how to achieve operational synergy
DESCRIPTION
Emad Rahim writes on HCM and operational synergy. Machinery seems to be gradually replacing manual labor, and technology is wielding its dominance in corporate processes. Human capital remains a pillar of business and industry, and organizations that are adept at managing their staff talent are more likely to achieve operational synergy and boost revenue.TRANSCRIPT
These days, the Internet has asserted its ubiquity on everything from global commerce to the way individuals and
organizations seek information, share it, make decisions and create value. Machinery seems to be gradually replacing manual labor, and technology is wielding its dominance in corporate processes. In this context, you might think human resources and everything staff-related are receding.
Emad Rahim
OPERATIONAL SYNERGY
How To Achieve
Through Better Human Capital Management
But the reality is far different.
Human capital remains a pillar of business and industry,
and organizations that are adept at managing their staff
talent are more likely to achieve operational synergy and
boost revenue.
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To do this effectively, assemble a strong bench of top
managers in each department along the value chain, and
make each one accountable for a specific deliverable -
such as performance, productivity, cultural diversity or
employee empowerment, to name a few.
3. Seek 360-degree feedbackthroughout the organization
According to Edward Lazear, Professor of Human
Resources Management and Economics at Stanford
University, creating an effective feedback loop can help
jumpstart human capital management in your company.
The goal here is not to ask employees the same old
“What can we improve?” or “How can you do your job
better?” questions. Rather, ask different versions of the
same question, focusing on how the HR policies affect their
specific functions, and how these functions fall into the
overall operational process of the company.
Here’s an example: Say one of your key HR policies
emphasizes a return on investment of 10 per cent on
each employee in the sales department. In other words,
you want each salesperson to generate 110 per cent of his
or her salary in annual revenue quota. To achieve
this objective:
Set the right, competitive salary for each staff member
Seek the sales team’s feedback before finalizing the
HR policy
Adapt the corporate policy to internal procedures
within the sales and marketing department
Define and agree on performance criteria and key
success factors (KSF)
Track the KSF and, if needed, modify and realign
them with industry trends and the company’s
internal benchmarks
1. Set adequate HR policies
Effective human capital management starts with the tone
at the top, the way senior management sets the right vision
that ultimately trickles down through the rank and file.
HR policies play a unifying role in today’s enterprise, and
they help personnel focus on core operational values like
productivity, competitiveness, performance and employee
cohesion, says Professor Timothy Butler, Senior Fellow
and Director of Career Development Programs at Harvard
Business School.
To set the proper HR policies:
Include high-level HR personnel when formulating
the procedures
Ensure the procedures mesh perfectly with the
organization’s mission, vision and values
Promote the corporate culture through HR
Be aware of cultural subtleties
Seek, receive and incorporate junior HR management’s
feedback into the final blueprint
2. Embed the corporate HR vision into the value chain
Your company’s value chain encompasses all internal and
external processes that, collectively or individually, create
operational or financial benefits to the business. Simply put,
it’s everything that adds value to a final product or service.
Your typical value chain includes such activities as
production, marketing, delivery and customer service. And
these are the areas you want to focus on.
After setting adequate HR policies, apply them - and
adapt them, if needed - to your value chain, showing
personnel how the policies are good for business, for their
own performance and for the company’s overall reputation.
The Eight Key Components to Successful HRM (Dr Emad Rahim HRM/HCM Diagram, 2013)
HRMHRMHRMRecruitment, Recruitment, Recruitment, selection & selection & selection &
introductionintroductionintroductionHR planningHR planningHR planning
Personnel Personnel Personnel Personnel Personnel Personnel administrationadministrationadministrationadministrationadministrationadministration
Labor Labor Labor relationsrelationsrelations
Training & Training & Training & developmentdevelopmentdevelopmentdevelopmentdevelopmentdevelopment
Succession Succession Succession & career & career & career & career & career & career planningplanningplanningplanningplanningplanning
Performance Performance Performance & reward & reward & reward
managementmanagementmanagementmanagementmanagementmanagement
Talent Talent Talent managementmanagementmanagementmanagementmanagementmanagement
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Biography
Ø Emad Rahim, D.M., PMP, serves as the CLO at Global i365 LLC, a diversity consulting firm based in New York City and Chicago, IL. He is also the appointed Endowed Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Oklahoma State University and an MFP Management Fellow at the University of Chicago. Dr. Rahim was the previous University Dean of Business at Colorado Technical University and has taught at Syracuse University, SUNY, Cornell University and Colgate University. He co-authored Leading Through Diversity: Transforming Managers into Effective Leaders and writes for CEO Magazine, PMI Network and Tweak Your Biz. Connect with him on Twitter @DrEmadRahim.
4. Integrate technology into human capital management
Technology is here to stay - you know that already. But
what’s important to emphasize is that tech trends can
effectively help improve your human capital management
and propel your organization’s operations.
If your business hasn’t yet adapted to key fads in the
technological sector, now is the time to make the switch and
to reflect the change in priorities that consumers and your
customers have already made.
According to Vala Afshar, CMO and Chief Customer
Officer at Enterasys Networks, technology can be a potent
tool in human resource management, especially for a
company that runs global operations in far-flung locales.
You can use technology in the way you:
Source and hire human talent
Set performance criteria and other productivity
benchmarks
Evaluate staff performance periodically
Research productivity metrics and produce educational
material adapted to your personnel’s needs
Foster staff cohesion and camaraderie
Set the proper tone, both in terms of corporate culture
and values
5. Benchmark industry best practices
When it comes to human resources management,
benchmarking remains an essential component you can
rely on to evaluate your own procedures, identify what’s
working, figure out what’s not, and determine why.
Benchmarking essentially means you emulate industry
best practices. You can do so by seeking competitive
intelligence through industry research, consultants, your
own research department or academic literature.
The idea here is not to spy on your rivals and emulate
what they’re doing gung-ho, but to thoroughly find the
perfect medium between your corporate values and the
type of human capital management procedures you need to
make your company operationally effective and efficient.
Recap
When well-thought-out and effectively implemented,
your human capital management strategy can help your
company achieve operational symbiosis.
You don’t need to reinvent the operational wheel or
turn to an orthodoxy-breaking exercise to stir up your HR
policies. Just stick to the basic, good-old process of defining
the problem, seeking alternatives, evaluating them, making
a decision and conducting a post-mortem review to see
what worked and what didn’t.
Throughout the process, don’t forget to leverage
technology extensively and make it a key analytical
element, especially when reviewing human capital
management across your value chain.
HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
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HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT