Q.1) Write a Note on 5 Steps to Strategic Talent Planning?

The 5 Steps to Strategic Talent Planning

Recruiting rarely is based on any sort of strategic plan. For most organizations,
recruiting is a tactical operation – a series of things that take place that result in qualified
people getting hired. It is mostly reactive, and few recruiters have the time or charter to
look forward more than a few weeks. To ensure that your organization has a chance at
hiring the best people – and to successfully operate in a global, competitive
environment, organizations – you will need a strategic plan coupled to appropriate
resources and tactics. Here’s a quick overview of the five essential first steps needed to
put this plan together and to begin making it operational:

The five key steps in strategic talent planning

Step 1: Talent Plan

Workforce or talent planning is the first and hardest step. It means deeply
understanding the organization’s business goals and the competitive environment the
organization functions in. It is a combination of understanding and predicating demand,
while at the same time being educated and aware of the talent supply situation from all
the sources that are available. This step needs to be far more than simply listing the
jobs projected in the annual budgeting process and factoring in turnover. It is an
evolving process, as opposed to an annual event, and is the most dynamic and critical
stage of any strategic process.

Step 2: Image and Brand

It is not true that if you build a great strategy or a great organization, people will
necessarily flock to your doors. Getting people aware of your organization is a tough
job. It requires having a consistent communication process as well as a plan to raise
general awareness through advertisements, promotions, or by getting listed as a "best
place to work." You have to be able to answer questions like, "What makes your
company different or unique?" or "Why would I want to come work for you?" Not only
should you have answers to these questions, but you should also make sure your
advertising, web presence (which is essential), and overall corporate advertising
support this image. This has to be an organization-wide effort. It takes time and an
accumulation of messages to be effective. One or two advertisements or a handful of
posters will not do it.

Step 3: Sourcing Methods

Develop a multi-faceted sourcing strategy. Embrace active candidates who are
responding to your brand and image-building messages, but maintain the capacity and
skills to tap passive candidates. Decide based on past experience what works best for
you in locating candidates, and then build those sourcing channels to the max. Make
sure you are using referrals from current employees, your network of professionals,
web-based search, your own web site and also develop methods to keep in touch with
potential candidates that you have no current position for but might have at some later
time.

Step 4: Screening and Assessing Candidates

Are you going to invest heavily in educating managers in behavioral interviewing? Are
the recruiters going to be the main screeners, or will you use testing and other tools?
What role will the Internet play, if any? Are you going to look into using web-based
tests? How much will you rely on candidates screening themselves out or in? What role
does the hiring managers play in screening and assessing, and what are the differences
between what you do and they do? This is an area where there can be great
improvement with reasonable effort, but where things are still done mostly the way they
have always been done. A focus on automating screening to some degree reduces the
volume of candidates and actually raises candidate satisfaction.

Step 5: Market and Communicate

Candidates want to be in the know about their status and prospects. They seek out
feedback and information. Your organization’s website is an invaluable tool, but you will
also need to develop systems to communicate with candidates personally and to send
out newsletters and emails. Probably all the people you need at one time or another
sent a resume or expressed interest. They were most likely told that there were no
current openings. Would it no’t be wonderful if you could actually stay in touch with
those people and let them know when there is an open position? That’s what CRM
(candidate relationship management) systems can do. Unfortunately, they are not yet
generally available or optimized for recruiting. But ask your ATS vendor what they doing
about this and urge them to provide you the tools you need to effectively keep qualified
candidates interested in you. Make sure that whatever systems you choose fit your
strategy and make economic sense

A few other things to keep in mind:

· Make sure all managers and recruiters have a simple system for deciding on a
candidate. As you know, speed is the real differentiator today, and the
recruiter/manager who moves the most quickly will usually get the candidate. Eliminate
unnecessary approvals, and make sure your selection criteria are clear to avoid slowing
down the process.

· If you are a decentralized firm, work out a system for who owns what. If you all agree
together then the areas of dispute will be limited. The rule I use is that the central or
corporate function should set standards and establish corporate-wide systems. Local
offices should participate in that process and have great autonomy on the day-to-day
stuff. They can supplement broad image and branding activities with local advertising
within the bounds of an agreement you all make with one another.

These initial steps and processes are what enable the back-end activities of scheduling,
interviewing, making offers, and on-boarding.

Q.2 Discuss Different Retention Strategies In detail.

Retention Strategies

Our research revealed six dimensions critical to influencing retention. These dimensions
must be infused into three major components that must be in place and aligned for an
organization to achieve excellent retention:

1. Manager Retention Practices: Managers play a significant role in influencing

employee commitment and retention. A number of manager retention practices increase
the probability that an employee will remain committed to an organization over time.
These retention practices represent the manager’s actual behaviors on the job and
often have little to do with the amount of classroom training they have received. In fact,
the best retention practices are not the same as the standard menu for good
organizational management. Most organizations ask managers to make productivity the
highest priority, underscored by pressures to fulfill “obligations to our investors.” Good
retention practices focus not only on what the employee is contributing to the company
but also on how the manager can create a climate that fosters employee retention and
commitment. While enlightened leaders balance the needs of the organization with the
needs of the employee, the truth is that such leaders are rare. Though managers play a
very crucial role in retention, they do not control all of the factors that affect attrition.
Therefore, the second component represents the organization’s responsibility in the
retention equation.

2. Organizational Retention Systems: A number of organizational systems and

processes influence retention. Some are evident, such as pay scale equity. Others are
less obvious, making their impact on retention often unrecognized. For example,
evidence shows an organization’s recruiting systems and processes can significantly
impact retention ratios. These systems support the manager retention practices and
increase the likelihood that employees are committed and performing at their best.

3. Measurement and Accountability: This component, closely linked to the others,

ensures retention becomes an ongoing priority. Many organizations do not even know
what their attrition rates are. And others often lack enough data to pinpoint where the
problem is most severe or to uncover the specific causes. For example, organizations
that measure attrition sometimes do not track it by length of service. That is a mistake,
because tenure patterns of departing employees can reveal valuable information on the
potential causes of attrition. Additionally, many organizations only track attrition by
“manager” or “non-manager.” This simple segmentation does not provide the refined
information the organization needs. Measurement goes hand in hand with
accountability. Organizations must hold their managers personally accountable for
retention. Likewise, they must hold their corporate staff accountable for developing,
maintaining and upgrading their retention systems. When retention is seen as an “HR
issue,” it often falls to the bottom of the managers’ priority list. When it becomes one of
their business goals, however, it takes on a new perspective. An example comes from
one of the world’s top hardware manufacturers. In a recent meeting, the new director of
the telephone technical support group presented four new business goals to his
management team. The first three were:

1. Fulfill Technical Support Contract Obligations

2. Maintain the Highest Level of Customer Satisfaction

3. Manage Costs Aggressively

And the fourth goal is to retain employees. After some discussion, the entire
management team realized they would not achieve the other goals if they could not
achieve their retention goals. In another division of the same company, the senior
managers’ personal bonuses are calculated on how well they retain their best people.
This type of accountability drives ongoing motivation to examine and enhance their
personal retention practices.

Different types of talent will look for different things which is why talent can’t all be
treated in the same way with a “one fix meets all” solution. This makes it difficult for HR
but in the war for talent flexibility is going to be essential.

· Have an audit of your talent’s needs and keep them up to date

· Audit past talent to see what they say about you as an employer

· Identify the cost of replacement (include opportunity costs)

· Detail the benefits of working for your organization

· Manage the talent’s career and development effectively

· Train managers in managing top talent

· Monitor and reward line managers for retaining talent

· Identify talent for promotion

· Have a good internal and external “E-image” to attract talent

Why top talent is attracted to a business:

· The work is interesting and challenging

· There are promotion opportunities

· The company will look good on the CV

· High performers are recruited and looked after

· There is a boss or mentor that is admired

· The company has a good reputation and is a strong performer

· There is long-term commitment to top talent

· Culture and values are liked

· There is trust in the senior management

· Top talent is recognised and rewarded for their individual and team contribution

Q.3 Explain Lore’s talent maturity model.

The Lore Talent Management Maturity Model

The Lore Talent Management Maturity Model (Lore TMM) is a diagnostic and
prescriptive framework that allows organizations to assess the current state of their
Talent Management (TM) efforts, identify what needs to be done to move to the next
higher stage of practice, and develop the plans to get there. The Lore TMM used in
conjunction with Lore’s diagnostic assessments and services provides a complete
Talent Management roadmap for success.

The Maturity Model itself is based on an extensive array of research covering

organizational theory, technology and innovation adoption, and talent management
practice and systems. From this research, Lore has developed and validated a four-
stage model of TM system growth. The following graphic illustrates the four
developmental stages of a corporate Talent Management system. Associated with the
progression from one stage of development to the next higher stage of development is a
specific crisis that must be successfully resolved in order for the enterprise to advance
(adapted from McClure, New Entrepreneur Guidebook, 1998 and Adizes, Corporate
Lifecycles: How and why corporations grow and die and what to do about it, 1988). The
initial crisis is related to gaining organizational commitment. When enough commitment
is achieved, the new initiative starts, but a crisis of leadership must be overcome before
progressing to Expansion. When a strong leader has emerged, the Talent Management
system can progress to a stage of Professionalism. Organizations in this stage face the
crisis of autonomy, standardizing and ensuring consistent quality while allowing leaders
at all levels to lead. Many efforts falter at this point, remaining disconnected from the
business. Lastly, before reaching the Best Practice stage, organizations must address
the crisis of control. Addressing this crisis means that the entire organization is pulling in
the same direction, so that the Talent Management system is finally contributing its true
value to the business.

Talent Management Maturity Model (TMMM) Crisis Definitions

Crisis of Commitment: The initiative idea dies if no one makes a real commitment to it.
A real commitment means giving of one’s self and/or vital resources to pursue the new
idea (initiative). Equally important as the commitment of time and resources is the
reason for making the commitment. At this stage, the founding leaders are committed to
the dream, the burning vision, of making the initiative a success and seeing it widely
appreciated. The founding leaders have to have desire in order to sell the dream and
get others committed and involved. Once this happens, the initiative can become a
reality and enters the New Initiative stage.

Crisis of Leadership: The founding leaders are usually risk takers with little or no
patience for administration. These founding leaders directly supervise or do everything
themselves. The founding leaders are the initiative. As the initiative grows, it becomes a
mix of dreamers and doers, without many checkers and organizers. Only when strong
managers emerge or are brought in will the initiative be ready for the Expansion stage.

Crisis of Autonomy: The new leaders flex their muscles and head off in new
directions. They decide things differently than the founders would have. Mistakes
happen, and the founding leaders feel blindsided and threatened. Control is pulled back
to the founding leaders, but eventually, delegation returns. If there are no guidelines in
place, managers cannot use their delegated power without getting crosswise with other
parts of the organization. The implementation of policies, procedures, and guidelines
will be necessary to ensure that all parts of the organization are headed in the same,
correct direction and allows the initiative to enter the Professionalism stage.

Crisis of Control: No amount of professional glue (i.e., policies, procedures, and

guidelines) can hold human nature in check forever. Strong leaders will want to run their
own shows. The initiative will require better coordination in order to rise to the Best
Practice stage. This means that coordination must be addressed structurally, through
resource allocation, and reward/incentive alignment.

The resulting stages of Talent Management system development, from New Initiative to
Best Practice, are used in the Lore Talent Management Maturity Model to organize the
activities that represent normal TM activities at that stage of development. Lore’s
research has identified three success factors that a comprehensive TM system must
address: Organizational Support Conditions, Talent Management Utilization and Talent
Management Activities. In each of these strands are critical components that must exist
in the TM system in order for it to be effective. So for example, within the strand of
Organizational Support, the attributes of Leadership, Alignment and Infrastructure
determine the success of the TM system in the organization. The Lore Model shows
how each of these three attributes must change from one stage to the next in order for
the TM system to move to higher levels of performance.

The table below shows the full Lore Talent Management Maturity Model. The model
presents each of the four maturity levels in terms of the three organizational success
factors, and identifies the critical and measurable attributes in each factor:

Organizational Talent Talent

Maturity Stage Crisis Support Management Management
Conditions Utilization Activities
Stage 4: Control Leadership: Metrics: Focus:
Best Practice Full ownership Value-based Business
and metrics & ROI Impact
accountability
at all
organizational
levels, CEO
and Board
proactively
 involved
Alignment: Uses: Talent Components:
Aligned with Management Complete
business efforts are part suite of Talent
strategy, goals of the business Management
and objectives fabric and Components
reinforced by evolve
compensation continuously
with business
Infrastructure: Adoption: Integration:
Integrated with Enterprise Seamless with
enterprise IT wide business
systems and execution
extensive
support
resources
including
funding
Stage 3: Autonomy Leadership: Metrics: Focus: TM
Professionalism HR, Executive Activity, Results
Sponsor, Commitment,
ownership and Results
accountability
at most
organization
levels
Alignment: Uses: Data Components:
Aligned with from TM Most
business efforts drive standard TM
strategy, strategic components
customized to decision
fit business making
needs ensuring that
Talent
Management
efforts meet
business
needs
Infrastructure: Adoption: Integration:
Set of IT Most Activities are
systems or business connected
Separate TM units, and
system, attributes integration
appropriate with business
level of execution has
 support
started
resources
Leadership:
Focus: TM
HR, Some
Metrics: Development
Executive
Activity, (developing
Sponsorship,
Commitment new TM
multiple pieces
components)
of organization
Alignment: Uses: Data
Aligned with collection
pieces of from TM
Components:
Stage 2: business efforts to
Leadership Multiple
Expansion strategy or identify and
components
with units of address local
business and/or tactical
issues
Infrastructure: Adoption: Integration:
Some IT stand Some Mostly stand
alone business alone
applications, units, activities,
some support attributes maybe some
resources (Early activities
Majority) connected
Leadership: Metrics: Focus: TM
HR, Program Primarily Activity
Owner activity based Delivery
Alignment: Uses: Data Components:
Little collection to Single or a
Stage 1: New alignment, identify and/or few
Commitment
initiative may be “off theaddress local components
shelf” program issues
activity
Infrastructure: Adoption: Integration:
No or little IT, Early Little or no
program adopters only integration,
support likely a stand
resources only alone activity

Set 2
Q.1 Explain 360 Degree Feedback.

360 degree feedback

For many companies, this time of the year is often touted as “the review season”. The
previous year’s financials have been determined and goals for the next year are set.
Managers are juggling their priorities – trying to balance their “real work” with HR
pushing them to do performance reviews. The happiest time of the year – or not,
depending upon whether or not like Santa Claus, you have kept a careful list of who has
been naughty and who has been nice all year long.

As a human resources manager, you understand the importance of having a strong

performance management process in place. Such a process helps align individual goals
with overall corporate objectives, reinforces desired behaviors and creates a more
engaged workforce. But if your company is one of the many where your current
performance management system consists of a word processing document that is
manually collected by HR, this no longer needs to be the case. More and more small
and mid-sized businesses are turning to HR technologies to improve their performance
management processes. The availability of affordable, web-based solutions automating
the performance management process is no longer just for very large employers

At the senior staff meeting one of the tasks we are working on is creating our own
Performance Appraisal form to use in the platform for our organization. And if you think
it is difficult to obtain consensus of an appraisal form in your organization, try getting 5
“HR types” to agree on one to use. But, we all agree on how important it is.

Studies show that employees value clear, consistent feedback and acknowledgement
as much as they do the money. For those companies who have invested in a
performance management solution, the review season is not so bad and provides a
number of benefits, including:

1. Recognizes your best performers

• Actual progress against performance goals is tracked so you can identify who is
delivering…and who’s not
• Reinforces continued positive behavior and set expectations for non-performers.

2. Provides clarity for employees

• Set goals, establish timelines, track progress, and identify obstacles to

communicate what’s expected of them
• Give employees a clear understanding of their individual goals and how they fit
into the bigger corporate picture
 • Provide the link between overall business objectives and employees’ day-to-day
actions

3. Protect yourself legally

• Provides documentation to support employment actions such as termination,

demotion, or lack of compensation adjustment

4. Stabilizes your workforce

• Reduces employee turnover and attrition

Q.2 Explain the role of an HR Manager in talent acquisition

Role of HR in Talent Acquisition

The worldwide market for talent management technologies is thriving. A number of

factors are fueling the exponential growth: a dynamic geo-economic climate that
increases focus on the workforce; a changing global labor market; and the need for
organizations to transform their workforce and build a climate and culture of
performance and innovation.

The impact of organizational brain drain and the fear of a global talent shortage due to
an increasingly aging workforce have caused companies to focus on finding, developing
and retaining superior, talented employees. That makes talent management
technologies must-haves for organizations committed to developing a competitive
human capital advantage. Demand for talent management solutions is pervasive
throughout North America, Europe and Asia, where interest is high and adoption is
brisk.

The talent management market includes HR process functionality for recruitment,

performance, compensation, succession planning, learning and other capabilities
around self-service, analytics and reporting. Many vendors have pursued a suite
approach in an effort to leverage the data and intelligence across the various modular
capabilities while others have chosen to go deep in distinct modular functionality.

It forecasts the growth of talent management technologies will nearly double by 2009
and will exceed US$4.0 billion, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than
26 percent in the next four years. Based on the heavy influence of the on-demand,
software-as-a-service subscription model, many organizations are attracted toward
talent management solutions based on low upfront costs, limited deployment risks, and
predictable pricing model. It estimates over 2300 companies worldwide adopted some
form of talent management technology in 2005. Of those companies, approximately 65
percent of those companies deployed their talent management solution in an on-
demand model.

North America and Europe account for the majority of investment in talent management.
Recruitment and learning categories will fuel growth in Europe because of an increasing
talent shortage and focus on training and career development. North America and
Europe will continue to lead spending in talent management; Asia-Pacific also will invest
and spend more between 2006 and 2009.

Most attributes strong market demand in talent management to the following factors:

• Increased focus on retaining talent: High performing employees are always in

demand. More than 40 percent of HR managers surveyed in a recent Society for
Human Resource Management (SHRM) study said turnover has increased in the past
12 months; 55 percent expect workforce retention to be a high or very high challenge for
their firms in the next five years. Companies are finally starting to align pay with
performance for non-sales functions to encourage high performance. Good recruiting
organizations focus equally on internal candidates and external candidates. Companies
have placed additional focus on building value and quality within the recruitment
function. HR leaders are gaining more influence over organizational direction and value.

• Continued convergence of organizational expertise for strategic HR processes:

Recruitment, compensation, performance and learning have been disparate HR (and
even non-HR) functions with distinct and unrelated business outcomes. The ability to
share intelligence between HR processes and minimize data redundancy is the
incentive many companies need to pursue integrated talent management strategies.
Organizations recognize the value of well-integrated HR processes such as learning,
performance and succession management and are committing centralized resources to
ensure planning and success.

• Renewed focus on acquiring and managing talent: CEOs and HR executives are
recommitting to talent management. Leading companies are deploying resources and
capital to talent and career development programs, including succession planning and
management.

Q.3 What are the different approaches that organizations generally follow for workforce
planning?

Workforce Planning

Approaches to Workforce Planning: In general, organizations can take one of three approaches to
workforce planning or use a combination of the three:
– “Workforce approach” examines the current workforce and occupations and projects the
number and characteristics of jobs and the number of employees needed to fill them at a specific
point in the future.

– “Workload approach” focuses on the amount and type of work the organization anticipates
handling at a specific point in the future, and uses this information to project the number of
resources (people and skills) needed to perform that work.

– “Competency approach” identifies sets of competencies aligned with the organization’s

mission, vision, and strategic goals. This approach assumes the organization has already
considered workforce and workload and can focus not only on the number of people, but the
competencies employees must master for organizational success.

1. Workforce Approach – profile people and occupations, and conduct workforce

forecasts. With this approach, your goal is to analyze the following: the jobs that will need to be
done, the type of occupations needed to do these jobs, the number of people needed to achieve
organization strategies.

The current workforce profile is a starting point to assess the workforce your organization will
need in the future. Supply analysis provides the data needed for your current workforce profile. A
traditional job audit also may help you get needed information. Specifically, you will need to
evaluate: What jobs now exist? How many people are performing each job? What are the reporting
relationships of these jobs? How essential is each job? What are the characteristics of anticipated
jobs?

The next step is to project the current employee population into the future as if there were no
new hires. Make projections at whatever level the organization desires, estimating the employee
population over the next three to five years as if nothing were done to replace employees lost
through attrition. The result will show your demand for new workers if you institute no
appreciable changes in work or workload.

2. Workload Approach – assess critical work, determine processes that drive work, and
forecast future workload. This approach starts with your organization’s strategic planning cycle,
which will identify critical work (type and amount) the workforce must complete to achieve
strategies. You will need to capture workload data such as cycle time, volume, cost, and
performance measures when feasible. Your organization also may want to create flow charts for
those key processes that will “drive the work” to aid in looking at efficiency and effectiveness.
Your organization may decide workflow re-engineering is necessary to reduce redundancies or
inefficiency, and this review will likely include considering further automation.

Workflow engineering may affect the strategies your organization uses during the planning period
to project workload. You will want to consider all relevant metrics (time, speed, cost, and
volume) and translate the amount of work and the time it takes to complete that work into the
number of people and critical competencies needed to perform the work.

3. Competency Approach Competencies are sets of behaviors (encompassing skills, knowledge,

abilities, and personal attributes) that, taken together, are critical to accomplishing successful
work and achieving an organization’s strategy. Competencies represent the most critical
knowledge, skills, and commitments that underlie superior performance for your organization
and/or within a specific job. The competency approach to workforce planning is futuristic and
focuses on the “ideal” workforce. Competencies may be defined at several levels:
Organizational: core competencies identified during strategic planning
Leadership: the behaviors your organization expects all leaders to demonstrate or to develop
Functional: competencies that cascade from the core competencies and are associated with
specific work functions or business units

Occupational: competencies that cascade from the core and functional competencies and then
are anchored directly to the needs of a specific occupation

Individual: what each employee brings to his or her function

Team: what members of a team, in the aggregate, bring to their work

Your organization will need to determine the competency definition levels essential to ensuring
critical work gets performed. Strategic planning usually provides the means to pinpoint the most
critical, or core, organizational competencies for success.

Examining the Workforce’s Competency Requirements: To use the competency-based planning

approach, your organization will need to examine its workforce for current and future competency
requirements. During strategic planning, managers will develop core competencies at the
organization level. Leadership/management, functional, and occupational competencies should
flow from the core competencies and align with operational and functional work activities.
Individual and team competencies are also critical components of organizational competencies. If
individual competencies do not match organizational needs, your workforce planning effort will
point out these gaps. You can assess current worker competencies through several ways:
Performance management tools already in place 360-degree evaluation instruments the
organization can develop or purchase Assessment processes designed to specifically determine
employees’ current competencies, usually involving interviews with employees and supervisors.

What is a Competency Model? One way to assess competencies is with a “competency model,”
which is a map to display a set of competencies that are aligned with your organization’s mission,
vision, and strategic goals. These models are simple, visual representations of the most critical
knowledge, skills, and behaviors that underlie and drive superior performance in an organization
and/or a specific job. The competency model is future-oriented and describes an ideal workforce.
The competencies that make up the model serve as the basis for HR practices in the organization
since they play a key role in decisions on recruiting, employee development, personal
development, and performance management.

A competency model helps an organization bridge the gap between where it is now and where it
wants to be. This occurs in two ways. First, because it is based on the competencies that support
the mission, vision, and goals of the organization, the competency model serves as a guide for
management decisions. Second, the competency model serves as a map to guide employees
toward achieving the mission of their organization and their functional areas. The result is that
management and staff has a common understanding of the set of competencies important to the
organization. A well-developed and documented competency model will serve as the basis for
organizational training and development activities as well as recruiting new employees with
critical competencies.

The Generic Workforce Planning Model The generic model shown in Figure 1 integrates the
concepts described above – workload, workforce, and competency assessment. To develop this
model, we researched and evaluated many models in use by federal, state, and local government
as well as the private sector.

The generic model assumes your organization has conducted strategic planning and has
documented its direction, including short-term and long-term goals. One of the strengths of
workforce planning is its ability to adapt to agency or departmental strategic and operational
planning processes. Aligning the workforce plan with your organization’s strategies will connect
your HR program to the operational needs of your organization and provide the visibility and
organizational support needed for overall HR program success.

Figure 1: Generic Workforce Planning Model

Steps in Conducting Workforce Planning

Management leadership and support are essential at all phases of workforce planning. Assuming
this support is in place, there are four major steps to conduct workforce planning using the
generic workforce model. An overview of the four steps is presented first, followed by an in-depth
explanation of the activities associated with each of the steps.

Step 1 – Scan of the Environment (SWOT): As you scan the environment in which your
organization functions, you will collect information needed for workforce planning. Later, you will
apply this information to your planning efforts. Environmental scanning examines internal and
external Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT analysis). Of course, budget
must also be a major factor in this review.

Step 2 – Supply and Demand Analysis: The supply and demand analysis is based on the scan of
your environment (SWOT analysis), strategies, and operational direction. You can conduct this
analysis whether you use the workforce, workload, or competency approach to workforce
planning. IPMA recommends focusing on competencies, but you will have to select the approach
best suited for your unique organizational needs.

The supply and demand analysis will allow you to assess whether there is balance in the
organization, or whether imbalances among the workload, workforce, and competencies exist now
or may exist in the future.

Step 3 – Gap Analysis: Gap analysis compares information from the supply and demand analysis to
identify the differences between the current and the future organizational workload, workforce,
and competencies. This analysis must use comparable workload and workforce elements and the
competency sets you developed in Step 2, the supply and demand analysis.

Step 4 – Action Plan Action plans should be developed to address the most critical gaps facing
your organization so human capital can support organizational strategy. Each organization should
determine its own action plan based on the relationships between strategy and the gaps
identified. Depending on the gaps, the action plan may address some or all aspects for HR,
including recruitment, selection, compensation, training, performance management, succession
planning, diversity, quality of work life, retention, etc.