Step 4 - Prioritise the HR Issues and Determine Actions

Up to this point, the strategic and ongoing HR issues facing the department have been compiled. Not all the issues will be of equal importance or urgency. They need to be prioritised with the input of the top management team. Prioritising the issues helps ensure that the HRM Plan focuses on the department's most critical issues.

What to Do

Involve the department's top management team in confirming and prioritising the issues compiled to date. The top management team should also give input on the actions that should be taken to address the key issues.

Top management involvement in prioritising HR issues and identifying actions is critical because it:

reinforces the line management role in human resource management.
helps ensure that HRM recommendations are actionable within the constraints of the department.
develops top management commitment to and ownership for the HRM Plan implementation.

How

Collate the research findings up to this point. Analyse them critically with a view to articulating the strategic objectives and direction, critical success factors and strategic challenges.
Compile a preliminary list of the HR issues identified and group according to logical categories, e.g. training, recruitment. etc.
Conduct a top management strategic HRM workshop.

The objectives of the workshop are to:

present findings on the strategic challenges and HR issues.
prioritise the HR issues.
develop action to address the current and future HR issues.
prepare the ground work for structuring the HRM Plan.

The key activities in the workshop are to:

discuss, confirm and prioritise the HR issues (identified from the findings of the strategic analysis and those ongoing HR issues). The HR issues should be prioritised according to their :
- relative importance to the effectiveness of the department
- urgency
- resources required
brainstorm recommended actions to address the priority issues.

Strategic HRM Workshop Agenda

I. Introduction

Workshop Objectives

Agenda

II. Overview of Strategic Direction & Challenges

III. Presentation of Strategic / Ongoing HR Issues

IV. Group Discussion

Prioritisation of HR Issues

Develop Strategic Responses to Address HR Issues

V. Develop Action Plans

Case Study

Lands Department
Strategic HRM workshop a key turning point in
achieving line management ownership of HRM

As part of its HRM Plan development process, the Lands Department conducted a top management strategic HRM workshop. The workshop was conducted after all the preliminary research for the HRM plan was completed.

The workshop accomplished the following :

provided an opportunity for managers to share views and better understand each other's concerns and constraints;
reinforced line managers' essential accountabilities and responsibilities in HRM; and
obtained collective endorsement on the direction of the HRM Plan.

The results of the workshop were very powerful for the management team. While many members of the team were aware of the strategic issues facing the department, the workshop provided the opportunity for the management team to prioritise the issues and develop a consensus on the priorities for action. The discussions were very open and frank. Utilizing a trained facilitator from outside the department helped facilitate the open discussion and consensus building.

The management of the Lands Department considered the openness and action-oriented style of the workshop so positive that they decided to cascade similar workshops to the next level of mangers. The objectives of these workshops were to :

include senior staff's opinions in the HRM Plan;
address one of the top priority issues "urgent need to improve communication vertically and horizontally, to better understand staff concerns and convey management constraints and decisions";
start the new "open communication and involvement culture"; and
transfer ownership of the HRM responsibilities from the top team to every line manager.

Over 100 senior managers from different functions were involved in the cascading exercise.

Introduction

What is a HRM Plan?

Critical Success Factors for Developing the HRM Plan

A Shift in Mindset

The HRM Plan in Context

Model for Developing the HRM Plan

Developing a HRM Plan - A Step-by-Step Approach

Samples of a Summary List of HRM Programmes and a HRM Plan Programme

Step 1 - Conduct a Departmental Strategic Analysis

Step 2 - Identify Strategic HR Issues

Step 3 - Identify Ongoing HR Issues

Step 4 - Prioritise the HR Issues and Determine Actions

Step 5 - Draw up the HRM Plan