Process Mapping: Adding Value To Human Resource Management

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: To enhance the efficiency of human resource management, Indian corporates are now increasingly resorting exploring an increasingly popular technique called “Process Mapping”(PM).

According to experts, its a technique of doing away with non-value adding activities in key people management proce-sses such as recruitment, training and development and team management. Such ‘non-priority’ activities or processes are hived off so that the companies can consolidate an efficient people management system that can enable HR in contributing better to business strategy.

And the reasons behind PM gaining currency as a strategic Human Resource Manag-ement (HRM) tool in corporate India are legion. Consultants inform that PM aids in cutting the cycle time in various initiatives in people management across domains, thereby optimising the time and cost of the organisation. As Mr. Jacob J, senior consultant, Feedback Ventures, an HR consultancy puts it: “The constant focus in Process Mapping is to shrink the time and speed-up a whole gamut of HR initiatives”. Furt-her, it also enables the organisation to rationalise manpower and create a leaner enterprise. This is because when the corporates hive off the insignificant processes the manpower attached to those processes also move out with that.

Another reason for PM gaining prominence is that it also aids companies in creating certain benchmarked HR systems. This is because PM is also about analysing every individual step in an initiative and finding ways to refine them. Says Dr. Santrupt Misra, president, HR, Aditya Birla Group “Our Management Development Programmes have received ISO 9001 certification. This is a reflection of the fact that all the steps involved in a certain HR system are probed from beginning to end so as to understand better ways of doing it”. Further, some consultants affirm that initiating PM in the organisation is the first step towards creating a culture of being constantly quality focussed in actions and strategies. How then are some companies adding value to their people management processes?

Upgrading Training at Godrej Industries

Godrej Industries Ltd is currently using PM to streamline its training and development programme. Before charting out a training calendar, the managerial professionals come-up with a requisition on a host of training sessions and programmes that they would like to attend.

Along with this, the managers also substantiate the specific opportunities in self enhancement that could be leveraged from these training programmes.

And there were certain gaps that the company identified in the current processes. “ Most of the requisitions were like a wish list that was being doled out”, says Mr. Samir Bhariok, manager, HR, Godrej Industries Ltd. For, according to Mr. Bhariok, most of the requests for attending a training programme were arising more due to the interest of the managers to get into new learning experiences. They were not necessarily aligned to the goals, job profiles or the business strategy of the organisation. “It was then time to do an input-output analysis”, says Mr. Bhariok.

According to the company, the need to deploy PM was more intense specifically because there was an enormous database being created on the training needs in the organisation. “The alignment between training and contribution to the business needed to be more substantial”, he adds. accordinggly, the company had then put PM into action.

Explains Mr Bhariok:”From our analysis, we discovered that the better method to streamline our training and development initiative was to find a more stronger alternatives”. And the stronger alternative emerged in the domain of identifying the development needs of the managers. The company has accordingly evolved a system where the functional heads in aid with the HR will have a dialogue with the professionals. And according to the company the discussions focus on those development needs that when bridged can pro actively impact the business.

Alongwith strengthening the existing alternatives there were also some quality focussed action plan that were developed. Says Mr. Bhariok:”We have also decided to have a quarterly reviews and feedback on all the training initiatives that are conducted”.

According to the company, a PM initiative is all about creating a culture of HR partnering with the business needs. “ We were making a shift from incorporating too many employee development activities to focussing on development interventions from the context of a business. At the same time we have commenced initiatives that can map the quality of these interventions and discover ways to enhance it”, explains Mr. Bhariok.

Realigning teams at J&J
At Johnson & Johnson Ltd however, a PM initiative is typically a “Process to Improve Process”, as Mr. vikas Shirodkar, vice president, Human Resources and Administration Johnson & Johnson Ltd puts it.

But this may not involve piling in too many unproductive activities. “It’s all about creating processes that can enhance the quality of existing set of process”, says Mr. Shirodkar.

Accordingly, the company has set up the ‘Standards of Quality (SOQ)’ models that defines certain benchmarks. This is aligned to the internal customer satisfaction survey that was conducted in association with AC Nielsen.

In fact, the company’s drive towards instituting PM was more to map processes and determine how the employees’ viewed the top management action. Following were the processes that came for exploration and refinement:

• HR objectives goals and plans
• Defining work teams and creating vibrant work teams
• Creating an enjoyable workplace
• Compensation systems

The results of the survey and the overall value systems of the enterprise were collated to create an action plan. “Accordin-gly, in terms of creating work teams we realised that the existing processes needed to be further enhanced to realign territories and teams to accelerate our businesses”, says Mr. Shirodkar.

For instance, in the hospital supplies teams, the need was to have an individual accounts managers for specific territories where the company had its’ business base. This, according to Mr. Shirodkar was to enhance the focus on strategy in a bid to drive results in every individualistic business operation of the company.

Similarly, even in terms of undertaking targets to be attained, there was some level of channelising that was initiated. “Our managing director alongwith the top management resolved that there would be only three action plans that would be evolved, deliberated,and deployed with a focus on results”,says Mr.Shirodkar.

Further, according to the company every project that would be taken as an outcome of the new practices would incorporate multi-dimensional perspectives.

The way the company initiates it, according to Mr. Shirodkar being that these projects are ratified by the leadership teams that are constituted in the company. “For us all these aligned practices are about utilising human resources to create Human Forces that can drive successful action in the competitive marketplace”, sums up Mr. Shirokar.

A holistic view at AV Birla group

The AV Birla deploys PM across the HR domains. The objective behind the deployment is to innovate the processes that already exist and further sharpen the strategic acumen for HRM.

Says Dr. Misra: “As a part of the initiative, we have now evolved an HR strategy book”. According to the company, the strategy book illustrates the multiple possibilities in conceptualising a strategy, the implications of these people-oriented strategies on the businesses and managing the challenges that may arise on the entire system .

Similarly, the company has also drilled in PM in the recruitment initiatives undertaken in the middle and senior management levels. “Our PM initiatives made us realise that in recruitment as a lifecycle there were certain distances that needed to be bridged,” says Dr. Misra.

Accordingly, the company identified the weaknesses that led to creation of such gaps. There was a certain time system that were introduced within which the company had to drive the action and stem the identified gaps. Further the company also instituted a strategic counselling plan to instill a culture of ownership amongst key process drivers who would be instrumental in triggering the efficiency in recruitment systems. Adds Dr.Misra: “Process Mapping for us has been to leverage quality in every domain of HR. The investment into PM is to enable the organisation to reap the returns in the long term”.

The need for rigour
Consultants opine that the major challenge for PM is the fact that there is a strong need for rigour. Says Mr.Jacob:” There needs to be a strong measure of rigour to lend a robustness to the techniques”.

The other challenge in implementing PM according to the consultants being that of obtaining a complete commitment from the front-end managers. This is because, the need to realign systems calls for internalising the drive to confront newer imperatives.

With HR being too process-driven, consultants believe that mapping these processes in itself can become a majora ctivity. Says Ms. Sadhna Raj-an, Leadership Inc: “PM itself can become a process thereby negating the positive impact that it intends to create”.

Moreover, according to Ms. Rajan, there may be circumstances where it would be tough to prioritise between the core and the non-core processes.