Tag: Competency Mapping

An interview is a structured conversation between an employer and a candidate aimed at evaluating the candidate’s suitability for a specific job role. It allows the employer to assess the candidate’s skills, qualifications, experience, and personality, while also giving the candidate a chance to learn more about the organization and the position. Interviews can be conducted in various formats, including one-on-one, panel, or virtual. The process typically includes questions related to the candidate’s background, technical expertise, and behavioral traits to determine if they align with the job requirements and company culture.

Personal interview

Personal interviews are one of the most used types of interviews, where the questions are asked personally directly to the respondent. For this, a researcher can have a guide online surveys to take note of the answers. A researcher can design his/her survey in such a way that they take notes of the comments or points of view that stands out from the interviewee.

Advantage:

• More complete answers can be obtained if there is doubt on both sides or a particular information is detected that is remarkable.
• When the interviewees and respondents are face-to-face, there is a way to adapt the questions if this is not understood.
• The researcher has an opportunity to detect and analyze the interviewee’s body language at the time of asking the questions and taking notes about it.
• Higher response rate.

Disadvantages:

• Contacting the interviewees can be a real headache, either scheduling an appointment in workplaces or going from house to house and not finding anyone.
• They can generate distrust on the part of the interviewee, since they may be self-conscious and not answer truthfully.
• They are time-consuming and extremely expensive.
• Therefore, many interviews are conducted in public places, such as shopping centers or parks. There are even consumer studies that take advantage of these sites to conduct interviews or surveys and give incentives, gifts, coupons, in short; There are great opportunities for online research in shopping centers.
• Among the advantages of conducting these types of interviews is that the respondents will have more fresh information if the interview is conducted in the context and with the appropriate stimuli, so that researchers can have data from their experience at the scene of the events, immediately and first hand. The interviewer can use an online survey through a mobile device that will undoubtedly facilitate the entire process.

Focused group

A focus group is qualitative research because it asks participants for open-ended responses conveying thoughts or feelings. The other prominent research type is quantitative research. This is more data-driven research that uses surveys or questionnaires to derive numerical-based statistics or percentages.

With qualitative research, researchers seek more open and complete perspectives on the brand or product. However, more general interpretations and uses of the research are necessary, since you cannot as easily break down the research into facts.

Steps to conduct focus group research

• Recruit the right participants

A researcher must be careful while recruiting participants. Members need adequate knowledge of the topic so that they can add to the conversation.

• Choose a moderator

Your moderator should understand the topic of discussion and possess the following qualities:

• Ensures participation from all members of the group.
• Regulates dominant group members so others may speak.
• Motivates inattentive members through supportive words and positive body language.
• Makes the executive decision to end or continue a discussion should it become too heated.

Verify your moderator doesn’t know any of the participants. Existing relationships between a member and moderator cause bias and can skew your data.

• Record the meeting for future purposes

While conducting a focus group, it is essential to record the sessions or meetings. A researcher can record the discussion through audio or video. You must let participants know you’re planning to record the event and get their consent.

• Write clear discussion guidelines

Before the session starts, it is crucial to write down clear session guidelines. Include key questions, expectations of focus group members, whether you’re recording the discussion, and methods of sharing results. Give out the instructions in advance and request participants to comply with them.

• Conduct the session and generate a report

Once participants understand their role, the moderator leads the focus group survey. You can ask members to fill out a feedback form to collect quantitative data from the event. Use your data and generate reports on the overall findings of your study.

• Use the data to make a plan of action

Share your report with stakeholders and decisionmakers in your organization. A good report helps you design actionable plans to improve products or services according to the focus group feedback. Update focus group members on the changes you make and the results of those changes.

In 1991, marketing and psychological expert Ernest Dichter coined the name “Focus Group.” The term described meetings held with a limited group of participants with the objective of discussion.

• You use a focus group in qualitative research. A group of 6-10 people, usually 8, meet to explore and discuss a topic, such as a new product. The group shares their feedback, opinions, knowledge, and insights about the topic at hand.
• Participants openly share opinions and are free to convince other participants of their ideas.
• The mediator takes notes on the discussion and opinions of group members.
• The right group members affect the results of your research, so it’s vital to be picky when selecting members.

Types of focus groups

• Dual-moderator focus group: There are two moderators for this event. One ensures smooth execution, and the other guarantees the discussion of each question.
• Two-way focus group: A two-way group involves two separate groups having discussions on the topic at different times. As one group conducts their study, the other group observes the discussion. In the end, the group that observed the first session performs their conversation. The second group can use insights gained from watching the first discussion to dive deeper into the topic and offer more perspective.
• Mini focus group: This type of group restricts participants to 4-5 members instead of the usual 6-10.
• Client-involvement focus group: Use this group when clients ask you to conduct a focus group and invite those who ask.
• Participant-moderated focus group: One or more participants provisionally take up the role of moderator.
• Online focus group: These groups employ online mediums to gather opinions and feedback. There are three categories of people in an online focus panel: observer, moderator, and respondent.

Benefits of Focus Groups

A focus group is generally more useful when outcomes of research are very unpredictable and you’re looking for more open feedback rather than comparisons of potential results as in a quantified research method. A focus group also allows consumers to express clear ideas and share feelings that do not typically come out in a quantified survey or paper test. Because of the open conversation among group members, topics and discussions are freer flowing and members can use comments from others to stimulate recall.

Another benefit is that the moderator can observe the dynamics among members of the focus group as they discuss their opinions with each other. In many of these groups, the moderator will leave the room to allow focus group members to communicate with each other without feeling self-conscious. This type of honest commentary can often yield nuggets that you can later use to further refine your marketing strategy and your messaging.

Drawbacks of Focus Groups

“Groupthink” is a primary concern with focus groups. When you bring a group of people together to talk about a brand, the tendency exists for influential group members to affect the expressions of others within the group. Additionally, consumers are often more reluctant to express negative ideas in a face-to-face setting than in a more indirect research format when they know the company is conducting research.

Another major drawback of a focus group is that if you don’t hire a good moderator, it can be difficult to elicit the full range of thoughts, opinions, wants and needs of the group. And if your moderator is weak, some focus group members may not feel comfortable enough in the environment to offer their opinion.

In-depth Interview

As with all data collection methods, including (but not limited to) online surveys, direct mail surveys, email surveys, focus groups, mystery shoppers and so on, there are both advantages and disadvantages of in-depth interviews.

A type of qualitative research involving an unstructured personal interview with a single respondent, conducted by a highly skilled interviewer. The purpose of in-depth interviews is to understand the underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes, and feelings of respondents on a particular subject.

In-Depth Interview Advantages

• Interviewers have greater opportunity to ask follow-up questions, probe for additional information, and circle back to key questions later on in the interview to generate a rich understanding of attitudes, perceptions, motivations, etc.
• Interviewers can establish rapport with participants to make them feel more comfortable, which can generate more insightful responses, especially regarding sensitive topics.
• Interviewers can monitor changes in tone and word choice to gain a deeper understanding. (Note, if the in-depth interview is face-to-face, researchers can also focus on body language.)
• There is a higher quality of sampling compared to some other data collection methods.
• Researchers need fewer participants to glean useful and relevant insights.
• There are none of the potential distractions or peer-pressure dynamics that can sometimes emerge in focus groups.
• Because in-depth interviews can potentially be so insightful, it is possible to identify highly valuable findings quickly.

The design of a questionnaire will depend on whether the researcher wishes to collect exploratory information (i.e. qualitative information for the purposes of better understanding or the generation of hypotheses on a subject) or quantitative information (to test specific hypotheses that have previously been generated).

Exploratory questionnaires: If the data to be collected is qualitative or is not to be statistically evaluated, it may be that no formal questionnaire is needed. For example, in interviewing the female head of the household to find out how decisions are made within the family when purchasing breakfast foodstuffs, a formal questionnaire may restrict the discussion and prevent a full exploration of the woman’s views and processes. Instead, one might prepare a brief guide, listing perhaps ten major open-ended questions, with appropriate probes/prompts listed under each.

Formal standardised questionnaires: If the researcher is looking to test and quantify hypotheses and the data is to be analysed statistically, a formal standardised questionnaire is designed. Such questionnaires are generally characterised by:

• Prescribed wording and order of questions, to ensure that each respondent receives the same stimuli
• Prescribed definitions or explanations for each question, to ensure interviewers handle questions consistently and can answer respondents’ requests for clarification if they occur
• Prescribed response format, to enable rapid completion of the questionnaire during the interviewing process.

Given the same task and the same hypotheses, six different people will probably come up with six different questionnaires that differ widely in their choice of questions, line of questioning, use of open-ended questions and length. There are no hard-and-fast rules about how to design a questionnaire, but there are a number of points that can be borne in mind:

1. A well-designed questionnaire should meet the research objectives. This may seem obvious, but many research surveys omit important aspects due to inadequate preparatory work, and do not adequately probe particular issues due to poor understanding. To a certain degree some of this is inevitable. Every survey is bound to leave some questions unanswered and provide a need for further research but the objective of good questionnaire design is to ‘minimise’ these problems.
2. It should obtain the most complete and accurate information possible. The questionnaire designer needs to ensure that respondents fully understand the questions and are not likely to refuse to answer, lie to the interviewer or try to conceal their attitudes. A good questionnaire is organised and worded to encourage respondents to provide accurate, unbiased and complete information.
3. A well-designed questionnaire should make it easy for respondents to give the necessary information and for the interviewer to record the answer, and it should be arranged so that sound analysis and interpretation are possible.
4. It would keep the interview brief and to the point and be so arranged that the respondent(s) remain interested throughout the interview.

Preliminary decisions in questionnaire design

There are nine steps involved in the development of a questionnaire:

1. Decide the information required.
2. Define the target respondents.
3. Choose the method(s) of reaching your target respondents.
4. Decide on question content.
5. Develop the question wording.
6. Put questions into a meaningful order and format.
7. Check the length of the questionnaire.
8. Pre-test the questionnaire.
9. Develop the final survey form.

Deciding on the information required

It should be noted that one does not start by writing questions. The first step is to decide ‘what are the things one needs to know from the respondent in order to meet the survey’s objectives?’ These, as has been indicated in the opening chapter of this textbook, should appear in the research brief and the research proposal.

One may already have an idea about the kind of information to be collected, but additional help can be obtained from secondary data, previous rapid rural appraisals and exploratory research. In respect of secondary data, the researcher should be aware of what work has been done on the same or similar problems in the past, what factors have not yet been examined, and how the present survey questionnaire can build on what has already been discovered. Further, a small number of preliminary informal interviews with target respondents will give a glimpse of reality that may help clarify ideas about what information is required.

Define the target respondents

At the outset, the researcher must define the population about which he/she wishes to generalise from the sample data to be collected. For example, in marketing research, researchers often have to decide whether they should cover only existing users of the generic product type or whether to also include non-users. Secondly, researchers have to draw up a sampling frame. Thirdly, in designing the questionnaire we must take into account factors such as the age, education, etc. of the target respondents.

Choose the methods of reaching target respondents

It may seem strange to be suggesting that the method of reaching the intended respondents should constitute part of the questionnaire design process. However, a moment’s reflection is sufficient to conclude that the method of contact will influence not only the questions the researcher is able to ask but the phrasing of those questions. The main methods available in survey research are:

• Personal interviews
• Group or focus interviews
• Mailed questionnaires
• Telephone interviews.

Within this region the first two mentioned are used much more extensively than the second pair. However, each has its advantages and disadvantages. A general rule is that the more sensitive or personal the information, the more personal the form of data collection should be.

Decide on question content

Researchers must always be prepared to ask, “Is this question really needed?” The temptation to include questions without critically evaluating their contribution towards the achievement of the research objectives, as they are specified in the research proposal, is surprisingly strong. No question should be included unless the data it gives rise to is directly of use in testing one or more of the hypotheses established during the research design.

There are only two occasions when seemingly “redundant” questions might be included:

• Opening questions that are easy to answer and which are not perceived as being “threatening”, and/or are perceived as being interesting, can greatly assist in gaining the respondent’s involvement in the survey and help to establish a rapport.

This, however, should not be an approach that should be overly used. It is almost always the case that questions which are of use in testing hypotheses can also serve the same functions.

• “Dummy” questions can disguise the purpose of the survey and/or the sponsorship of a study. For example, if a manufacturer wanted to find out whether its distributors were giving the consumers or end-users of its products a reasonable level of service, the researcher would want to disguise the fact that the distributors’ service level was being investigated. If he/she did not, then rumours would abound that there was something wrong with the distributor.

Develop the question wording

Survey questions can be classified into three forms, i.e. closed, open-ended and open response-option questions. So far only the first of these, i.e. closed questions has been discussed. This type of questioning has a number of important advantages;

• It provides the respondent with an easy method of indicating his answer – he does not have to think about how to articulate his answer.
• It ‘prompts’ the respondent so that the respondent has to rely less on memory in answering a question.
• Responses can be easily classified, making analysis very straightforward.
• It permits the respondent to specify the answer categories most suitable for their purposes.

Putting questions into a meaningful order and format

Opening questions: Opening questions should be easy to answer and not in any way threatening to THE respondents. The first question is crucial because it is the respondent’s first exposure to the interview and sets the tone for the nature of the task to be performed. If they find the first question difficult to understand, or beyond their knowledge and experience, or embarrassing in some way, they are likely to break off immediately. If, on the other hand, they find the opening question easy and pleasant to answer, they are encouraged to continue.

Question flow: Questions should flow in some kind of psychological order, so that one leads easily and naturally to the next. Questions on one subject, or one particular aspect of a subject, should be grouped together. Respondents may feel it disconcerting to keep shifting from one topic to another, or to be asked to return to some subject they thought they gave their opinions about earlier.

Question variety:. Respondents become bored quickly and restless when asked similar questions for half an hour or so. It usually improves response, therefore, to vary the respondent’s task from time to time. An open-ended question here and there (even if it is not analysed) may provide much-needed relief from a long series of questions in which respondents have been forced to limit their replies to pre-coded categories. Questions involving showing cards/pictures to respondents can help vary the pace and increase interest.

Closing questions

It is natural for a respondent to become increasingly indifferent to the questionnaire as it nears the end. Because of impatience or fatigue, he may give careless answers to the later questions. Those questions, therefore, that are of special importance should, if possible, be included in the earlier part of the questionnaire. Potentially sensitive questions should be left to the end, to avoid respondents cutting off the interview before important information is collected.

In developing the questionnaire the researcher should pay particular attention to the presentation and layout of the interview form itself. The interviewer’s task needs to be made as straight-forward as possible.

• Questions should be clearly worded and response options clearly identified.
• Prescribed definitions and explanations should be provided. This ensures that the questions are handled consistently by all interviewers and that during the interview process the interviewer can answer/clarify respondents’ queries.

Ample writing space should be allowed to record open-ended answers, and to cater for differences in handwriting between interviewers.

Physical appearance of the questionnaire

The physical appearance of a questionnaire can have a significant effect upon both the quantity and quality of marketing data obtained. The quantity of data is a function of the response rate. Ill-designed questionnaires can give an impression of complexity, medium and too big a time commitment. Data quality can also be affected by the physical appearance of the questionnaire with unnecessarily confusing layouts making it more difficult for interviewers, or respondents in the case of self-completion questionnaires, to complete this task accurately. Attention to just a few basic details can have a disproportionately advantageous impact on the data obtained through a questionnaire.

An appraisal interview is a formal discussion process between an employee and his/her manager. It is one of the best ways for an employee to increase productivity and change work habits. In appraisal interview, the employer and the employee discuss the performances of the individual and the key areas of improvement and how the employee can grow through a feedback mechanism.

A performance appraisal interview is the first stage of the performance appraisal process and involves the employee and his or her manager sitting face to face to discuss threadbare all aspects of the employee’s performance and thrash out any differences in perception or evaluation. The performance appraisal interview provides the employee with a chance to defend himself or herself against poor evaluation by the manager and also gives the manager a chance to explain what he or she thinks about the employee’s performance.

In a nutshell, the performance appraisal interview precedes the normalization process and is subsequent to the employee filling up the evaluation form and the manager likewise doing so. The interview is the stage where both sides debate and argue the employees’ side of the story as well as the manager’s perception.

An appraisal interview gives the employee the chance to shield himself/herself from poor evaluation by the manager. It also gives the manager an opportunity to spell out his/her reviews. It helps the employees to determine whether there is a need for training if they lack in any particular skill and who will be promoted, demoted, retained or fired.

Guidelines for conducting Appraisal Interviews

The following things should be kept in minds while conducting appraisal interviews:

• Value employee’s opinion: Encourage the employee to talk. Ask his/her opinion to improve the situation.
• Don’t tiptoe around: Make sure the employee gets to know what he/she is doing correctly or incorrectly. Advise the employee on how to improve things.
• Use of work data: Use of actual numbers like productivity reports, leaves, orders and so on.
• Don’t get personal: Try and avoid negative sentences that directly affects the employee. Compare the employee’s performance with a standard not with other people.

The Right and Wrong Way to Approach a Performance Appraisal Interview

The performance appraisal interview must be taken seriously and both the employee and the manager must set aside time to go through the process. The manager cannot arbitrarily change the time or the venue and must not approach the interview in a haphazard manner. Despite all these injunctions, it is often the case that the manager has to be reminded about the interview and then he or she hurriedly arranges the meeting. This is definitely the wrong way to approach the interview. Further, the manager must make the time to go through the employees’ self-evaluation and rate the same objectively.

Though there is no right way to conduct the performance appraisal interview, it is incumbent upon the manager to avoid the pitfalls described above. A rule of thumb would be set aside a few days to conduct all the interviews with members of his or her team and ensure follow-ups to the process. The follow-up is needed when the employee is not satisfied with the interview discussion and hence requests for additional time to debate the rating. In some cases, the HR manager may need to step in to ensure that the process is concluded to the satisfaction of the employee and the manager.

Objective Evaluation versus Personal Biases

Though management theorists like to propound the benefits of objective evaluation, it is a fact in contemporary organizations that an element of personal bias enters the evaluation. This is evident from the studies and surveys done by HR consultants like Hewitt that point to the employee’s dissatisfaction with the performance appraisal process as one of the main reasons for leaving the company. To curb the incidence of biases and heuristics playing a role in the appraisal, HR managers typically conduct orientations and trainings to both the Managers and the Employees to sensitize them to these dangers that are sometimes inherent in the process.

On the other hand, the employees should approach the process without unrealistic expectations and expect the Manager to agree to whatever they write on the performance evaluation form. Hence, there is a need for both sides in the interview process to approach the same with an open mind and be as objective as possible. However, this is easier said than done and hence organizations expend resources on making the process as transparent and objective as possible.

One of the assessments and evaluation techniques for a candidate is interview. It is a type of oral exami­nation. Selection interview is the next process to conduct of tests. Even though written tests and psy­chological tests are conducted, still one-to-one communication between individuals always remains the crucial part in selection of a candidate. Behavioural traits, presence of mind and psychological bearing capacity can be tested through interview.

Selection interviews are typically conducted onsite at the hiring company. The purpose of a selection interview is to determine whether a candidate will be selected for the position he or she is interviewing for. A selection interview is typically more rigorous than a screening interview. At this point, a company is trying to decide whether or not you should either be moved to the next step in the hiring process or an offer is going to be extended, so there will be more scrutiny than with a screening interview.

Role of Interview in the Selection Procedure:

Critical Analysis of the Personality of Candidates:

As the candidate is going to be in front of the interviewer or a panel, face-to-face communication is facilitated. The interviewer can observe the behaviour, style, approach, promptness and sharpness of the candidate.

Providing Details about the Company to the Candidate:

As the company would like to know the detailed information about the candidate, the same way, the candidate is also eager to know about the work culture, the nature of the job, working schedules, etc., in the company. Interview provides the opportunity to the candidate to know more about the company.

Accurate Final Selection:

Interview facilitates to obtain additional information about the candidate through personal contact. After the detailed scrutiny of all the information about the candidate, the final selection can be made easily.

Use of Experience and Knowledge of Expert Interviewers:

Whenever the interviews are conducted, there is generally a panel of interviewers consisting of more than three members. All of them are working for the company for a long time, and when the selection interview takes place, it is their knowledge and experience which is going to give the best results in terms of a suitable and appropriate candidate.

Types of Interview:

Informal interview:

There is no specific procedure followed in this case. They are conducted at any place, and any types of questions can be asked to the candidate.

Formal Interview:

It is held in formal atmosphere with pre-decided and planned procedures and questions.

Situation Interview:

An imaginary situation is told to the candidates and they are asked to respond to it.

Stress Interview:

It is conducted to evaluate the behaviour of the candidate under stressful conditions. How does a can­didate react to stress? Whether they remains quiet and calm or becomes stressed, can be judged by creating different stressful conditions around, and the case with which they gets out of it indicates their stress-handling capacity in future.

Directive Interview:

It is structured interview. A same set of questions is repeated for every candidate to make the compari­son among the answers received from them.

Non-directive Interview:

It is non-structured interview. There is no specific format, and any questions can be asked to candidates. Candidates are free to express themselves under this type.

Panel Interview:

A selection committee appointed for interviewing candidates is called a panel. It generally consists of three or more members who collectively perform the task of selection. The final decision is taken with the consent of all panel members.

Group Interview:

Candidates are supposed to form groups, and one group together will be interviewed at one time. It is a sort of group discussion. The person’s ability to lead, their presence of mind and communication can be evaluated under this technique.

Depth Interview:

All the minute details of important nature are asked to a candidate to have the extensive information about them.

Human Capital Management (HCM) is a strategic approach to optimizing the workforce by treating employees as valuable assets whose development enhances organizational performance. It encompasses processes like talent acquisition, training, performance management, and employee engagement, aimed at fostering skills, motivation, and retention. HCM focuses on aligning workforce capabilities with business objectives, leveraging technology and data analytics to make informed decisions. Unlike traditional HR, HCM emphasizes a holistic view of employees’ value, addressing their career growth, well-being, and potential contributions. This approach ensures organizations maintain a competitive edge by cultivating a skilled, satisfied, and productive workforce while achieving long-term goals.

Goals of Human Capital Management:

1. Attracting and Retaining Talent

A core goal of HCM is to attract skilled professionals and ensure their retention. This involves creating competitive compensation packages, offering career growth opportunities, and maintaining a positive workplace culture. By aligning recruitment strategies with organizational goals, HCM ensures a steady influx of capable individuals.

2. Enhancing Employee Engagement

Engaged employees are more motivated, productive, and committed to organizational goals. HCM aims to foster engagement by promoting open communication, recognizing achievements, and providing opportunities for personal and professional development. This not only boosts morale but also reduces turnover.

3. Aligning Workforce with Organizational Goals

HCM ensures that the workforce is aligned with the organization’s mission and strategic objectives. By conducting workforce planning, skills mapping, and performance evaluations, HCM ensures that employees are working on tasks that drive business outcomes.

4. Developing Employee Skills and Competencies

Investing in employee development is crucial for staying competitive. HCM focuses on identifying skill gaps and offering targeted training programs, mentoring, and upskilling opportunities. This enables employees to adapt to changing business environments and technological advancements.

5. Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

HCM strives to create an inclusive workplace that values diverse perspectives. By fostering equity and inclusion, organizations can harness the full potential of their workforce, drive innovation, and improve decision-making.

6. Leveraging Technology and Analytics

HCM integrates technology to automate processes, enhance decision-making, and track employee performance. Analytics tools are used to predict workforce trends, optimize talent management, and measure the impact of HR initiatives.

Categories of Human Capital Management:

1. Leadership Practices

• Communication: Employees must be treated well for them to develop a feeling of attachment and loyalty towards the organization. Managers must understand that their role is not just to sit in closed cabins and impose ideas on others. They ought to communicate well with their subordinates. Employees must have an easy access to the senior management. Communication from management to employees also known as Top down communication is essential for the employees to be aware of their goals and objectives and for them to know what is expected out of them.
• Inclusiveness: Management ought to sit with employees on a common platform to invite suggestions and feedbacks from them.
• Supervision: Senior executives and management must reduce the various levels of hierarchy between them and employees’. Management must interact and motivate the employees from time to time for them to give their level best.
• Leadership: Senior executives should support, lead and influence the workforce so that they contribute effectively towards the organization.

2. Employee Engagement

• Key Responsibility Areas: Key responsibility areas of an individual should be designed in line with his education, skills, expertise, experience and also area of interest. This way, work never becomes a burden for him.
• Commitment: Outstanding efforts of employees must be acknowledged for them to feel motivated and work harder even next time. Employees performing well ought to be suitably rewarded and appreciated in front of others.
• Time: Time management ensures that no employee is overburdened. Responsibilities must be equally shared among employees.
• Evaluation: Employee engagement must be evaluated from time to time by the top management.

3. Knowledge Accessibility

• Information Availability: Employees must have an easy access to all relevant information required to perform their duties. Organizations must organize various training programs (In house Trainings or Out sourced trainings) to constantly upgrade the existing skills of employees and acquaint them with new learnings.
• Team Work: Employees must be motivated to work in teams rather than working alone.
• Information Sharing: Encourage employees to share information with each other.

4. Workforce Optimization

• Work processes: Senior management must define work processes of employees well for maximum productivity.
• Working Conditions: An organization needs to provide excellent working conditions to the employees to expect the best out of them.
• Accountability: Individuals must be held accountable for their work. Get a commitment from employees and nothing like it, if everything is in writing.
• Hiring: Individuals responsible for talent acquisition must ensure that they hire the right candidate for the right role. Design a strong induction program for all the newly joined employees.
• Performance Management: Employee’s performance needs to be strongly monitored and managed.

5. Learning Capacity

• Innovation: New ideas should be welcome. Employees must be encouraged to come out with new and innovative ideas which might benefit the organization.
• Training: Trainings must be practical/relevant and designed to sharpen the skills of employees. Do not design training programs just for the sake of it. They must benefit the employees.
• Career Development: Employees must be aware of their growth plan in the organization.
• Learnings: New learnings should be valued by all in the organization.

Benefits of Human Capital Management:

1. Enhanced Productivity

HCM ensures employees are well-trained, motivated, and equipped with the right tools, leading to increased efficiency and productivity. By aligning tasks with employees’ skills and strengths, organizations can achieve higher output and quality.

2. Improved Talent Acquisition and Retention

Effective HCM strategies attract top talent and reduce turnover by fostering a supportive and engaging work environment. Competitive compensation, clear career paths, and personal development opportunities make employees more likely to stay with the organization.

3. Better Decision-Making through Analytics

HCM leverages data and analytics to provide insights into workforce trends, performance metrics, and future talent needs. This data-driven approach helps organizations make informed decisions about hiring, training, and succession planning.

4. Strengthened Employee Engagement and Satisfaction

HCM focuses on employee well-being, open communication, and recognition, creating a workplace where employees feel valued and motivated. Higher engagement levels lead to improved performance and loyalty.

5. Agility and Adaptability

By identifying skill gaps and providing upskilling opportunities, HCM enables employees to adapt to changing market demands and technological advancements. This agility helps organizations stay competitive in a dynamic business environment.

6. Promotes Diversity and Inclusion

HCM emphasizes building a diverse and inclusive workforce, which drives creativity, innovation, and a positive organizational reputation. Inclusive workplaces also enhance collaboration and decision-making.

A policy is somewhat a permanent feature of an organization. It being a standing plan, provides guidelines to managerial decisions. Therefore, policies should be developed on a sound basis. If this is not done, managers have to make decisions again and again. However, what features constitute a sound policy cannot be prescribed universally because situations vary so greatly and an organization may differ in respect of policy formulation and implementation from others.

A sound policy must Have

(i) specify more precisely how the decision will come what is to be done, who is to do it, how it is to be done, and when it is to be finished

(ii) establish a follow-up mechanism to make sure that the decision intended will take place

(iii) lead to new strengths which can be used for decisions in future.

Characteristics of Sound HR Policy

1. Relationship to Organizational Objectives:

A policy is formulated in the context of organizational objectives. It tries to contribute towards the achievement of these objectives. Therefore, in formulation of a policy, those functions or activities which do not contribute to the achievement of objectives should be eliminated.

For example, if a policy of filling higher positions from within produces hindrance in attracting talents at higher level but the organization needs them, the policy can be changed because in the absence of suitable manpower, the organization may not be able to achieve its objectives.

2. Planned Formulation:

A policy must be the result of careful and planned formulation process rather than the result of opportunistic decisions made on the spur of the moment. Since policies are relatively permanent features of the organization, ad hocism should be avoided because it is likely to create more confusion.

It is true that it is not possible to solve every problem in the organization on the basis of policies because new situations may arise, however, for matters of recurring nature, there should be well-established policies.

3. Fair Amount of Clarity:

As far as possible, policy should be clear and must not leave any scope for ambiguity. If there is a problem of misinterpretation, the organization should provide the method for overcoming the ambiguity. Further, policy provides some discretion for managerial decisions but it should minimize the number of cases where decisions are based on personal judgement. If this happens frequently, there should be close scrutiny of the policy and suitable amendments should be made.

4. Consistency:

The policy should provide consistency in the operation of organizational functions. Often the organization formulates policies in various functional areas and each function is related to other functions of the organization. If the policy in one area is inconsistent with another area, there may be conflict resulting in inefficiency.

This happens very frequently in functions having close relations such as production and marketing or finance and other functions. Therefore, the formulation of policies should be taken in an integrated way so that policies in each area contribute to other areas also.

5. Balanced:

A sound policy maintains balance between stability and flexibility. On the one hand, a policy is a long-term proposition and it must provide stability so that members are well aware about what they are required to do in certain matters. On the other hand, the policy should not be so inflexible that it cannot be changed when the need arises.

In a changed situation, the old policy becomes obsolete. Therefore, there should be a periodic review of policies and suitable changes should be incorporated from time to time. The changes may be in the form of addition, deletion, or substitution of the existing policy.

6. Written:

A policy may be in the form of a statement or it may be interpreted by the behaviour of the people at the top level. However, clearly-specified policy works better than the one which has to be interpreted by the organization’s members. When the policy is in writing, it becomes more specific and clearer. It creates an atmosphere in which individuals can take actions with confidence knowing fully the impact of a particular action.

A written policy is easier to communicate through the organizational manuals. However, written policy has certain disadvantages in the form of being inflexible, too much emphasis on written words and their interpretation, and leakage of confidential policy. However, if the policy has been formulated carefully, many of the dangers will be overcome. Of course, confidential policies cannot be made part of organizational manuals.

7. Communication:

It is not just sufficient to formulate policies. Unless these are communicated properly to the persons concerned, no meaningful purpose will be served. Therefore, a system should be developed to communicate the policies to those who are to make decisions in the light of those policies.

While written policies can be communicated easily, problems exist for communicating unwritten ones. In such cases, there should be more interaction between policy framers and policy implementers.

HR Policies

1. Recruitment and selection policy: To procure suitably educated and efficient personnel by offering those tempting wages, good working conditions, safety and security, and better future prospects.
2. Training and development policy: To make available all possible facilities for the training and development of employees to enable them to do their job efficiently and to prepare them­selves for future promotions; to take effective steps including training and development pro­grammes to equip the employees in the latest techniques of production, management and so on; to get the performance appraisal done; and to provide adequate opportunities and facilities for the development of employees.
3. Job evaluation, wage and incentive policies: To determine reasonably good wage rates and dearness allowance, and to work out incentive plans for workers after undertaking job evalu­ation and other necessary steps and also keeping in view the prevalent wage rates for similar jobs in other industries.
4. Labour welfare policy: To improve industrial relations by evolving a suitable machinery for the settlement of disputes; to encourage mutual negotiations; to prepare and execute labour welfare programmes; and to arrange all possible facilities for the health, education and other welfare programmes.
5. Retrenchment: All progressive companies keep good exit policies, so that feedback can be obtained and improvement can be brought about.

High-commitment management emphasizes personal responsibility, independence, and empowerment of employees across all levels instead of focusing on one higher power; it always intended to keep commitment at high level “calling all the shots”.

A high commitment system is unusual in its job design and cultural structure. These practices emphasize getting the tasks complete, but do it in a way that their employees enjoy doing it. According to Harvard Business School Professor Michael Beer, “leaders develop an organizational design, business processes, goals and measures, and capabilities that are aligned with a focused, winning strategy.” This kind of environment allows employees to approach tasks at ease, wearing jeans instead of suits and staying home to watch their children get on the bus for school before coming to work. Technology also plays a role in this system. Recently, technology has slaughtered barriers of communication, which makes this high-commitment model fit that much better. That father waiting for the bus can still answer phone calls and check emails for work, so is he working or is he spending time with his daughter? He can be doing both. As long as the job gets done, this system is casual on how it gets done, relieving employees of constant stress.

A flat organizational structure is one of the biggest success factors. Individuals are responsible for their own decision-making and these decisions, their skill, and their performance is how they get paid. Instead of putting too much weight on the individual, “people are likely to see the locus of the control coming from ‘within’ through the adoption of self-created demands and pressures as opposed to external and making them feel subordinate.” While these companies allow each employee to be a manager in their own way and try not to distinguish its structure by higher levels of employment, it doesn’t mean that they lack these higher powers entirely. It’s that under this system people aren’t relying on the general managers, CEOs, or other employees to do their work for them. This personal discipline is what drives the employees to help the company be successful. and eliminates the chance at a thought like, “Why would I want to help my company become better if I know I’m just going to get yelled at?”

Another focus of high commitment practices is their employee relationships. They only hire people who are flexible, determined, and are willing to handle challenges. Because this system relies on individual performance, there is a big emphasis on hiring the right people for the job. The detailed recruitment process can consist of many interviews with different members of the company, an induction course, and in some cases, team-building exercises. Once found, the right employees help create a strong bond and high trust throughout the entire company.

High commitment workplaces are successful through their importance on an individual’s responsibility in order to help the team prosper. By creating a culture that motivates individuals to want to succeed while sustaining high commitment, “these firms stand out by having achieved long periods of excellence.”

These models of best practice can take many forms; while some have advocated a universal set of HR practices that would enhance the performance of all organisations to which they were applied (Pfeffer, 1994, 1998), others have focused on high-commitment models (Walton, 1985; Guest 2001) and high-involvement practices (Wood, 1999) which reflect an underlying assumption that a strong commitment to the organisational goals and values will provide competitive advantage.

Others have focused on ‘high-performance work systems/ practices (Berg, 1999; Applebaum et al., 2000). This work has been accompanied by a growing body of research exploring the relationship between these ‘sets of HR practices’ and organisational performance (Pfeffer, 1994; Huselid, 1995; Huselid and Becker, 1996; Patterson et al., 1997; Guest, 2001). Although there is a wealth of literature advocating the best-practice approach, with supporting empirical evidence, it is still difficult to reach generalised conclusions from these studies.

This is mainly as a result of conflicting views about what constitutes an ideal set of HR best practices, whether or not they should be horizontally integrated into ‘bundles’ that fit the organisational context and the contribution that these sets of HR practices can make to organizational performance.

• Universalism and high commitment

One of the models most commonly cited is Pfeffer’s (1994) 16 HR practices for ‘competitive advantage through people’ which he revised to seven practices for ‘building profits by putting people first’ in 1998. These have been adapted for the UK audience by Marchington and Wilkinson (2002).

Pfeffer (1994) explains how changes in the external environment have reduced the impact of traditional sources of competitive advantage, and increased the significance of new sources of competitive advantage, namely human resources that enable an organization to adapt and innovate. Pfeffer’s relevance in a European context has been questioned owing to his lack of commitment to independent worker representation and joint regulation (Boxall and Purcell, 2003), hence Marchington and Wilkinson’s adaptation, highlighted in Table.

HR practices for ‘competitive advantage through people’

With the universalist approach or ‘ideal set of practices’ (Guest, 1997), the concern is with how close organisations can get to the ideal set of practices, the hypothesis being that the closer an organisation gets, the better the organization will perform, in terms of higher productivity, service levels and profitability. The role of Human Resources, therefore, becomes one of identifying and gaining senior management commitment to a set of HR best practices, and ensuring that they are implemented and that reward is distributed accordingly.

The first difficulty with the best-practice approach is the variation in what constitutes best practice. Agreement on the underlying principles of the best-practice approach is reflected in Youndt et al.’s (1996: 839) summary below: Lists of best practices, however, vary intensely in their constitution and in their relationship to organisational performance. A sample of these variations is provided in Table. This results in confusion about which particular HR practices constitute high commitment, and a lack of empirical evidence and ‘theoretical rigour’ (Guest 1987: 267) to support their universal application. Capelli and Crocker-Hefter (1996: 7) note:

• Integrated bundles of HRM: horizontal integration

A key theme that emerges in relation to best-practice HRM is that individual practices cannot be implemented effectively in isolation (Storey, 1992) but rather combining them into integrated and complementary bundles is crucial (MacDuffie, 1995). Thus the notion of achieving horizontal integration within and between HR practices gains significance in the best-practice debate.

HR practices for ‘competitive advantage through people’

The need for horizontal integration in the application of SHRM principles is one element that is found in the configurational school of thought, the resource-based view approach and in certain best-practice models. It emphasises the coordination and congruence between HR practices, through ‘a pattern of planned action’ (Wright and McMahan, 1999). In the configurational school, cohesion is thought likely to create synergistic benefits, which in turn enable the organisation’s strategic goals to be met.

Roche (1999: 669), in his study on Irish organisations, noted that ‘organisations with a relatively high degree of integration of human resource strategy into business strategy are much more likely to adopt commitment-oriented bundles of HRM practices’. Where some of the best-practice models differ is in those that advocate the ‘universal’ application of SHRM, notably Pfeffer (1994, 1998). Pfeffer’s argument is that best practice may be used in any organisation, irrespective of product life cycle, market situation or workforce characteristics, and improved performance will ensue.

This approach ignores potentially significant differences between organisations, industries, sectors and countries however. The work of Delery and Doty (1996) has highlighted the complex relationship between the management of human resources and organisational performance, and their research supports the contingency approach (Schuler and Jackson, 1987) in indicating that there are some key HR practices, specifically internal career opportunities, results-oriented appraisals and participation/ voice, that must be aligned with the business strategy or, in other words, be context-specific.

The ‘bundles’ approach, however, is additive, and accepts that as long as there is a core of integrated high-commitment practices, other practices can be added or ignored, and still produce enhanced performance. Guest et al.’s analysis of the WERS data (2000a: 15), however, found that the ‘only combination of practices that made any sense was a straightforward count of all the practices’. As with many high-commitment-based models, there is an underlying assumption of unitarism, which ignores the inherent pluralist values and tensions present in many organisations. Coupled with further criticisms of context avoidance and assumed rationality between implementation and performance, the best-practice advocates, particularly the universalists, are not without their critics.

Self-directed work teams

In a study of illumination in the workplace of Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company, a sociologist from Harvard Business School, Elton Mayo, concluded that when the organization established experimental work groups, “the individuals became a team and the team gave itself wholeheartedly and spontaneously to cooperation.” Through a natural system of collaboration, the teams are not only responsible for the work but also the management of their group. Mayo’s research uncovered that teams under their own direction established a capacity for self-motivated learning and change. This concept of designing the work system with the full participation of the people proved to be a breakthrough for organizations during the 1990s. During that time, employees closest to the product and customer began to have increasing decision making capacities and capabilities.

Interview programs

The Hawthorne Experiments sought to determine a correlation between light levels and productivity. Researchers had divided the employees into teams of six and interviewed the individuals to determine the effect of the lighting. Mayo discovered that the interview program set up by the study inherently gave the employees a sense of higher purpose.[9] Exposure of employee thoughts and concerns to managers appeared to be a fundamental aspect of the relation between managers and employees. Evidently, by having the ability to speak to their managers, the employees at Western Electric exhibited a dramatic improvement in their attitudes towards work. Essential to a highly committed work force, the interview program formally developed and sustained cooperation with management.

Problem-solving teams

The Hawthorne experiment further highlighted that teams working without coercion from above or limitation from below could astonish even their own expectations of themselves. Sociologist Fritz Roethlisberger argued that this informal organization left the team responsible for addressing the myriad of problems that continuously arose. Roethlisberger noted by studying the chemistry of informal groups that human interactions and collaboration have the potential to set when teams have to face problems on their own. Together the individuals of the team strive to improve the processes of the team by adapting to different demands and learning from each other.

Cross training

Cross training began to be heavily examined through the scope of modern Japanese management in the automobile industry in the 1970s. Sociologists examined the way in which the Japanese automobile firms cross-trained its employees through a company wide orientation and training program. As Japanese firms trained their employees in a multitude of aspects in the production process, sociologists discovered that the training brought the employees together and formed a connection in which all the employees were dedicated to the company’s mission. These established connections appeared to solicit cooperation among the work force. The Japanese auto plants revealed that flexibility within the production teams allowed employees to work on their own tasks while keeping others efficient.

A resourcing strategy and a recruitment policy helps you understand future staffing needs and work out how to ensure those needs are met. The policy should be consistent and transparent, reflect the organisation’s mission and values, and comply with employment law regulations.

The resourcing strategy broadly states the goals that the organisation aims to achieve through recruitment. This could be by external recruitment or developing existing employees; working with the whole organisation to understand its current and future needs; and ways of addressing resourcing (both by filling vacancies and also through the wider needs and expectations of candidates).

The policy should clearly set out the recruitment process; demonstrate consistency across the organisation’s sectors; extend information about the organisation’s recruitment strategy; and integrate with strategic and operational objectives. Finally, check that your resourcing policy chimes with your employer brand, and that your organisation is fulfilling those ambitions and values.

Components of a resourcing strategy include knowing the talents and skills you need to meet your business requirements; where and how to fill gaps; and how to fulfil your future talent needs:

• Workforce planning: The number and type of employees required
• Employee value proposition: The ‘give’ and the ‘get’
• Resourcing plans: Where to find your people; learning and development offer
• Retention: Being ‘an employer of choice’
• Flexibility: Addressing hard-to-fill roles; offering different hours and work locations
• Talent management and succession planning: What future talent does the business require and where will these managers come from?

Successful resourcing strategy include:

• Ensure you have a ‘resourcing champion’ overseeing your strategy, whatever the size of your organisation
• Refine the employer brand and employee value proposition (evp) to determine how you stand out against the competition
• Build talent internally by adjusting existing roles, providing training, flexible working, or creating career paths to build loyalty and enhance your employer brand
• Develop an internal pool of candidates by using internal referral schemes and contacting previous applicants
• Consider establishing relationships with graduates, past employees and other contacts to provide a talent pool
• Keep a schedule of hiring practices and expenditure to monitor the most successful and cost-effective channels and inform future strategy
• When selecting a recruitment agency, look for one key expert in your industry that offers a genuine partnership, based on longer-term resourcing needs.

If there is more than one person in your organisation who can hire new recruits, make sure any changes to hiring processes are communicated effectively. It is important to have a clear understanding of the current marketplace and what your business may need in terms of talent for the short and long term. The same goes for your organisation’s targets, projects and relevant timescales, and how these link to future vacancies.

Process

1. Have a Workforce Plan

Imagine if you never had a vacancy again. This may seem far-fetched but you can get pretty close by having a thorough Workforce Plan which considers the type of workforce you need for the future, the volume of people you need and where they are based, what skills they’ll have and where you can get them from. If you build in a proactive approach to recruitment where you plan for the future and know what roles you needed and when, you would be able to build pro-active talent pools and reduce the need for in the moment, requisition-led recruitment, which would in turn limit the number of vacancies you have.

A key part of the Workforce Plan is to have a detailed view of Succession. You can also use the succession process to scenario plan (who’s likely to leave), future-proof your business, plan development, keep an eye on talented individuals and identify internal and external replacements succession doesn’t just have to be internal, you can keep external talent warm too. In my view part one of a resourcing strategy is to minimise vacancies. Workforce Planning is the best way to do this.

2. Know and communicate what you’re about.

I’m not a fan of HR jargon but in the trade, this would be referred to as a strong Employer Value Proposition. In essence this means being really clear on what you stand for as an employer and what the prospective employee will get in return for working from you, for example fast career progression, high pay, long hours or strong values, flexibility, a great environment. It is important that this is reflected in all your recruitment literature and job adverts. A strong and accurate proposition will help you attract the right people to your business.

3. Be clear on the type of person you’re looking for.

In order to attract the right people, you’ve first got to be clear on the type of person you’re looking for. This means knowing the skills, qualifications, experience you need to be a success in the role and combine this with the values the person needs to work effectively in your business.

4. Advertise your roles in the right place.

It seems pretty simple when you think about it. I’ve done a lot of work with some great marketing people recently who have helped me to identify the right channels and right places to advertise based on where the people I’m trying to attract look for jobs. For example, if I’m trying to attract people out of the city then I’ll advertise on the London tube, if I’m trying to attract rural people, I’ll look at Farmer’s Weekly, if it’s HR people then the CIPD etc.

If you’re using a recruitment partner/agent, then it’s critical that you pick the right one. One that shares your values and can represent your role and brand as well as you can. The partner you choose says a lot about you to your prospective future employee. It’s about more than just price.

5. Stay in touch with second place.

It is about making sure you keep in touch with the good quality, unsuccessful applicants for roles in your business. This is a great way to keep a warm pool of high-quality people interested in your business who want to work for you. They might not have been successful this time but they could be great for future positions. Staying in touch could also help you build an external talent pool so you’re not always starting your recruitment search from a standing start.

6. Have robust selection methods.

Build a selection process and method for assessing candidates that reflects and effectively tests the skills applicants will need to be a success in the role. Don’t just rely on an interview which can be subjective build a recruitment assessment process that tests on the job aptitude through practical assessments, numerical, verbal and psychometric assessments and use referencing from previous roles. If you’re relying on interviews then use competency-based interviewing to draw out real examples of when they’ve had success before.

Resourcing Types

Internal Recruiting: internal recruiting involves filling vacancies with existing employees from within an organization.

Retained Recruiting: When organization hire a recruiting firm, there are several ways to do so; retained recruiting is a common one. When an organization retains a recruiting firm to fill a vacancy, they pay an upfront fee to fill the position. The firm is responsible for finding candidates until the position is filled. The organization also agrees to work exclusively with the firm. Companies cannot, in other words, hire multiple recruiting firms to fill the same position.

Contingency Recruiting: like retained recruiting, contingency recruiting requires an outside firm. Unlike retained recruiting, there is no upfront fee with contingency. Instead, the recruitment company receives payment only when the clients they represent are hired by an organization.

Staffing Recruiting: staffing recruiters work for staffing agencies. Staffing recruiting matches qualified applicants with qualified job openings. Moreover, staffing agencies typically focus on short-term or temporary employment positions.

Outplacement Recruiting: outplacement is typically an employer-sponsored benefit which helps former employees transition into new jobs. Outplacement recruiting is designed to provide displaced employees with the resources to find new positions or careers.

Reverse Recruiting: refers to the process whereby an employee is encouraged to seek employment with a different organization that offers a better fit for their skill set.