1. Paper review 2
Paul NkusiKasumba
The Implementation of Workforce and Succession Planning in the Public Sector(WFSP)
Joan E. Pynes (2004)
This article reviews and provides examples of the importance of workforce and succession planning in the public
sector. A discussion of why planning is important and some of the obstacles to its implementation are discussed. For
workforce and successful planning to succeed, human resources management professionals must become strategic
partners with managers and develop new skills and competencies.
For Public Ministries and agencies to succeed in their long term missions and objectives, having a capable motivated
and available work force is important. How to achieve this?It calls for workforce development and succession
planning. The human resource development and planning is the impediment to the growth and success of any public
agency. Therefore, we need not only to develop the current workforce, but also to strategically and holistically look
at their long term impact on the growth of public organizations.
But what is workforce and succession planning? WFSP refers to the implementation of human resource activities,
policies and practices to make the necessary ongoing changes to support or improve the agency's operational and
strategic objectives.
A according to Joan E. Pynes (2004)Workforce and succession planning (WFSP) is based on the belief that to
beeffective and able to adapt to changes quickly, agencies need realisticinformation on the capabilities and talents of
their current staff, in essencetheir Human Resources.
Agency leaders need to understand how their workplaces will be affected by impending changes and prepare for the
changes accordingly. Agency objectives should be formulated after relevant data on thequantity and potential of
available human resources have been reviewed. Are therehuman resources available for short- and long-term
objectives? To be competitive,organizations must be able to anticipate, influence and manage the forces that
impacttheir ability to remain effective. In the service sector, this means they must be able tomanage their human
2. resource capabilities. All too often agencies have relied on short termservice requirements to direct their HRM
practices. Little thought is often givento long-term implications. By invoking WFSP, agencies are better able to
match theirhuman resources requirements with the demands of the external environment andthe needs of the
organization. The human resources focus is not just an individualemployee issue; it also focuses on integrating
human resources into the organization'sstrategy. It becomes part of the visionary process. Strategic planning,
budgeting andhuman resource planning are linked together.
The above to me is what I will call strategic Human Resource Practices. However, with total acceptance of the
above strategic view, this seems to be more of an ideal wish situation, than what in practice we have witnessed
especially in civil service. The question is why? To answer that, we need to look at both theories of physical capital
and human capital development as well as looking at the history and evolutions of Human resource management,
right from personnel perspective to the current much agitated strategic Human Resource practices.
Quite often, much emphasis has been put on physical capital development than human capital development. Little
budget is provided for HRD and in most cases, no clear measure and indicators of HRD in public organizations. This
has hindered strategic HRM en hence negatively affecting WFSP.
Secondly, with the evolutions of HRM, right from Personnel to the present strategic human resource ideology, this
department (HRM) has been quite negated compared to other departments such as Finance department, and yet as
per the discussions provided by Joan E.Pynes(2004).Integrating human resources into the organization'sstrategy is
paramount if public agencies are to remain competent and competitive.Integrating human resources into the
organization'sstrategy calls for integrating Strategic planning, budgeting andhuman resource planning. By this
therefore Human resource office need to reach high level of decision making authority in an agency. To date
however,this has not materialized in most Public agencies hence limiting the chance of strategic human resource
planning ultimately negatively impacting on WFSP.
3. In "The Case for Transforming Public-Sector Human Resources Management,"'' the National Academy of
Public Administration identified five steps that were imperative in aligning human resources management
to an agency's mission.
Include HR in Strategic Plans, Define Human Resource Requirements, Develop Action Plan for Implementing
Human Resource Strategies, Evaluate Progress and Manage the Change Process. While the above steps are so
appealing and indeed the way to go, there is still a big challenge in public sector. The idea of valuing human
resources to my view starts with the typical shift from personnel HR orientation to pure SHRM; this is not the case
in practice though. There is always a small budget for HR development. The author is right to identify those steps; I
however also propose the idea of decentralizing HR functions such that in every department, the roles and major
functions of HR are part of their strategic planning.
Include HR in Strategic Plans, Define Human Resource Requirements, and Develop Action Plan for Implementing
Human Resource Strategies, Evaluate Progress and Manage the Change Process, call for concerted efforts and
indeed no public agency will survive labor turnover, unproductivity without developing its human resources. It’s
quite unfortunate that in most public agencies, succession plan is missing. No clear WFSP is developed. Much as
trainings may be fostered, quite often, it’s not linked to succession plan and hence it’s a common tendency to find a
wastage of human capacity in most public agencies as there is always a mismatch between skills development,
organization’s skills demand and succession strategy. Some posts are filled on the basis of technical know-who
instead of technical know-how!!
How can public agencies achieve WFSP and try to minimize the impact of retirements, layoffs and job cuts to the
performance of our public institutions? The answer is simple at least by theory; it’s by sHuman ResourcesPlanning.
As was the case in the USA,the Washington State Department of Personnel developed the "State of Washington
Workforce Planning Guide: Right People, Right Jobs, Right Time." Faced with impending retirements and the loss
in workforce skills and knowledge, the workforce planning guide was developed to assist agenciesin preparing
workforce plans to ensure necessary staff levels and competencies exist to carry out agency missions.
Such an initiative need to be borrowed by other institutions if at all public agencies are to survive in this global labor
market dynamics.
4. Human resource planning is a critical component of strategic planning and WFSP .It is the process of analyzing and
identifying the need for and availability of human resources to meet the organization's objectives. Forecasting is
used to assess past trends, evaluate the present situation and project future events. Forecasting and planning
complement each other because forecasts identify expectations while plans establish concrete goals and objectives.
Forecasting has become increasingly importantas a large segment of the public workforce is inching toward
retirement.In most of public organizations especially in developing countries, there is much power vested in the
political heads of public institutions, this hinders professionalism especially in terms of SHRM, therefore forecasting
becomes a big challenge. Also the organizational structure of such developing institutions is always unstable and
evolving, thereby impacting on the ability for proper Human Resource planning.
An important part of the demand forecast is examining not only what work the agency will do in the future, but how
that work will be performed.
Some things to consider include:
• How will jobs and workload change as a result of technological advancements, economic, social and political
conditions?
• What are the consequences or results of these changes?
• What will be the reporting relationships?
• How will divisions, work units, and jobs be designed?
• How will work flow into each part of the organization? What will be done with it?
Such questions definitely call for experts of human resource management to share their expertise with other
managers in public organizations. There is greater need for political support especially at policy level if at all proper
Human resource planning is to be realized.
Once these questions have been answered, the next step is to identify the competencies employees will need to carry
out that work. The set of competencies provides management and staff with a common understanding of the skills
5. and behaviors that are important to the agency. Competencies play a key role in decisions on recruiting, employee
development, personal development and performance management.
Forecasting human resource requirements involves determining the number and types of employees needed by skill
level. First, agencies need to audit the skills of incumbent employees and determine their capabilities and
weaknesses. Job analyses and job specifications should be done. This would help to determine the kind of skills that
are needed, and other characteristics necessary for effective performance.
Organizations must also keep abreast of the skills that their employees possess.Human resource planning uses data
inventories to integrate the planning and utilization functions of WFSP. Data inventories compile summary
information, such as the characteristics of employees, the distribution of employees by position, employees'
performance, and career objectives. It’s indeed unfortunate that in most Public agencies, such records are lacking
and where, they are, are not updated and always vague! In most cases, consideration of both internal and external
supply of qualified candidates isn’t given attention in public agencies, yet in forecasting the availability of
human resources, it’s not only a desirable but a condition.The internal supply of candidates is influenced by
training and development, and by transfer, promotion, and retirement policies. Therefore, public organizations
should always develop and prepare its human resource for development and succession.
But for this to succeed, agencies need to first assess its incumbent staff competencies. This will provide information
for training, as well as determining the number of those available and capable of fulfilling future functional
requirements.(motivation)
How to Implement Workforce and Succession Planning?
Let the human resource management department seat on the round table with managers and employees. This will
provide managers and employees with a better understanding of HRM issues. Likewise, HRM staff becomes more
informed about the needs of the employees and departments. This calls for the establishment of a human resource
planning taskforce composed of managers and/or staff from a variety of departments, and staff from the HRM
department who are responsible for identifying the trends and challenges that will impact the agency.
For WFSP to be implemented, such questions need to be answered;
Is the top administration committed to quality and excellence?
Are changes necessary?
How can we meet employees' perceptions and concerns?
6. Which employees will be affected?
•What barriers might there be to successful implementation of WFSP?
Once program cost estimates are developed, will dollars be provided for training and development?
Who will be responsible for the implementation of WFSP?
Who will evaluate and adjust the planning process?
Once such questionsare answered, authority and resources must be assigned to the person(s) responsible for the
planning and implementation of WFSP. This requires leadership commitment towards WFSP.Once resources have
been availed, with committed and supportive leadership, then the HR department has two major tasks;
1. Training;
2. Career development
Training has been defined as "the acquisition of knowledge and skills for present tasks, which help individuals
contribute to the organization in their current positions. Any successful training has to result into change
behavior.Anderson, (1988) clearly demonstrated the impact of mindset on performance in his famous law;the
fundamental law of success. This law is stated as; Ability level × mental state = performance.
Career development, however, provides the employee with knowledge and skills that are intended to be used in the
future. The purpose of career development is to prepare employees to meet future agency needs, thereby ensuring
the organization's survival.'"
Higher-level managers must develop skills that will enable them to scan the external environment and develop
organizational strategies. Training and development are used by organizations to improve the skills of employees
and enhance their capacity to cope with the constantly changing demands of the work environment.
Problems and Implications of Workforce and Succession Planning
Despite of the rich existing literature about WFSP, and the generally acceptable position that it’s the high time
public agencies embrace WFSP, little success can be seen; why?
Reluctance to give human resources management professionals the flexibility to initiate new programs or to suggest
new organizational structures, HRM department lacks the capabilities and skills necessary to move human resource
management to a more proactive role.HRM professionals may need to be trained in the skills that are necessary to
align the organization's strategy with its core competencies. HRM professionals may need training in organizational
redesign, job and service redesign, and performance measurement.
7. Organizational change also requires higher levels of coordination across functions and departments, and employees
and management must be committed to continuous improvement.However, this is in most cases lacking and public
agencies, and where they exist, it’s done vaguely.
In conclusion, it’s should be noted that if at all public agencies are to survive competition of staff shortage, coupled
with rampant retirements, there is a need to foster WFSP in the organizational performance culture. Proactive
Human Resource best practices need to be supported. Leadership support and commitment as well as proactive
human resource department are a pre-requisite for the success of WFSP in public agencies.
What is not discussed though is the notion of motivation. One can ask if motivation is the means to effective WFSP
or the end itself.
It’s my conviction that any successful WFSP Policy must take into account the idea of integrating motivation
methods and policies to WFSP. Aligning the two variables will enable public agencies to effectively compete. They
should be aligned to institutional development policies.
8. Paul Nkusi Kasumba 12/10/12
Research questions
On Diversity Management, Job Satisfaction, and Performance :
Evidence from U.S. Federal Agencies
1. Does Diversity management necessarily lead to higher work group performance?
As the labor force becomes more diverse, organizations must adapt to different employee attitudes and
approachesto work. Those agencies that are able to embrace these “new” components of the labor market—
women, people of color, immigrants — will be able to take better advantage of the full pool of
potentialemployees. Not only will their employee base be stronger, but also these organizations will be able
to respond more effectively to changing target populationneeds.
2. What would be the differences and similarities of Diversity management, affirmative action and
EEO.
R. Roosevelt Thomas (1990) Diversity management was different from affirmative action and EEO in that
it was about managers and what they did on the job, on a day-to-day basis, and the programs that
organizations could implement to best serve diverse employees.
3. Is diversity management for staff satisfaction or client satisfaction? If client satisfaction, in which way can
an organization ensure diversity management for clients’ satisfaction
4. Of all HRM functions, what specific functions need to proactively consider Diversity management policy?
a) Selection
b) HRD