Small- medium- Size Enterprises Strategically Moving Forward

A CALL FOR ACTION!!

While studying the effects and results of organizational management from a human resource management perspective, my premise has been to do one simple thing! HELP small- medium- size enterprises grow to their full potential.You must realize that I am growing with you! While I can speak on human resource management policies, practices and procedures, my help comes from YOU! Essentially, that means my premise is not to throw rocks out in hopes of hitting the nail on the head and touching on the issues. While information is the key, communication is the key that unlocks the door. In other words, I can have the key, but the door lays in communication between small- medium-size enterprise owners and HR resources.

What I am saying is Talk to Me! Tell me what HR issue or issues are challenging you and hindering you and/or your employees from achieving optimal growth?

 Employee relations: I have employees. Why are my clients unhappy?

 High employee turnover.

 Labor relations issues

 Ineffective/outdated human resource management policies

I am waiting for your Call!

April D. Halliburton

(313) 523-8090

aprilh@all4hrbiz.biz

Business Strategies

In today’s business the adage one does not plan to fail; one fails to plan is more IMPORTANT than ever!! Business strategies, business plans, human resource management strategies, marketing strategies, marketing plans… While it may sound like a lot, it is not as complicated as one would like to think.

I read somewhere a gentleman indicated you cannot write a business plan if you have never been a business owner. I have to disagree with this gentleman. A business plan is a strategy on paper. It is a road map. It is a guide. It is a map that details the business trip; your company business trip. While a business plan is the map to a successful business, it is important to also develop a strategy. Porter (2008) asserts the job of a strategist is to understand and cope with competition. As an Entrepreneur, the absence of a strategy can be detrimental to the success of an organization. As a small/medium size business owner, one of the most important roles is growing your business.

Porter (2008) also identifies five forces that shape a business strategy: bargaining power of suppliers, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, rivalry amount existing competitors. Assessment of these aspects of one’s environment can position a small/medium sized business to be competitively advantageous in its industry. Drucker (1985) identifies these Entrepreneurial Strategies:

 The Futest with the Mostest strategy focuses on building big businesses and dominating a new market or industry. The Futest with the Mostest strategy is applicable to businesses and institutions.

 Creative Imitation – The Creative Imitation is contradictory to “imitation”. In, the creative imitation strategy, the entrepreneur applies their own strategy to another company’s idea. The entrepreneur revises and implements its own innovative ideas, making the product its own. The strategy was utilized successfully by IBM and Proctor & Gamble.

 Entrepreneurial Judo is wherein a company exploits the bad habits of a competitor to get ahead. It is a market-driven strategy and also the less risky strategy. The entrepreneurial strategy was utilized by Xerox.

As an entrepreneur one may also research the niche strategy or changing economic characteristics of product or service. I speak of these strategies simply because as Entrepreneurs, we sometimes have to back up and reassess the current business strategy to assure that it is working effectively in growing your business.

We’ll talk strategy again.

You can email me at aprilh@all4hrbiz.biz to find out more about these and other strategies.

April, All-4-HR & Business Solutions

Small- Medium- Size Enterprise (SMEs) HR Analytics/Metrics

The purpose of HR analytics/metrics is to valuate human capital and human resource measurements to determine how effective your organization is operating. Past practices have involved organizational leaders evaluating finance, always finance. While finance is an intricate portion of HR analytics/metrics, it is the end results. How? Think about it! Finance presents the end result of the where the organization stands. HR analytics/metrics explains how the organization arrived there! As a small- medium-size enterprise (SMEs) owner/founder/manager, the journey to achieving organizational growth and achieving organizational goals is STRATEGY! STRATEGY! STRATEGY!

Plan-do-check-act (PDCA) is a management review process that can help you assess and focus on specific organizational HR needs. Human Resource Analytics are the tools for this process.

List of Reports for assessing and reporting on HR functions

• Ad Source Reports: This report tracks how applicants have heard about your organization, i.e., ERP (Employee Referral Program).

• HR Data Reports: This report covers 4 main areas: Candidates Interviewed; Candidates Hired; Candidates Terminated; and those who are eligible for rehire.>P> • EEOC Reports: This report reflects compliance with current laws surrounding diversity topics and hiring practices.

• Traffic Reports: This report provides results on where people are coming from and the top 5 keywords candidates are typing in the search engines to find your open jobs.

The key here is to make sure that the metrics you decide to use are those that will truly have a business impact on your organization.

List of Human Resource Metrics

• Productivity/Employee Relations: Employees surveys: Be ready for employee feedback; and be prepared to show employees most pertinent results of survey

• Recruiting/Retention: Obtaining statistics - Turnover rate of new hires; Average performance measures on new hires; Time to fill positions; Percentage of diversity in your hiring; and dollar impact on bad hire decisions.

• Benefits/Compensation: Depending on the size of your organization you need to look at those areas as well as the overall feel of how employees view the benefits and compensation.

• Training and Development: Development and growth are important for employee retention.

• Goals: Percentage of goals that were completed (met or exceeded) for the year.

April D. Halliburton, CEO

All-4-HR & Business Solutions, LLC

http://www.all4hrbiz.biz

aprilh@all4hrbiz.biz

Small- Medium- Size Enteprises (SMEs) Evidence-based management (EBMgt) HR Metrics

April D. Halliburton Evidence-based management (EBMgt) establishes the difference between research and practice. It is imperative in the human resource arena that when creating, changing and implementing organizational changes, such decisions are done based on evidence; not speculation and experience. Many HR Practitioners have consistently held the importance of reviewing past and present HR metrics of policies, procedures and practices in the workplace to determine the effectiveness of a particular organizational change.

Evidence-based management (EBMgt) is the systematic use of the best available evidence to improve management practice. Under the Evidence-based theory, management science must arm the manager’s imagination and supply him with the vision needed to make rational decisions in respect to the business enterprise. Management should not serve as a substitute for decision and judgment but should supply methods for making possible more effective decisions and more informed judgment.

As a small- medium- size enterprise owner, a great start is the utilization of human resource metrics in your organization. The fundamental decision every enterprise must make, no matter what stage of maturation, is the allocation of its capital and resources. When choices of strategy, expansion, acquisition, new products, and the like are reviewed, they are supported by detailed financial metrics that show the expected returns. More often than not, only those ventures that demonstrate the highest return are selected. This calculation is referred to a return on investment (ROI). As a small- medium-size enterprise owner-founder-manager, how are you setting, benchmarking and achieving your company’s growth? In 5 years, where will your Company be?

What are your thoughts and views on evidence-based management?

All-4-HR & Business Solutions is committed to helping your organization reach its long-terms goals (HRM).

April D. Halliburton