Staffing and Strategic Components - Assignment Example

Running Head: STAFFING AND STRATEGIC COMPONENTS STAFFING AND STRATEGIC COMPONENTS By Staffing and Strategic Components I Staffing QA Why is it important to view all components of staffing (recruitment, selection, employment) from the perspective of the job applicant? In ideal recruitment, selection and employment processes, it is normally the applicant who is expected to put his best foot forward to impress the employer. It would greatly benefit the employer however, if it also manages to impress the applicant at this stage as it is a way of ensuring that it attracts the best candidates for the position. Applicants themselves conduct assessment as to which employers are the most potentially suited to them. The staffing process is the initial stage with which an applicant comes into actual contact with the employer and therefore this contact constitutes his/her first impression of it. The more qualified applicants are attracted to seek employment in a particular organization for a particular position, the higher the chances that the employer will find the person most suited for the job. The implication is that there is more security for the successful applicant and lesser chances for the employer to incur another round of expenses for new staffing processes to fill up a vacated position by an unsatisfied or what turned out to be an unqualified employee. A staffing process which takes into consideration the applicant’s perspective is an important strategy that will eventually redound to the benefit of the employer in the long run (Jex 2002 p 1953). Sara Rynes, a recruitment expert, said that failure on the part of the employer to take into consideration an applicant’s perspective during the recruitment process, whether the applicant is eventually accepted or rejected, could result in resentment on the part of the applicant. The employer must thus avoid a staffing procedure that can be perceived by applicants as inconsiderate, cold or dragging. To that end, an employer must: ensure that notices are promptly sent to applicants informing them of their application status and allowing them enough time to seriously consider and choose reasonably among the options offered by the employer; avoid “stringing applicants along” by waiting until the final candidate has been selected before informing the rest that their qualifications are inadequate for the position but rather inform applicants that their applications have not been accepted as soon as a narrowing of list takes place; give an accurate and detailed information about the job being offered so as to prevent applicants from making unreasonable expectations that they are adequately qualified for it, among others, and; assign personnel in the forefront of the recruiting processes that radiate warmth, credibility and enthusiasm to draw out better response from applicants (Berman et al., p 63). QB What are the advantages of doing succession planning for all levels of management, instead of just top management? Describe an instance of succession planning from the bible and include the advantages and disadvantages of this situation? A succession planning that includes all levels of management, perhaps even including the supervisory level, is a better strategy because it is methodical and ensures a smooth transition of the employee from one position to the next. It allows the lowest level management (or supervisor) to move up the ladder of management step by step and precludes skipping several levels at once which could result in a promotion that could turn out to be far beyond the ability and competence of the person promoted. Also, in the event that a person promoted to a higher position subsequently proves to be not equipped to handle it, he/she could be moved horizontally to another position but in the same level where her/his qualifications are better suited (Atwood 2007 p 86). A typical example of succession planning is the biblical succession of Joshua to the position of Moses. In the book of Deuteronomy, of the Old Testament, Moses led the Israelites in their struggle for freedom but as he was nearing old age, it was realized that there was a need to find someone who can eventually take over the reins from Moses and lead the people to Canaan, the Promised Land. Thus, Moses trained Joshua for the position where it was planned that the position must be relinquished formally to the latter even before his death to make the transition acceptable to the people. The advantage of the Moses-Joshua model of succession planning is the assurance that it was Joshua and no other who will take the place of Moses. Moses can therefore focus his training and mentoring on one person alone rather than dividing his energy if there were several other trainees. The disadvantage with this kind of model is that it precludes the possibility of an intervening event which can render the succession nil as when the potential successor falls ill or incapacitated or die before the succession. In the event of such a scenario happening, a leadership vacuum and worse, an unstable organization may result. QC Since there are not standard ways of creating staffing process results and cost metrics, is there a need for some sort of over sight of how these data are calculated, reported, and used within the organization? Explain. Staffing strategies are best measured and reported by generally taking into consideration and evaluating the following: cost per hire; time to fill; interviews per offer, and; offers per acceptance. However, even with the aforesaid measures, no standards presently prevail but management must weigh them carefully to get the best possible deal between cost-effectiveness and candidate quality. In the cost-per-hire measurement, for example, the employer must ensure that the cost of the hiring (express in percentage to the annual salary of the position being offered) is not too high a percentage to the actual annual salary of the position being offered nor too low that it affects the quality of the candidates for the position. Thus, hiring which costs $12, 000 for a $120,000 job (annual salary) looks fair but not when applied to a $60,000 annual-salary job. The cost per hire works best with individual or small group hiring where salaries of the positions being offered are more or less of the same level. In the time-to-fill measurement, the pace in hiring is considered. Thus, the quicker the job is filled the better. However, this statement must be weighed with the notion that applicants may perceive a hastily-moving recruitment process as careless and desperate and the fact that during times of labor shortages, there is a need for recruiters to wind up hiring as soon as possible before the applicants begin to drift away to job offers from other organizations. The interviews-per-offer measurement refers to the number of applicants that a manager, on the average, conducts. Too few may mean narrowing chances of getting the most suited and too many may imply too much waste of time by the hiring manager. Finally, offers-per-acceptance measurement means the acceptability of a final offer made by an organization to the chosen candidate. A rejected offer made by the company to the final chosen candidate is a waste of time and money and does not look good on the company’s reputation (Burkholder et al, 2003 pp 113-114). QD How should an organization staff its operations, focusing on strategic decisions pertaining to staffing levels and quality? Staffing basics almost always include evaluating staffing necessities, assessing availability of personnel and then calculating the difference between them. The difference however, between effective and ineffective staffing strategy that determines the strategic yield of staffing levels and qualities are, according to author Tom Bechet (2008), in the implementation of such approach. His advice is to veer away from the traditional use and implementation of those basic approaches by, among others: focusing on planning and acting and not merely on analyzing; taking staffing from a proactive approach and not just merely implementing it; focusing on particular, not all, positions; keeping separate plans; setting staffing plans to keep up with changes, and; planning staffing strategies that meet company needs (pp 23-26). One of the ways with which a staffing strategy can yield high staffing levels and quality is by manipulating data gathered from workforce analysis in such a way that they do not simply remain as mere information. Such data must be capable of allowing a staffing strategist to “identify and address” the needs of the company’s staffing vis-à-vis its business. Staffing reports extensively prepared and periodically churned out by a company staff must be examined for the actual purpose they serve. If in both cases, these information and reports do not actually serve as basis for strategic staffing policies then they have, according to Bechet, no use in the company and should be discontinued. In addition, companies must incorporate staffing plans into its everyday business ensuring that staffing needs are met even before they actually occur. It is not also advisable, according to Bechet, to keep a consolidated plan for all kinds of staffing needs because this will conceal some vital staffing issues and details. Moreover, a good staffing plan keeps pace with the internal changes in the company rather than wait until the changes eventually dictate staffing needs. The most important thing however, is that staffing strategies should provide answers and should solve company staffing problems (Bechet 2008 pp 22-39) II Strategic Compensation QA Respond to the statement “Building an internally consistent job structure is burdensome to companies. Instead it is best to simply define and evaluate the worth of jobs by surveying the market.” This statement is not a sound company compensation policy because a good and effective compensation policy should strike a balance between the internal job structure and the external market. A compensation policy based on internal job structure is underpinned by company pay equity where a personnel is paid a salary in accordance to the relative worth of his/her functions within the company structure, a worth often measured by job evaluation. On the other hand, a compensation policy solely based on market survey is aimed at making a company competitive in the eyes of potential employees. There must be a balance between competitiveness and equity so as not only to attract new qualified personnel into the company but also provide compelling incentives to personnel already with the company to stay longer with it. A good compensation policy cannot simply be based singly on an external market survey because it will foster inequity within the company and engender employee low morale and dissension. To determine an internal pay structure, job evaluation must be undertaken for every job in the company. Thus, it is necessary to establish the “similarities, differences and contribution” of each job and create a rationale for the compensation scheme of the company. A compensation package that totally eliminates the internal company structure is irrational and can foster negativity within the company. On the other hand, it is also important to take into consideration the current events in the labor market through a compensation survey the purpose of which is to discover the current going rate of pay. This is also vital to make the company competitive and attract the right kind of job applicants. Both internal and external considerations therefore are necessary components of a good compensation policy. Failure of the compensation manager to conduct job evaluation that will establish a kind of a job hierarchy where the relative importance of a job is determined in accordance with the other jobs within the company structure and take it into consideration in creating the company’s compensation policy will create an atmosphere of tension and affects not only those who are disadvantaged by it but also those who benefited from it (Caruth 2001 pp 14-15). QB Allowances and reimbursements for international assignments are costly. Should companies avoid or minimize international business activities? Explain your answer. If you answer no, what can companies do to lower costs? No, as long as there remains a necessity for companies to undertake international assignments and send expatriates abroad. The CIPD conducted a study of 64 organizations in 2001 and it was revealed that the constant need for international assignments was primarily necessitated by the lack of local expertise, among others. The transfer of expertise from the country of origin to the local, the need to control local operations and global policy coordination were also cited. There is therefore a substantiated need for multinational corporations to continue sending expatriates abroad to fill these needs in the local markets. What the companies can do to minimize expenses spent on the transfer of staff overseas is to adopt cost effective measures. There is a need, for example, to distinguish between the different types of international assignments and compare which of them are the least costly and which entails the most expenses (Dowling et al, 2008 p 89-90). There are two chief classes of assignments that companies undertake abroad: the short term, and; the long-term. The former refers to assignments that are temporary until a more permanent measure is adopted by the company and usually lasts only three to twelve months. The latter refers to assignments that may last from one to five years and entails a more definitive task like subsidiary management. A comparative study shows that as between the two types, the short-term assignments are less costly. The implication here is that companies must find a way to curtail the use of long-term expatriates as well as solve the downside issues that hound short-term assignments like alcoholism and high divorce rates (Dowling et al, 2008 p 89-90). QC Describe why a company’s long-term prospects are important consideration to compensation professionals. Compensation professionals consider the long-term prospects of a company as important because a compensation package must “strike the optimal balance between short-term and long-term goals of the company” to be effective. The value of taking into consideration the company’s long-term prospects lie in the viability and sustainability of a compensation package. Incentives, for example, must be carefully planned taking into account the time horizon with which such incentives are implementable (Morin & Jarrell 2000 p 360). In addition, the company’s long-term prospects are also important when considering the kind of compensation package that it should adopt to align it with company goals. This aspect has something to do with retaining, motivating and inspiring employees towards those goals. The importance of a company’s long-term goals to compensation professionals is that such goals should be made to align to the compensation package that they will create and implement. The employment of long-term strategic planning is a vital component of an effective organization because it makes for efficient management of all its resources from financial to human assets to best serve company goals. Since it is the employee themselves, who will ultimately carry out and make happen the realization of these goals, it is important for the company to motivate them. One way of doing so is through the employee compensation package, particularly in the implementation of a reward system. Such a reward system must be “part of the nonprofit’s strategic mission or long-range plan and be consistent with the organization’s goals and culture.” In short, there must be a considerable relationship between rewards and company goals. This is because the reward system can be used to guide employees to the path that will take the company to its long-term objectives. Thus, incentives should be made to apply only to the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities that the company has deemed pertinent and relevant in obtaining its ultimate objectives. Compensation professionals therefore need to determine first what exactly the long-term prospects and company goals are before they can create an appropriate compensation package that will ensure that company employees are motivated towards those goals (Herman pp 661-663). References Atwood, Christee Gabor. Succession Planning Basics. ASTD, 2007. Bechet,Tom. Strategic Staffing. AMACOM, 2008. Berman, Evan & Bowman, James & West, Jonathan & Van Wart, Montgomery. Human Resource Management in Public Service: Paradoxes, Processes and Problems. SAGE, 2005. Burkholder, Nicholas & Preston J. Edwards & Libby Sartain. On Staffing. John Wiley & Sons, Caruth, Donald L. & Gail D. Handlogten. Managing Compensation (and Understanding It Too). Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. Dowling, Peter & Denice E. Welch & Marion Festing & Allen D. Engle. International Human Resource Management. Cengage Learning EMEA, 2008. Herman, Robert D. The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. John Wiley & Sons, 2005.   Jex, Steve M. Organizational Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, 2002. Morin, Roger & Sherry L. Jarrell. Driving Shareholder Value. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2000. Read More