Project: Actual Case Study on a Chosen Organization (total 26 marks)

The actual case study project is due Week 13, Sunday at midnight. There are no extensions, late work will not be graded.

Objectives

• Apply the concepts and techniques learned in this course by conducting strategic HR planning for an organization of your choice.
• Develop a better understanding of the entire process of strategic HR planning, and the ability to tie HR to business strategy and evaluate HR effectiveness.
• Apply the techniques related to forecasting supply and demand in a business change initiative.

Project Report Format and Submission

The main body of report should not exceed twenty 1.5 spaced pages in 12 font and 1 inch margins (excludes title page, executive summary table of contents, references and appendices). Number pages and use appropriate headings. Refer to evaluation criteria. Your submission will follow the components of a formal report. You submit your report via Moodle in the appropriate assignment drop (under the heading ‘Project: Actual Case Study’).

• Title page
• Executive Summary (1page)
• Table of Contents
• Text Section
• References
• Appendices ( worksheets, tables and figures)

 

Content (minimum requirement to be included in your project)

 

Note: Use textbook tables (or other online sources) as appropriate to your organization (include in appendices). Real data from your contact (although it must be public data) or secondary sources is best. If not possible, you can make up some numbers, make/state assumptions, and use other students as expert roles to include the content required (described below).

 

To begin your actual case study you will want to gather information about your chosen organization (through information gathering interviews and secondary data). Analyze the company’s current environmental context and strategy. The purpose of this discussion is to emphasize the idea of strategic HR management (i.e., aligning HR strategy with corporate and business strategy). Does the HR strategy support the business strategy? Is the business strategy aligned with corporate strategy? (Chapters 1 and 2).

• Discuss the organizations corporate strategy (e.g., restructuring, growth, stability).
• Discuss the organizations business strategy (can use Porter’s model).
• Discuss the organizations HR philosophy (e.g., high commitment, low cost)

Recommend a change initiative. You will want to consider HR planning problems, opportunities, causes and alternatives. The purpose of this discussion is to ensure that HR planners are responsive to business trends. What are some of the recent business needs? What are the implications for HR planning? (Chapters 3 and 9)

• Conduct a SWOT analysis, factors including, but are not limited to, business environment, external competitors, and internal issues. Focus on one or several that are most salient at the moment.
• When discussing the SWOT results, forecast the impact of these issues on the organization.
• Suggest a change initiative (major initiatives can include, but are not limited to, downsizing, restructuring, merger, etc.; minor initiatives can include, but are not limited to, implementing training, recruiting talent etc.).
• Discuss your approach to your change effort.

Forecast a workforce that can implement the initiative. The purpose of this discussion is to align HR demand with the strategies and change initiatives identified previously (i.e. reducing cost may require streamlining management processes, which in turn may require a different composition of human capital and a different way of how they work together.

• Use human capital and behaviours to identify a desired workforce (Chapter 2).
• Use demand forecasting techniques on a particular unit, or on the organization if it is manageable to do so (Chapter 4 and 5).
  • Use Delphi or nominal group technique to forecast demand and supply below. This is intended for you to experience how these approaches can help solicit contributions from experts (you may need to use other students). Document the procedures and the final result.
  • Produce a trend analysis table of the unit or organization.
  • Produce an HR budget and staffing table for the focal unit or organization.
  • Use envelop/scenario forecasting for the above (optional).

Suggest plans/procedures through which the HR demand can be satisfied.

• Identify source and markets for candidates (Chapter 4) (i.e. internal market, external market.
• Analyze internal movement within the unit (Chapter 6).
  • Analyze three key positions (data collection is not required; can rely on public data such as NOC http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/NOC/English/NOC/2011/Welcome.aspx and/or other career profiles such as the Albert Career Profiles http://occinfo.alis.alberta.ca/occinfopreview ).
  • Produce a succession/replacement chart for the three key positions identified. Real data is preferred. If not possible, you can make up some names.
  • Conduct a Markov analysis of the unit or organization, based on your estimates of outbound probabilities. If real data is not possible, you can make up some numbers.
  • Produce a table estimating the number of positions to be filled, based on certain assumptions of annual increase and loss.
  • Produce a movement table based on the information above.
  • Use the vacancy model (optional).
• Design an HR system (selection, training, performance management, compensation etc.) that will develop, motivate, and retain the desired workforce (in terms of the desired human capital, motivation, and empowerment you discussed earlier). This is to reinforce the idea of strategic HR management (Chapter 2). You can talk in general about your strategies in selection, training, compensation etc. that will create the desired workforce or you can outline a more detailed implementation plan for one particular HR process.
• Identify information technology applications for your HR planning. Explain one software application that might help your organization better manage some of its elements of strategic HR planning (Chapter 8).
• Explain how you would assess the success of your initiative. This is to demonstrate the impact of HR management on bottom-line performance (can use balanced score cards in Chapter 14 or other measure of effectiveness). It is important to use metrics to demonstrate the links between HR practices – desired workforce – improved bottom-line performance, so that the HR managers can claim the credit for enhanced performance.