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June 23,
2003
Effectively Using Employees' Opinions to Shape HR
Strategy
Without a prompt
and visible response, even the best designed employee
opinion survey or exit interview process will fall prey to
employee cynicism. If employees feel that management is
ignoring their feedback, an effort to involve their opinions
will likely cause a drop in morale.
Utilizing employee opinion and exit interview data well is a
challenge. In this Astronology, we share methods for
strategic analysis that can help you turn your opinion-based
data into concrete strategic objectives.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES IN HR
Strategic objectives in human resources are set to reinforce
employee efforts and behaviors in support of an
organization's critical success factors - factors that will
determine the future success or failure of an organization.
Many successful human resource functions have taken a page
from the book of Drs. Kaplan and Norton and adapted the
Balanced Scorecard approach to their strategies. In
terms of HR, this approach involves viewing the organization
through five strategic lenses:
- Learning and growth
- Customer
- Financial
- Quality
- Human Resources
This approach involves developing metrics (criteria for
measurement), collecting data, and analyzing it as it
relates to each of these perspectives.
In the quest to link the needs of the organization and the
needs of its employees, conflicts often arise. Whether they
arise from miscommunication, lack of acceptance, or a
discord between organizational and employee values, HR is at
a disadvantage when it does not strive to understand these
conflicts and their foundations.
DATA ANALYSIS
As explored in the past two issues, two powerful tools for
collecting the data needed for this effort are employee
opinion surveys and exit interviews.
Successful strategic planning in human resources begins with
linking the information from opinion surveys and exit
interviews. Trend analysis will become easier with time, but
using both sources in tandem will reveal a clearer picture
of working conditions. The following questions may be of use
in this analysis:
- What do both sources identify as common sources of
dissatisfaction?
- What do both sources identify as common motivators?
- What perceptions of the organization and its
leadership are common?
- Are particular supervisors singled out as strong or
weak leaders?
- How is human resources perceived in both sources?
- What are employee perceptions regarding the
organization's mission, vision, values, and objectives
in both sources?
SWOT ANALYSIS
Once these sources of data are analyzed, it is the
responsibility of human resources to conduct an internal
analysis of its programs as they relate to communicating and
reinforcing the strategic values of the organization. To
this end,
SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
Threats) is an excellent strategic tool.
SWOT Analysis is a flexible line of questioning that can be
used for organizational, individual, or competitive ends. In
this context, the data analysis described above will be
further organized:
- What are the current strengths of the organization?
- What are the obvious weaknesses to be modified?
- What opportunities exit to modify systems and / or
programs that will better reinforce those employee
activities and behaviors needed by the organization?
- What threats could interfere with successful
implementation of necessary changes?
HR has an obligation to provide the organization's
leadership with insights regarding employee perceptions, as
well as with concrete recommendations for reinforcing what
is working and what needs to be changed. Employee opinion
survey and exit analysis data are a prime source of
information in this endeavor, but their collection could
result in a backlash if results are not both shared and
acted upon. After analysis is complete, share some version
of the results with your employees, and tell them what will
be done about the problems they have identified.
For instance, if an employee opinion survey communicates a
lack of understanding about the organization's mission,
vision, values, and objectives, a training program could be
instituted to address the problem. As this information can
be distributed via e-mail, a technically savvy organization
can raise employee awareness with no greater cost than a few
hours of writing time.
Effective use of employee opinion and exit interview data
provides the backing and justification the organization's
senior leadership team needs to support HR's
recommendations. Linking this supportive data to concrete
proposals and programs that demonstrate ROI, return on
investment, is key. The lack of response to employee
concerns raised in the collected data can lead to increased
turnover, inability to recruit effectively, and,
potentially, lower productivity and efficiency due to lower
morale.
Wonder what your fellow readers think about critical HR topics? Is your organization unique from or similar to others?
Click here to view the results of our past polls!
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Copyright 2007, Astron Solutions, LLC
ISSN Number 1549-0467
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