Another important HRM challenge that needs to be addressed is Work Force Planning. This challenge is especially important to the entire company. The company has a significant investment in its 90,000 employees which requires major improvements in employee skills, work force allocation, quality, job designs, management structure, and cost. In response to these issues human resource projects and planning must be implemented.
The first issue that must be addresses is the massive work force investment and how to receive maximum return on this investment. Research shows that jobs are narrow in scope and their descriptions are out of date. A narrow job description creates specialization. With such a large work force specialized it will make it difficult to cross train employees and run efficiently. Specialization creates boundaries between an employee’s manager and coworkers. This can create a negative environment and work climate.
A break down of job duties must also be done through job design and analysis. What is the structure of the job and the procedures to achieve quality and efficient output? Of these procedures what are the key steps and what are the supporting steps? How much time is allocated for each of these steps? What steps are the most time consuming and which are not functional or needed? Can any of these be cut or made shorter or easier? What factors are beyond the frontline workers control? What can be done about these factors by management? Problems that arise from answering these questions can be remedies by work simplification and redevelopment of job scope and structure. The focus should be on productivity, quality, efficiency, and innovation. A job evaluation to determine the importance and need for certain positions should be implemented. ...