Master Classes

 

This annual series is a forward looking programme run as workshop briefings for enterprises and led by specialists in their field.  

 

The most recent Master Class was on 7th November:

 

Models and Practice for Workforce Planning

Colin Richards-Carpenter and Prof Andrew Forbes, 7th November 2007

This Master Class explored the approaches and techniques of HR planning so that participants would be able to make judgements on the applicability and value of the process to their own organisation. We introduced the concept of HR modelling and showed how a small investment in analysis can avoid potentially disastrous and expensive mistakes in HR policy.

The day was designed for Personnel and Line Managers that wished to have an overview of  “Best Practice” in HR planning and make judgements on what it should mean to their organisation. It was also invaluable for budget holders and those needing to anticipate, initiate and manage changes in employment policy.

 

Value added from HR and the HR Scorecard

Professor Andrew Mayo, Professor of Human Capital Management, Middlesex University Business School

This masterclass explored:

• the different kinds of value HR can add to its stakeholders

• how its operational activities and project initiatives can be effectively measured and monitored

• developing “a scorecard” which keeps track of performance.

 

 

Earlier events in the Series are shown below:

 

Future Oriented Human Capital Benchmarking

Chris Nutt, FiSSInG HR Benchmarking Club

• The business case for human capital benchmarking

• How it determines the future role and priorities of HR

• How it can increase the present value of companies

• Legal requirements for it - and why go beyond compliance?

 

Attracting and Developing Talent

Wendy Hirsh and Linda Barber

 

Wendy Hirsh is an Independent Researcher and Consultant, Fellow, National Institute for Careers Education and Counseling, visiting Prof at Kingston University.  Linda Barber, Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies, has conducted leading work on graduates using what has become known as the IES Graduate Value Chain for developing, evaluating and reviewing the effectiveness of graduate strategy and its linkages.

 

 

Cracking the Performance Code – How Firms Succeed

Stephen Bevan, Director of Research, The Work Foundation

• What unique blend of business strategies are most likely to drive competitiveness?

• How should businesses transform what have traditionally been seen as ‘soft’ or intangible assets such as leadership style and organisational culture into ‘hard’ business drivers that deliver tangible economic value?

• How do some firms produce levels of gross profit, revenue growth and added-value per head that outstrip those achieved by companies with apparently similar resources?

• Do these high-performance metrics translate into improved share-price performance?

• How can high levels of company performance be translated into productivity growth at firm, sector and national level?

 

Rhetoric and Reality - the Challenges of Partnership

 Andrew Mayo.

• partnership is not a unilateral declaration - setting up mutual agreements;

• "being strategic" - meaning what? Four types of business led HR strategies;

• the "LCS" model - Leading, Co-Determining and Supporting;

• opportunities for HRM to accelerate the achievement of business goals;

• "numbers speak louder than words" - the measurement side of partnership;

• towards a Human Capital Plan as important to managers as the financial budget.

 

Performance Benchmarking

Chris Nutt

• Exploiting the most widely used management tool in Europe and the USA.

• Verifying the true performance drivers; devising the key indicators; obtaining the right data.

• Modelling the critical Human Capital and Operational performance indicators.

• Targeting human capital and operational performance, HR strategies and management processes.

• Focusing actions on what is demonstrably critical for the particular enterprise and its HR team.

• The process, the competencies and resources required for effective benchmarking.

• Benchmarking the distinct impact indicators for leaders, line management and HR practitioners.

• Examples of HR Scorecards, Models and Analytical methods; the art and the diagnostic science.

 

High Performance Organisations

Stephen Bevan, Research Director, The Work Foundation

• The research on attributes of such organisations & why most of it fails to affect practice in real organisations.

• Problems of defining and measuring organisational performance and productivity.

• Why ‘single-factor’ perspectives (such as ‘people management’ or CRM) have only limited value.

• Examples of the most compelling studies in this field and how they might help corporate practice.

• Examples from business & public sector – statistical models or common sense?

• Business-led research on firm-level performance & productivity from The Work Foundation.

 

Succession Planning

Wendy Hirsh

• What succession planning looks like in practice - themes and variations.

• How it links with broader HR planning, both quantitative and qualitative.

• Succession planning and information - inputs and outputs.

• The practical influence of succession planning on filling jobs.

• The relationship with fast track development and career development more widely.

• Who should do what in succession planning?

 

Measuring HR Return on Investment

Andrew Mayo

• Why this is essential and where does it apply in HR?

• Quantification and Measurement: types of measures, measuring capability, statistics, ratios and productivity, human capital measurement.

• Cause and Effect - the general value chain.

• Service Delivery – measuring its effectiveness.

• HR processes – measuring their efficiency.

• The financial and non-financial ‘value added’ for stakeholders.

• The "return on investment" from specific projects and programmes.