An Operational Process for Workforce Planning - Assignment Example

Workforce planning Name Affiliation Course Tutor Date INTRODUCTION Workforce planning is defined as the process undertaken to integrate the human resource management and the strategic planning department in an organization. It refers to placing the right number of people with the right skills at the right time under the right budget (Bechet, 2002). Norman Vincent Peale said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Workforce planning is therefore used by managers to enable them make strategic human resource decisions for a current event or in future. Planning in human resource is a challenging task for any manager to undertake. It requires the involvement of a strategic plan, financial plan and also governance and regulations in its implementation. The managers are required to identify, acquire, develop and retain employees or workers to meet the organization’s goals. Workforce planning requires leadership in terms of having clear vision, mission and objectives in an organization (Emmerichs, 2004). Co-operation between the staff in the different departments or levels in any organization is important. The organization must put in place proper means of collaboration and information sharing. Workforce planning can help an organization make long term or short term decisions that will enable them achieve the set goals. In the field of sports, workforce planning is critical. The sports organization can apply workforce planning so as to administer the right players and the appropriate coaching staff. It will enable the organization plan its finance correctly and allocate its resources to the correct members so as to achieve good results, in this case, winning gold medals at the Olympics. The organization will be able to select and build the correct team that will be in place for a long period of time. It is also a tool to enable the team to focus on particular positions where it either needs to be proactive or a bit slower in reaction. By correct implementation of workforce planning, the Olympics team will be able to anticipate particular situations and outcomes. ANALYSIS There are several steps used in undertaking workforce planning. These steps are described as follows. Data planning It is the duty of the organization to analyze and create the team’s profile data. The team members profile must be created and a management and operational plan drafted. The coaching staff, team leader and the players’ role must be clearly shown in the plan. The organization must analyze the stadiums and arena to be used in the event in a process of environmental scanning. Legislative rule and regulations must also be known. Analysis of current operations Under analysis of current operations, the organization must review the current world financial situation (Wilson, 2010). There are many changes which occur in the technology world. It is the duty of the sports organization to update their knowledge in terms technology. The team must analyze the current policies being used at the state where Olympics are being held. In terms of the environment, the organization is mandated with the duty of analyzing the climatic conditions at the Olympics arena. Use forecast In any organization, analysis of future events is critical. Forecast is defined as the process of making statements about future events as anticipated. In workforce planning, the sports organization must examine the work to be performed by the team and also how they will perform it (Wilson, 2010). The organization must identify probable scenarios based on trends. For example, an athletics team can use forecast to predict the time that the individual athletes will take in a lap. A football team can also use forecast to analyze the opponent teams and predict how the outcome will be in terms of goals. The organization is to identify the workforce gaps in the team. The sports organization can analyze the team’s weaknesses and also the points where the players are likely to underperform. Likewise, it is the sports organization mandate to identify the skills in the team which are required as well as those which are not required. The team must comprise of members who are only needed in terms of their contribution and performance. In terms of budget, the organization must make a budget and how much is needed in the team’s upkeep. How long the event will be in terms of time period must also be looked into so as to enable budgetary plans to be drafted. The organization must analyze the impact of the team in the Olympics and determine whether it will be efficient in term of results. This involves running practice tests and using the outcome results to predict overall outcome. Planning initiatives and strategies Under this, the organization should recruit appropriate team members for the Olympics competition. Appropriate measures must be taken to retain the team players. Members must be taken through a career development program which will also act as a mentoring program. Using workforce planning involves review of policies in the organization (Lyle, 2010). The management of the sports organization must make clear its policies to the team members. It is also the duty of the organization to make a budget plan for the team. Such will enable for proper financing in the organization. The organization can also establish an offer to the team members which is to cater for them financially when they retire. Such offers include post retirement employment of the team players do as coaches and managers so as to retain knowledge in the organization. Implement workforce plan The next step in workforce planning requires the implementation of strategies. The organization can see into the introduction of changes in technology by purchasing modern training machines for the team. The organization can also review the methods of training in the team and use the most efficient methods for better results. Implementation of other strategies such as career development and mentorship programs must also be done. The organization must bring in other successful players to act as mentors for the current team. The retired team members should be employed into the sports organization. Staff training must also be included as a strategy. This involves providing education to the team coaches and trainers so as to widen their knowledge base and skills on how to improve the team’s performance. The organization must also introduce flexible staff arrangements. Likewise, staff survey must be conducted constantly to analyze their performance. Review and evaluation The last step in workforce planning is review and evaluation. The sports organization must set a period of time for reviewing the strategies and evaluate if their impact to the team is positive or negative. It is also important to review the policies put in place and establish whether they are to be retained or fine-tuned for improvements in the team (Young, 2006). The organization must also review the team training methods and see if they are yielding results as required, e.g. if the athletes are improving on their lap times. ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION From the above steps, it is seen that workforce planning comes with numerous benefits to an organization, in this case, the team wishing to participate successfully in the Olympics. First, there is the advantage of identifying future team requirements and demands. The organization will be able to use planning to budget for the team appropriately by increasing on shortage and reducing on over-supply. From this, the organization can be able to increase on profits in the company which can be used to upgrade the technological systems in the organization. By use of analysis of the current systems, the team can be able to eliminate the weaknesses or use their strength to overcome their shortfalls. For example, in a football team, the players can use overcome their weaknesses in defense by using their strength in attacking to counter the opponent. Information obtained through analysis is hence very important. During review and implementation, the organization can find out new training initiatives and recruit more staff into the team. This will serve as an employment opportunity to the community (Dahlenburg, 2005). As an illustration, a basketball team organization can review its coaching strategies employ two different coaches with one dealing in offense and the other dealing in defense. Workforce planning through review analysis also is of benefit to the organization in that team members whose skills do not meet required standards are given specialized training. In the case of an athletics team, the runners who get tired quickly can be trained on how to maintain a constant lap time without being overly exhausted throughout the race. The other benefit that comes with using workforce planning is that shortfalls and crisis is avoided in the organization. In the case of a team, proper budgetary planning is made so as to properly accommodate the team during the Olympics period. If workforce planning is not done, the team might end running out of money and hence members will underperform due to lack of motivation. For example, clubs football clubs in the most international leagues have debts and hence end up selling their valuable players to other teams so as to settle the debts. If workforce is correctly applied in these teams, the unnecessary expenditure will be cut down to increase profits. The retaining of top team players in the team as managers and coaches is an element in workforce planning. This comes with the benefit of increased performance in the team as the experienced player trains the younger team members. This has been applied in many football as well as baseball clubs around the world. It can be seen that many successful coaches and managers were once players themselves. Such evidence shows that implementation of workforce planning is a source of success in any organization. Workforce planning also enables the team to prove to the population that it has competent and skilled team members. This will increase team’s fan base and likewise players from other skilled and successful players will want to join the club or organization. LOGICAL ARGUMENT It is the opinion of most people that workforce planning is beneficial. It is believed that organizations can create their own planning to chieve their set goals. The use of such methods as forecast, analysis, implementation and review is seen to be essential and most people find this true. These opinions, according to the illustrations in this report, are justified. Workforce planning is an important tool in any particular organization. However, there are several limitations which come with workforce planning. There is the problem of cost. The workforce plan needs sufficient financial resources for its implementation to be effective. The team needs to be supplied with needs appropriately for their motivation. Hiring coaching and other management staff comes at a cost to the organization. The strategies formulated from review of existing modules have cost implications. This challenge can be overcome by appropriate planning in the organization. The organization must provide correct financial statements to the public and stakeholders so as to enhance trust in the organization. Training is a strategy which needs to be implemented in a team to improve performance. In the ideal world, however, getting the right training is not as easy as it seems. Implementing the training to team member is also quiet cumbersome. Implementing proper training to the team requires the discipline of the team and organization as a whole. The participative team members must show up for training at the appropriate time. The trainer must also use realistic means of training to the players. In the case of an athletics team, the runners must be given ample time to rest and recover from exhaustion encountered during training. Over-ambitious plans must be eliminated. In a newly established sports organization, the team must note that use of workforce planning is not a guarantee to winning gold at their first try. Rather, they should note that implementation of workforce planning takes time and resilience will be needed. CONCLUSION Workforce planning, if implemented correctly, will provide an effective team with the right people having the right skills. The organizations finance will be correctly organized, and the legislative and governance will also fall in place. The time needed to cover a particular plan is dependent on the type of plan itself. In the above case, it will require a few months into the start of the Olympics. The planning ought to be run throughout the organization’s existence, but with certain strategic plans modified. The workforce plan is however not a perfect strategy. In the ideal world, organizations face day to day challenges which serve as threats to workforce planning. These challenges ought to be overcome by putting in place more strategies. At the end of the day, workforce planning is very vital for a winning team. REFERENCE Bechet T. P. (2002), “Strategic staffing a practical toolkit for workforce planning”, New York amacom. Pg. 21-54 Dahlenburg, K. (2005) “Workforce planning” Canberra: Australian National Audit Office. Pg. 12-65 Emmerichs R. M. & Marcum C. Y. (2004), “An executive perspective on workforce planning” Santa Monica, CA: Rand. Pg. 34-53 Lyle J. & Cushion C. (2010) “Sports coaching: professionalization and practice”, Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. Pg. 7-12 Emmerichs R. M. & Marcum C. Y. (2004) “An operational process for workforce planning”, Santa Monica CA: Rand. Pg. 11-65 Wilson J. M. Rostker B. & Fan C. (2010) “Recruiting and retaining America's finest evidence-based lessons for police workforce planning”, Santa Monica, CA, pg. 34-87 Horn C. E. Ryan K. & Tracy W. (1990) “Workforce futures: strategic planning in the states” Washington, D.C.: National Commission for Employment Policy. Pg. 5-45 Young M. B. (2006). “Strategic workforce planning; forecasting human capital needs to Execute business strategy.” New York, NY: Conference Board. Pg. 32-45 Read More