Government Elearning - Spring 2009 - (Page 22)

strategicworkforcemanagement organization’s ability to view and use its workforce (a collection of individuals) as a strategic tool directly influences its individual employees’ ability to improve their performance. As the old Sinatra song, “Love and Marriage” says, “You can’t have one without the other.” That’s why the model has both organizational and individual views of the same functions. So, let’s get back to our diamond. In organizations, teams of people undertake the process of value creation (diamond making). The Strategic Workforce Management model represents value creation as a hammer chiseling a diamond out of a lump of rock. The people on the hammer represent the team of individuals that work together in the diamond-making process to create something of value for the organization. Management wants to minimize the risk of failure by picking the best, most competent team for the job. To choose the right people, with the right mix of skills and experience, they need to understand both the competencies required for the job and the competencies of the individuals in their workforce. The model represents sets of competencies as a letter (A, B, C…) above each little person’s head. You will see these letters any place in the model where competencies come into play. To solve the problem of choosing the right people, with the right competencies, to form the team to do the job, with its competency requirements, of creating diamonds, management has three choices: use existing personnel (and train them if they don’t have the right competencies at the start of the project); hire new personnel from outside the company, or rent workers with the necessary competencies on a temporary basis (outsourcing). The model represents this critical choice as a signpost pointing in three directions, and we will deal with each in turn. But what information do decision-makers need to determine which way to go? Costs can be a factor, as can speed, but the biggest single factor will be a clear understanding of the workforce’s competencies. The model shows the current workforce competencies as a jigsaw puzzle with some pieces missing. The completed puzzle next to it represents the organization’s ideal set of workforce competencies that it needs to accomplish its strategic goals. Management addresses the gap between what the workforce can do now and what it needs to do to make diamonds by acquiring the missing competencies. If you don’t know what you need, it becomes much more difficult to make intelligent choices when making the decision to hire, train or rent. START WITH COMPETENCIES To fully understand the organization’s workforce competencies requires a competency management function, represented as a large circle on the centerline of the model. In the circle, competencies are represented as doors, a kind of filter that only people with the right competencies can go through. You will see these doors in other parts of the model as well. The arrows from the competency function to and from the little competency jigsaw puzzles show how competency management gives the organization the ability to understand, manage and develop its workforce to put together the teams to successfully complete the tasks of value creation. Notice that I said competency management function, not system. That is because each of the three circles on the centerline of the model represents essential functions. A large organization may invest in a software application to help it manage these functions, while a small organization Management addresses the gap between what the work– force can do now and what it needs to do by acquiring the missing competencies. 1 2 3 22 Spring 2009 Government Elearning!

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Elearning - Spring 2009

Government Elearning - Spring 2009 Contents Publisher's Note News Stimulus News DOL Expands E-learning Government Service Rating Second Life as Art Deals People on the Move Trendlines Currency and Learning Technology, Part 1 Learning Preferences at NNSA E-learning Goes Public Case Study: Arlington Case Study: BT Group Case Study: JFS College New Products Products Exit Poll Last Word

Government Elearning - Spring 2009

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