The Hindu Business Line : Do you have an HR auditor?

Strategic planning for personnel management is the subject matter of Planning & Managing Human Resources, by William J. Rothwell and H.C. Kazanas, from Jaico (www.jaicobooks.com).

The book has chapters on jobs and roles such as HR work analyst, auditor, environmental scanner, forecaster, planning formulator, and integrator, apart from the usual topics, viz. recruitment, training, job redesign and so on. The work analyst "studies the methods (means) used and results (ends) achieved."

The HR workforce analyst studies `what kind of people are doing the work of the organisation at present.' He establishes norms for job selection, devises methods for assessing individual performance, and takes `inventory of knowledge, skills, and attitudes of workers in the organisation.' The HR auditor "analyses what kind of HR practice areas will help match people and work over time." Practice area, for this purpose, is "a relatively enduring effort, such as recruitment, training, labour relations, and organisation development."

Useful reference.

You are the tires

How to handle tough questions? Jerry Weissman's In the Line of Fire, from Pearson (www.pearsoned.co.in) has the answers. But first, `Why do people in business ask challenging questions?' Because they are mean-spirited, or they want to put you to test? "Perhaps. More likely it is because when you are presenting your case, which is just the case in almost every decisive communication in business... as well as in all walks of life... you are asking your opposite party or parties, your target audience, to change," explains Weissman. What happens in response? "Most human beings are resistant to change, and so they kick the tires. You are the tires." Responses to challenging questions can be `defensive, evasive, or contentious,' in alignment with the `fight or flight' reaction. Instead, try the effective route. Two ready takeaways are `Point B' and WIIFY. "The audience in any communication situation begins at Point A, uninformed, unconvinced, and not ready to act." The presenter's objective is to move the audience to Point B; that is what you want your audience to do. Then comes `why they should do it' through a focus on WIIFY or `what's in it for you'.

Worth practising.

Respect leads to interest

Sales people are important to any organisation, but they don't get the respect they deserve, rues Pingali Venugopal in Managing Your Sales Force, from Response Books (www.indiasage.com). The author says that salespersons can be efficient if two factors are remembered. One, the company has to have `the correct marketing strategy.' And two, salespersons can perform only if they have the interest to perform, which in turn depends on the respect or importance given to them in the organisation.

Instructive.

Tailpiece

"He's spelt out... on the mole issue."

"At last!"

"Yes, he said, M-O-L-E."

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

D. Murali