Assessment Instructions: Essay Guidelines For Learners.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to review current data on staff turnover and demographics.

1. Identify three (3) reasons to review staff demographics data for workforce planning.

There are three key staff demographics for strategic workforce planning:

· The strategic plan of the organization.

· Changes in the workforce are caused by causes outside the organization's direct control.

· Maintenance and enhancement of the workforce are in high demand (Burnett & Lisk, 2019).

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to assess factors impacting workforce supply.

1. Provide three (3) factors relevant to workforce supply that you may want to assess.

Factors Influencing Workforce Effectiveness and Resilience:

· Skills availability

· Skills shortfalls

· Any qualifications that are needed.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to establish the organisation's requirements for a skilled and diverse workforce.

1. In relation to your business industry, identify two reasons for having a skilled and diverse workforce. Explain why this is important.

The two reasons are:

· Better productivity: a range of skills and knowledge to reach a wider audience, a wider range of experience, improve productivity and problem-solving.

· Improved creativity and innovation: develop new, practical, and unique ideas and concepts, different perspectives and approaches can free up thinking and help overcome problems (Gekara, Snell, Molla, Karanasios & Thomas, 2019).

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to consult relevant stakeholders on organisational strategy and establish aligned objectives for modification or retention of the workforce.

Case Study A – Consulting on workforce objectives

Human resources need to consult with management stakeholders to identify new objectives for the workforce. These must align with the organisation's new strategy, which is to operate in an overseas market.

The current workforce will need to take on the new challenges of an overseas market until this becomes financially viable as a new part of the business. They will need to be able to manage an increase in workload and work with a new overseas operating system. A manager will need to be identified and put in place to head up the new operations. Over time, as workloads are established, additional staff will be recruited to manage work increases and changes within the organisation.

1. How would you consult with stakeholders to determine appropriate workforce objectives for the new strategy? (Answers to be no less than 30 words).

We can use consultation to determine and analyze trends, difficulties, and attitudes with certain different stakeholders across time (Dale, Kline, Parish & Eichler, 2019). As a result, it assists us in:

• Recognizing and analyzing required things and expectations

• Recognize and understand attitudes and perceptions

• Give comments on particular innovations that are in the works.

• Assess actions and implementations

· Develop the company's brand values and positioning in the eyes of others.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to confirm objectives for workforce diversity and cross-cultural management with the relevant stakeholders.

Case Study B – Confirming diversity and cross-cultural management objectives

Management has called a meeting with human resources to discuss diversity and cross-cultural management in relation to the workforce. The human resources team must confirm the workforce objectives for diversity and cross-cultural management. There is a policy in place, but a discussion to agree on the exact objectives as they apply to the organisation in its current state must take place.

Diversity policy

The organisation is committed to equal opportunities for all staff; there is a policy of fairness and inclusion in staff roles and opportunities.

Cross-cultural management policy

An understanding of differences and diversity in staff needs to be made and integrated into staff management practices.

1. Looking at the two (2) policy statements, provide two (2) objectives for diversity and two (2) objectives for cross-cultural management that can be used in workforce planning.

Two objectives for diversity:

· To develop a work environment that promotes and supports justice and fairness,

· To eliminate all types of prejudice.

Two objectives for cross-cultural management:

· To introduce a new type of cultural consciousness and understanding into the workplace, by boosting employee knowledge;  

· To develop better communication channels based on mutual respect, trust and positive attitude.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to assist the determination of strategies to address high staff turnover.

Analyse the following scenario:

Toothy Ltd. is a leading toothpaste manufacturer that has experienced a high staff turnover in its marketing department (it is up by 12% on the previous year). After a recent marketing staff survey, it has been found that staff are feeling demotivated due to a lack of coherent management and staff appreciation from past successes in marketing and promotions.

Suggest three (3) strategies to address the increased staff turnover and explain how these could assist the organisation to retain its marketing staff.

Three strategies to address the increased staff turnover are:

· Find the Right Talent: You should utilize laborers who are socially and typically proper for the position. You might conduct interviews with laborers to figure out how they act in various situations. Additionally, try to visit candidates around your organization and make sense of them about your functioning society during screenings. On the off chance that they do not fit in, candidates will ideally be wiped out.

· Encourage Retention Early On: Workers who have been stuck in one work for a lengthy timeframe may search for another position where they might develop. Most of employees prefer working on their capabilities and information to drive their professions. Representatives gain a sensation of direction and heading by seeing an anticipated vocation way.

· Recognize and Reward Employees: Consolation and appreciation are fundamental for your staff. Praise your staff when they achieve something accurately. Applaud them when they complete an enormous, testing position or present an undertaking before deadline. Exhibit that you like their endeavors.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to assist the determination of objectives to retain relevant skilled labour.

Analyse the following scenario:

Fishy Foods Inc. has suffered a reduction in productivity levels. Currently, demand for its food products has suffered due to a new competitor. It wants to keep its staff as it knows that several new product developments will put them back on track to previous production levels. The organisation needs to identify its objectives for retaining production staff.

Identify three (3) objectives that would apply to the organisation in regards to retaining its staff.

Three objectives are:

• Limited remuneration and perks

• Having a sense of being overworked and/or unsupported

• Career growth is limited.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to assist the determination of strategies to source skilled labour.

1. Write down three (3) questions you could ask organisational management in order to determine labour-sourcing strategies.

Three questions are the following:

· What level of experience are you looking for?

· Is this position permanent or temporary?

· What skills are we looking for? (Tapaninaho, 2020)

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to communicate plan objectives to relevant stakeholders.

Explain how you would communicate workforce plan objectives to stakeholders (in no less than 30 words).

Stakeholders need to know their role in achieving plan objectives. We need to provide information logically/concisely/accurately (different stakeholder groups). We may also need to explain why objectives were identified. We must explain how these will benefit the workforce and the organization as a whole (Jayasena, Mallawaarachchi & Waidyasekara, 2019).

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to obtain agreement and endorsement for objectives and establish targets.

1. Identify two (2) methods or ways for obtaining agreements or endorsements for objectives.

Two methods:

· Communicate the workforce plan objectives and benefits clearly.

· Determine how the plan is aligned with organizational goals.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to support the implementation of agreed objectives for recruitment, training, redeployment, and redundancy.

This activity does not require observation.

 1. Identify three (3) things you can do to support staff recruitment.

2. What can you do to determine staff training needs?

3. How can you support organisational redeployment and redundancy? (Provide one suggestion for each).

1. The following are the three things:

· Review the need for a new employee.

· Prepare a job analysis for the intended role.

· Produce a job advert with a job description and the key tasks (Eckhard & Steinebach, 2021).

2. To determine staff training needs:

· Human resources can perform a training needs assessment (or analysis) to identify staff training requirements.

· Training programs can be developed to make sure that gaps in skills and knowledge are filled (Gulliver et al., 2018).

 3. I can support organizational redeployment and redundancy by moving workers from one job role to another job role (Stevens, 2022).

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to know how to identify strategies to assist the workforce to deal with organisational change and coordinate implementation.

This activity does not require observation.

Case Study C – Strategies for organisational change

An organisation manufactures folders and other stationery items. There are certain tasks that are currently being carried out manually, for example, taking materials from one place to another and packaging products. There are many tasks that can be improved through automation, and the organisation has decided to invest in new machinery to replace 40% of its manual tasks.

After hearing that there are plans for more automation in work tasks, staff have been protesting against this even though the organisation has assured them that no jobs will be lost. The organisation has plans to redeploy its staff into new roles.

1. Identify two (2) strategies you could use to help the staff deal with the planned changes and coordinate the implementation.

The two strategies are:

· It is critical that your workers understand what job automation entails and why it may benefit them as well as the firm.

· Automation is not self-contained. It frequently need human control and supervision, necessitating the acquisition of new skills. Ensure that staff receive the training they require to manage and operate alongside new automated systems, as well as to cover any skills gaps that arise when regular jobs are automated.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to know how to identify strategies to assist in meeting the organisation's workforce diversity goals and coordinate implementation.

 1. Identify two (2) ways you can coordinate the implementation of diversity goals?

The two ways are:

· Developing and communicating diversity principles.

· Fostering open communication (Roberson, 2019).

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to coordinate implementation of succession planning system and ensure workers are developed and retained.

1. Identify the steps that need to be implemented in a succession planning system to ensure staff are trained appropriately.

The following are the steps:

· Developing and documenting a succession plan to guide implementation.

· Identifying roles and responsibilities in succession activities.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to review the workforce plan against patterns in existing employee and workforce changes.

Case Study D – Fitness at work

An organisation has been witnessing a lot of employee absenteeism of employees. Through analysis, it was identified that 78% of absentees were due to an increase in health issues. Many of these could be improved by increased fitness levels.

An employee survey was conducted to gather employees' views on introducing a fitness program into the workforce plan. About 85% of employees showed an interest in this; however, they gave the reason of having insufficient time during the working day for not being able to commit to this.

Employees were asked their preference on times for exercising, and a high number expressed an interest in being able to exercise in the morning or later on in the afternoon.

1. What is preventing the success of the fitness program in the workforce plan?

2. Suggest how you could overcome this.

1. The preference on times for exercising is preventing the success of the fitness program in the workforce plan.

2. We can overcome this by flexible timing and creating multiple groups of employees for the fitness program.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to monitor labour supply trends for areas of over and under supply in the external environment.

1. How should you monitor labour supply trends in the external environment? (Answers to be no less than 30 words).

 2. What does an oversupply of labour indicate?

1. We should monitor labour supply trends in the external environment in the following process:

· Oversupply: It will be easier to recruit and find people for roles.

· Undersupply: It takes more time and effort to find the right people.

2. Oversupply of labour indicates that it will be easier to recruit and find people for roles.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to monitor the effects of labour trends on the demand for labour within own organisation.

This activity does not require observation.

1. What are the two (2) methods used in information analysis?

2. How can you use historical analysis to monitor the effects of labour trends on your organisation's workforce?

1. The two methods used in information analysis are qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

2. We can use historical analysis by looking at previous employment data to identify current needs. We can also identify if past activities have been successful and if there are patterns that indicate potential issues or future needs.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to coordinate a survey of organisational climate and collect worker satisfaction results.

1. How can you identify the organisation's climate?

2. What can you do to ensure survey results about worker satisfaction are accurate?

3. Identify four questions you could ask to determine organisational climate and worker satisfaction.

1. The organisational climate can be identified from the following characteristics:

· Employee retention

· Job satisfaction

· Employee motivation

· Workplace stress

· Performance levels.

2. To ensure survey results about worker satisfaction are accurate we must do the following:

· Circulate surveys or questionnaires to all staff.

· Conduct team or department presentations or workshops that include a survey or questionnaire.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to consult with relevant stakeholders and refine objectives and strategies in response to internal and external changes.

This activity does not require observation.

Outline the steps to refine objectives and strategies in response to internal and external changes (in no less than 30 words).

The following are the steps:

· It is important to know how any internal or external changes will affect the organization.

· Aim of refining objectives and strategies is to respond to changing circumstances in order to maintain the balance or to make the most of an opportunity that arises.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to monitor government policy on labour demand and supply.

1. Identify two (2) types of government policies relating to labour supply and demand that you may want to monitor.

The two types of government policies are:

· Changes to working hours

· Flexible work arrangements.

Objective

To provide you with an opportunity to identify how to evaluate the effectiveness of change processes against agreed objectives.

1. Identify the steps to evaluate the effectiveness of change processes against objectives.

The following are the steps to evaluate the effectiveness of change processes against objectives:

· Identify the objectives and what the change process needs to do.

· Assess the process steps and procedures against the objectives.

· Try out the change process to see how this works.

· Review the trial of the process to determine how well this went.

· Speak with those involved in the change process to gather feedback from them.

· Review all gathered information and evidence to make your conclusions.