Text: Garey, R. W. (2011). Business literacy survival guide for HR professionals. Alexandria, VA: Society for Human Resource Management.Addressing Problems John Steinbeck said, “The best laid plans of mice and men do often go awry.” As the Human Resources Department/Division works with the C-suite to finalize an organizational strategy-driven Human Resources Operating Plan, complications and difficulties may intrude.  It is important to plan how to address problems that may occur as your Annual Human Resources Operating Plan is deployed and operationalized. For this Discussion, review this week’s Learning Resources. Consider the types of problems that might occur in the day-to-day operations at all levels. Post by Day 3 the top two implementation problems that you anticipate may need to be addressed during the operationalization or launching of your Annual Human Resources Operating Plan (AHROP). Briefly explain what you would include in an AHROP to address each of the problems you identified to avoid any obstacles during the implementation. Annual Operating Plan for HR 2015 Annual HR Operating Plan Guidelines Background and Context for Writing the AHROP- The annual HR operating plan is a plan for the organization that HR writes based on HR expertise, to support its business direction. It is not a plan for running the HR department and its staff. Strategic planning and operational planning involve two different types of thinking. Strategic decisions are forward thinking, directional, and over-arching. They guide everything that the organization is doing for a particular timeframe. Operational decisions, on the other hand, primarily affect the day-to-day implementation of strategic decisions. While strategic decisions usually have longer-term implications, operational decisions usually have immediate (one year or less than one year) implications. Strategic Planning · Views future as unpredictable · Views planning as a continuous process · Expects new trends, surprises and changes · Considers a range of possible futures & emphasizes strategy development based on assessment of the organization's internal (strength and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) environment. · Asks: Based on our current understanding of environment, are we doing the right thing? How can we best use our resources to achieve or mission? What are our sources of sustainable competitive advantage? Operational Planning · Views future as something that needs to be implemented now · Focuses on setting short-term (less than one year) objectives · Assumes much more detailed planning regarding who and how activities will be accomplished · Asks: What do we need to be doing for the upcoming year/immediately to best accomplish our mission, guided by current business objectives and strategies Strategic planning provides the vision, direction and goals for the organization, but operational planning translates that organizational strategy into the everyday execu ...

1. Text: Garey, R. W. (2011). Business literacy survival guide for
HR professionals. Alexandria, VA: Society for Human Resource
Management.Addressing Problems
John Steinbeck said, “The best laid plans of mice and men do
often go awry.” As the Human Resources Department/Division
works with the C-suite to finalize an organizational strategy-
driven Human Resources Operating Plan, complications and
difficulties may intrude. It is important to plan how to address
problems that may occur as your Annual Human Resources
Operating Plan is deployed and operationalized.
For this Discussion, review this week’s Learning Resources.
Consider the types of problems that might occur in the day-to-
day operations at all levels.
Post by Day 3 the top two implementation problems that you
anticipate may need to be addressed during the
operationalization or launching of your Annual Human
Resources Operating Plan (AHROP). Briefly explain what you
would include in an AHROP to address each of the problems
you identified to avoid any obstacles during the implementation.
Annual Operating Plan for HR
2015
Annual HR Operating Plan Guidelines
Background and Context for Writing the AHROP- The annual
HR operating plan is a plan for the organization that HR writes
based on HR expertise, to support its business direction. It is
not a plan for running the HR department and its staff. Strategic
planning and operational planning involve two different types
of thinking. Strategic decisions are forward thinking,
directional, and over-arching. They guide everything that the

2. organization is doing for a particular timeframe. Operational
decisions, on the other hand, primarily affect the day-to-day
implementation of strategic decisions. While strategic decisions
usually have longer-term implications, operational decisions
usually have immediate (one year or less than one year)
implications.
Strategic Planning
· Views future as unpredictable
· Views planning as a continuous process
· Expects new trends, surprises and changes
· Considers a range of possible futures & emphasizes strategy
development based on assessment of the organization's internal
(strength and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and
threats) environment.
· Asks: Based on our current understanding of environment, are
we doing the right thing? How can we best use our resources to
achieve or mission? What are our sources of sustainable
competitive advantage?
Operational Planning
· Views future as something that needs to be implemented now
· Focuses on setting short-term (less than one year) objectives
· Assumes much more detailed planning regarding who and how
activities will be accomplished
· Asks: What do we need to be doing for the upcoming
year/immediately to best accomplish our mission, guided by
current business objectives and strategies
Strategic planning provides the vision, direction and goals for
the organization, but operational planning translates that
organizational strategy into the everyday execution tactics of
the business that will ultimately produce the outcomes defined
by the organizational strategy. Simply stated, operational
planning is the conversion of strategic goals into managed
execution. Operational planning must produce the plan
outcomes while managing constraints.
Every strategic plan serves as the basis and guide for the annual
operating plan for each department and/or division. The HR

3. department is unique in that, unlike other departments who
merely run their own department, HR creates an operating plan
to guide the entire organization, based on HR expertise, e.g.,
regulatory compliance, succession planning, pending mergers or
acquisitions, knowledge management, organizational capacity
(to do what the organization says it will do, etc.).
NOTE: The following is an outline of the key sections and
subsections which operating plans should have. Your plan must
have these. In developing your Annual Operating Plan for HR,
you must use the AHROP Template precisely as it is, not
altering language in the headings or the numbering -- both must
remain exactly as the Template displays them.
*Double Space your entire document and do not alter the
template sequence, flow or language.
**Delete all directions and this page for your final document,
using the sample completed AHROP posted by your faculty as a
helpful guide.

4. Annual Operating Plan for the Human Resource
Department/Division for <insert Company Name>
1. Organization’s Mission & Vision (Directions: Identify both
the overarching mission statement and the vision statement of
the organization as a whole. If you cannot find these statements,
make assumptions from your research and write these
statements).
1.1. Key Business Objectives (Directions/Delete in final copy:
Write an academic introduction first, then list the objectives.
Usually 2 – 4, general in nature and sets the direction the
organization will head during the timeframe of its strategic
plan).
1.1.1. Objective
1.1.2. Objective
1.1.3. Objective
1.1.4. Objective
1.2. Key Strategies (Directions/Delete in final copy: Begin with
academic introduction, then list strategies. Usually 3 – 5,
created during the strategic planning process that will allow the
organization, as a whole, to achieve its targeted direction and
plans to continue to support its mission and vision as
complicated by current shifts and trends within their
environment and industry, etc.; write each as a single sentence)
1.2.1. Strategy
1.2.2. Strategy
1.2.3. Strategy
1.2.4. Strategy
1.2.5. Strategy
2. HR Department Vision (Directions/Delete in final copy:
Write the HR Department’s vision statement, built upon the
mission and vision of the organization and derived from its
strategic plan, declaring HR’s intent for its future work; often

5. published, but you may need to write it based on your research).
3. HR Environmental Analysis (SWOT) - Write an academic
introduction first, then complete the listing by category.
3.1. HR Strengths – (Directions/Delete in final copy: Examples
include, strong senior leadership team, low churn rate for
employees, no gaps in benefits, supportive team-oriented
culture , etc. – list as many as you can, since these are used for
planning your future work.
3.2. HRWeaknesses – (Directions/Delete in final copy:
Examples include excessive open positions, no in-house
recruiter, no advertising budget, no training plan for employee
or leader development, etc. – list as many as you can, since
these are used for planning your future work.
3.3. HROpportunities (Directions/Delete in final copy: e.g.,
outsourcing for existing services related to non-strategic
services such as payroll or benefits administration, acquisition
of business units or knowledge capital, hiring away top talent
from a competitor that is experiencing financial difficulties
3.4. HRThreats- Directions/Delete in final copy: e.g., , new
governmental regulatory regime that will impose a significant
administrative burden, new competitor arrival tempting
employees to leave, diminished benefit package, influx of
traffic conditions increasing employee commute times and
gasoline costs, etc.
4. Annual HR Objectives and Strategies -
4.1. Annual HR Objectives - (Directions/Delete in final copy:
Write an academic introduction first, then list the objectives,
whichset the overall direction and intent the HR Department
will pursue to help the organization’s achieve its strategic plan
for the business using its HR knowledge and expertise).
4.1.1. Objective 1
4.1.2. Objective 2
4.1.3. Objective 3
4.2. Annual HR Strategies (Directions/Delete in final copy:
Begin with academic introduction, then list strategies. Usually 3

6. – 5 and often flow from the combination of the HR SWOT and
HR Gap analysis of HR, that builds weakened areas or
capitalizes on opportunities, and attempts to fulfill larger
operational business plans, like the plans to downsize, to
targeted market growth, changes in location, etc. They can
include everything from outsourcing to succession planning,
organizational restructuring , restructuring of employee position
classifications to meet changing environments, training and
development to build the knowledge capital needed for new
business direction; write each as a single sentence)
4.2.1. Strategy – Write the strategy as a single sentence showing
action and which can be measured, then list 6-8 action steps
required to accomplish this strategy.
· Action Step
· Action Step
· Action Step
· Etc.
4.2.2. Strategy
· Action Step
· Action Step
· Action Step
· Etc.
4.2.3. Strategy
· Action Step
· Action Step
· Action Step
· Etc.
4.2.4. Strategy
· Action Step
· Action Step
· Action Step
· Etc.
4.2.5. Strategy
· Action Step

7. · Action Step
· Action Step
· Etc.
5. Implementation - (Directions/Delete in final copy: Write an
academic introduction first, then address and plan for both
challenges, collaboration and communication as part of your
plan)
5.1. Constraints – (Directions/Delete in final copy: This section
is 2 – 3 paragraphs and anticipates and identifies likely barriers,
roadblocks and challenges (internal and external) that may get
in the way of the HR plan, and then, right here, plans for how to
address these likely constraints to mitigate them.
5.2. Collaboration –( Directions/Delete in final copy: This
section recognizes that HR cannot implement their plan without
the involvement of others in the organization, and so it plans for
opportunities to create buy-in and support, builds trust, shared
ownership, build teams and/or camaraderie, etc. This is part of
the plan, so specific groups or departments are identified with a
plan for how they will support the implementation of the
AHROP).
5.3. Communications – (Directions/Delete in final copy: This is
essential a mini-communications plan for the implementation of
the AHROP. This section plans for timely and carefully crafted
messaging throughout the implementation of the AHROP during
its different phases, to ensure that everyone who needs to know
what is going on is informed at the right time).
6. Measurement and Assessment – (Directions/Delete in final
copy: (Begin with academic introduction regarding the purpose
and value of having measurements to assess the progress and
status of the AHROP.
6.1. HR Metrics - (Directions/Delete in final copy: this section
identifies the 3 categories of HR metrics that the HR department
employees, identifies the specific HR metrics that it will use,
and also refers to and discusses the Balanced Scorecard that
shows the top 2 – 3 HR metrics in each of these categories that

8. is specific to your company.
6.2. Reports Metrics to the Organization – (Directions/Delete in
final copy: In this section, you identify which metrics will be
reported to whom (which level or group in the organization,
which will be public and which will not be, etc.), identifies
what monthly reports need to be reported and distributed, etc.
7. References
8. Appendix
A. HR Gap Analysis
B. HR SWOT Analysis
C. HR Balanced Scorecard
Text: Garey, R. W. (2011). Business literacy survival guide for
HR professionals. Alexandria, VA: Society for Human Resource
Management.Application: Annual Human Resources Operating
Plan
The Annual Human Resources Operating Plan should support
objectives that are driven appropriately by the organization’s
strategic goals and/or strategies and supported by references.
To complete this Assignment, complete the following steps:
· Complete the Annual Human Resources Operating Plan that
you began formalizing in Week 5, including work from previous
weeks (Weeks 2, 3, 4 and 5) in a 10- to 20-page document,
excluding the title page, references and appendices, using the
provided AHROP Template, attached.
· Ensure that you have incorporated suggestions in feedback
from your Instructor on sections already reviewed in previous
weeks.
· Include, this week, in the Appendix, a final version of the
Balanced Scorecard you submitted in the Week 6 Assignment,

9. together with the existing HR Gap Analysis (Appendix A) that
you completed in Week 2 and the HR SWOT Analysis
(Appendix B) completed in Week 4.
· The HR Gap and SWOT analyses serve as the basis for the HR
Strategies in the ARHOP, which you write this week, EACH
with their own set of 6 -8 action steps (bullet points) needed to
make the strategy happen. *HR leaders write the AHROP, but
many people help with the implementation, so action steps must
be clear and written for each strategy.
· Write Sections 5 and 6, drawing upon work already previously
completed.