netrashetty
Netra Shetty
Iberdrola USA (formerly Energy East) is a Fortune 500 company that serves 2.9 million public utility customers with energy, primarily electricity and natural gas.
A job description indicates the role of an employee within the organization and what results they are expected to achieve on the job. Ideally, job descriptions present a clear picture of employees’ roles, responsibilities, required outputs, and standards used to judge the quality of their performance (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).
Performance planning is the process where in goals are set. Goal-setting should be done by the manager and the employee. To create a good performance plan, employees need to know where they are now (the current state) and where they want to go (the goal state). Goals should be measurable and achievable. The plan should include process and support during the execution phase to help managers and employees do the things necessary to have the plan succeed. This includes monitoring progress, identifying and addressing problems, and helping employees stay on their edge to maximize their growth and their performance. The plan should be modifiable during the execution phase to respond to changing circumstances
Both the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Commerce’s Patent and
Trademark Office (PTO) have successfully used Activity Based Costing (ABC) to determine the
true cost of human resources management services.
The General Services Administration began tracking HR costs due to customer complaints that
services were too expensive. The problem was that no one, including HR, knew the actual cost
of HR services. By using Activity Based Costing, GSA was able to compute the HR activity
costs and make comparisons to other Government and private sector organi-zations using the
Hackett Benchmarking Study data. HR demonstrated to managers that its costs were actually
relatively low, and it had the data to prove it.
The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has engaged in agencywide Activity Based Costing.
All senior managers were trained in the process, and each functional area, including HR, formed
teams to identify activities, activity-based drivers, and primary products. PTO has used the
information to close out fiscal year 1998 financial activities and to plan the fiscal year 2000
budget. ABC has helped determine the full cost of agency activities, the proper distribution of
costs, and has even influenced service rates. An additional benefit to the system is that it has
encouraged strategic thinking. Managers see how much a function, such as HR, costs and starts
asking what value that function really adds to the program. This challenges HR to show its
value and return on investment.
Corporate HR and Management
The relationship between corporate HR and top agency management varies greatly by agency. A
few agencies, like SSA, NASA, Air Force, and GSA, have been able to develop strong working
relationships with management in which HR is a full member of the agency decision-making body.
Most other agency HR executives have not been so fortunate. They are generally brought into
the agency decision-making process during the implementation phase rather than being consulted
in the beginning on how decisions may impact agency human resources or vice versa.
For some agencies, it has been a hard road “getting to the table.” For others, it has been more of
a natural transition. In exploring how to elevate HR’s role to management partner, agencies
where this has been achieved attribute their success to a combination of the following factors:
Reporting relationships - In agencies where there is a direct reporting relationship between
the head of HR and the head of the agency, HR generally has a more visible role in agency
decision-making.
Management advocates - In agencies where there is a strong HR advocate in senior
management, HR enjoys more involvement in the agency decision-making.
Credibility - HR representatives who are formerly program managers tend to earn more
credibility from the other managers. This type of individual knows, first hand, what the
program concerns are and how HR decisions will impact the program, and can speak the
same programmatic language.
Culture - In some agencies, the recognition that its people are its most important asset has
Because HR executives have little control
over agency reporting relationships, manage-
ment advocacy, executive appointments, and
agency culture, they need to focus their ef-
forts on providing value to agency business
discussions. But what kind of value can HR
bring to the agency decision-making table?
Other corporate functions have no problem
demonstrating their value. The Chief
Financial Officer has the money. The Chief
Information Officer has the technology.
Without money and technology, an organ-
ization is severely hindered. But HR has the
people, and without the people, the organ-
ization has no one to do the work. So why
has HR not been able to capitalize on this
strength? We were able to identify two
reasons.
Training:
Training is a planned effort by a company to facilitate employees learning of job-related
competencies. These competencies include knowledge, skills or behaviors that are critical
for the successful job performance.
At PTC, there is a continuous assessment of the technical and managerial skills .for the
further enhancement of these skills formal training programmes are offered at all levels.
The employees are provided wit opportunities to put these skills into practice, in
preparation for the move to a managerial role. Training is viewed at PTC as a way of
creating intellectual capital. Employees are expected to acquire new skills and
knowledge, apply them on job and share this information with other employees. The
training is cross-functional for sharing of skills. The training programmes also include
International Seminars.
• NLP
• Caring Leadership
• Emotional Intelligence
In-house Courses:
• Leadership
• Influencing
• Creative Problem Solving
A job description indicates the role of an employee within the organization and what results they are expected to achieve on the job. Ideally, job descriptions present a clear picture of employees’ roles, responsibilities, required outputs, and standards used to judge the quality of their performance (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).
Performance planning is the process where in goals are set. Goal-setting should be done by the manager and the employee. To create a good performance plan, employees need to know where they are now (the current state) and where they want to go (the goal state). Goals should be measurable and achievable. The plan should include process and support during the execution phase to help managers and employees do the things necessary to have the plan succeed. This includes monitoring progress, identifying and addressing problems, and helping employees stay on their edge to maximize their growth and their performance. The plan should be modifiable during the execution phase to respond to changing circumstances
Both the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Commerce’s Patent and
Trademark Office (PTO) have successfully used Activity Based Costing (ABC) to determine the
true cost of human resources management services.
The General Services Administration began tracking HR costs due to customer complaints that
services were too expensive. The problem was that no one, including HR, knew the actual cost
of HR services. By using Activity Based Costing, GSA was able to compute the HR activity
costs and make comparisons to other Government and private sector organi-zations using the
Hackett Benchmarking Study data. HR demonstrated to managers that its costs were actually
relatively low, and it had the data to prove it.
The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has engaged in agencywide Activity Based Costing.
All senior managers were trained in the process, and each functional area, including HR, formed
teams to identify activities, activity-based drivers, and primary products. PTO has used the
information to close out fiscal year 1998 financial activities and to plan the fiscal year 2000
budget. ABC has helped determine the full cost of agency activities, the proper distribution of
costs, and has even influenced service rates. An additional benefit to the system is that it has
encouraged strategic thinking. Managers see how much a function, such as HR, costs and starts
asking what value that function really adds to the program. This challenges HR to show its
value and return on investment.
Corporate HR and Management
The relationship between corporate HR and top agency management varies greatly by agency. A
few agencies, like SSA, NASA, Air Force, and GSA, have been able to develop strong working
relationships with management in which HR is a full member of the agency decision-making body.
Most other agency HR executives have not been so fortunate. They are generally brought into
the agency decision-making process during the implementation phase rather than being consulted
in the beginning on how decisions may impact agency human resources or vice versa.
For some agencies, it has been a hard road “getting to the table.” For others, it has been more of
a natural transition. In exploring how to elevate HR’s role to management partner, agencies
where this has been achieved attribute their success to a combination of the following factors:
Reporting relationships - In agencies where there is a direct reporting relationship between
the head of HR and the head of the agency, HR generally has a more visible role in agency
decision-making.
Management advocates - In agencies where there is a strong HR advocate in senior
management, HR enjoys more involvement in the agency decision-making.
Credibility - HR representatives who are formerly program managers tend to earn more
credibility from the other managers. This type of individual knows, first hand, what the
program concerns are and how HR decisions will impact the program, and can speak the
same programmatic language.
Culture - In some agencies, the recognition that its people are its most important asset has
Because HR executives have little control
over agency reporting relationships, manage-
ment advocacy, executive appointments, and
agency culture, they need to focus their ef-
forts on providing value to agency business
discussions. But what kind of value can HR
bring to the agency decision-making table?
Other corporate functions have no problem
demonstrating their value. The Chief
Financial Officer has the money. The Chief
Information Officer has the technology.
Without money and technology, an organ-
ization is severely hindered. But HR has the
people, and without the people, the organ-
ization has no one to do the work. So why
has HR not been able to capitalize on this
strength? We were able to identify two
reasons.
Training:
Training is a planned effort by a company to facilitate employees learning of job-related
competencies. These competencies include knowledge, skills or behaviors that are critical
for the successful job performance.
At PTC, there is a continuous assessment of the technical and managerial skills .for the
further enhancement of these skills formal training programmes are offered at all levels.
The employees are provided wit opportunities to put these skills into practice, in
preparation for the move to a managerial role. Training is viewed at PTC as a way of
creating intellectual capital. Employees are expected to acquire new skills and
knowledge, apply them on job and share this information with other employees. The
training is cross-functional for sharing of skills. The training programmes also include
International Seminars.
• NLP
• Caring Leadership
• Emotional Intelligence
In-house Courses:
• Leadership
• Influencing
• Creative Problem Solving