performance and identify possible causes for the gap Data should be collected from all levels: decision makers, managers, and staff.
OED Model: Design and Implement Solution
Objectives are defined and an appropriate tactic for development is chosen: For ex: job assignments or a mentoring program. Necessary changes in direction, scope, and resources are communicated to management and documented.
OED Model: Measure Effectiveness
The solution’s effects are measured to determine if the initiative’s objectives have been met and if the change has had the desired strategic impact. The team’s effectiveness is reviewed as well, and plans for improvement are made. Problems in implementation are identified and addressed.
OED Model: Sustain Improvement
The team monitors activity and provides guidance to leaders about ways in which new values, attitudes, or practices can become institutionalized.
Planning an intervention steps 1: Identifying and involving stakeholders
These individuals will be involved in or affected by changes that might result from the intervention.
Planning an intervention steps 2: Defining achievable intervention objectives
This will maintain the organization’s confidence in the OED process and demonstrate HR’s value.
Planning an intervention steps 3: Plan appropriate ways to gather information
The data set must be sufficiently large to support reliability and should reflect multiple perspectives to avoid bias.
Assessing Readiness for Change
What is the nature of the change?
What is the expected duration?
What key milestones are associated with the change?
Where is the organization in the change process?
Who will have primary responsibility for implementing the change?
Analyzing data for OED changes: Sort data into categories
Tools like affinity diagrams are useful here. An affinity diagram can be used to gather a large amount of data. Once collected, the data is grouped into similar categories.
Analyzing data for OED changes: Plot statistical data
This allows analysts to identify the most common issues as well as data that appears to be a statistical “outlier” - very rare reports of a certain behavior or event.
Analyzing data for OED changes: Conduct a root-cause analysis
Cause-effect diagram: The diagram begins with the effect and then works backward to identify contributing factors.
Analyzing data for OED changes: Determine if data is trending in a certain direction
The frequency and severity of events can be plotted against time. Addressing emerging and rapidly growing issues will be a priority.
5 characteristics that the intervention must consider the data and analysis
1: Relevance
2: Influence or manageable: Target conditions that can realistically be changed, given the organization’s environment and resources and given the attitudes of the organization and the receptiveness of its members to change.