Finally, it is critical to examine the organization's work systems. Work systems involve the design of jobs and allocation of responsibilities to assist an organization in meeting its objectives. Considerations that need to be addressed include the"fir between job requirements and employee skills and the extent to which changes in how work is done can be met by either providing current em with further training or seeking applicants from outside the oganization. The organization needs to ensure that is has designed work systems in an optimal manner to allow the organization to pursue its current and future objectives.
Establishing Goals and objectives
Once the organization has established and articulated its mission, assessed its external environment, and identified internal resources and management systems that affect its performance, it is then ready to establish its goals and objectives for the next time period. Goals should be specific and measurable: in fact, the same at time they are established, decision makers should also identify how performance toward these goals will be measured and evaluated. In te planning process, measurement of goals is often overlooked. It serves little purpose to set goals and subsequently have no means to measure performance toward them
Goals also need to be flexible. Because the whole process of setting g involves dealing with the future and anticipating what might or might not happen, realistic goals should not be"carved in stone." What will actually happen in the external environment may likely be different from that which was assumed or anticipated when the goals were set. To maintain goals that were set under assumed conditions that have not materialized i unrealistic and impractical. Goals can be upward as well as downward in response to how events in the environment have unfolded. For this reason. some organizations, particularly those in highly volatile environments, rely more on a strategic vision the for that organization over the longer term. Visions are generally less detailed and formal than strategic plans but can still guide manag at all leveis in their day-to-day decision making
Setting Strategy Once goals have been defined, an organization is then ready to determine its strat egy. Strategy, very simply, is the organization intends to achieve its goals. The means it will use the courses of action it will take, and how it will generally operate and compete constitute the organization's strategy. The strategic choices an organization makes then need to be incorporated into a general human resource strategy, which will be discussed in subsequent chapters. Ideally, this HR strategy will s as a framework by which the organization can develop a consistent and aligned set of p policies, and that will programs allow employees to achieve the organization's objectives. Ideally, HR strategy will serve to ensure a"fit" between corporate strategy and individual HR programs and policies. It is important to remember that there is no one"m way to manage human resources strategically because every organization is different. One organi- zation shouldn't necessarily copy the management systems of another organiza tion, even a successful organization that operates in the same industry. Every organization is unique. and any"best practices" that are considered or even adopt- ed should be evaluated within the context of the specific organization which in they are being implemented.