BSBHRM602 Manage Human Resources Strategic Planning

Provide answers to all of the questions below:
1. List five key functions of a Human Resources Manager.
2. Briefly discuss the importance of a human resources strategy.
3. Identify three aims of human resources strategic planning.
4. List at least five information areas that should be included in a Human Resources Strategic Plan.
5. Discuss four key steps in the human resources strategic planning process. Discuss each step in at least 2 to 3 sentences.
6. Discuss in around a paragraph, how the introduction of technology benefited the recruiting function of human resources.
7. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using each of the following options for the provision of human resource services.
8. In at least two sentences, discuss the aim and scope of the Fair Work Act 2009?

 Human Resources Strategic Planning Project

The King Edward VII College had a successful run in the educational industry. The college plans to expand the operation and open two additional campuses based in Brisbane and Sydney. The organization needs a three-year strategic plan to execute the objective of business expansion. The human resource planning is the essential part to ensure the achievement of the strategic goal of the organization. Thus, we present a report on the current human resource capacity of the company, the future requirement of the staff, the gaps at a strategic level and the new strategies that should be implemented for the success of the organization.

Current HR capacity

The King Edward VII College currently has 24 full-time employees which include CEO, a Marketing Manager and Marketing Assistant, Human Resources Manager, Finance Manager, Administration Manager, Office Assistant, Receptionist, Academic Manager, Student Services Officer and approximately 14 trainers. The employees are highly qualified in their domain and efficiently executing the assigned task. However, for the new branches of the college new staff members are not yet recruited. The skill inventory of the current human resource includes leadership qualities, domain knowledge (academic, HR, marketing & finance), administrative skills and teaching ability. The present staff is capable of run one business unit for the organization, but the additional responsibility of upcoming venture can increase the work load and might affect the work quality.

Forecasting HR requirements

It is predicted that for each upcoming campuses the college will require a receptionist, student services officer and 4 trainers. This provides that King Edward VII College should recruit two receptionist, two student services officers and 8 trainers in the near future. Additionally, the college will also require IT manager, to take care of introduction of new technology to the campus and marketing team to ensure the promotion of the college among the potential candidates. The college should also recruit team members for HR department for allocation of new employees and to implement the HR strategic plan.

Gap analysis

The rapidly changing business environment requires the changes the policies and strategies of King Edward VII College. Advancement in technology, cultural changes, and the emergence of the importance of work-life balance are the main aspects which affect the work culture of King Edward VII College. The current work system of King Edward VII College is not technically advanced as there is a lack of standardized policies which can support the expansion plan of the organization. Thus, there is a need to restructure the current policies of the organization, to introduce new policies and to ensure the healthy working environment in the organization.

HR Strategies to Support Organizational Strategies

We propose the designing, development, and implementation of following HR policies for King Edward VII College in near future.

Recruitment and selection strategies- The standardization of job profile, selection criteria, skill set, and educational background of the candidate should be done. Also, the policies regarding the compensation, benefits, working hours and working conditions should be designed based on the employment law.  

Flexible working arrangements policies- The importance of work-life balance is increased among the employees. Thus, the organization should design flexible working arrangement policies to put the ground rules for flexible work opportunity and facilities for the employees.

Advanced HR information system- To maintain the information about the employees such as attendance, personal, official and educational details, performance ratings, performance appraisal details and skill inventory there is a need of advanced HR information system in the organization.

Induction, training & development programs- It is essential to run the induction program for the new employees of the organization to make them aware of their role, responsibilities, rights, rules, and regulations of the company and the facilities provided by the organization. The training and development programs should include cross culture training to maintain cultural harmony, skill development exercise and technical training course to use new technology to perform the given task.

Occupational health and safety policies- There is a need to create health and safety policies which will include the details regarding insurance, accident allowances, and safety precautions. The company should ensure the proper implementation of the health and safety norms given by law.

Performance management system and retention policies- A fair performance appraisal system should be introduced which include the ratings from the supervisors, team members, and the employees. The retention policies should cover the additional compensation, rewards, and facilities the company will provide to retain the employee in the organization.

The human resource strategies suggested here will ensure the successful implementation of the long term objectives of the organization.  

Human Resources Strategic Plan Implementation

The employees always prefer to work for a family friendly organization and term ‘work-life balance’ is often used in the same context (Greenhaus et al., 2003). The work-life balance is precisely the interface between the work and private life of the employee (Abendroth & Den Dulk, 2011). The work life balance indicates a certain level of success in meeting both work and family demands (Valcour, 2007). The work-life balance of the employee is important for the organization as it promotes positive psychology and health (Hurrelmann, 2006). It reduces the level of stress and anxiety among the employees who are trying to perform well on the organizational and personal level.

King Edward VII College under the theme of work-life balance sets an objective of providing safe, healthy and inclusive workplace culture to the employees. There are three distant work-life balance programs we proposed to run in the organization for the fulfillment of the objective.

1. Creating Designated “Quiet Space”

While dealing with the work pressure or if someone encounters a bad day, an employee often needs a quiet space to take a mental break. The King Edward VII College should come up with a well designed quite space which is uncluttered. We propose to build a place where employees can relax during the short break; the place should have comfortable seating arrangements, plenty of light and fresh air along with the natural entities like plants and flowers. This place will enhance the health of the employee and help in quick refreshment.

2. Cross-cultural training session

The King Edward VII College consists of diverse staff and also serves diverse students. It is essential for the staff members to be aware of the different norms and beliefs of various cultures. The cross-cultural training will enhance the cultural sensitivity and cultural intelligence of the employees. This intervention will help to develop an inclusive work culture in the organization.

3. Allowing Schedule Flexibility

The virtual workforce is the new trend in the educational sector. The employees working on the profiles such as online marketing executives, course designer, and online tutor are not required to be physically present in the organization. Thus, we proposed that King Edward VII College should consider providing work from home opportunity to the employees whose profile does not require the arrival at work in-person. This work-life balance imitative will provide benefits like the opportunity to attract highly skilled employees across the global, retentions of the employees who are looking for the flexible work environment, increasing the employee engagement, contributing to the health and well-being of the employees and development of an innovative, agile workforce.

Human Resources Strategic Plan Monitoring And Adoption

The technological advancement allowed King Edward VII College to recruit the work from home team which is working with the organization from past one year. The implementation of ‘work from home’ opportunity under the work-life balance theme is found to be successful for the organization. As stated by Perry-Smith and Blum (2000), the work-life balance practices act as a source of competitive advantage for the organization. It is proven right in the case of King Edward VII College work from home team. The virtual team consists of highly qualified employees who have significantly contributed to the growth of the organization. The post implementation analysis has shown that there is a noticeable improvement in employee satisfaction, work-life quality of the employees, the retention rate of the organization is improved and the absenteeism is drastically reduced at the end of this year. The yearly health-check up reports of the ‘work from home’ team has shown positive improvement in overall health and reduced level of stress and anxiety. The productivity and response time of the team is highly improved after they got the opportunity to work from home. However, some of the issues were found while implementation of the ‘work from home’ initiative. The issues are listed below-

1. The family members of the virtual team are not quite aware of the norms to be followed to provide a productive working environment to the employee

2. The technological failure makes it difficult for the ‘work from home’ employees to join the regular online meetings

As the ‘work from home’ initiative was quite successful based on the gain in terms of employee satisfaction, improved productivity and performance we proposed to continue this effort with some additional action.  The additional actions include-