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American Plastics had fared rather worse than its competitors during the economic downturn. With revenue, quality, and productivity down, management set several goals to reverse the company’s fortune. One area in need of improvement was human resources and “Janet,” the newly appointed HR Director faced a daunting challenge: to quickly re-invent the Human Resources function, reposition it a strategic partner to the business, and improve employee perceptions of her department. Her predecessor retired after leading a major reduction in force causing a significant exodus of key talent, some unexpected. Janet was charged with finding a way to retain top talent and develop a steady but highly-qualified stream of candidates to fill regular as well as critical positions. The CEO agreed with her that differentiating the human resources function was essential for the company’s strategic plan to succeed. In her first two weeks on the job Janet discovered: Job descriptions were inconsistent, long but vague lists of high level “duties and responsibilities” and qualifications Job titles didn’t reflect the work people did, used instead as a framework for budgeting and compensation as many were doing unique work requiring different knowledge and skills. Aside from providing a coordinating function, human resources had outsourced recruiting to third parties who presented candidates based on their internet postings and other sources. No matter the level or criticality of the open position, human resources rarely conducted interviews or assessments before or after handing over the third party resumes to the hiring organization and would get involved again only when a candidate was selected. HR’s participation in the onboarding process of new employees was limited to having them attend a half-day orientation session where, between a video and a slide presentation about the company, they filled out benefits-related, payroll, ID and other paper forms. Training and Development (T&D) had largely been outsourced to several companies that provided generic on-line courses. The recent departure of several mission-critical employees disclosed no systematic means of capturing expertise from employees; when they left, their knowledge left with them. The Performance Employee Evaluation Program didn’t align with anything, was viewed by managers and individual contributors alike as a burdensome annual chore that interfered with people’s “real jobs.” Write a communications plan not to exceed 1,050 words to support the strategy of American Plastics. Justify why they were important for your strategic HRM planning process. Recommend how to address these considerations. Focus on resolution of the human resource management challenges in order to support operational strategies. ***I WOULD JUST NEED HELP WITH AN OUTLINE TO THIS ASSIGNMENT***
Expert Answer
American Plastics requires an overhaul of the Human Resource department in order to play an important role in the growth of the organization. Keeping into consideration the primary objective of assigning right job to the right candidate the Human Resource planning may be undertaken in the following steps:
- Developing organizational objectives- To achieve organizational objective, an organization requires quality manpower.
- Assessment of manpower: The next step in Human resource planning is to identify the present number of employees, their job role, capacities and their potential.
- Forecasting demand and supply: The next step is to identify the gaps in various job functions and providing suitable replacement for the employees who are exiting because of retirement, resignation or any other reason.
- Recruitment and Training; Recruitment of suitable candidate to match with the job responsibilities. This process starts by calling the bio data of the candidates, screening them, interviewing and then final selection. After on boarding of the candidates, imparting them desired trainings and preparing them for the handling the job.
- Monitoring performance- It is necessary to monitor the performance of the employees on regular intervals and providing them feedback. Based on the performance to carry out necessary changes like transfer of the employee to other department etc.
Factors to be examined
The following factors should be examined the company:
- Right job for right candidate. The job requirement should be thoroughly assessed and suitable candidate should be recruited to handle the same.
- Estimating correct number of employees. There should be no shortage or excess of employees. Both the situations are not good for smooth functioning of the organization.
- Analyzing on regular basis, which functions can be aligned or merged in order to achieve efficiency.
- Rewards and recognition for high performance.
Turnover beyond a threshold is costly to the organization and it can also give an organization a bad reputation which may result in keeping the talent away from joining the organization. However, there is also good turnover, which occurs when an organization finds a better person to fit the job.
The Human Resource department should recruit quality manpower by following the recruitment process which is outlined as under:
The first step in the recruitment process is identifying and analyzing the job role for which the recruitment is to be done. The second step is to identify the skill set required for that particular job like accounting skills for a job role in finance and accounts department. The third step is to decide on the selection process and eligibility criteria of the candidate. The fourth step is to advertise the position in the market and inviting resumes and job applications. The next step is to shortlist the CVs of the candidates whose profile and work experience matches the job requirements. The sixth step is to call the candidates for the assessment process which may include a written exam, a group discussion and/or a plain interview. Based on the assessment process, a suitable candidate is identified and an offer is made to him after the reference check. The job offer includes salary details, terms and conditions of the job, job responsibilities etc. After completing all the joining related formalities the candidate is on boarded and imparted desired trainings as per the need of the organization.
Assessing Strengths and Weaknesses
The strengths and weaknesses of the candidates can be assessed through the following methods:
- Aptitude test- Aptitude tests help in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates.
- Psychometric test- This kind of test helps in assessing the strengths and weaknesses and also the potential of the candidate.
- Reference check- Reference check can be done with the previous employer or any other reputed person to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate.
- Interview- During the interview process the profile of the candidate can be discussed in detail to understand his strengths, weaknesses, his achievements, and his relationship with colleagues etc.
By following the above process of human resource planning and the recruitment process the company can align its objectives with the objectives of the organization and it can build a great team to achieve the organizational goals.
