HN2210 – Strategic Human Resource Planning
Midterm – Study Guide
Scheduling information:
Section
3J
Time & Date
Monday, Feb 21 – 11:30-01:30
Place
In Da Gym
Coverage
Chapters 1, 2, 3, (skip 4, skip 5), 6, 7, 8 – Belcourt
Value
25%
35%
40%
Assignments / Class work
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Format
All Multiple Choice
Probably between 60 and 90 multiple choice questions.
Study Guide
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I generally don’t ask for ‘word-for-word’ definitions, but it will help if you
understand the terms. (The Belcourt text lists “Key Terms” at the end of each
chapter.)
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Below is a checklist of major issues from the chapters. I have phrased some of
these issues as ‘essay questions’, but of course I won’t ask them that way on the
midterm, since it will be all multiple choice. However, the questions do represent
the concepts that I will likely test, so if you can answer these, you should do okay
on the multiple choice.
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Occasionally I give page numbers. These are from the current (4th) edition. If I
know the pages from the 3rd edition, I include them, inside braces like this [see?]
Chapter 1 – Strategic Management
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Key Terms – p25 [22]
Understand Mintzberg’s 5 Ps
Understand the difference among “emergent”, “intended”, and “realized” strategy.
Why do companies often use an “emergent” approach to strategic planning?
What is the difference between “Corporate Strategy” and “Business Strategy”?
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HN2210 – Strategic Human Resource Planning
Midterm – Study Guide
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Know and understand the 3 options (restructuring growth, and maintenance)
within corporate strategies. Identify and explain the choices within each of these
options
List and explain the 7 steps in the Strategic Planning Process, as described by
Belcourt (p14-15 [13]).
List and explain the benefits of business strategy formulation.
Chapter 2 – Aligning Human Resources with Strategy
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Define “Strategic HRM”
Understand the resource-based, behavioural, and human capital theories of
Strategic HR Management
Explain the difference between the “transactional” and “strategic” areas of HRM.
Explain why Strategic Human Resources Planning is important. (I have 4 reasons)
Explain the risks of doing Strategic Human Resources Planning.
Explain the 3 general approaches to linking HR process to Corporate or Business
Strategy.
What do we mean when we say that Human Resources should be a ‘Strategic
Partner”? List and explain some barriers that prevent this from happening. (p 45
[43])
Explain the concept of ‘Fit” (both Internal and External) of HRM Strategy.
Illustrate (using an example) how a specific Business Strategy would influence
the Human Resources activities of a company. (see HR Planning Today 2.2, p3942) [Appendix, Chapter 2]
Chapter 3 – Environmental Influences on HRM
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List and explain the 4 stages of analyzing the external environment. (that would
be yer scanning, yer monitoring, yer forecasting, and yer assessing)
List some of the environmental factors that are most relevant to HRM. Your
explanation of each factor should include an example of how the factor affects
HRM.
Understand the various methods of forecasting, starting on page 60 [66].
What are some of the challenges in environmental scanning.
List the stakeholders to be considered in HRM, and explain how each one is
relevant to HRM.
Chapter 4 – Nah
Chapter 5 – Nah
Chapter 6 – The HR Forecasting Process
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Key Terms – p159 [p161]
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HN2210 – Strategic Human Resource Planning
Midterm – Study Guide
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How do the three forecasting activities (transaction, event, and process based)
differ from each other?
What are the benefits of HR forecasting?
What are some particular employee categories that get special forecasting
attention? Why?
What are the typical forecasting time horizons?
What are the basic steps in determining HR demand?
Describe the two supply options: internal & external
Explain how you determine ‘Net’ HR requirements. Make sure you understand
the two components: replacement and change
What’s a surplus, and a deficit? Understand the methods for dealing with each.
Chapter 7 –HR Demand
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Understand the various demand estimating techniques – the basic idea, some
advantages and disadvantages:
o Index/Trend – you should be able to fill in the numbers in a
mathematically simple example
o Expert forecast
o Delphi
o Nominal Group
o Staffing table
o Envelope / Scenario
o Regression
Chapter 8 –HR Supply
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What are skills and management inventories?
What is Succession Planning? Why is it important?
Know how to interpret a Succession / Replacement Chart
Understand Markov models. You should be able to answer questions on an
example I give you. Yes, bring a calculator – but it will be pretty basic math.
Understand basically what Linear Programming can do for us in HR Supply
Analysis.
(I did not do anything with ‘Movement Analysis’, so you can skip that)
The other example we did (besides Markov) was a Vacancy Model. See pp 207-9
[3rd Ed’n, not sure of page #s] for an example from the text. Again, you should be
able to answer questions on an example on the exam.
What are some ways of retaining employees?
What are some of the ‘hard costs’ and ‘soft costs’ of replacing employees?
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