Week 3: Workforce Planning
Reading 5.2 in your text speaks to how one large company implemented a workforce planning and design process to move to a human capital perspective on strategic human resource management. What lessons can one draw from this process, and how does it compare to companie...
Week 3: Workforce Planning
Reading 5.2 in your text speaks to how one large company implemented a workforce
planning and design process to move to a human capital perspective on strategic
human resource management. What lessons can one draw from this process, and how
does it compare to companies of which you are (or have been) a part?
, Collapse SubdiscussionDarrell Gordon
Darrell Gordon
Nov 10, 2019Nov 10, 2019 at 10:31am
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Professor & Class –
There were several lessons learned and process improvements that were derived
from the HR Annual Operation Plan (AOP) conducted by Corning. One of the most
obvious was that as they go through the process annually, they learn what worked
and what didn’t work to avoid the same mistakes going forward. The first year they
realized the missed opportunity of not having HR leader input on a global scale. The
second year Corning recognized the importance of having business unit requests
prioritized before the meeting – thereby not having to duplicate that effort during the
AOP process. The third year they realized that in retrospect it was a mistake to
have the Centers of Excellence (COE) presentations conducted on the company’s
Intranet – which gave the perception that their input was marginalized.
In terms of how it compares to organizations that I have worked for; I can only speak
from an IT perspective, as that has been my primary role for my career. During my
longest tenure at one company – there was an annual process where line and mid-
level managers presented proposed projects to senior management which came to
be known as “challenge sessions”. The goal or end-result of these sessions were
that the only projects approved were those where the managers survived the
intensive scrutiny of challenge questions posed by senior management to justify
going forward with the proposed IT projects. I don’t know if senior management
considered the human capital perspective beyond the planned resource allocation
required for the IT projects.
Reference:
Mello, J. (2015). Strategic Human Resource Management (4th Ed.). Stamford, CT:
Cengage Learning. (234-236)
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Collapse SubdiscussionStephen Ludden
Stephen Ludden
Nov 12, 2019Nov 12, 2019 at 7:07am
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, Darrell - I found the annual review of the processes to be very interesting and
applicable in business as well. Currently I work for a nation wide community /
property management company. Annually, the senior level managers of the
company evaluate business practices and adjust as necessary. The feedback from
the workforce does not fall on deaf ears, as they have made quite a few changes
over the last three years to streamline processes and make the work environment
better overall. This has led to them receiving the "Great Place to Work" award for
three years in a row, and has also led to a significant amount of innovation in a field
that is notorious for antiquated operation practices.
Collapse SubdiscussionErinn Nowlin
Erinn Nowlin
Nov 13, 2019Nov 13, 2019 at 9:56pm
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Stephen,
I’m happy to hear that your company moves quick to implement suggestions from
the workforce. Innovation is so important and sets competitors apart from each other
very quickly in any field. We live in a time where self service is expected in almost
every field and the ability to email and chat, etc. At my former employer, they were
behind on a lot of process improvements and the other things they were working on
seemed to be a waste or not what we asked for. I think the issue was trying to
compete with other major insurance companies and what they offered and the fact
we lacked an effective channel to provide suggestions and feedback to the right
teams to assist in upgrading our systems. While I think they evaluated process
innovation monthly, they viewed it based of customer survey results and
implemented based on the business impact to the workflow with no consideration
from the employees doing the work.
(1 like)
Stephen Ludden
, Stephen Ludden
Nov 15, 2019Nov 15, 2019 at 10am
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Erinn - Thank you for the feedback! It is unfortunate that many industries are moving
toward a self service mentality without taking into consideration the client or
employees' opinions. I believe that any modification to processes, especially in
streamlining them, should be a win/win for everyone. The plans that benefit
everyone are the best ones to consider and enact. This allows for satisfaction on all
fronts, which leads to business expansion and sustainability.
Keith James
Keith James
Nov 10, 2019Nov 10, 2019 at 11:43pm
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I found the lessons of Corning Incorporated's Strategic Planning Process to be
interesting. To design a planning process that performs the same when a business
is expanding, as it does when that business is downsizing, is indeed a huge
challenge. Nevertheless, those spectrums should be planned for and expected. At
least it seems that should be the case for big companies like Corning. I'm not so
sure it's as practical or necessary for a small company. Small companies mostly
figure things out as they go, dealing only with the situation at hand, and are typically
not able to invest resources into hypotheticals. Hindsight after failure would suggest
companies which get into deep trouble might have avoided the depth of trouble if
they had better planned for the contingency. Of course. But the reality is that it's just
not practical to use limited resources to plan for contraction when every effort for a
new business is geared for expanding and establishing that business on solid
ground first. I can't really speak to this from experience, though, because I have
never been involved in annual planning during my employment.
I have, however, been involved in leadership at various levels of non-profit volunteer
organizations. These meetings have never been structured in the type of detail
mentioned in the 5.2 reading. Maybe that's why they've also never really been
productive. Something from the reading that I have encountered (negatively) in
annual planning meetings came from page 234 ... "Consistency may be more
important than change for change's sake." Some of the planning meetings I've
participated in seemed to have the 'change' mantra as the overarching purpose,
when maybe change wasn't really necessary. To end a meeting with a goal of 'status
quo' just doesn't sound a productive result to some leaders ... so the flipside in my
experience has often been a change for change's sake ... just so some new slogan
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