How Can Workforce Planning Be Used to Drive Organizational Change - Coursework Example

How can workforce planning be used to drive organizational change? Introduction Workforce planning is a term employed to de the selection, hiring, training and development as well compensation and benefit disbursal to meet the competency requirements of the organization. However, this role, though simplistic in appearance requires intricate planning, forecasting and preparation to meet the present and the future needs of the organization. Due to its role as a guardian of the competencies of the organization, workforce management has a great potential to act as a driver of change to meet the future challenges related to changes in employee demographics, sensibilities or legal and ethical rules of the society. The current paper elaborates upon only a few of the things that are possible for workforce planning and management managers to initiate organizational changes. Organizational Change as perpetual process Organizational Change ideally is an ongoing phenomenon that ensures that organizations are responsive to the changes in the external environments (Beitler, 2006, pp 7). Environmental changes due to changed business and legal requirements, changing governmental and political situations, change in technology, change in market place and competitors and change in society etc. have a direct impact on the working and performance of an organization. These changes will impact how the products or services of the organization are perceived by the customers and may also impact upon the sales and long term survivability of the organization (Beitler, 2006, pp 9). Internal organizational changes may be spontaneous - as in the case when the organization launches a new product in response to the competitor’s new product, or in case when change is enacted in compensation and leaves policies in response to changes in law or regulations of the country in which the organization is operating. Spontaneous or mandatory changes are not pre-planned and are considered to be one-of actions or changes to meet a current crisis or to take advantage of an existing opportunity. On the other hand, organizations that have a strategic vision and do long term planning are able to predict and prepare for future challenges by enacting a planned organizational change. Such organizations are able to develop an insight about future requirements, future business opportunities or perceive future threats and then spend time and resources in enacting pervasive and lasting changes in the business operations, organizational structure, business planning or manpower planning and trainings . Strategic Workforce Planning as a driver of Organizational Change Traditionally, human resource management and workforce management has been viewed at best as a supporter or organizational change. Organizational change is supposedly heralded by other department or functional areas, for example, organizational change may be driven by the need to restructure an organization’s supply chain. In addition to enacting the physical and technical changes in the processes, any organizational change entails a change in the work environment and human resources related issues. It is here that the workforce managers are traditionally expected to contribute, to help in smoothening the organizational change and in increasing the acceptance of the new way of doing things. However, in reality, human resource managers and especially the function of workforce management can act as a driver of organizational change and play a leading role in it (Ulrich, 1997, pp 39). Depending upon the perceptions of the leadership of the organization, an organization would endeavor to preempt opportunities and threats by changing certain aspects of itself. Workforce planning, traditionally used as an approach to ensure that the organization is equipped with a present and prospective future pool of talent to meet its business requirements, can also be used as a driver of organizational change. This is because, ‘workforce planning’ though simplistic in its definition, encompasses a whole gamut of activities that are strategic in nature and which can influence an organization to take steps towards change (Petrick and Furr, 1995 pp. 103). Organizational Change to Fill the Gaps in Competency Workforce planning management begins with an analysis of current workforce’s competency, and proceeds with a comparison of these competencies with the organizations future requirements of competencies. This leads to an identification of competency gaps, redundancies or surpluses and to the acknowledgement of the need to adopt measures to prepare the organization for future. It is here, in the planning of the workforce that the workforce management can act as a driver of organizational change (Huselid, Becker, and Beatty, 2005, pp. 159). By bringing to light the gaps in competencies that the organization may face in the future, the workforce planning managers act as the leaders of change management. However, in some organizations, these gaps may be viewed simply as a necessary outcome of a market place that may be expanding and requiring more complex competencies in the near future. In these organizations, the workforce planning activities are relegated to the routine task of hunting for potential talents and keeping tabs on future market requirements. On the other hand, organizations that see the gap or the surplus in their existing workforce competencies as an opportunity may take a more strategic outlook to workforce planning. These organizations may see the benefits of enacting internal changes, both in the organizational structure and hiring and recruitment methods and policies (Dychtwald, Erickson and Morison, 2006, pp.19-29Find all the books, read about the author, and more.). Diversity Management and Organizational Change Workforce management also entails managing the internal behavior of the workforce as well as coordinating the relationship between the people and the organization. As such, human resource managers are tasked with formulating and dispensing policies on ethics, acceptable behavior, gender and racial equality. With changes in societal perceptions on diversity and changes in national and international laws regarding recruitment and other aspects of diversity, most of the organizations find themselves facing new challenges (Mujtaba, 2006, pp. 55-79). As a long term perspective, the initiative to promote diversity can propel the organization towards a change of mindsets and attitudes. Workforce managers can guide the organization towards a change in the attitudes and values of the existing employees as well as managers so as to make maximum advantage of the future opportunities and external market changes. In addition to initiating changes in attitudes, workforce managers may also drive changes to make the workplace more comfortable for its diverse workforce – for example, by initiating safety measures like providing escorted vehicles for dropping its female workers at night. Management of Older Workforce and Organizational Change With changing world demographics, especially in western nations, there is a growing number of mature workforce as compared to the young workers. While in some organizations, the older workers are seen as a liability – as they are ascribed with being too self centered or lazy or having a laid back attitude or with obsolete skills – there is scope to make better use of this wiser workforce (Dychtwald, Erickson and Morison, 2006, pp. 19-29Find all the books, read about the author, and more.). The workforce managers can direct changes in the organizational structures as well as in the networking and team-formulation so that the complementary skills of the older and the younger workers could be better utilized. According to a research done by the National Council on the Aging, when younger workers are paired with older ones, the outcome was better performance and a higher level of loyalty and commitment for the organization (Perry, 2005, pp. 100-104) Management of Virtual Workforce and organizational Change With the advent of globalization and the proliferation of information technology, organizations have had access to potential employees who work online without having a direct presence at the organization. Workforce planners, once they have assessed the utility of employing such virtual workforce, have to act as change agents to educate the managers and staff at the organization in managing the virtual employee. This may call for initiating the use of new information sharing and communication system as well as performance appraisal tools that can measure the work of the employees who cannot be assessed personally. These changes in the mode of operations of the workforce also require that there is a change in the mindsets of the employees regarding flexi-working, hourly working and in making and carrying out functions in a professional manner (Perry, 2005, pp. 100-104) Conclusion The organizational change, as noted in the opening paragraph, is a perpetual and an on going change to make the organizations better and competent to face the challenges of the future. The workforce management, owing to its strategic status of being the first to look forward into the future to assess the needs of the organization, is in a position to predict as well as drive organizational changes. These changes, may be small in size - for example, when the workforce managers have to initiate a culture of acceptance for older workers to better utilize their un official mentoring and leading capabilities – or these changes could be large scale – as in the case when the organizations have to install communication systems and performance appraisal programs for a workforce that works out of office. Workforce management therefore can be stated to have a substantial role to play as an initiator and a driver for organizational change. There is however a need to appreciate this potential and to involve the workforce managers more at the onset of the organizational change. References 1. Beitler, M. 2006. Strategic Organizational Change. USA:PPI pp.1-9 2. Dychtwald, K., T. Ken Dychtwald (Author) › Visit Amazons Ken Dychtwald PageJ. Erickson and R. Morison. 2006 Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills And Talent USA: Harvard Business Press pp 19-29 3.Huselid, M. A., B. E. Becker, and R. W. Beatty. 2005 The Workforce Scorecard: Managing Human Capital To Execute Strategy. USA: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. Pp 159 4. Mujtaba, B. 2006) Workforce Diversity Management: Challenges, Competencies and Strategies : Llumina Press. Pp 55-79 5. Perry, P. 2005. Getting Gray to Stay. Restaurant Hospitality, 89(5), 100-104 6. Petrick, J. A. and D. S. Furr. 1995. Total quality in managing human resources.UK: CRC Press pp.87. 7. Ulrich, D. 1999 Human Resource Champions: The Next Agenda for Adding Value & Delivering Results. USA: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. Pp 39 Read More