Title:

Aligning Human Resource Development with the

Strategic Planning Process at Blackfriars Priory
School, SA

Assignment topic:
Your task is to analyse a strategic human resource development (HRD)
issue that would benefit your organisation or an organisation you are
familiar with.
The HRD issue you select may represent a new HRD direction for the
organisation

and

should

environmental demands.

align

with

organisational

needs

and

The HRD issue you select could address the

needs of a specific strategic group, reinforce organisational positioning,

address management development/transition needs, focus on talent
management or focus on retention/re-engagement of high achievers.
Write a report about the strategic HRD issue you have selected.

Make

sure to include:

A brief description of the organisation and the strategic HRD issue

you have chosen to investigate.

An in-depth description of the HRD issue using relevant theories and
frameworks. Include pros and cons associated with implementation.
Where relevant, discuss attitudes and behaviour related to the HRD

issue.
A discussion which explains why this HRD issue is of strategic
importance to the organisation.
historical

background,

This discussion could include

organisational

needs,

conditions, industry best practice, etc.

Recommendations
to
enable
improvement
implementation.

environmental
/

change

Recommendations should flow logically from the

discussion above.
Make sure to demonstrate you have read widely about your chosen HRD
issue and use relevant references throughout your report.
Word count (from the start of the Introduction section to the end
of the Conclusion section):

2,500 words
1

Name:

Edward Griffith

Student number:

A0013222614

Subjects title:

Strategic Human Resource Development

AQF level:

Executive Summary
My theoretical review leads to a feasibility analysis of the practical
application of SHRD; and whether SHRD might help forge a new direction
for the College through the resultant improvement in organisational
performance.

Aligning Human Resource Development with the Strategic

Planning Process at
Blackfriars Priory School, SA
Contents
1. Introduction...........................................................................................4
1.1

Organisation Background......................................................................................................4

1.2

Situational Analysis...............................................................................................................4

2. Theoretical Discussion...........................................................................5
3. SHRD Theory.........................................................................................6
2.1

List of theories & discussions................................................................................................7

4. Blackfriars Strategy.............................................................................10
3.1

Strategic Importance of the HRD issue................................................................................10

3.2

Organisational Needs and Environmental Demands............................................................10

3.3

Pros & cons of implementation & critical analysis..............................................................10

3.4

Develop an evaluation strategy and process for assessment of HRD...................................11

5. Conclusion...........................................................................................11
6. Recommendations...............................................................................11
References.................................................................................................13
Appendices................................................................................................13

1. Introduction
The principal objective of my paper is to discuss the scope of strategic
human resource development (SHRD) in relation to issues faced by
Blackfriars Priory School in South Australia (the College or Blackfriars).
1.1

Organisation Background

Located in Prospect, SA, Blackfriars is a school which operates under the

Catholic Dominican System of South Australia. The College caters for boys
from the pre-school years through to year 12. As a non-government
private school, the College is a not-for-profit entity (limited by guarantee)
which charges the parents and carers tuition fees for their childrens
education. In addition, the College also receives both federal and state
government funding (refer Appendix B, A &B).
In recent years, Blackfriars has failed to achieve its goals to develop in
two major areas:
1. financial strength, and improving infrastructure and depth of
resources, and
2. retaining key management personnel and building overall employee
satisfaction.
There are several factors which are thought to have contributed. Over the
previous five years, the College has struggled to retain a business
manager for longer than 12 months. This has resulted in sporadic human
resource management practices and a general lack of development of the
Colleges internal policies. The Principal has struggled in maintaining
healthy communication channels with the Board of Governors and the
resultant governance practices have declined such that sub-committees
have become involved in the day to day operational matters.
1.2

Situational Analysis

Blackfriars strategic plan is due for renewal at the end of 2015 (refer
Appendix D for the Strategic Plan 2013 - 2015). The Colleges recently
4

appointed new Business Manager (refer Appendix A for Blackfriars

Organisational Structure), in collaboration with the Principal and the Board
of Governors, is tasked with drafting the Strategic Plan 2016 - 2018.
In preparing for the renewal of plan, the Business Manager sought input
from the Colleges employees and a large volume of negative feedback
was received. Despite the current Plans Strategic Priority 5 being
centred towards becoming an Employer of Choice and aiming to foster
a team of dedicated and progressive professionals and a supportive
workplace culture (refer Appendix D, final page); issues were raised by
staff and management which suggests the College has failed to meet its
own goal.
The feedback was summarised into the following key issues:
A. Staff disagreed that they worked in an environment where they
received regular feedback about their strengths and development
and had not witnessed efforts for the human resource capabilities to
be developed in this regard (sub-goal no. 1).
B. Staff had not witnessed any deliberate or obvious efforts by the
College to Attract, retain, develop and reward outstanding and
committed staff (sub-goal no. 2).
C. Staff were unsure what it meant that they were to clearly
articulate their role and the alignment of their role to the Pillars of
Dominican Life and the schools Strategic Plan (sub-goal no. 3).
D. Several employees had been refused their written requests for
professional development and one had been refused permission to
attend

local

course

on

managing

stress

in

the

school

environment (which contravenes sub-goal no. 4 where staff are

provided opportunities to develop spiritually, professionally and
emotionally).

2. Theoretical Discussion
Swanson and Holton (2009, p. 226) define human resource development
(HRD) as a process of developing and unleashing expertise to improve
individual and teamwork processes, and organisational systems.
5

The addition of the word strategic emphasises the organisational

perspective and seeks to link HRD, organisational goals and objectives
(Wognum and Fond Lam, 2000 cited by Garavan and Carbery, 2012).
Garavan (2007) describes SHRD as coherent, vertically aligned and
horizontally

integrated

learning

and

development

activities

which

contribute to the achievement of strategic goals (cited Garavan and

Carbery, 2012). However,

Blackfriars uses a bespoke learning and development HR system which

purportedly manages the training and development needs of school
employees based on the curriculum, the individual students and the
teachers preferred style of delivery.

Resource Based Theory is an economic theory commonly attributed to

Wernerfelt (1984) He defined resources as those (tangible and intangible)
assets which are tied semi permanently to the firm (1984, p.172).
Wernerfelt argues that in competitive environments
strategies that are not resource-based are unlikely to succeed (1995, p.
173).
Workforce is often collectively referred to as human capital and the
characteristics of which are discussed by theorists developing and
contributing to Human Capital Theory. Understanding that employees and
their skills, competencies, etc., are described as a key resource in
Resource Based Theories, helps to illustrate why strategic business
planning and SHRD, are critically linked.

3. SHRD Theory

Integral to business success, human resource development (HRD) has

served the needs of organisations to provide employees with up-to-date
expertise through the use of employee development programs (Torraco &
Swanson, 1995).
Swanson and Holton (2009, p. 226) define HRD as a process of developing
and

unleashing

expertise

for

improving

individual

and

teamwork

processes, and organisational systems. The development of expertise

through HRD has been vital to optimal business performance (Torraco &
Swanson, 1995).
However, HRD today should assume a pivotal role in the shaping of
strategy (Torraco & Swanson, 1995). Using employee expertise to shape
strategy is becoming increasingly important factor for the success of the
organisation. Along with satisfying the present needs of an organisation,
HRD also serves a vital role in shaping strategy and enabling
organisations to take full advantage of emergent business strategies.
HRD is clearly capable of supporting strategy most HRD programs
referred to as having strategic value actually assume roles that are
supportive of a given strategy.
Successful business strategies increasingly turn on an organisations
ability to apply state of the art expertise to new and emerging business
strategies.
HRD has assumed a formative role in both the strategic planning process
and in developing innovative, competent human resources.
It may not be immediately obvious but there is a natural fit between
initiatives for developing employee expertise and the organisations
strategic direction.
Two factors have influenced the evolution of HRD towards strategy:
1) The centrality of information technology to business success, and
2) The sustainable competitive advantage offered by workforce
expertise.

The synergy of these two factors are such that the competitive
advantages they offer are nearly impossible to achieve without developing
and maintaining a highly competent workforce.
Organisations in market leadership positions realise sooner or later that
human resources are ultimately the only business resource with the
creativity and adaptive power to sustain and renew an organisations
success despite changing market conditions (Torraco, 1993 cited by
Torraco & Swanson, 1995).

2.1

List of theories & discussions

An in-depth description of the HRD issue using relevant theories and

frameworks.

Alignment Diagnosis Process

Although HRD professionals advocate for certain practices that they
believe will be in the best interest of the company and its employees, they
must work with the constraints of the strategic and operational thinking of
the management team.
It is important that HRD practitioners critically assess the strategic
learning needs that involve the relationship between its costs structure,
market competitiveness, financial evaluation and long term development
in terms of the demographics of the firms labour market. They should also
be prepared to engage other members of the management team about
the implications of this assessment for performance.
Pfeffer (1998, cited by Yorks 2005) says that success comes from actually
implementing a strategy and not just by having one. Pfeffers alignment
diagnosis process begins with determining the business strategy and then

gauging the skills and behaviours that are necessary for implementation
of the strategy.
Clarifying existing strategic direction and reaching consensus as to what
skills and behaviours are needed can itself be an educative and
developmental process for the management.
1. Clarify Blackfriars strategic direction
2. Clarify the skills and behaviours that are critical for this strategic
direction
3. Compile a list the key management practices around recruiting and
selection, compensation policies, learning & development activities
(career management, forms of work, organisational structure)
4. Plot the skills and behaviours and the management practices on
different sides of a matrix.
5. Ask the question To what extent can we expect the management
practices to produce or fail to produce the skills and behaviours
we deemed were critical? (Pfeffer 1998, cited by Yorks 2005).
This exercise can surface misalignments between key requirements and
management practices, and provides a framework for determining the
necessary changes for implementing strategy,

Political Economy Framework

HRD professionals are challenged to make comparisons between best
practices in other organisations and the opportunities and needs of their
own (Yorks 2005 p90). The PEF is intended as a guide for comparative
institutional analysis that not only extends knowledge of HRD as an area
of leadership practice but which also focuses on how learning is organised
in various settings (Yorks 2005 p90).
An essential characteristic of political economy is the simultaneous
interdependencies between the organisations polity and economy. In
addition, this explicitly considers the relationship between external and
internal polities and economies.

Polity consists of the patterned use of power and influence, the structures
and mechanisms that reinforce these patterns and the patterns of
influence between the organisation and other social institutions in its task
environment that sustain its economic form (Zald 1985, cited by Yorks
2005, p92).
Culture
Culture is not a thing but is rather a socially constructed system of
meanings. Culture is deemed to be difficult to change as patterns of
interaction become habitual and the stabilising of internal exchanges
render life predictable. Sentiments and values are variables which have a
complicated relationship to the polity and economic dimensions. A
significant part of HRD seeks to impact culture. Sentiments such as
ideological consensus, positive evaluation and work coordination can both
constrain and enhance work performance.
Strategic initiatives can often be undercut because of the culturally set
primary power of specific groups and their connection to the dominant
coalition within the organisation (Yorks 2005 p96).
The isolation of many strategy creation processes, can often result in a
strategy being blocked at the implementation stage (Voronov and Yorks
2003, cited by Yorks 2005 p 96). It is important that HRD practitioners are
aware of the extent to which various stakeholders are invested in
maintaining the existing power relationships. Implementing strategic
change is deemed to almost always surface an organisations power
practices during the alignment phase.

Opportunistic advocacy involves connecting an HRD agenda to widely

ranging trends in the political economy of the organisation.

10

4. Blackfriars Strategy
Undertake a needs HRD assessment.
A discussion which explains why this HRD issue is of strategic importance
to the organisation. This discussion could include historical background,
organisational needs, environmental conditions, industry best practice,
etc.

3.1

Strategic Importance of the HRD issue

Apply strategic HRD concepts and principles to an actual workplace.

3.2

Organisational Needs and Environmental Demands

The HRD issue you select may represent a new HRD direction for the
organisation

and

should

align

with

organisational

needs

and

environmental demands.

3.3

Pros & cons of implementation & critical analysis

Include pros and cons associated with implementation.

Where relevant, discuss attitudes and behaviour related to the HRD issue.

Strategic and tactical effectiveness (materials topic 1)

The ultimate test of strategies and tactics is the results the
organisation gets from the implementation. Care is needed when
reviewing results because poor results may not directly point to poor
strategy or poor implementation through the tactics employed.

11

3.4

Develop an evaluation strategy and process for assessment

of HRD.

5. Conclusion

6. Recommendations

12

References

Garavan, TN 2007, A Strategic Perspective on Human Resource

Development, Advances in Developing Human Resources 02/2007;
9(1):11-30, viewed 20 April 2015,
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/249631435_A_Strategic_Perspecti
ve_on_Human_Resource_Development.

Garavan, T N and Carbery, R 2012, Strategic human resource

development, International Human Resource Development, viewed 20
April 2015, www.researchgate.net%2Fprofile%2FThomas_Garavan
%2Fpublication
%2F242390323_02_strategic_human_resource_development%2Flinks
%2F00b7d51cdb94666296000000.pdf&ei=Res1VfjvNuHEmQXOYAw&usg=AFQjCNG168Ttj7DeX_wSEG70WA_ODvoYAA&sig2=34DUWPYN9
5JvwYTww6k7WQ.

Swanson, R A, & Holton, E F 2009, Foundations of Human Resource

Development, 2nd ed, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, viewed 20 April
2015,
http://www.bkconnection.com/static/Foundations_of_Human_Resource_Dev
elopment_EXCERPT.pdf.
Torraco, R J, & Swanson, R A, 1995, The strategic roles of human resource
development, Human Resource Planning, 18, 10-21, viewed 11 April 2015,
http://www.richardswanson.com/publications/Swanson(1995)TheStrategic.
pdf.
Yorks, L 2005, Strategic Human Resource Development, South Western
College Publishing, Mason, Ohio.

13

Appendices
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C

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