Human Resource Project

Businesses are operating in an increasingly competitive environment. In this changed
environment, human resource (HR) no longer just have to perform administrative functions; it
also has to perform strategic functions. Its functions have to be directly linked to the business’
core strategy. In the case study provided, the business has decided to move to a centralized
model of delivering HR services in order to cut costs and improve efficiency. Bringing about
these changes is the project that the project team has to deliver. The implementation of the
project will take place in a number of steps.
Five steps of strategic planning
Reviewing the five steps of strategic planning helps the project to align itself with the
core strategy of the business. These steps are strategic analysis, guiding principles, strategic
objectives, flow-down objectives, and portfolio alignment (Kloppenborg, 2019).
Strategic analysis
Strategic analysis involves examination of the business organization’s internal and
external environments to determine how factors within these environments either limit or
enhance the ability of the business organization to achieve its objectives (Kloppenborg, 2019).
Internal environment includes all the elements or factors that the business organization has
control over (Kloppenborg, 2019). They include the organization’s employees, management, and
service quality. External environment, on the other hand, includes all factors that impact the
operations and ability of the business organization to achieve its goals but which are beyond the
control of the business organization (Kloppenborg, 2019). These factors include technologies,
suppliers, government laws and regulations, and competitors. An internal environment analysis

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involves examination of internal strengths and weaknesses of the organization. The organization
can take measures that reduce its weaknesses and strengthen areas that it is already strong at.
Analysis of the external environment, on the other hand, involves looking out for threats and
opportunities that may either help or prevent the organization from achieving its objectives. In
essence, strategic analysis involves carrying out a SWOT analysis of the organization. SWOT
stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Analysis of strengths and
weaknesses is done for the internal environment while that of opportunities and threats is for the
external environment.
Guiding principles
Guiding principles communicate the aspirations of the project and how the project team
is going to achieve those aspirations (Kloppenborg, 2019) They include the vision and mission of
the project. A vision is a short statement (one sentence) that describes the desired change that the
project seeks to bring about. A vision statement helps project team members to clearly
understand the goal of their work and a fosters a deep desire to achieve the goal (Kloppenborg,
2019).
The project’s vision is used to create its mission. A mission statement states ways in
which the team seeks to achieve the project’s vision. The statement is usually significantly
longer than the vision statement. While a vision is one, concise statement, a mission statement
could be as long as a paragraph or more. The statement communicates, among other things, the
reason for the project, ideals, beliefs, and culture of team members, and what should be expected
from the team members (Kloppenborg, 2019). While the project’s vision usually remained

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unchanged for a long while, mission statements may be changed as the project team members see
fit.
Strategic objectives
Strategic objectives describe the project’s desired long-term and short-term results
(Kloppenborg, 2019). Depending on the project, short-term results could be monthly, quarter-
year, or half-year while long term results could be annual, three years, or five years. Normally,
these objectives are reviewed regularly. In addition to communicating goals of the project,
strategic objectives also provide measures that will be used to determine achievement. It is these
measures that will show whether the project is achieving its objectives or not.
Flow-down objectives
For small organizations, project selection decisions can easily be made by the leaders of
the organization. However, such decision-making is impractical for large organizations. In large
organizations, such decisions are delegated to lower divisions. Personnel within these divisions
are free to make any project decision that they see fit as long as it is aligned to the overall
strategic planning of the organization (Kloppenborg, 2019). Thus, as the name suggests, flow-
down objectives involve having overall objectives and desires set by the business organization’s
overall leaders but the specific decisions on the projects to bring about the desired changes left to
lower levels of the organization.
Portfolio management
Portfolio is a group of operations, programs or projects managed as one with the goal of
achieving the strategic objectives of the organization (Kloppenborg, 2019). Portfolio

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management, therefore, involves centralized management of portfolios or projects. For an
organization’s projects to effectively help in the achievement of the goals of the organization, it
is important that they all be aligned with the goals of the organization and be centrally managed.
Importance of the five steps of strategic planning process to the project team
Every project that is carried out in an organization needs to be aligned with the
organization’s overall objectives. The five steps of strategic planning process not only give the
project strategic direction but also align the project with the goals of the organization.
Project vision
To optimize human resource processes for the best possible performance of the organization.
Project mission
The project will reduce costs and increase efficiency of human resource functions through
application of technology and use of centralized human resource management model.
Project charter
Project charter is a document that explains the project being undertaken in a simple and
precise manner (Tangco, 2015). It is usually written for the organization’s top management.
Some of the elements included in the project include the budget of the project, its objectives,
schedule, description, risks, and requirements (Meredith, Mantel, & Shefer, 2017).
Important project charter elements
In my view the most important project charter elements are project schedule, project
scope, and project objectives. Project schedule provides the duration of the project (Meredith et

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al., 2017). It has the dates for start and end of the project. In addition to providing the time the
project will take to complete, it also provides milestone schedule (Meredith et al., 2017). These
are time periods at which certain stages of the project ought to be reached. Project schedule is
important because it allows the top management to monitor the project’s progress in a more
effective manner. When a project consistently fails to reach certain milestones at the time
stipulated in the schedule, the management will be alerted as to the presence of a problem that
needs resolving. They can then take corrective measures to ensure that the project is completed
on time.
Apart from project schedule, another important element of project charter is project
scope. This element includes all the work that needs to be done gets the desired results. The
scope of the project includes all the tasks that need to be accomplished in the required time,
quality, and quantity, and using the resources assigned to the project (Kloppenborg, 2019).
Without proper stipulation of the project scope, the project risks suffering from scope creep. This
is uncontrolled or continuous changes to the project that occur after the beginning of the project
(Project Management Institute, 2018). Project creep can lead to use of financial resources beyond
the ones budgeted for by the project and failure of the project to meet its objectives. It also lead
to the project taking longer than was planned. Project scope is, therefore, important in letting the
top management know the exact tasks that need to be done to accomplish the project, and
financial resources required for each task. With this information, the management ensures that
the project strictly adheres to what it is supposed to accomplish.
In addition to project scope, project objectives are also an important element of project
charter. Objectives provide the goals of the project. They need to be specific, attainable, timely,
realistic, and measurable. From the project’s objectives, management can determine whether the

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project is aligned to the overall goals of the organization or not. The objectives also provide a
tool that the management can use to evaluate the progress of the project.
Statement of emphasis
The project is meant to enable HR achieve more with less and align its operations to the
strategic goals of the business organization. Strategic planning and project charter examined in
this paper will help the project to be implemented in such as manner that it achieves its
objectives and is completed on time and within the provided budget.

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References

Kloppenborg, T. (2019). Contemporary Project Management. (4th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage
Learning.
Meredith, J. R., Mantel Jr, S. J., & Shafer, S. M. (2017). Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Project Management Institute. (2018). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK® Guide). Project Management Institute.
Tangco, R. (2015). Project Charter: How Important Is It? Retrieved January 2020, from
https://www.theicpm.com/blog/item/3621-project-charter–how-important-is-it