12/2/23

Workforce Planning

Terry F. Buss, PhD

Hanoi School of Business and Management

Lecture Overview
Work force planning …
• Workforce analysis
• Workforce analysis templates
• Skills gap analysis
• Job analysis
• Job descriptions
• Job Competencies
• Career development (career ladders)
PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS ALONG THE WAY

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Why Is Human Capital Management (HMC)

Planning Important?
• HCM has become highly technical, sophisticated, complex,
and time consuming, at least in large organizations.

• You may feel after hearing this lecture that HMC is not for
you. Think again.

• If you are not well versed in HCM, you will likely be an

ineffective manager. WHY? Example

O*NET System
• What is O*NET?
• Focus on O*NET, Why?
• One of the most sophisticated system available
• Much of it is transferrable to private sector
• Its free and easy to use

https://www.onetonline.org

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Work Force Analysis

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Recommend-
Strategic Workforce Implementation
Benchmarking ations
Intent Analysis solutions

Interventions

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Environmental Scans

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External Environmental Scans

• The economy • Changes in labor attitudes

• The political environment • Hybrid workforce
• Technological changes • Labor trends
• Legal/industrial • Immigration
• Ecological, environmental • Globalization
• Socio-cultural • National plans
• Demographic • Other ministerial plans

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Internal Environmental Scans

• Strategic plans • Enterprise risk management
• Human resource plans (ERM)
• IT plans • Technology
• Budgets • Employee surveys
• Business unit plans • Stakeholders
• Legislation, regulation
• Business processes, Enterprise
Architecture

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Enterprise Architecture

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Enterprise Risk Management

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Maintain or enhance Correct or Convert to strength

Prioritize Convert to opportunity

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SWOT Example

Converting weakness & threats è Opportunity & strengths

Ex: 2008 Global Financial Crisis

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Common Internal Organizational

HR Problems
• Too many layers of process
• Non-essential positions
• Too many supervisors
• Duplicate functions or tasks
• Too many small units
• Overly specialized units
• Misalignment of mission and function
• Excessive overhead

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Continued….
• Pay grades too high
• Deviation from normal career ladders
• “Shadow operations” (HUD)
• Confused or dysfunctional lines of authority
• Too many assistants
• Too many support, not enough line staff
• Business process issues
• Miss classification of units

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Some Typical Management Decisions

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Gantt Chart (see below)

What does it show…

• What the various activities are

• When each activity begins and ends
• How long each activity is scheduled to last
• Where activities overlap with other activities, and by how much
• The start and end date of the whole project
See: https://www.gantt.com

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Standard Occupational Classification

• Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system is a federal statistical
standard used by federal agencies to classify workers into occupational categories
for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data. All workers are
classified into one of 867 detailed occupations according to their occupational
definition. To facilitate classification, detailed occupations are combined to form
459 broad occupations, 98 minor groups, and 23 major groups. Detailed
occupations in the SOC with similar job duties, and in some cases skills,
education, and/or training, are grouped together.

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Types of Workers

Mission-
Specialists critical
workers

Flexible Core
labor workforce

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This is where O*Net comes into play.

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Job Analysis Matrix

What the worker

does: duties, How the worker
does it: methods,
tasks
responsibilities tools, techniques

What
qualifications are
Why the worker
does it: products, needed: skills,
knowledge,
services, outputs abilities, physical
demands

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Effective Job Descriptions

Purpose of…
• Ensure job applicants and employees understand their role, duties
and responsibilities
• Should be treated as a binding, legal document Should serve as basis
for performance evaluations, job training, job evaluations and career
development/advancement
• Critical in compensation, promotion, unfair hiring and other HR
decisions
(HUD arch)

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What to Include for Employees

Job descriptions include:
• Job title
• Job objective or overall purpose statement
• Summary of general nature and level of job
• Description of broad function and scope of job
• List of duties and tasks performed critical to success
• Key functional and relational (other jobs) responsibilities
• Relation to superiors and subordinates

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What to Include for Recruiting

Additional specifications for hiring…
• Job specifications, standards and requirements
• Job location
• Equipment to be used
• Salary

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Writing Style for Job Descriptions

• Short, concise, clear statements
• Omit sentence subject, begin with verb [do not say “employee will…”,
and instead say “prepare annual reports…”
• Always use present tense
• Use explanatory sentences: why, how, where, …
• Avoid using adverbs, adjectives “complex, occasional, several…”

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Likely Will Include Strategy

• Should we include strategy, vision, mission,

values in the job description?
• If so, how?

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Save yourself time and energy…

Use O*NET Job Decription Writer

Illustrates how complex job descriptions are.

Wait until someone mandates a new performance

management system!

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O*NET Job Description Writer

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Select Occupation

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Job Competency Development

How to produce an inventory of competencies for HR?

• O*NET Questionnaires offer one method

• Worker diaries—what do workers do
• Worker surveys
• Critical Incidence Technique
• Comparator organizations
• Experts, consultants

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Allows HR to customize
questionnaires as necessary

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Workers in target occupations are

surveyed: activities, knowledge,
context

Experts are surveyed: activities,

knowledge, context, background

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Developing an Inventory of Competencies

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Each Competency Should Have…

• Cluster title [represents related components]
• Competency title [one of several in the cluster]
• Competency definition
• Why competency is important
• Levels for a competency
• Indicators for effectiveness and ineffectiveness of competency

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O*NET Competency Model

Website: create competency &
career lattice

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O*NET Competency Model Data

Base

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O*NET Three Tier Competency Model

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How to Use Competencies

• Competencies—which are very specific—replace the traditional “soft
skills” job requirements
• Don’t overdo the number of competencies required for the job: the
more competencies, the fewer the people able to do the job &
• The less flexibility managers have in assigning workers tasks to do (“Its
not my job!”)
• Uses of competencies…
• Job descriptions on the job and recruiting
• Competency based interviews

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Continued…
• Competency-based performance management
[how an individual works]
• Performance review
• Probation or development planning
• 360-degree feedback
• Competency-based learning
• Career development
• Organizational development
• Learning needs assessment

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Career Development

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http://www.careeronestop.org/Comp
etencyModel/careerpathway/ReviewC
areerPathways/IT_CPW.pdf

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Telecom Systems Career Path (example)

Simplified Version:

• Network Engineer
• Telecommunications Analyst
• MPLS VPN Engineer
• Telecom Project Manager
• Telecom Consultant

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Why Is Career Development Important?

• Potential employees often are not just looking a specific job.

• Many are looking for a career where they can advance over a lifetime
of work.

• Recruitment often fails if employers cannot lay out reasonable career

paths and strategies to attain them.

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From employee &

HR perspective

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Don’t Forget about Other Career Paths

• Reentering the workforce after long layoffs (women
and children)
• Older workers (65+)
• Career changers
• Restructuring workforce
• Nearing retirement

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