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Home > Education & Training > Education Courses > Foundations of HR

Foundations of Human Resources 2010

Series 3 Workshop SOLD OUT in Melbourne VIC

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

PROGRAM TOPICS

This program is perfect if you are a new or aspiring entrant into the HR profession, a line manager with people management responsibilities or if you are wishing to gain a broader perspective on the wide ranging activities of an HR professional. This is a fourteen week program with four intakes per year. It consists of six topics.

Topic 1 - Business driven HR management

Topic 2 - Managing talent in a workplace relations context

Topic 3 - Building and developing talent

Topic 4 - Performance management

Topic 5 - Occupational health and safety

Topic 6 - Measuring HR effectiveness

Topic 1 - Business Driven Human Resource Management

This topic introduces participants to the human resource function as an important discipline within the organisational structure. It provides participants with an understanding of how human resource management must deliver on the goals and objectives of the organisation.

Whilst this program is aimed at those with introductory-level knowledge of human resources, it is important, that in keeping with the evolution of the profession, participants are introduced to processes and methods of linking their tactical activities to organisational strategy.

Key models will be introduced that will assist HR practitioners to:

  • analyse what the organisation needs to achieve in its strategy from a human capability perspective
  • determine how HR can deliver options and solutions that link human effort and effectiveness to those strategic needs.

Commencing with a working definition, the topic goes on to describe the essential competencies of the human resource professional.

Upon completion of Topic 1, participants should be able to:

  • develop an understanding of your organisation and its strategies and understand the need for HR management to be business driven
  • clearly define and integrate organisational goals and HR strategy and the associated goals and objectives
  • identify what you will need to do to ensure that you are delivering the right outcomes to match your organisational strategy.
  • understand the importance of stakeholder management and the importance of developing and maintaining relationship building in the HR management context

Topic 2 - Managing talent in a workplace relations context

This topic covers the essential elements of employment practice – from recruitment through to retirement – including current legislation and international conventions that underpin that practice. It demonstrates how to effectively integrate the processes of sourcing, recruiting, and selecting the best candidates for your business to help drive it toward its goals.

It will focus on how to manage the employment relationship to increase retention and ensure that the process of dismissal is conducted in a fair, respectful and legal manner.

Upon completion of Topic 2, participants should be able to:

  • link talent to their business goals
  • identify potential sources of talent for their industry group
  • design and deliver selection processes
  • design behavioural questions that are relevant and probe appropriate responses
  • design questions that probe the referee answers
  • design and develop induction programs for new, promoted and transferred staff
  • manage terminations, redundancies and retirements in a way that adheres to legal and ethical organizational practice
  • write and/or review policies that underpin the organisation’s recruitment processes
  • run a successful exit interview and apply the findings
  • understand the way that Australian legislation and international conventions determine labour management and ethical accountability in the employment cycle.

Topic 3 – Building and developing talent

This topic identifies the link between retention rates of high performers and having the right development and training opportunities within the organisation. It uses job descriptions and other HR processes as a basis for defining the development needs of individuals and teams in organisations.

It looks at alternative development and training delivery methods including how to develop a training needs analysis [TNA] that reflects organisational needs and how to structure a training course that delivers capability that supports those needs.

Participants will be led through a series of training and development activities and shown how they add value to the performance of both the individual and the business.

Upon completion of Topic 3, participants should be able to:

  • use job descriptions, job specifications, performance appraisal plans and training needs analyse to define the competencies and skill gaps in their organisation
  • define the best use of certain types of training or developmental interventions
  • understand the nature of development and training as `motivational triggers’.

Topic 4 – Performance Management

This topic focuses on the role of performance management as a key part of an organisational process of improvement and development to achieve outcomes at both a business and an individual level. It will position performance management as a continuous process that is a strategic tool in reinforcing desired organisational behaviours and outcomes.

It links how business performance indicators provide the context for performance appraisal, coaching and mentoring for individual performance.

Motivation of staff will be discussed in both a theoretical and practical sense and will relate to how staff and line management motivation and attitudes impact on the bottom line performance of the organisation. The topic will make reference to key legislation as it applies to performance-related terminations and the impact of unlawful or unfair dismissal.

The topic also explores the use of exiting strategies, such as redundancy and dismissal, to mask inadequate performance management and line managers’ reluctance at times to provide negative feedback to under performers.

Upon completion of Topic 4, participants should be able to:

  • understand the importance of performance management as a tool for HR as a key trigger in the achievement of behavioural change in organisations
  • articulate the role of line managers in the implementation and sustainability of performance management
  • understand the links to reward and remuneration
  • develop, implement and promote the performance management process to an internal audience including senior management
  • use diagnostic tools as input into the feedback process to strengthen the performance discussion
  • conduct a performance appraisal.

Topic 5 – Occupational health and Safety

This topic reviews the legislation within the high-risk body of work of occupational health and safety (OH&S). It assists participants to build an OH&S program that not only fulfils legal obligations, but also successfully changes the mindset and behaviours of the key stakeholders in their organisation towards the role and importance of safety.

Participants are asked to identify risks, create communication processes to help make others aware of risks, develop options for mitigating risks and produce risk management plans.

Upon completion of Topic 5, participants should be able to:

  • understand the physical and mental benefits of a safe workplace
  • use legislation to support their OH&S initiatives
  • complete OH&S reporting obligations to both external and internal stakeholders
  • build an OH&S program to change the way people think about safety
  • identify risks and potential risks
  • prepare the framework for a risk management plan.

Topic 6 – Measuring HR Effectiveness

How effective is HR in your workplace? This topic focuses on how to position and write HR business cases that prove the true value of HRM projects in terms of their return on investment [ROI] for the business.

The workshop offers a step-by-step method of researching, developing and presenting a business case for the purpose of persuading and influencing senior management and other stakeholders of the merits of an HR initiative.

The program is practical and participants will be asked to bring with them an initiative on which they are currently working to use as a practical case study during the session. Participants will be able to take suitable content back to their workplaces to help develop their HR business cases.

Upon completion of Topic 6, participants should be able to:

  • research and develop an HR business case that includes relevant financial references
  • identify key metrics that support an HR business case
  • identify key stakeholder influence and power relationships that impact on support for a business case initiative
  • design a presentation to promote the business case to senior management.

Methods of study

Distance education
This method of study enables participants to study where and when they want. They will have access to an Academic Coordinator who is contactable via email and telephone and whose role is to provide support by answering questions in relation to the workbook content and assignments.

Workshops
Workshops are an alternative to the distance education program and provide interactive and focused sessions on how to apply HR knowledge to practical situations. They are conducted one day a fortnight over a twelve week period and run in most capital cities across Australia.

Program costs

Program fees Foundations Distance Foundations Workshop
AHRI members $1155* $1850*
Non members $1460 $2110
Non members Overseas $1600 N/A

*Special discounted AHRI member rate for the first year of membership – $253.00.

Fees are not subject to the Australian Goods and Services Tax (GST) because the program is a GST-free education program

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