· From Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits (9th ed.), read the following chapters: · Human resources in a globally competitive business environment · The financial impact of human resource management activities · Planning for people · Recruiting · From The executive guide to high-impact talent management: Powerful tools for leveraging a changing workforce, read the following chapters: · New role for leaders in managing talent · An executive framework for talent management · Aligning talent investments to support business strategy Managing talent in the new economy: Six lessons from the leading edge this course, you will examine the role human resources (HR) plays in strategic planning of technology and people. You will also learn the skills and knowledge needed to lead and manage the human resource function within an organization. The activities in this course will equip you with the skill sets and tools you will use in real life. In Module 1, you will explore the challenges faced by HR professionals in the twenty-first century. You will also learn about the impact of such challenges on the HR function. In Module 2, you will compare and contrast the role of compensation and benefits on employee motivation, morale, and productivity. In Module 3, you will focus on specific civil rights and labor laws that govern HR policies and practices. In Module 4, you will examine some of the tools used to design, develop, implement, and evaluate HR training and development (T&D) functions. In Module 5, you will learn how HR policies and procedures can add value to a strategic HR plan. You will also complete two major assignments—Required Assignments in Module 3 and 5 respectively. In M3: Assignment 2, you will develop a plan to resolve some ethical and legal issues involved in a merger. In M5: Assignment 2, you will recommend the components of a career development planning program and explain how the plan will integrate the organization’s mission and value statements. The discussions and assignments throughout this course will help you achieve the objectives of this course by providing opportunities to apply course concepts and knowledge. In this module, you will learn about HR’s role in the strategic management of an organization. You will also learn about the support HR provides in the planning, acquisition, and development of resources for an organization as well as explore the role HR plays in policy development and implementation within the organization. Leadership and management are about leading and managing employees to achieve organizational goals. HR plays a significant role in strategic decision-making by providing strategic, operational, and tactical knowledge and offering relevant data to the decision makers to optimize the organization’s performance. A key element in an organization’s strategic decision-making is succession planning. HR ensures that the right employees are recruited to fill key roles in .

1. · From Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of
work life, profits (9th ed.), read the following chapters:
· Human resources in a globally competitive business
environment
· The financial impact of human resource management activities
· Planning for people
· Recruiting
· From The executive guide to high-impact talent management:
Powerful tools for leveraging a changing workforce, read the
following chapters:
· New role for leaders in managing talent
· An executive framework for talent management
· Aligning talent investments to support business strategy
Managing talent in the new economy: Six lessons from the
leading edge
this course, you will examine the role human resources (HR)
plays in strategic planning of technology and people. You will
also learn the skills and knowledge needed to lead and manage
the human resource function within an organization. The
activities in this course will equip you with the skill sets and
tools you will use in real life.
In Module 1, you will explore the challenges faced by HR
professionals in the twenty-first century. You will also learn
about the impact of such challenges on the HR function.
In Module 2, you will compare and contrast the role of
compensation and benefits on employee motivation, morale, and
productivity.
In Module 3, you will focus on specific civil rights and labor
laws that govern HR policies and practices.
In Module 4, you will examine some of the tools used to design,
develop, implement, and evaluate HR training and development
(T&D) functions.
In Module 5, you will learn how HR policies and procedures can

2. add value to a strategic HR plan.
You will also complete two major assignments—Required
Assignments in Module 3 and 5 respectively. In M3:
Assignment 2, you will develop a plan to resolve some ethical
and legal issues involved in a merger. In M5: Assignment 2, you
will recommend the components of a career development
planning program and explain how the plan will integrate the
organization’s mission and value statements. The discussions
and assignments throughout this course will help you achieve
the objectives of this course by providing opportunities to apply
course concepts and knowledge.
In this module, you will learn about HR’s role in the strategic
management of an organization. You will also learn about the
support HR provides in the planning, acquisition, and
development of resources for an organization as well as explore
the role HR plays in policy development and implementation
within the organization.
Leadership and management are about leading and managing
employees to achieve organizational goals. HR plays a
significant role in strategic decision-making by providing
strategic, operational, and tactical knowledge and offering
relevant data to the decision makers to optimize the
organization’s performance.
A key element in an organization’s strategic decision-making is
succession planning. HR ensures that the right employees are
recruited to fill key roles in the organization. In other words,
HR assists organizations in getting the right people on the bus
in the right seats to meet organizational goals and objectives.
For example, as HR Manager, you may be tasked with finding a
suitable candidate to fill the role of Vice President of
Operations. What plan or process would you follow to
informally search and vet external and internal candidates for
such a high-level position? Alternatively, how would you train
your internal resources to develop the skills and capabilities
required to fill such a position?

3. Succession planning is vital for an organization to meet its
strategic goals. The loss of one key executive can disrupt the
management of an organization and impede its ability to meet
its business goals. Equally important is the strategic decision to
groom existing employees to fill future high level management
positions or to seek outside talent for fresh ideas and
perspective.
This module focuses on HR’s role in the talent and strategic
management of an organization and examines the impact of
social, political, economic, and technological changes on HR.
In the first assignment of this module, you will discuss the
challenges HR faces in relation to people and technology in
terms of strategic planning. In the second assignment, you will
study the strategic and ethical issues involved in acquisitions
and mergers.
Challenges of HR
HR managers need to ensure that the goals and objectives of an
organization align with its vision and mission statements. They
should put in place the tools required to measure the
achievement of these goals. They should also develop their
talent management strategy to accomplish the organizational
goals. They need to know if their talent management strategy
adds or creates any value; and if it does, how effective is this
strategy.
Operationalization of talent management strategy requires HR
to not only recruit employees but also to develop their
knowledge, skills, and capabilities to create value for an
organization. It also requires HR to measure the effectiveness of
the strategy by establishing tools such as return on investment
(ROI) or cost-benefit analysis.
The four forces that shape and affect HR talent management
programs are as follows:
· Social: The needs of groups of people including the following:
· Recruiting and retaining talent

4. · Providing competitive salary and benefit packages
· Providing meaningful training and development programs
· Managing diversity
· Enabling flexibility
· Managing change effectively
· Technological: New innovations and creativity including tools
to effectively manage the following elements:
· Recruitment and retention
· Benefit packages
· Performance appraisals
· Incentives
· Grievance procedures and labor disputes
· Economic: Financial considerations of an organization
including the following aspects:
· Competitiveness
· Globalization
· E-Commerce
· Virtual work environments and telecommuting
· Quality management programs
· Political: The roles of government and regulations including
(but not limited to) laws that govern the following issues:
· Fair pay, overtime, family and medical leave
· Workplace safety
· Unemployment
· Healthcare
These forces affect the demand for and supply of talent, making
the HR manager’s job in terms of talent management complex
and challenging.
Best Practices
To overcome social, technological, economic, and political
challenges, HR strategy must be proactive and reactive. That
means HR needs to be anticipatory and forward looking as well
as responsive to current forces and regulations.
Those involved in creating HR strategy must scan the
environment and develop strategic, tactical, and operational
plans to deal with changes—anticipated or unanticipated. That

5. means making sure the HR strategy is in accord with larger
organizational strategic planning.
HR managers are in the business of dealing with people. There
are many challenges associated with working with people in
terms of managing talent, such as retaining skilled talent in a
competitive market, ensuring employee engagement, and
resolving interpersonal conflict.
Unit 1: Module 1 - Impact of Technology; Demographics; and
Ethnic Differences
http://www.tlnt.com/2011/03/17/the-role-of-technology-in-the-
evolution-of-hr/
http://www.inc.com/author/dave-kerpen
Impact of Technology; Demographics; and Ethnic Differences
Technology
Technology is a major tool and driver in shaping the HR
strategy. There are off-the-shelf as well as custom-developed
technology tools to help HR managers use information
effectively. There are macro and micro technology tools that
range from social networking to online learning applications
and project management tools to enterprise-wide software
applications. HR managers must carefully choose the kind of
technology that can add value to organizations.
It is important that HR managers use technology to meet
strategic needs and not be driven by the apparent usefulness of
the technology. For example, HR managers should identify the
best ways to use social media to add value to organizational
culture and effectiveness. Similarly, they need to measure the
impact of online learning on employees’ performance based on
a ROI.

6. Demographics and Ethnic Differences
In the twenty-first century, there has been a trend toward
multiculturalism owing to evolving demographics and
increasing ethnic differences. This trend has affected talent
management in terms of acceptance of cultural norms as part of
HR strategy.
Instead of rigid policies and procedures, HR strategy has
become more tolerant and inclusive in terms of cultural norms
as groups once marginalized are gaining significantly in terms
of size and resources in society and organizations. HR managers
must be aware of trends in evolving demographics and
increasing ethnic differences as they help develop
organizational culture through policies and procedures.
You can learn more about evolving demographics for the
country as a whole or for your specific geographic region
through the US Census Bureau, which provides a wealth of
population information based on its collection of data every ten
years. The most recent census conducted in 2010 shows a 9.7%
increase in the US population from the previous census
conducted in 2000 (Mackun& Wilson, 2011). Not only has the
population increased from 281.4 million to 308.7 million in that
ten-year period, but the ethnic mix of the population has also
changed. Access specific data at
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-01.pdf.
Mackun, P., & Wilson, S. (2011). Population distribution and
change: 2000 to 2010. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved
from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-
01.pdf
United States Census 2010. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.census.gov/2010census/
Using the navigation on the left, please proceed to the next
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7. · From Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of
work life, profits (9th ed.), read the following chapters:
· Human resources in a globally competitive business
environment
· The financial impact of human resource management activities
· Planning for people
· Recruiting
· From The executive guide to high-impact talent management:
Powerful tools for leveraging a changing workforce, read the
following chapters:
· New role for leaders in managing talent
· An executive framework for talent management
· Aligning talent investments to support business strategy
Managing talent in the new economy: Six lessons from the
leading edge