Human Resource Development And Case Studies
There has been considerable attention to the roles of human resource professionals as business partners and leaders of business change. For many individuals, these new roles require the development of capabilities in such areas as formulating business and human resource strategies, leading change, and redesigning HR processes to support strategy implementation.
HR functions have often taken the initiative in developing and introducing development planning and career development processes for managers and for employees in other company functions. Most of the companies provide development planning tools for their human resource professionals to use. These include:
Self development planning tools or formats [/i][/b]
[/i][/b]
Coaching, counseling, mentoring [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Assessment and feedback [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Guides to development resources [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Company internet resources [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Most companies provide a variety of education and training opportunities for human resource professionals.
Typical approaches include: [/i][/b]
External workshops or conferences [/i][/b][/i][/b]
General education/training programs within the company [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Specific projects/team assignments [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Certification programs [/i][/b][/i][/b]
University degree programs [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Company HR conferences [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Self-study initiatives[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Other mandated training includes:
Certain company-wide programs (e.g., diversity, sexual harassment, targeted selection)[/i][/b]
[/i][/b]
Workshops targeted to specialty areas[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Programs providing basic business knowledge[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Case: Prudential Insurance
Prudential’s HR function transitioned from largely decentralized to a matrix organization, reducing staff from 1,100 to 800 and saving approximately $20 million, while improving expertise, service, and performance levels. Learning and Development implications of the change include:
The need for our generalists to have greater business knowledge and consulting skill, while letting go of the need to be experts in all the technical aspects of HR
The need for staff in our “Communities of Practice” to be true experts in their technical fields (e.g. staffing, compensation).
The need to create development paths that encompass and encourage the above two needs.
The need to strengthen partnering and problem solving skills
Prudential recently introduced a new performance management process that will be consistent company-wide. In the past performance management models varied by business unit. The new process is centered around 9 core leadership competencies, which will be applied to everyone in a management position. A similar set of universal competencies is being developed for non-management staff. In addition to these core competencies, each associate will be evaluated on 5-7 situational/technical competencies specific to their job and the business they support.
For HR, situational/technical competencies have been developed by practice area (e.g. staffing, compensation, generalist, etc.), and have been validated by each practice area’s staff through discussion around the strategies, objectives and activities of the unit, and the knowledge, skills and attributes needed for success. This validation process continues, so that these competencies will remain up to date.
The Personal Development Roadmap encourages HR associates to focus on both professional and personal development, and includes components on
Creating a personal vision/mission/purpose statement[/i][/b]
[/i][/b]
Identifying important personal and professional roles[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Identifying what the business needs[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Inventorying needed competencies[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Creating an action plan[/i][/b][/i][/b]
The position of Human Resources Curriculum Director was created late last year. Similar positions exist for other functional areas (e.g., Operations, Information Technology, and Finance). Each curriculum Director is responsible for developing education and training interventions around two strategies: “Serve” and “Shape.”
The Serve[/i] strategy[/b] is aimed at helping to identify and close knowledge and/or skill gaps at the individual level. The primary product of this strategy will be a “curriculum map,” in this case for HR, which will guide users to specific training to meet their needs. The map is organized by HR practice area with cross-references to specific skills. Training is categorized as fundamental, intermediate or advanced, and includes internal and external programs as well as alternate delivery and experiential learning. The HR curriculum map is being populated using the expertise of Prudential’s learning organization regarding training design/delivery and vendor management in conjunction with the subject matter expertise of various HR practice areas.
In 1998 Prudential introduced a week-long Strategic HR Leadership Program to facilitate the adoption of new roles across the human resource community. More than 200 HR leaders, representing both business groups and communities of practice, have participated. The program, based on the Human Resource Business School design, features current, customized case studies on the changing financial services industry, Citigroup, and Prudential, as a basis for examining business-specific people issues and strategies, roles and working relationships in the HR community, and HR effectiveness measures.
There has been considerable attention to the roles of human resource professionals as business partners and leaders of business change. For many individuals, these new roles require the development of capabilities in such areas as formulating business and human resource strategies, leading change, and redesigning HR processes to support strategy implementation.
Individual Development Planning
HR functions have often taken the initiative in developing and introducing development planning and career development processes for managers and for employees in other company functions. Most of the companies provide development planning tools for their human resource professionals to use. These include:
Self development planning tools or formats [/i][/b]
[/i][/b]
Coaching, counseling, mentoring [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Assessment and feedback [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Guides to development resources [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Company internet resources [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Most companies provide a variety of education and training opportunities for human resource professionals.
Typical approaches include: [/i][/b]
External workshops or conferences [/i][/b][/i][/b]
General education/training programs within the company [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Specific projects/team assignments [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Certification programs [/i][/b][/i][/b]
University degree programs [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Company HR conferences [/i][/b][/i][/b]
Self-study initiatives[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Other mandated training includes:
Certain company-wide programs (e.g., diversity, sexual harassment, targeted selection)[/i][/b]
[/i][/b]
Workshops targeted to specialty areas[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Programs providing basic business knowledge[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Case: Prudential Insurance
Kurt Metzger, HR Curriculum Director
Prudential’s HR function transitioned from largely decentralized to a matrix organization, reducing staff from 1,100 to 800 and saving approximately $20 million, while improving expertise, service, and performance levels. Learning and Development implications of the change include:
The need for our generalists to have greater business knowledge and consulting skill, while letting go of the need to be experts in all the technical aspects of HR
The need for staff in our “Communities of Practice” to be true experts in their technical fields (e.g. staffing, compensation).
The need to create development paths that encompass and encourage the above two needs.
The need to strengthen partnering and problem solving skills
Competencies for HR
Prudential recently introduced a new performance management process that will be consistent company-wide. In the past performance management models varied by business unit. The new process is centered around 9 core leadership competencies, which will be applied to everyone in a management position. A similar set of universal competencies is being developed for non-management staff. In addition to these core competencies, each associate will be evaluated on 5-7 situational/technical competencies specific to their job and the business they support.
For HR, situational/technical competencies have been developed by practice area (e.g. staffing, compensation, generalist, etc.), and have been validated by each practice area’s staff through discussion around the strategies, objectives and activities of the unit, and the knowledge, skills and attributes needed for success. This validation process continues, so that these competencies will remain up to date.
The Personal Development Roadmap encourages HR associates to focus on both professional and personal development, and includes components on
Creating a personal vision/mission/purpose statement[/i][/b]
[/i][/b]
Identifying important personal and professional roles[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Identifying what the business needs[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Inventorying needed competencies[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Creating an action plan[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Education and Training
The position of Human Resources Curriculum Director was created late last year. Similar positions exist for other functional areas (e.g., Operations, Information Technology, and Finance). Each curriculum Director is responsible for developing education and training interventions around two strategies: “Serve” and “Shape.”
The Serve[/i] strategy[/b] is aimed at helping to identify and close knowledge and/or skill gaps at the individual level. The primary product of this strategy will be a “curriculum map,” in this case for HR, which will guide users to specific training to meet their needs. The map is organized by HR practice area with cross-references to specific skills. Training is categorized as fundamental, intermediate or advanced, and includes internal and external programs as well as alternate delivery and experiential learning. The HR curriculum map is being populated using the expertise of Prudential’s learning organization regarding training design/delivery and vendor management in conjunction with the subject matter expertise of various HR practice areas.
In 1998 Prudential introduced a week-long Strategic HR Leadership Program to facilitate the adoption of new roles across the human resource community. More than 200 HR leaders, representing both business groups and communities of practice, have participated. The program, based on the Human Resource Business School design, features current, customized case studies on the changing financial services industry, Citigroup, and Prudential, as a basis for examining business-specific people issues and strategies, roles and working relationships in the HR community, and HR effectiveness measures.