Human Resource Management : The

Importance of Effective Strategy and

Planning

Presented by:
Sonam kumari gupta
 What Is Strategy?
• Can be at all organizational levels:
company, business unit, functional area,
product, customer, etc.

• Big picture, long-term, major impact,

significant, a platform for other decisions
and actions

• Uncertainty, big bets on an unknown

future
Strategic Plans and Operational Plans

• Strategic or Corporate Plan – sets overall aims and

objectives
• Operational or Tactical Plans – set specific targets and
actions, by organisational units (Faculty, Department) or
by activity (teaching, research, estates, human resources)
• Individual Plans – what the individual has to do

A Human Resources Strategy will aim to create and maintain

a workforce that is well motivated, appropriately trained,
equitably rewarded and which performs effectively in
pursuing the institution’s objectives
The Importance of Human Resources

• knowledge business – depends on the quality of its staff

• Growth of markets and competition for staff – with other
sectors, with other institutions
• The quality movement – focus on staff, no “hiding places”
• Pressure on funding – importance of staff productivity and
performance
• Globalisation
• Change management
• Legal environment – health and safety, conditions, equal
opportunities.
Some Characteristics of a good Human
Resources Strategy
Three key elements:
• Diagnostic – a comprehensive and systematic evaluation of
current practice and performance to identify both where
improvement is required and where policies and institutions are
working well

• Aspirational – a vision of effective HR practices which produce

specific outcomes that contribute to achieving the institution’s
strategy, underpinned by clear values and principles

• Developmental – a plan for achieving progress and building

greater capacity to bring about change in the future (bearing in
mind that effective human resource management depends as
much on good quality line management as it does on skilled
human resource professionals)
 Clear Targets

SMART targets – specific, measurable, agreed, realistic, time-

limited

Input targets eg appointing a new member of staff

Process targets eg developing new policies or procedures, or
undertaking a review of practice
Output targets eg producing a report introducing a new
payments or job evaluation scheme
Outcome targets eg increasing the number of women in
management positions or the proportion of people with
disabilities

Performance measures

Project management – subprojects

 Resource Allocation

• MUST be a clear link between human resource plans and

resource allocation
• Clarity of approach: actions-responsibilities-outcomes-
timescale-cost
 Monitoring

• Assessment of progress against input. Process and output

targets
• Summative evaluation – what works and what doesn’t
work. Formative process
• Problems of identifying cause and effect
• Importance of good feedback

Implementation is assisted by:

• Adequate levels of involvement
• Feedback on performance
• Focus on what is achievable
• Clear allocation of responsibilities
• Effective training and support
• Incentives and rewards
Key Issues: Recruitment and Retention

• Data collection

• Comparative analysis

• Identification of problems – particular disciplines (eg

computing, management, economics), particular
categories of staff (eg electronics technicians, cleaners),
particular regions (eg big cities)

• Some possible actions – improving the recruitment

process, startup packages, pay and rewards, market
supplements, job evaluation, career routes, fast-track
promotion, training and development
Key Issues: Staff Development and
Training
• Necessary to enhance the institution’s skills and
knowledge base

• Important to identify needs at ALL levels

• All categories of staff should be involved

• Programmes require regular evaluation – problems of

relevance
Key Issues: Equal Opportunities

• Data collection

• Staff development

• Possible actions – awareness raising, flexible working,

improvements to recruitment processes and literature,
targeted skills development, progression

• Job evaluation – equal pay for equal work

 Key Issues: Staff Profiles

• Data collection

• Audit of existing staff – current staff numbers, distribution by

grade/level of responsibility, skills profiles, age profiles
(succession planning, “new blood”), patterns of leavers and
joiners (high and low turnover), which posts are difficult to
fill, staffing costs, gender profiles, pay distribution

• External environment – national and local labour markets,

comparative analysis

• Link with institutional strategies – where will more/less staff

be needed
• Possible actions – training/retraining, redeployment,
severance
 Key Issues: Performance

• Performance review – vital in improving staff effort

• Must be regular

• All staff are entitled to feedback

• Formative process

• Rewarding good performance – monetary and non-monetary

• Tackling poor performance – clear agreed targets,

opportunities for training, monitoring, training for managers,
clear disciplinary procedures (including appeals)
Benefits of a Strategic Approach
to HR
• Facilitates development of high-quality
workforce through focus on types of
people and skills needed
• Facilitates cost-effective utilization of
labor, particularly in service industries
where labor is generally greatest cost
• Facilitates planning and assessment of
environmental uncertainty, and adaptation
of organization to external forces
THANK YOU