Insights – Page 2

IIP – Key Indicators & Performance Model

June 15, 2017/in Insights /by wpcore

The Investors in People Standard

The Standard explores practices and outcomes within an organisation under three performance headings: leading, supporting and improving. Under each heading, we have identified three key indicators.

Leading

Creating purpose in a fast changing environment whilst motivating through change have become essential skills for many roles. Outperforming organisations foster leadership skills at every level of the organisation to deliver outstanding results.
1. Leading and inspiring people
  
  Leaders make the organisation’s objectives clear. They inspire and motivate people to deliver against these objectives and are trusted by people in the organisation.
2. Living the organisation’s values
  
  People and leaders act in line with the organisation’s values at all times. They have the courage and support to challenge inconsistent behaviours.
3. Empowering and involving people
  
  There is a culture of trust and ownership in the organisation where people feel empowered to make decisions and act on them.
  Supporting
  
  For many, constant change is now normal. Successful organisations are moving towards flatter structures to enable faster decision-making, customer focus and agility. Reduced overheads, better service for customers and more successful organisations are the benefits of this approach.
  
  Managing performance
  
  Objectives within the organisation are fully aligned, performance is measured and feedback is used.
  
  Recognising and rewarding high performance
  
  Recognition and reward is clear and appropriate, creating a culture of appreciation where people are motivated to perform at their best.
  
  Structuring work
  
  The organisation is structured to deliver the organisation’s ambition. Roles are designed to deliver organisational objectives and create interesting work for people, whilst encouraging collaborative ways of working.
  
  Improving
  
  The best organisations are always looking for opportunities to improve by seeking every marginal gain. They know that every small change adds together to enable them to constantly outperform.
  
  Building capability
  
  People’s capabilities are actively managed and developed. This allows people to realise their full potential and ensures that the organisation has the right people at the right time for the right roles.
  
  Delivering continuous improvement
  
  There is a focus on continuous improvement. People use internal and external sources to come up with new ideas and approaches, supported by a culture that encourages innovation.
  
  Creating sustainable success
  
  The organisation has a focus on the future and is responsive to change. Leaders have a clear understanding of the external environment and the impact this has on the organisation.
  
  The performance Model
  
  A journey of continuous improvement
  
  The performance model creates a roadmap for continuous improvement against the Standard’s framework. This approach is based on extensive research into the concepts of performance and change management and sets out the criteria for different levels of accreditation; Accredited; Silver; Gold and Platinum.
  
  Simply put, the model describes the practices and outcomes required for better performance and higher accreditation. Progression through the model maps out how practices are embedded within an organisation, starting at the “Developed” stage and progressing towards “High Performing”.
  
  Developed
  
  The principles and practice are in place, communicated, and understood. Everyone in the organisation knows what is expected of them.
  
  Established
  
  Employees are actively engaged in ensuring that principles and practices are applied consistently. These ways of thinking and behaving become second-nature within the organisation.
  
  Advanced
  
  Employees actively drive positive outcomes, taking ownership of the principles and practices, and applying their knowledge to solve new problems.
  
  High Performing
  
  The principles and practices are fully integrated with wider activities. Employees take responsibility for delivering consistently positive results, always with an eye on future improvement.

Enablers & Results – EFQM Excellence Model

May 20, 2017/in Insights /by wpcore

ENABLERS – WHAT AN ORGANISATION DOES AND HOW IT DOES IT?

There are five Enablers, pictured on the left-hand side of the Model. These are the things an organisation needs to do to develop and implement its strategy.

LEADERSHIP

Excellent organisations have leaders who shape the future and make it happen, acting as role models for its values and ethics and inspiring trust at all times. They are flexible, enabling the organisation to anticipate and reach in a timely manner to ensure the on-going success of the organisation.

STRATEGY

Excellent organisations implement their Mission and Vision by developing a stakeholder focused strategy. Policies, plans, objectives and processes are developed and deployed to deliver the strategy.

PEOPLE

Excellent organisations value their people and create a culture that allows the mutually beneficial achievement of organisational and personal goals. They develop the capabilities of their people and promote fairness and equality. They care for, communicate, reward and recognise, in a way that motivates people, builds commitment and enables them to use their skills and knowledge for the benefit of the organisation.

PARTNERSHIPS & RESOURCES

Excellent organisations plan and manage external partnerships, suppliers and internal resources in order to support their strategy, policies and the effective operation of processes. They ensure that they effectively manage their environmental and societal impact.

PROCESSES, PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Excellent organisations design, manage and improve processes, products and services to generate increasing value for customers and other stakeholders.

RESULTS – WHAT AN ORGANISATION ACHIEVES?

There are four Results areas, shown on the right-hand side of the Model. These are the results an organisation achieves, in line with their strategic goals. In all four results areas, we find those excellent organisations:

Develop a set of key performance indicators and related outcomes to determine the successful deployment of their strategy, based on the needs and expectations of the relevant stakeholder groups
Set clear targets for key results, based on the needs and expectations of their business stakeholders, in line with their chosen strategy
Segment results to understand the performance of specific areas of the organisation and the experience, needs and expectations of their stakeholders
Demonstrate positive or sustained good business results over at least 3 years
Clearly understand the underlying reasons and drivers of observed trends and the impact these results will have on other performance indicators and related outcomes
Have confidence in their future performance and results based on their understanding of the cause and effect relationships established
Understand how their key results compare to similar organisations and use this data, where relevant, for target setting

CUSTOMER RESULTS

Excellent organisations achieve and sustain outstanding results that meet or exceed the need and expectations of their customers.

PEOPLE RESULTS

Excellent organisations achieve and sustain outstanding results that meet or exceed the need and expectations of their people.

SOCIETY RESULTS

Excellent organisations achieve and sustain outstanding results that meet or exceed the need and expectations of relevant stakeholders within society.

BUSINESS RESULTS

Excellent organisations achieve and sustain outstanding results that meet or exceed the need and expectations of their business stakeholders.

How to create Business Continuity Plan

March 4, 2017/in Insights /by wpcore

Natural and man-made disasters underscore the challenges of seamless disaster recovery in the real world. Having a comprehensive business continuity plan isn’t just an IT concern; though. Nothing less than the survival of your company is at stake.

We rarely get a head’s up that a disaster is ready to strike. Even with some lead time, though, multiple things can go wrong; every incident is unique and unfolds in unexpected ways.

This is where a business continuity plan comes into play. To give your organization the best shot at success during a disaster, you need to put a current, tested plan in the hands of all personnel responsible for carrying out any part of that plan. The lack of a plan doesn’t just mean your organization will take longer than necessary to recover from an event or incident. You could go out of business for good.

Why Business Continuity Planning Matters:

Whether you operate a small business or a large corporation, you strive to remain competitive. It’s vital to retain current customers while increasing your customer base — and there’s no better test of your capability to do so than right after an adverse event.

Because restoring IT is critical for most companies, numerous disaster recovery solutions are available. You can rely on IT to implement those solutions. But what about the rest of your business functions? Your company’s future depends on your people and processes. Being able to handle any incident effectively can have a positive effect on your company’s reputation and market value, and it can increase customer confidence.

First, Create a Business Continuity Plan:

If your organization doesn’t have a BC plan in place, start by assessing your business processes, determining which areas are vulnerable, and the potential losses if those processes go down for a day, a few days or a week. This is essentially a (BIA).

Next, develop a plan. You can use an expert or find a consultancy company like ours – as knowledge and experince in the domain is critcal when you deal with BCM.

There are six general steps involved in creating a business continuity plan:

Identify the scope of the plan.
Identify key business areas.
Identify critical functions.
Identify dependencies between various business areas and functions.
Determine acceptable downtime for each critical function.
Create a plan to maintain operations.

One common business continuity planning tool is a checklist that includes supplies and equipment, the location of data backups and backup sites, where the plan is available and who should have it, and contact information for emergency responders, key personnel and backup site providers.

Remember that the disaster recovery plan is part of the business continuity plan, so check with your IT department to ensure it has or is actively developing a DR plan.

As you create your plan, consider interviewing key personnel in organizations who have gone through a disaster successfully. People generally like to share “war stories” and the steps and techniques (or clever ideas) that saved the day. Their insights could prove incredibly valuable in helping you to craft a solid business continuity plan.

Then, Test Your Business Continuity Plan:

You have to rigorously test a plan to know if it’s complete and will fulfill its intended purpose. Many organizations test a business continuity plan two to four times a year. The schedule depends on your type of organization, the amount of turnover of key personnel and the number of business processes and IT changes that have occurred since the last round of testing.

Common tests include table-top exercises, structured walk-throughs and simulations. Test teams are usually composed of the recovery coordinator and members from each functional unit.

A table-top exercise usually occurs in a conference room with the team poring over the plan, looking for gaps and ensuring that all business units are represented therein.

In a structured walk-through, each team member walks through his or components of the plan in detail to identify weaknesses. Often, the team works through the test with a specific disaster in mind. Some organizations incorporate drills and disaster role-playing into the structured walk-through. Any weaknesses should be corrected and an updated plan distributed to all pertinent staff.

It’s also a good idea to conduct a full emergency evacuation drill at least once a year. This type of test lets you determine if you need to make special arrangements to evacuate staff members who have physical limitations.

Lastly, disaster simulation testing can be quite involved and should be performed annually. For this test, create an environment that simulates an actual disaster, with all the equipment, supplies, and personnel (including business partners and vendors) who would be needed. The purpose of a simulation is to determine if you can carry out critical business functions during the event.

During each phase of business continuity plan testing, include some new employees on the test team. “Fresh eyes” might detect gaps or lapses of information that experienced team members could overlook.

Finally, Review and Improve Your Business Continuity Plan:

Much effort goes into creating and initially testing a BC plan. Once that job is complete, some organizations let the plan sit while other, more critical tasks get attention. When this happens, plans go stale and are of no use when needed.

Technology evolves, and people come and go, so the plan needs to be updated, too. Bring key personnel together at least annually to review the plan and discuss any areas that must be modified.

Prior to the review, solicit feedback from staff to incorporate into the plan. Ask all departments or business units to review the plan, including branch locations or other remote units. If you’ve had the misfortune of facing a disaster and had to put the plan into action, be sure to incorporate lessons learned. Many organizations conduct a review in tandem with a table-top exercise or structured walk-through.

How to Ensure Business Continuity Plan Support, Awareness:

One way to ensure your plan is not successful is to adopt a casual attitude toward its importance. Every business continuity plan must be supported from the top down. That means senior management must be represented when creating and updating the plan; no one can delegate that responsibility to subordinates. In addition, the plan is likely to remain fresh and viable if senior management makes it a priority by dedicating time for adequate review and testing.

Management is also key to promoting user awareness. If employees don’t know about the plan, how will they be able to react appropriately when every minute counts? Although plan distribution and training can be conducted by business unit managers or HR staff, have someone from the top kick off training and punctuate its significance. It’ll have a greater impact on all employees, giving the plan more credibility and urgency.

How Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery Plans Differ:

Business continuity (BC) refers to maintaining business functions or quickly resuming them in the event of a major disruption, whether caused by a fire, flood, epidemic illness or a malicious attack across the Internet. A BC plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of such disasters; it covers business processes, assets, human resources, business partners and more.

Many people think a disaster recovery plan is the same as a business continuity plan, but a DR plan focuses mainly on restoring IT infrastructure and operations after a crisis. It’s actually just one part of a complete business continuity plan, as a BC plan looks at the continuity of the entire organization. Do you have a way to get HR, manufacturing, and sales and support functionally up and running so the company can continue to make money right after a disaster?

Note that a business impact analysis (BIA) is another part of a BC plan. A BIA identifies the impact of a sudden loss of business functions, usually quantified in a cost. Such analysis also helps you evaluate whether you should outsource non-core activities in your BCP, which can come with its own risks. The BIA essentially helps you look at your entire organization’s processes and determine which are most important.

Business Continuity – Solving Challenges

February 9, 2017/in Insights /by wpcore

2017 may be well underway, but we wanted to take the time to reflect on the past and look ahead to predict the way in which our business continuity profession will continue to mature over the coming year and beyond. In many ways, this ‘top five’ list is aspirational – that being my hopes for our profession as we solve some entrenched challenges and work to add more value to the organizations we serve.

‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’

It was Leonardo di Vinci who delivered this impressive quote.

We’ve seen a tremendous amount of energy around the idea that our approach as business continuity professionals needs to resonate better in our organizations, doing so in a manner that is easier to digest. In other words, pulling back on jargon, stale methodology, and unnecessary complexity. The goal should be to use approaches that are easier to connect to and participate in (from the perspective of the audience that we’re working to protect).

Some ‘simplicity’ opportunities include:

Business impact analysis processes that get to realistic business continuity requirements without endless analysis;
Actionable, ‘skinny’ plans that describe how to recover and clarify how to operate differently until a return to normal; and
Training and awareness activities that focus on how to respond to a disruption rather than how to participate in business continuity methodology.

We are going to become much more aware of how our organizations use our tools, processes, and outcomes, and we will become more open-minded and look for ways to make working with us easier and more effective.

Meaningful coordination across disciplines

Organizational resilience. Enterprise risk management. Governance, risk, and compliance. These umbrella efforts all involve a broad range of disciplines to enable the organization to manage risk and achieve its objectives. Involving ourselves in these efforts necessitates the needs to coordinate, share information, and prioritize where to spend limited resources.

But, what does this coordination look like – and with whom? Some of the most innovative companies are exploring this question and achieving success, which often involves a shared understanding of:

The most important products and services (today and into the future)
Organizational strategy and priorities (again, today and into the future)
Risk appetite (tolerance)
The organizational structure and resources necessary to deliver products and services
The best way to engage senior leadership in prioritizing and decision-making

Putting aside the topic of where business continuity does or should report to, different disciplines that can and should work together to solve organizational risk issues include physical security, information security, product/marketing, credit risk, legal/regulatory compliance, public relations/communications, information technology, operational risk, and business continuity.

As business continuity professionals do we need information and engagement such as this? Absolutely! Would it be beneficial to work with others to develop such an understanding and an engagement model, sharing resources and knowledge? No doubt!

We see less of a focus on the disciplines that contribute to managing risk, and more of a focus on the realization of efficient, prioritized outcomes.

A focus on outcomes rather than methodology

The business impact analysis, risk assessment, plans, and exercises are all a means to an end. The actual end that we need to be laser-focused on achieving is helping our organizations become more resilient and prepared for a disruption.

“What would we do if…?”

“How would we do X if we lost Y?”

“Is it possible to meet Customer Z’s expectations when…?”

Having answers to these common questions that worry our senior leadership teams is the key to adding value. Whether a for-profit private sector company or a governmental entity, your organization provides something of value to a customer or citizen.

Protect the processes and resources that deliver value and do so in the most efficient manner possible.

We can predict that a growing percentage of business continuity professionals will learn to focus more on outcomes than methodology and terminology.

Flexibly – include rather than exclude

“That’s not what business continuity is, so no, we don’t do that.” We think we’re all guilty at times of saying something like this. Perhaps we should approach all requests for help with an open mind and determine how we can contribute to a solution. Even if the organization’s issue isn’t traditional business continuity – or maybe it’s not even close – why not reflect on what we can contribute? Is it a detailed understanding of the processes, activities, and resources and can our value be volunteering that information as part of a team to solve the issue?

We don’t see the need for business continuity profession going away, but we do believe we will see more flexible, nimble professionals that will be less focused on drawing boundaries around their responsibilities and more focused on solving organizational barriers to achieving objectives. This solution will take place by working with other disciplines to share knowledge and manage risk appropriately.

Affecting culture (versus focusing on plan documentation)

Building on number 3 above, here’s another quote that really tells a lot about an organization’s business continuity maturity:

“Before we make this decision and go down this path, have we thought about the business continuity implications of this approach? Are we more or less at risk if we do this?”

Imagine an organization that no longer focuses on bolting on business continuity solutions to high-risk strategy but instead proactively takes into account disruption-related risk when making choices. That’s a mature organization and one that we predict will become more and more common in the years ahead.

– Cheif Business Continuity Consultant | Bay Global

Policy Development

January 6, 2017/in Insights /by admin

The process of developing public policy is an activity that generally involves research, analysis, consultation and synthesis of information to produce recommendations. It should involve an evaluation of options against a set of criteria used to assess each option. An effective policy process is one that is generally characterized by the following five attributes:

Issue Identification
Issue Analysis
Generating Solutions
Consultation
Performance Monitoring

An effective policy process is one that includes two-way communication between policy leaders/managers and policy analysts. There are two critical ingredients that can assist the process not only of identifying potential solutions but as well, the process of evaluating those potential solutions:

having a conceptual framework that will guide the process of generating and assessing various potential solutions to the problem; and
having a clear sense of the desired outcomes or goals that the selected policy is expected to achieve.

A conceptual framework is the underpinning that should drive the selection of policy options to be assessed. Such a framework should consist of:

the main working parameters (i.e., the “givens” or the limitations within which you are working);
key principles/values; – governmental regulations or goals and priorities.

Policies exist either to ameliorate certain situations or to prevent the occurrence of certain outcomes. The root cause(s) of a policy provides the seeds of potential indicators by which to measure progress in achieving the policy objective. Performance measurement should not be handled as an after thought to the policy development process; it needs to be an integral part of the process because reflecting on performance measurement at the beginning also helps in refining one’s thinking with respect to the expected outcomes. So beyond determining whether the proposed policies will be evaluated, you need to also give some thought (as part of the policy development process) to what the indicators might be and whether data sources exist and how data collection might be handled. It is also important when developing policy to ensure that it is sufficiently robust to deal with change in the outside world, whether predicted or unpredictable.

In summary, policy-making needs to be forward looking; outward looking; innovative, flexible and creative; evidence-based; inclusive; joined up; to learn lessons from experience; to be communicated effectively; and to incorporate ongoing evaluation and review.

Business Development Consulting

December 12, 2016/in Insights /by admin

Bay Global – Business Development wing specialize in providing strategic advice and operational support for developing your business. This includes:

Strategy Formation
Development plan
Infrastructure Management
Team Management
Lead Generation
Customer Relations
Branding
Advertisement
Internet Marketing & SEO
Social Media marketing
Public Relations

Our approach focus on:

Working with the business owners or senior management team to understand the needs of the business.
Execution plan as per the strategy and development plan, including infrastructure development.
Testing and brainstorming to provide option to achieve the targeted audience.
Go public with Print Media, Website, SEO & Social Media campaigns.
Providing a ‘holistic’ approach to the company’s marketing and business development programmes.
Translating the strategy into marketing and lead generation.
Providing practical hands-on support to implement your marketing activities.
Product knowledge training and marketing skill development for the internal and outsourced BD Staff.
Delivering a healthy ‘Sales Pipeline’ with quality leads to drive revenue generation.
Last, but not the least – Retention Practice Implementation.

Compensation & Benefits

November 9, 2016/in Insights /by admin

A compensation philosophy is developed to guide the design and complexity of your compensation programs; this is done by identifying your goals and objectives, considering your competitiveness in attracting and retaining employees, your emphasis on internal and/or external equity, and whether performance is tied to pay increases. A consistent philosophy provides a strong foundation for both the organization and the employee. Without a philosophy, leaders often find themselves unsure of what to offer as a starting salary for a new employee.

Companies want to attract, retain and motivate brains to meet objectives. Today Humans are regarded as one of every company’s assets so they need to be efficiently and effectively managed.

Total reward for an employee is majorly divided into three and they are:

Direct financial compensation consisting of pay received in the form of wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions provided at regular and consistent intervals
Indirect financial compensation including all financial rewards that are not included in direct compensation and understood to form part of the social contract between the employer and employee such as benefits, leaves, retirement plans, education, and employee services
Non-financial compensation referring to topics such as career development and advancement opportunities, opportunities for recognition, as well as work environment and conditions
Understanding what balance you want to achieve between direct and indirect financial compensation is critical in developing your overall total compensation approach.

Types of Organization Structure

August 16, 2016/in Insights /by admin

Most organizations are designed, or evolve, to have elements of both hierarchy and more flexible, organic structures within. (Organic structures are more informal, less complex and more “ad-hoc” than hierarchical structures. They rely on people within the organization using their initiative to change the way they work as circumstances change.)

Before looking at some of the common types of organization structure, its worth looking at what characterizes a hierarchical structure and how it contrasts with an organic structure. It’s worth saying that one type of structure is not intrinsically better than another. Rather, it’s important to make sure that the organization design is fit for organization’s purpose and for the people within it. And the section on Making Organization Design Decisions below discusses this in more detail.

CHARACTERISTIC	HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE	ORGANIC STRUCTURE
Complexity	High – with lots of horizontal separation into functions, departments and divisions	Usually lower – less differentiation or functional separation
Formality	High – lots of well defined lines of control and responsibility	Lower – no real hierarchy and less formal division of responsibilities
Participation	Low – employees lower down the organization have little involvement with decision making	Higher participation – lower level employees have more influence on decision makers
Communication	Downward – information starts at the top and trickles down to employees	Lateral, upward, and downward communication – information flows through the organization with fewer barriers

Functional structures and divisional structure are both examples of hierarchical organization structures.

In a functional structure, functions (accounting, marketing, HR etc) are quite separate; each led by a senior executive who reports to the CEO. The advantage can be efficiency and economies of scale where functional skills are paramount. The main disadvantage is that functional goals can end up overshadowing the overall goals of the organization.

In a divisional structure, the company is organized by office or customer location. Each division is autonomous and has a divisional manager who reports to the company CEO. Each business unit is typically structured along functional lines. The advantage here relates to local results, as each division is free to concentrate on its own performance. The disadvantage is that functions and effort may be duplicated. For example, each division may have a separate marketing function, and so risk being inefficient in its marketing efforts.

More organic structures include: simple, flat structures, matrix organizations and network structures:

Simple Structure – Often found in small businesses, the simple organization is structure is flat. It may have only two or three levels; employees tend to work as a large team with everyone reporting to one person. The advantages are efficiency and flexibility, and responsibilities are usually clear. The main disadvantage is that this structure can hold back growth when the company gets to a size where the founder or CEO cannot continue to make all the decisions.

Matrix Structure – In a matrix structure, people typically have two or more lines of report. For example, a matrix organization may combine both functional and divisional lines of responsibility. For example, in this structure, a marketing manager may report both to the functional marketing director and the country director of the division he or she works in. The advantage is that the organization focuses on divisional performance whilst also sharing functional specialist skills and resources. The (often serious) downfall is its complexity – effectively with two hierarchies, and with the added complexity of tensions between the two.

Network Structure – Often known as a lean structure, this type of organization has central, core functions that operate the strategic business. It outsources or subcontracts non-core functions which, depending on the type of business, could include manufacturing, distribution, information technology marketing and other functions. This structure is very flexible and often can adapt to the market almost immediately. The disadvantage is inevitable loss of control, dependence on third parties and the complexity of managing outsource and sub-contract suppliers.

Organizational structure is the skeleton of an organization. It is an expression of who is performing the various functions and tasks of a company and how these people relate to one another. Organizational structure encompasses a list of the various job positions, titles and duties of a business, and the reporting structure or chain of command among them.

Performance Management

August 5, 2016/in Insights /by admin

Performance management is a process by which managers and employees work together to plan, monitor and review an employee’s work objectives and overall contribution to the organization. More than just an annual performance review, performance management is the continuous process of setting objectives, assessing progress and providing on-going coaching and feedback to ensure that employees are meeting their objectives and career goals.

Possible Outcomes from Effective Performance Management:

Clarifying job responsibilities and expectations.
Enhancing individual and group productivity.
Developing employee capabilities to their fullest extent through effective feedback and coaching.
Driving behavior to align with the organization’s core values, goals and strategy.
Providing a basis for making operational human capital decisions (e.g., pay).
Improving communication between employees and managers.

What Is Human Resource Management?

July 24, 2016/in Insights /by admin

Human Resource Management (HRM) is simply about recruiting and managing of any organization’s employees. Even though at its core it is even more; HRM focus on finding people to recruit and taking care of everything about their requirements, in order to make them feel good and stay in the company for a longer period or until company wants him or her. When we say, taking care of everything about the peoples, it can be personal, mental and business all the time. For some companies, main focus will be on knowledge about the operations and processes within the company. They deals more with training, coaching, consulting, advices and never resting operational excellence.

Always, HR departments are directly responsible for development of any organization. They are charged with oversight responsibilities to ensure that their organization appropriately builds teams and inspires employee empowerment.

Consultants note that modern human resource management is guided by several overriding principles. Perhaps the paramount principle is a simple recognition that human resources are the most important assets of an organization; a business cannot be successful without effectively managing this resource.

Another important principle, articulated by Michael Armstrong in his book A Handbook of Human Resource Management, is that business success “is most likely to be achieved if the personnel policies and procedures of the enterprise are closely linked with, and make a major contribution to, the achievement of corporate objectives and strategic plans.” A third guiding principle, similar in scope, holds that it is the HR’s responsibility to find, secure, guide, and develop employees whose talents and desires are compatible with the operating needs and future goals of the company. Other HRM factors that shape corporate culture—whether by encouraging integration and cooperation across the company, instituting quantitative performance measurements, or taking some other action—are also commonly cited as key components in business success. HRM, summarized Armstrong, “is a strategic approach to the acquisition, motivation, development and management of the organization’s human resources. It is devoted to shaping an appropriate corporate culture, and introducing programs which reflect and support the core values of the enterprise and ensure its success.”

The Investors in People Standard

Leading

Supporting

Improving

The performance Model

A journey of continuous improvement

Developed

Established

Advanced

High Performing