Workforce Planning and Development

This study material from Desklib covers topics such as traditional and innovative career paths, initial assessments for starting a business, and structured interviews. It includes a quantitative research method known as structured interviews, which is usually employed in survey researches. The material also discusses the importance of quick and initial assessments for starting a business plan and emphasizes upward mobility in traditional career paths.

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Workforce Planning and Development

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Table of Contents
Question 1..................................................................................................................................3
Question 2..................................................................................................................................3
Question 3..................................................................................................................................4
Reference List............................................................................................................................6

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Question 1
Upward mobility is emphasized by traditional career paths. This implies that every job or
career is a step towards reaching the top of an organisation or the business. Each and every
movement is viewed as a reward for the services of the past by the traditional method (Lyons,
Schweitzer, Ng and Kuron, 2012). An implied assumption forms the basis of such method.
The assumption implies that there is only “one best way” for developing and progressing
within an organisation. Movement is suggested in all the directions by innovative career
paths. These movement can be downward, upward or lateral. The basis of formation of the
innovative approach is due to the assumption that continuous encouragement should be given
to the employees for engaging into consistent learning. This is done to ensure that the
maximum possible contribution is given to the organisation by every individual. “Parallel
tracks” is one of such approaches, where employees are allowed to specialise in management
work or technical work and progress within either of the tracks (Joseph, Boh, Ang and
Slaughter, 2012). In ancient times, if the technical specialists desired to continue receiving
higher-status job pay and titles, they needed to shift from technical work to managerial work.
The making of a dead-end job from a specialist position is avoided by the parallel tracks
system. A second innovative approach would be the “lattice mobility path”. This path has
options for upward, downward and lateral movements (Lyons, Schweitzer and Ng, 2015). A
person who might have responsibilities for specific functions, this approach would be ideal
for him. The bottom of a specific function is where the individual would begin from, then he
moves upward for assuming other duties and responsibilities and finally moves towards the
bottom of another specific function for repeating the process. The person is eligible for
promotion where he would lead all the functions within which he has gained experience, after
he undergoes the cycle discussed above. Another innovative function can be the “lateral
track”, where the individual is allowed for moving sideways for managing all the functions
within a specific area, like the recruitment functions of the human resource, training and
compensation.
Question 2
Quick and initial assessments are very important for starting with a business plan. From a
start-up to even an established business, each should step out of daily tasks and operations
and focus on the basics. However, words and phrases can vary, as there is no single way to do
initial assessments. In my opinion, a Lean Business Plan would be one of the best initial

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assessment methods to start a business. It is where an individual can have a collection of
tables and bullet-point lists which lay out certain tactics, strategies, important numbers and
milestones (Wang, 2010). The lean business plan is a good substitute to the business model
canvas. The simple definition of important strategies is included, as well as a list of the
numbers, objectives and tactics. The strategy is about focus and in most of the cases, it is
what should not to be done (Jones and Penaluna, 2013). The specific problems that are
solved, the solutions that are offered, the proposed target market, and the things which make
the individual and the business different from others and qualified. Tactics are the things
which will be done by the individual or the business for the achievement of their goals and
objectives. They would demonstrate the benefits of the offered products, the ways the pricing
will be structured and tested. It would also show the different methods for marketing
activities and distribution. The lists of the tactics are kept simple as the lean plan assessment
itself. Milestones are considered as the expected happenings or results. The questions
regarding the point of start and the steps to be followed would be answered with the help of a
simple list of milestones. Finally, the essential numbers would be the financial plan which
might be easier for an initial assessment in comparison with the projected sales, cash flow
ands expenditure which are usually a part of the lean business plan. A sales forecast can be
done for an initial assessment.
Question 3
A quantitative method of research which is usually employed in survey researches is known
as a structured interview (Levashina, Hartwell, Morgeson and Campion, 2014). The prior
objective of such an approach of interview is that to ensure that every interview is presented
with the exact same questions and are in the same order as well. When all the questions that
are to be asked are prepared in advance, it is a structured interview. The structured interviews
improve on certain obvious shortcomings of the unstructured interviews, where there are no
particular set of predetermined questions and at any point of time, the interviewer has the
ability to change the questions and ask follow-up questions in response to the interviewee
(Axelson, Kreiter, Ferguson, Solow and Huebner, 2010). This can pose difficulties to the
interviewee. This is where structured interviews are useful. Structured interviews can be
conducted in various ways such as, over the telephone, internet, face-to-face, by the usage of
computer programs, or with the help of videophone. Before a structured interview is
conducted, it is important to make sure that the objective and the focus of the interview is
clear. The method of the interview should be figured out. And then, an interview schedule

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should be fixed that would include as list of questions which would be asked during the
interview. Structured interviews are better than the unstructured ones as they follow a fixed
format and are standardized. This means every person is asked the same set of questions in
the exact same order or way. Such a process increases and improves the reliability and
consistency of the interviews. Structured interviews are easy to replicate, are fairly quicker to
be implemented and are less expensive, unlike the unstructured ones, which cost a lot for
employing and training the interviewers (Axelson, Kreiter, Ferguson, Solow and Huebner,
2010).
A situational question which can be used in a structured interview is: “How have you used
Venn diagrams in the past?” A benchmark response to this question would be an explanation
of the diagram used by the interviewee in the past, in the form of a graphical and
mathematical representation.

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Reference List
Axelson, R., Kreiter, C., Ferguson, K., Solow, C. and Huebner, K., 2010. Medical school
preadmission interviews: are structured interviews more reliable than unstructured
interviews? Teaching and learning in medicine, 22(4), pp.241-245.
Jones, C. and Penaluna, A., 2013. Moving beyond the business plan in enterprise
education. Education+ Training, 55(8/9), pp.804-814.
Joseph, D., Boh, W.F., Ang, S. and Slaughter, S.A., 2012. The career paths less (or more)
travelled: A sequence analysis of IT career histories, mobility patterns, and career
success. MIS Quarterly, 34(7), pp.427-452.
Levashina, J., Hartwell, C.J., Morgeson, F.P. and Campion, M.A., 2014. The structured
employment interview: Narrative and quantitative review of the research literature. Personnel
Psychology, 67(1), pp.241-293.
Lyons, S.T., Schweitzer, L. and Ng, E.S., 2015. How have careers changed? An investigation
of changing career patterns across four generations. Journal of Managerial
Psychology, 30(1), pp.8-21.
Lyons, S.T., Schweitzer, L., Ng, E.S. and Kuron, L.K., 2012. Comparing apples to apples: A
qualitative investigation of career mobility patterns across four generations. Career
Development International, 17(4), pp.333-357.
Wang, J.X., 2010. Lean manufacturing: Business bottom-line based. 6th ed. New York: CRC
Press.