MHR 849 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Social Policy, Human Capital, Canadian Dollar
5 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Chapter 3: Environmental Influences on HR
Environmental scanning- systematic monitoring of trends affecting the environment
-identifies trends that might affect the formulation and implementation of both organizational &
HR strategies
External Environment- anything outside organization boundaries that might influence an
organization
-the external environment is not part of the organization but tightly integrated with it
Analyzing the External Environment:
1. Scanning
2. Monitoring
3. Forecasting
4. Assessing (whats the impact on our organization)
Environmental Monitoring: Sources of Information
Each source of information can be used to develop HR strategy:
-publications (journals, newsletters - written to the HR community)
-professional associations (hrpa)
-conferences/seminars
-professional consultants
Competitive Intelligence- a formal approach to obtain information about competitors
2 important questions:
1. Is the source reliable?
2. What is the likelihood of the information being correct?
Examples include:
-study competitors websites
-have employees ask suppliers about competitors (what products they order, do they pay bills
on time)
-hire employees who have worked for competitors
Challenges in Environmental Scanning
• Inability to accurately predict the future
• Inability to isolate what really is important to HR
• Examples: technology downsizing
Isolating Critical from Insignificant
Few trends exist in isolation
Ex: difficulty finding employees where labour shortages exist; retiring university professors may
not be replaced with permanent positions
For every trend, there is a countertrend
Ex: Globalization vs localization
Environmental Factors:
1. Economic climate
2. Globalization
3. Political and regulatory context
4. Issues related to technology
5. Demographic factors
6. Social values and norms
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Environmental scanning- systematic monitoring of trends affecting the environment. Identifies trends that might affect the formulation and implementation of both organizational & External environment- anything outside organization boundaries that might influence an organization. The external environment is not part of the organization but tightly integrated with it. Analyzing the external environment: scanning, monitoring, forecasting, assessing (whats the impact on our organization) Each source of information can be used to develop hr strategy: Publications (journals, newsletters - written to the hr community) Competitive intelligence- a formal approach to obtain information about competitors. Have employees ask suppliers about competitors (what products they order, do they pay bills on time) Inability to isolate what really is important to hr: examples: technology downsizing. Ex: difficulty finding employees where labour shortages exist; retiring university professors may not be replaced with permanent positions. Environmental factors: economic climate, globalization, political and regulatory context, issues related to technology, demographic factors, social values and norms.
