Workforce Planning and Talent Management
Spring 2016
Michael L Manning, MBA, SPHR
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Course title:
Workforce Planning and Talent Management
Instructor:
Michael L Manning, MBA, SPHR
Work Telephone:
(626) 302-5232
Cell Telephone:
(626) 614-6316
E-Mail:
manning116@hotmail.com
Class Dates:
Jan 19, 2016 to Mar 8, 2016
Class Hours:
7:00pm – 9:50pm Tuesdays
Office Hours:
By appointment
Course Overview
This course is intended to prepare students with an understanding of how workforce planning and talent
management connect HR to business strategy and how HR professionals can help ensure the company
has the right people in the right place at the right time and at the right cost to meet the business needs.
Students will be introduced to methods for identifying and prioritizing critical roles, skills, or other
subsets of the workforce based on their business impact or talent scarcity so that company resources
can be allocated where they will have the largest impact.
Students will be exposed to business cases showing how companies have approached workforce
planning and talent management resulting in integrated talent acquisition, development, deployment,
and integration with other business processes outside HR and the resulting benefits.
Learning Outcomes
Students will learn how to forecast future workforce supply and demand, compare these to each other
and then map out a plan to reduce specific shortages or overages in talent. Students will understand
common challenges to workforce planning and talent management and strategies to overcome the
challenges.
Topics covered will include:
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Differences between operational, tactical and strategic workforce planning
How outcomes of planning can align HR strategy to business strategy
How workforce planning has evolved
Skills and tools used in workforce planning
WFP models
Segmenting roles
Forecasting supply and demand for talent
Internal supply
Internal demand
External supply
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External demand
Gap Analysis
Mitigating talent risks
Succession planning
Talent planning
o Buy
o Build
o Borrow
o Outsource
o Redesign the work
The importance of integrating strategic workforce planning with the business (Finance, Real
Estate, IT and other headcount driven functions)
Common challenges to strategic workforce planning
Required Textbooks & Materials:
Text – The Differentiated Workforce: Transforming Talent into Strategic Impact, by Brian E. Becker, Mark
A. Huselid and Richard W. Beatty, Publisher: Harvard Business Press, ISBN 142213511X, 9781422135112
Case studies:
3M “Shifting the Center of Gravity” case study from Conference Board report - Strategic Workforce
Planning in Global Organizations
IBM case study from Conference Board report - Implementing Strategic Workforce Planning
Grading Policy & Course Requirements
The final course grade will be determined by:
Class Participation
Homework
White Paper
Presentation
100 points
100 points
140 points
60 points
400 points
Class Participation (100 points)
As we will discuss in class, an important component of developing HR expertise involves sharing
information and applying what you have learned. Class activities and interaction with your peers in the
classroom setting are critical to helping you better understand the systematic aspects of the topics, and
how to apply what you are learning to real business settings. Therefore, attendance is necessary for you
to maximize your learning of the material. Students will self-assess their own level of class
participation by completing the Class Participation Self-Assessment Sheet (which will be
handed out on the first day of class), to be turned in at the end of each class. The instructor will
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collect the Class Participation Self-Assessment Sheet at the end of each class, review the
student’s self-assessment and either confirm or modify the assessment sheet. If modifications
are made to a student’s assessment, feedback will be given as to why, and what can be done to
improve the student’s participation level for future class sessions. Please note program policy
regarding attendance for the standard module (7-week) course states: No more than ONE class
should be missed to receive credit for a course.
Homework (100 points)
Complete the questions on pages 27 and 28 of class text The Differentiated Workforce chapters 2
through 6. There are typically 3 or 4 questions for each chapter and it is expected you will be able
to answer them in your own words after reading the material. Please restate each question and
provide an accurate and concise answer keeping responses to one page per chapter. This will
create a quick reference tool you can use later in your career when consulting with your employer
on these topics.
All homework is due at the beginning of class on the assigned due date.
White Paper (140 points)
Based on research and interviews with workforce and talent planning professionals, student
teams will write a white paper. Further details around content will be discussed in class.
White Paper Presentation (60 points)
Based on their white paper findings teams will prepare a 30 to 45 minute presentation to be
delivered to the class.
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Schedule
Session
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Date
Tentative Topics
Reading due
Homework due
19Jan
• Differences between operational, tactical
and strategic workforce planning
• How outcomes of planning can align HR
strategy to business strategy
• How workforce planning has evolved
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26Jan
• Skills and tools used in workforce
planning
• WFP models
• Forecasting supply and demand for talent
• Internal supply
• Internal demand
• External supply
• External demand
The Differentiated
Workforce
pages vii - 50
Chapter 2
questions (from
pg. 27-28)
20 points
2-Feb
• Segmenting roles
• Succession planning
• Talent planning
o Buy
o Build
o Borrow
o Outsource
o Redesign the work
The Differentiated
Workforce
pages 51 - 110
Week 4
9-Feb
Case study - IBM
The Differentiated
Workforce
pages 111 - 170
Week 5
16Feb
Case study - 3M
The Differentiated
Workforce
pages 171 - 228
Week 6
23Feb
Guest speaker with case studies
Week 7
1Mar
White paper presentations
60 points
Week 8
8Mar
Continued white paper presentations
5
Chapter 3 & 4
questions (from
pg. 28)
40 points
Chapter 5 & 6
questions (from
pg. 28)
40 points
Group white
paper due
140 points
About the Instructor:
Michael Manning has over 20 years’ experience working in Fortune 500 companies. Currently, Manning
leads a division of 50+ HR professionals performing various functions in HR strategy and services for
Edison International.
Prior to joining Edison in 2010, Manning held roles in engineering, operations management, and HR with
Siemens and Merck. Before that, Michael was part of a seven-person start-up company which raised
over $60 million from JP Morgan, successfully taking the company from concept to launching
manufacturing and distribution of product to major retail chains in 14 states. Michael draws on this
broad set of experiences to bridge finance, engineering and operations concepts to his HR students.
Manning is a thought leader and sought after speaker on HR Measurement & Strategy. He is a recipient
of a Best Practice Award in HR Analytics & Strategic Workforce Planning from the Best Practice Institute.
He has presented extensively at industry leading conferences. The work done by him and his team has
been the topic of case studies by The Conference Board, Deloitte, and the Best Practice Institute and
covered in the Journal of the International Association for Human Resource Management (IHRIM).
Michael holds an M.B.A. with Beta Gamma Sigma honors from California State University – San
Bernardino and a B.S. from the University of Utah. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt and is a certified ISO
9000 auditor and SPHR. He resides in the greater Los Angeles area with his wife and 2 children.
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