Topic Notes: Tools and Techniques to Support HR Activities
Technology to Support HR Activities
A number of different technologies are used to help support HR activities. Technology plays a key role in helping to both streamline and improve the effectiveness of HR processes and activities.
Business integration is the practice of organizations moving toward unified technology systems that incorporate all business processes and functions. For example, customer relationship management (CRM) systems can be merged with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
It is also essential that policies are implemented for the conversion, migration, and housing of records. Electronic preservation is important in the event litigation is launched or is possible. This storage is referred to as e-discovery.
Social networking is a trend that has enabled users to share information and ideas on both a personal and professional level. In terms of their impact on the workplace, social networks have facilitated collaboration between workers using enterprise-grade versions of the same sites people have been using for personal interaction. This trend has also changed the way businesses interact with their customers, enabling those customers to receive answers to their questions almost immediately.
The IT industry has the power to advance in a variety of sustainability initiatives. These initiatives are driven mainly by increased energy costs, stakeholder awareness, and environmental regulations. In response to these challenges, organizations are looking to their IT departments for ways to reduce their carbon footprints. Some of the more popular initiatives include establishing green supply chains, where money is transferred electronically; eliminating the need for producing paper invoices; using e-documents; reducing the need for travel through teleconferencing and online education; and selecting partners based on their carbon reduction goals. The added benefit of these initiatives is the potential for companies to save substantial amounts of money and obtain further savings through government rebates.
Technology to Support HR Activities – Management Systems
A human resource information system (HRIS) is software that can integrate data from different areas into one database. Such systems commonly link financial and human resource modules. HR information systems merge basic HR activities and processes with information technology (IT) in four general areas:
A payroll module can automate the payment process by gathering data on employee attendance, calculating deductions and taxes, and generating paychecks and employee tax reports.
A time and labor management module gathers and evaluates employee time and work information.
A benefit administration module permits HR to administer and track employee participation in benefits programs ranging from insurance and pension plans to profit sharing or stock option plans.
An HR management module is a component covering all other HR aspects. The HRIS holds personal and demographic data, as well as information about recruitment, training, skills management, and compensation planning records.
An HRIS is a way to store employment documents electronically, which offers benefits above and beyond freeing up space in file cabinets. Because an HRIS gives employees and job applicants access to their information, it increases accuracy and reduces delays. An HRIS is also a tool for effective decision making. Reporting capabilities are a major source of value when making strategic decisions about everything from turnover trends to succession plans to staffing needs.
Before selecting a specific HRIS, you should conduct a needs analysis to identify what information you'll need the HRIS to include; if the system should integrate with or share data with other company systems; and how many levels of access will be needed. You also want to determine what kinds of reports you'll need the system to produce, if the HRIS needs to be remotely accessible, and if so, what security is needed to protect privacy and prevent identity theft.
HR professionals need to adapt to trends in technology and learn to use technological tools that can improve the service and function of their department. An HRIS is a technological advancement that can provide real value for HR. It has many potential uses that range from simple data storage to generating complex reports.
Organizational change is the process of transformation when adapting to something new. This could be due to a change in strategy, management, goals, or objectives, which could come about as a result of a merger, an acquisition, or general restructuring. During this process of transformation, management must address several challenges by adopting best practice standards.
When the organization's units are closely integrated, these challenges are especially difficult. This is because a change in one unit can have a profound ripple effect throughout the entire organization.
Although there are a wide range of potential causes of organizational change, there's one constant: its impact on employees. The main challenge this poses for management is in dealing with the uncertainty that's inevitably caused. It can affect employees psychologically, emotionally, and physically.
Many people function within a comfort zone, and they often put up barriers to protect these zones. Some are deeply attached to the way they work, and tend to want to keep things as they are. Change can threaten this comfort zone. It can challenge a person's values and central core beliefs, causing stress. Not knowing what's coming down the line may create confusion, anxiety, and uncertainty. Generally, change may be resisted if it requires people to step outside their comfort zones. When confused and anxious, people may withdraw, become skeptical and distrustful, and prioritize self-protection and survival over everything else.
One reason for resistance to change is that people often personalize the need for change. When they're told that the current way of doing something is going to change, what they hear is "you're not valued." A negative response to change almost always stems from leadership's failure to communicate what lies ahead. People wouldn't be as resistant to change if they understood the meaning and relevance of the change. This is why it's so important to manage and lead change. Doing this effectively requires an understanding of the human factors involved.
Change Management Principles
Organizational change is a systematic approach to addressing change. It involves the application of knowledge and resources to addressing this change. There are three principal activities involved in effective change management:
define and implant new values and behaviors that support a new approach to how things are done
build consensus around changes that will benefit all involved, and
plan, test, and implement every aspect of the change
There are several guiding principles of change management:
address the people issues – A major transformation makes significant demands of people, such as changing their jobs or asking them to learn new skills. This causes uncertainty, which can lead to resistance. Morale and results will suffer unless there's a formal arrangement in place, developed early and adjusted as necessary.
involve every level – A transformation – from its design to its implementation – affects every level. Within the overall plan for organizational change, it's a good idea to identify leaders throughout the organization, at every level, and make them responsible for the implementation. Doing this ensures that change flows through the organization, from level to level.
create ownership – There needs to be more than just passive acceptance of the change process; there needs to be a sense of ownership among a sufficient number of individuals. These are leaders who are prepared to take responsibility for implementing the change wherever they have influence or control.
communicate the message – Instead of assuming that others understand the issues or the reasons for the change, communicate the message. Do this in an inspirational and practicable way. Communication should be regular and timely, and done through several different channels.
take account of the culture – Early assessment of the organization's culture will help you identify potential difficulties and conflicts before they emerge, and also determine the readiness to change. Any change has to take account of – and be consistent with – the core values, beliefs, and behaviors of the organization.
Although there are many reasons why organizational change might be necessary, every major transformation has an impact on employees. Unless it's properly managed, organizational change can result in increased absenteeism, reduced productivity, and the loss of valued employees.
Risk is chance that a positive or negative event will occur and affect organizational objectives. The management of risk, therefore, entails identifying, assessing, and controlling any potential risks to the organization. Risks are present in every aspect and function in an organization, and there are a number of categories of risk:
Organizational growth almost always involves uncertainties, obstacles, and opportunity costs. Risk management is an organization-wide concern and needs to be treated as an integral part of being able to meet key objectives; it must be used in all aspects of strategic planning.
Risk Management – HR's Role
HR has long been involved in risk management, notably with regard to people risks, including staffing and staffing policies, and policies like health care management and unemployment insurance. As organizations become more strategically aligned, HR is increasingly extending its role into more areas.
For example, HR professionals might be responsible for staffing, safety, and other key functions in a small to medium-sized organization. Bigger organizations, however, may use a risk manager to manage the risks outlined above, and use HR to focus only on staffing risk management (in conjunction with the risk manager).
Topic Notes: Analysis, Financial Management, and Vendor Management
The idea of costs versus benefits is the foundation of any personal or business decision that impacts finances. Assessing costs and benefits seems simple – just add costs on one side and benefits on the other, and then determine which side outweighs the other. But not all factors are always immediately apparent.
A cost-benefit analysis might help a company decide whether or not an initiative is worthwhile. It also might help a team predict whether a venture will yield expected results, or if a certain project is a good choice. Some of the reasons to use a cost-benefit analysis when analyzing projects are to
assess whether costs are manageable at the front end of a project
determine if the benefits of a project really exist
decide if now is the right time to implement the project, and
prioritize projects appropriately
To properly conduct a cost-benefit analysis, you'll need to follow six steps. To ensure that your cost-benefit analysis is effective, you must ensure that you go through each step sequentially, because if you realize that a project doesn't offer rich benefits during step one, it may prompt you to halt the rest of the analysis. The cost-benefit analysis steps are
identify project benefits – Project benefits are the positive factors or those that make the project potentially worthwhile.
express project benefits – This involves translating the benefits into dollar amounts, timing, and duration.
identify the project cost factors – This involves carefully considering all obvious and hidden factors that add to the price tag of the project.
estimate project cost factors – This involves translating costs into total dollar amounts and expenditure periods. You need to decide how to measure all costs, even ones that may occur late in project implementation or ones that are difficult to capture.
calculate the net project gain or loss – This involves subtracting all costs from all financial benefits and determining whether the project will gain or lose more money than it will spend.
decide on project viability – This can be done at the start of the project, to decide if it should be implemented at all, or at project completion.
Return on investment (ROI) calculations are perhaps the most popular financial measure of the merits of decision alternatives. So ROI is a key decision-making tool, especially in business situations. ROI helps you evaluate and select alternatives based on their costs and benefits, so you use it during steps four and five of the decision-making process. Costs and benefits are expressed in dollars, or other units of currency, and then compared for each alternative.
It's challenging, but possible, to estimate the monetary value of qualitative costs and benefits, such as staff morale, customer satisfaction, or a reputation for quality products or ethical actions. Though companies may not be able to measure qualitative variables precisely, they can firmly base their estimates on industry-accepted indices, rules of thumb, historical data, or benchmark data. An ROI value typically provides the ratio of the net return – or savings – of an alternative to the cost of the required investment. It can be written as a percentage. To calculate this percentage, you divide the net return by the total investment.
Total investment includes all the costs and expenditures required to implement the alternative. Net return is the profit you make over and above the costs of implementing the alternative.
To calculate the ROI, you divide the net return by the total investment. Then you multiply your result by 100.
Of course, most decisions are made before the solution is implemented and before you have precise figures for returns and investment. So typically, the values you use in an ROI calculation will be anticipated or projected values, rather than actual returns. You'll estimate the net return and the investment to the best of your ability based on established trends, benchmarks, and other sources of information.
Financial Analysis – Break-even and Financial Statements
A break-even analysis is an approach used to figure out the point in time when total revenue (linked to a program) is the same as the program's total cost – which is the break-even point. In order to calculate the break-even point, you need to divide the total cost by the total savings, and then multiply that by time increments – for instance, years and months.
Financial statements are another important area that HR professionals should be familiar with. For example, by examining certain statements such as annual gross profits, you can compare data over time and predict trends.
Financial Management – Objectives
Financial management is another area that HR professionals should be familiar with. The accounting and budgeting function is a key HR partner.
The objectives of finance and accounting are twofold. Accounting deals with accounts receivable and accounts payable. Finance, on the other hand, helps the other departments and business units manage the financial side of their activities – for example, pricing and developing financial models. The objectives of both these functions are to
comply with relevant legislation and regulations
control spending and budgeting, and
ensure the organization manages its financial resources effectively and efficiently
Financial Management – Key Tools
Taken together, financial statements show a complete and true picture of an organization's financial health. The income statement shows how much profit or loss an organization has made during a specified time period. The cash flow statement shows cash coming into and leaving the organization over the same time period. The balance sheet shows the financial position of the organization at a specific point in time, balancing all the assets it owns with all the liabilities for which it is obligated.
The income statement, cash flow statement, and balance sheet are all connected:
income statement – The net income value from the income statement is added into the calculation of retained earnings on the balance sheet, and is also calculated into operating activities as the first entry on the cash flow statement.
cash flow statement – The net cash at the end of the period in the cash flow statement is carried over to the current assets section of the balance sheet as the cash asset.
balance sheet – The net income from the income statement is incorporated into retained earnings under equity, and the net cash from the cash flow statement is added under assets.
The basic accounting equation is at the heart of every change that affects the financial documents. For every change to an asset, there's a corresponding change to liabilities and equity. The reverse is also true – every change in liabilities and equity is reflected by a change in assets.
Managing vendors is different from managing an on-site team. Some challenges include geographic separation, having to work across different time zones, or having to work with diverse cultural differences. Also, when you're working with a vendor, your responsibilities may increase. You'll also have to deal with the complexities of managing people who are off-site.
Managing Vendors – Knowledge and People
Knowledge management involves the transfer of information about products, processes, and practices – how things are done in your organization – to third-party suppliers.
Transferring that knowledge to an outsourced project can be problematic because of logistics. You'll need to factor in the time required to transfer the knowledge to the vendor. And it will be slow compared to transferring knowledge in-house. Sometimes the transfer of knowledge can hit a roadblock because inherent cultural differences can mean people don't perform tasks the same way. On a project, the term "knowledge" refers to technical knowledge about systems, technologies, and tools. It also includes business knowledge about processes, business functions, and the industry.
The next area of concern in an outsourced project involves managing people. One of the biggest issues with managing people involves dealing with conflict. All teams will experience conflict at one time or another and outsourced teams are no different. To quickly resolve conflicts, you need to have proactive approaches ready to cope with typical areas of conflict, which usually include expectations and quality issues. Conflict can also stem from personality clashes. Your goal should be to establish what is right instead of who is right. Another implication of managing people is that you'll have to offer regular feedback and support. Vendors, just like employees, need to receive feedback, both negative and positive, to find out how well they're performing in relation to their goals.
Managing Vendors – Communications and Relationships
Another area of concern in an outsourced project involves managing communication. The field of project development can be complex, and clear communication can be difficult enough when employees are in-house. But when a project involves vendors and employees from a different organization, or even a different country, communication issues are almost certain to emerge.
To begin addressing the implications of managing communication in an outsourced project, there are questions about certain areas you can ask yourself:
Misperceptions or stereotypes can be a significant cause of communication issues. How can you identify and dispel these stereotypes and reach a deeper cross-cultural understanding?
Are there any techniques you can use to help make communication between in-house and vendor teams more effective? For example, you may want to consider what form of information and communication technology, or ICT, is compatible with the supplier's organizational, cultural, and physical needs.
What training programs can you implement that will enhance both technical and communication skills?
The final area of concern in an outsourced project involves managing relationships. This refers to the relationships between your company, the vendor, and the employees who are working on the outsourced project. Most relationships develop over time and go through a cycle. In the beginning, you might have suppliers work on only noncritical projects. Over time, as the relationship matures and trust develops, you may have contractors perform higher-value tasks. Conversely, the relationship may deteriorate over time or even be terminated, either temporarily or permanently.
Managing relationships can be challenging in project outsourcing. One of the main difficulties involves issues of trust and control. You can keep control of a project while maintaining a positive relationship with the supplier in several ways – for instance, balanced and respectful interaction, training and personnel development, contracts outlining service-level agreements, and involving the client in developing plans can all help.
Effectively managing relationships in an outsourced project can have implications for you as a manager, particularly in two areas:
trust – Your goal should be a mature relationship between your company and the supplier. How can you develop trust in order to integrate a positive relationship with effective performance?
control mechanisms – Because control is necessary, you should ask yourself which control mechanisms you can use during each stage of the relationship. Do any of these control mechanisms hinder the growth of trust?
Topic Notes: Project Management Concepts and Applications
A project is a temporary venture carried out to create a unique product, service, or new business process for added value or beneficial change. A project always has a start and an end date, creates a unique product, service, or result, and is characterized by progressive elaboration, since it develops in steps and grows in detail.
Project management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources so the project is completed within the defined scope, quality, time, and cost constraints.
HR professionals need to understand how to manage a variety of projects effectively. For example, new regulations are introduced that will require an audit and changes to all current job descriptions. This would be considered a project.
Project Management Process
The typical project management process is as follows:
clarify issues and gain support
oversee, control, and adjust, and
Project Management – First and Second Steps
The first step, clarifying issues and gaining support, is characterized by identifying the problem or initiative that needs to be addressed and gaining support from senior management and executives. If the project is not supported by management, it will be very difficult to implement and may not be possible at all.
The project planning phase is used to select a project manager and team members, if they are required. Project managers are responsible for the entire project as a whole and other leaders (for example, mid-level managers) manage daily team activities. There are three key types of roles and responsibilities:
interpersonal – The project manager is a leader and a conduit for others on the team. The key priorities include effective team building and fostering an effective working atmosphere.
informational – The project manager is the point person for collecting and communicating information, and helps team members communicate effectively and efficiently to the entire organization.
decisional – The project manager allocates assets and resources, deals with differences, and helps motivate and encourage the project's progress.
Project Management – Implement, Oversee, and Adjust
The project activities, outlined in the project charter, continue to move forward as the project progresses. This stage involves the most effort – both in terms of actual work and resources required. The project manager's activities will typically expand at this stage to include motivating team members and removing barriers to the team's progress.
Project managers often also carry out assessments at key phases throughout the process in order to help eliminate any unwanted surprises, provide for adjustments on the fly, and make it simpler to develop an effectiveness measure that can be used to measure the project's success once it's completed.
As the implementation process wraps up, the project manager needs to monitor the work quality, progress compared to planned schedule, and use of resources needed to complete the project. In large projects, assessments are also carried out at various stages. Project managers must be keen to all risks and barriers that could stall the project's progress, and take decisive action to mitigate all risk.
Once the project ends, the project manager needs to assess the outcomes. Projects typically end with some sort of event, like the launch of a new system or service. Project completion should be recorded and housed in a report detailing the project's achievements and gaps, observations for future projects, and any next steps that may still be required. Assessment includes measurement of the project's results against the stated objectives and the way in which the project was carried out and managed. Final team meetings are often used to help analyze the process and learn from any mistakes and successes.
Project Management – Planning Tools
There are a number of tools that can be used to help track project success and key deliverables:
Gantt chart – shows the relationships between the project tasks, along with time constraints, in graph form. A Gantt chart has a vertical axis, representing activities; a horizontal axis, representing time; and a plot area. It can also show milestones and other project information.
project schedule – breaks down project activities into tasks, with specific timelines and resources associated with each task. It is a table comprising information such as project phases, milestones, activities, tasks, and the planned start and end date for each task.
program evaluation and review technique (PERT) – identifies all major project events and shows the amount of time needed to complete a project. A chart displays estimated activity times in the form of a critical path.
critical path method (CPM) – determines the critical path activities and displays the time and cost required to complete a task. This also includes a network diagram and a table with details of time and cost associated with critical activities.
2087
dailybridgerton
stormborns
yousharknotpass
gummygunk
titsay
origamiaround
