MU0013 – Human Resource Audit

Assignment Set- 1

Q.1 Discuss the conceptualizing of HR Audit.

Ans: As the term audit has evolved, It is becoming increasingly specific, until the term
functional audit has emerged. The objective of a functional audit is to diagnose, analyze,
control, and advise within the boundaries of each functional area of the company.

The HR audit is also a functional audit which emphasise on the well being of HR
functions in the organisation. Thus, as a first approach, one could say that HR auditing
consists of diagnosing, analyzing, evaluating, and assessing future lines of action within
the framework of HRM.

HR auditing is one of the basic tools for the management of a company. It not only
attempts to control and quantifying of results, but also the adoption of a wider perspective
that will aid in defining future lines of action in the HRM field.

HR auditing must perform two basic functions [Cantera, 1995].

• it must be a management information system whose feedback provides

information about the situation in order to facilitate the development of managing
processes or the development of HR.
• it must be a way of controlling and evaluating the policies that are being applied,
as well as the established processes.

In the above sections, you have already realizedss that in order to secure the operative
efficiency and user or client satisfaction, an appraisal of the results of the HR function is
necessary. The results can be valued through their cost (a measurement internal to the
function) [Walker, 1998]. This would lead the company to consider some basic points:

• There are adequate HR policies being developed in the organisation or not.

• There are the desired results being obtained from HR policies being followed.
• The extent to which HR policies add value to company

The main objective of this work is to offer a few guidelines for the appraisal of the HR
function, which is in itself the basis for the auditing process. The purpose is to set
conceptual limits for its content and to present the different approaches with which the
HR audit can be presented.

Q.2 What are the goals of HR Audit.

Ans: The goal of HR Audit is to assess the effectiveness of HR aspect in question or
various HR aspects and verify whether they are properly co-ordinating with the goals of
organization, diagnose any problem thereby and taking timely corrective actions.

The other goals may be:

1. To examine and pinpoint strength and weaknesses related to HR areas and Skills and
Competencies to enable an organization to achieve its long-term and short-term goals.

2. To increase the effectiveness of the design and implementation of human resource

policies, planning and programs.

3. To help human resource planners develop and update employment and program plans

Q.3 What are the different types of interview?

Ans: Telephonic Interview: Telephonic interviews give the company a chance to get a
feel for your skill-set, interests, desired compensation etc., and see if there is a match
between their needs and your strengths. If there is enough common ground, then the
phone interviews are almost always followed-up by an in-person interview.

Phone interviews are generally conducted in two steps.

• The first step is with a recruiter in Human Resources.

• The second step is a technical interview, usually with one of the people you
would be working with.

Technical phone interviews are usually only conducted for people living outside the
geographical region. This is done because the company wants to have some level of
confidence in your technical abilities before they decided to spend the money to fly you
in for an in-person interview.

1. Direct interview: It is brief but straightforward, face-to-face question-answer session

between the interviewer and the interviewee. No in-depth analysis of the candidate ability
skills is done. Characteristics or attitudes can be possible find out in such interviews. But
if carefully planned, some of these limitations can be avoided.

2. Indirect interview: In this type of interview, no direct questions are asked to the
candidate, he is encouraged to express his views about any topics. And how he rates the
enterprise and the job applied for him. The interviewer in such cases will be a patient
listener either disrupting the thoughts of the candidate.

3. Patterned interview: In this type of interview, a set of standard questions will be

framed in advance. Ideal answer will also be framed before itself. Then the answers given
by the candidate will be analyzed with the prepared pattern.
4. Stress interview: In this interview, the candidate is analyzed how he reacts to the
situation under considerable stress and strain. The candidate should not get irritated or get
angry; he should be cool and confident in his answers.

5. Board or Panel interview: In such an interview, there will be many interviewers each
would be focusing on certain areas. The candidate is selected or rejected by the combined
performance rating of the interviewer.

6. Group interview: In this type of interview, many candidates are interviewed at the
same time. A situation will be given to them and all the candidates are asked to
participate in the discussions.

Q.4 Explain compensation system.

Ans: Employee compensation system along with the benefits programs, are one of the
most complex HR systems. A reward system should help support the organization's
strategic mission, motivate employees, and reward performance.
Compensation systems should be both externally competitive and internally equitable.
Auditors may want to work with a compensation expert when reviewing this area. A
review of the organization's salary administration process is also important to determine
how employees are paid throughout their careers, including merit increases, variable
performance pay, promotions, bonuses, stock options, and deferred compensation, to
name a few.

Base salary

During the audit, auditors should ensure that: a compensation philosophy has been
developed that defines how the organization wants to pay people with respect to its
position in the labor market; there are current job descriptions for each position; an
effective market analysis has been conducted; a salary structure has been developed to
help manage pay, and an appropriate job evaluation system is being used to slot jobs into
the salary structure.

Sales incentives

Sometimes past incentive programme may be a reason for disappointment to both you
and your salespeople. At the time of HR audit, sales incentive programme should be
crosschecked because a payment less than the worth may lead the sales team to under
perform or fail as a result.

Corporations use incentive programs to drive behavior and it is a well known fact that
what gets rewarded gets done. To ensure that the incentive programme at your
organisation work, you may use

The 80-20 principle: Twenty percent of the salespeople make eighty percent of the sales
and profits. Too often, sales incentives are geared to the entire sales force. This may seem
to be a fair strategy, but a strategist should remember that these 20% people are already
motivated. That means that the sales incentives should be good enough to

1. Keep these motivated sales personnel going and

2. Light a fire under the next twenty percent the next logical group

The results have shown that this doubles the business in a more cost efficient manner.

Keep it simple: Good salespeople look to simplicity to make things happen. Thus the
organisation must keep the incentive program sweet, simple and attainable. There can be
no ambiguity. Anything less will result in a lack of interest, as well as a waste of time and
money that can sometimes spill over into other departments whose task it is to administer
and account.

Productivity incentives

HR audit should employ meaningful methodologies of productivity measurement to

evaluate and monitor the performance of a business operation. Productivity
measurements must show a linkage with profitability and should clearly demonstrate how
efficiently (or inefficiently) a company is using its resources to produce quality goods
and services.

Executive bonus programs

In most of the companies, title and seniority mean more when it comes to bonus pay. By
granting bonuses according to title and seniority, companies turn them into entitlements,
not incentives. Due to this, executives, who do the field work and put in more labour do
not get that much of the bonus.

HR auditor should ensure that the organization links incentives to performance as the
only fair and rationale way to reward employees. Bonus plans by design, should be
geared to reward employees for short-term performance.

Team based incentives

Since in most of the big organisations, a project is assigned to a whole team together and
the performance on the project depends on the collective performance of the team, the
HR auditor should check if the due reward is being paid to the collective performance of
the employees.

There are primarily two ways to offer team based incentives, viz.

1. Team based

2. Gain sharing
Exempt and non-exempt status determination

This concept is more prominent in USA where the HR auditor should analyse if the
finance department has correctly determined whether a salaried associate should be
exempt or non-exempt? Exempt status is regulated by the Fair Labor Standards Act
(FLSA). When determining exemptions, employers must first consider the way in which
the employee is paid (hourly vs. salaried), then they must review the duties and
responsibilities of the job. Although, there are a number of unique position that provide
for exempt status.

Overtime computation

According to the labour laws in India, when a worker works in an employment for more
than nine hours on any day or for more than forty-eight hours in any week, he shall, in
respect of such overtime work, be entitled to wages at double the ordinary rates of wages.

Q.5 a Write note on Audit of HR Function.

Ans: Audit of Human Resource Function

Good starting point of audit process is to take some time and reflect on HR functions
which need to be audited. Simply listing them is a good first step. For achieving
organizational goals, it is very important to carry out various HR functions smoothly. In
this step of audit process, we define the various functions which need to be audited.s

In this step consider your areas of responsibility and traditional HR practices covered by
the functions, you need to audit. In starting out, it is better to make more general
statements and improve from year to year in those areas that you choose to raise the level
of performance. For example as an audit manager, you may decide to audit any of
following:

• All human resource functions.

• Any specific function like recruitment process of your company.
• Any part of the specific function you have selected for audit like generating
applicant pool function of recruitment process,

The main purpose is to study and analyze each one of the specific areas of HRM. The
analysis should focus on the planned measures, the method of implementation, and the
results obtained. In order to carry this out, the areas that need to be audited must be
identified. A list of the indicators corresponding to the different areas of the HR function
could contain some of the following:

Description of the staff of the company

The complete staff can be described by:

 • hierarchic levels
• years of service
• qualification
• sex
• nationality
• the number of permanent and temporary employees, interns and physically or
mentally challenged employees
• indexes of personnel rotation and absenteeism

Job analysis

• The various indicators of Job analysis are as follows:

• The number of described posts
• Occupants per post
• Degree to which the job description cards have been updated
• The degree of detail in the job description cards
• The methods used to analyze and describe the jobs.

HR planning

HR planning, as you have studied in unit 7, is an important area of preplanning includes

the methods employed to plan personnel needs, the measures adopted to cover future
personnel needs, and the temporary planning horizon.

Recruiting and personnel selection

• Main indicators of this are as follows:

• the number of days required to a vacant post
• the number of applications received by work place categories
• the average amount of days between the reception of the application
• the average cost of recruitment
• cost of selection per job post
• the degree to which internal and external sources of recruitment are used
• the average number of candidates that do not pass the selective tests
• the study of the reliability and validity of the selection tests

Training and development

• The training indicators are as follows:

• the procedures followed
• frequency to which personnel training needs are analyzed
• the criteria followed in the training programs
• the evaluation criteria of the efficiency of the training programs
• the percentage of the HR budget dedicated to training
 • the average number of hours of training per employee
• The percentage of employees that participate in training programmes by work
place categories.

Development of professional careers

These indicators focus on the vacancies covered internally.

These indicators include:

• the percentage of people promoted per number of employees;

• the percentage of vacancies covered internally and externally and the average
time per employee it takes to receive a promotion.

Q.6 Write a note on design and implementation of competencies model

Ans: During an HR audit, due attention must be paid to find out if the competencies
model has been adequately designed and developed or not. There are three ways in which
competencies models may be developed:

1. Behavioral Indicators: Behavioral indicators describe the behaviors, thought patterns,

abilities and traits that contribute to superior performance.

2. Evaluative Competency Levels: Exceptional competencies of high performers are set

as standards for evaluating competency levels of employees.

3. Competencies Describing Job Requirements: This approach is useful for

organizations having multiple competency models. Competencies required in a particular
job are described. Job specific competency models help in structuring focused appraisal
and compensation decisions.

To identify role-specific competencies required industry specific, functional and

behavioral competencies, which need to be developed for enhanced performance. The
approach for developing a competency framework for a particular role is as proposed
below:

Understand strategic business context of the organizations in term of its structure and
environmental variables.

Detail role description for positions. Defining and scaling (relative importance and
mastery level) of specific behaviors for each identified competency as a measure of
performance.
Develop competency framework taking into consideration the core values and the culture
of the organizations in addition to specific functional and level requirements. This should
gel with the vision and mission of the company.

Validate the competency framework through a workshop, which should include

functional experts and top management personnel in order to define critical and desirable
competencies. And also to substantiate the extent to which the competencies differentiate
between high and average performers by validating the content and criteria.

The auditor should establish the link between people and roles through effective
measuring tools that evaluate the performance of the person in the role. On-the-job
performance of the individual is evaluated on the basis of a performance management
system.

The assessment centre is a powerful tool in the hands of the management for selection
and development. As a selection tool it can be used for management promotions, fast
tracks schemes, high potential list and change of functional role. As a development tool,
it is helpful in succession planning, identifying training needs and career development.

Designing and conducting a potential assessment centre should follow basic principles in
term of accuracy, fairness, reliability, legality, efficiency, multiple assessors, multiple
tests and optimal stress to increase performance. It would involve two types of exercises,
i.e., group exercises and individual exercises.

Group Exercises

For potential assessment, the following group exercises are conducted:

• Assigned Role Exercises: Used to assess negotiating skills, decision making

skills, and risk taking skills;
• Unassigned Role Exercises: Used to assess ability to handle uncertainty, change
orientation, ethical behavior and global orientation; and
• Team Exercises: Used to assess ability to work in a team and solve problems
efficiently.

Individual Exercises

For potential assessment, the following individual exercises are conducted:

• In-Basket Exercises: Used to assess ability to plan, organize, decide, manage and
delegate;
• Learning skill Inventory/Psychometric Inventories: Used to assess ability to
learn, leverage knowledge and indicate behavioral patterns; and
• Interpersonal Effectiveness Module: Used to assess interpersonal effectiveness,
excommunication skills, patience and interpersonal skills.
 Assignment Set- 2

Q.1 Explain staffing in detail.

Staffing is the process of acquiring, deploying, and retaining a workforce of sufficient

quantity and quality to create positive impacts on the organization's effectiveness.

Figure will help you to understand the staffing process.

Staffing Process

Now study the various steps in the staffing process which are explained below:

1. Planning work force requirements is the first step in staffing process which involves
forecasting and determining the future manpower needs of the organization and thus
planning about the number of employees required in any organization.

2. In recruitment organizations invites and solicits applications made to the desirable

candidates.

3. In selection, screening of applications is done and suitable candidates are appointed as

per the requirements.

4. Orientation and Placement: Orientation involves induction of employees so that they

come to know the working culture of the organization.
5. Training and Development: Employees recruited may have many skills but which is
required out of them in the concerned organization is important.

6. Remuneration: It is a kind of compensation provided monetarily to the employees for

the job they performed. This is given according to the nature of job-skilled or unskilled,
physical or mental, etc. Remuneration forms an important monetary incentive for the
employees.

7. Performance Evaluation: In this expected results are compared with actual results

8. Promotion and Transfer: Based on the previous step, the decision of promotion and
evaluation of the employee is taken up.

Q.2 Discuss approaches to HR Audit.

Ans: HR auditing in recent years is not only considered mere instrument of control an but
also has become a necessary decision making tool in personnel related matters according
to the global objectives of the company. As a result, all of the functions and competencies
of HR auditing are being progressively expanded.

1 Approaches to Human Resource Audit by Walker

Walker [1998] differentiates between two approaches relative to HR auditing i.e. those
centered in the functions internal aspect, and those centered on the external aspect.

Internal perspective: From an internal perspective, as in any staff function, there is a

trend of valuing its actions as a result of the activities undertaken and its costs. The way
of judging departments capability would be on its ability to supply certain services to the
organization at the lowest possible cost. According to this approach, the operational
measurements traditionally used are those which refer to quantity, quality and reliability,
or cost and speed, therefore placing the focus on activities, costs, or productivity ratios.

External perspective: From an external perspective, if it is understood that the ultimate

appraisal of the effectiveness of HR is based on their impact on the companys results,
then the measurements.

Should include results obtained outside the function.

2 Common approaches to Human Resource Audits

There are five common approaches for the purpose of evaluation of HR in any
organization:

Comparative approach: In this approach, another division or company that has better
practices or results is chosen as the model. The audit team audits and compares the
audited firms results with the best practices of the model organization. This approach is
commonly used to compare the results of specific activities or programs. The approach is
often used with turnover, absence, salary data and staffing levels. It helps detect areas
where improvement is needed. It also makes sense to compare where a procedure is being
used for the first time.

Outside authority: In this approach, standards set by a consultant or taken from published
research findings serve as the benchmark for the audit team. The consultant or research
findings may help diagnose the cause of problems.

Statistical: This approach relies on performance measures drawn from the companys
existing information system. From existing records, the audit team generates statistical
standards against which activities and programs are evaluated. With the mathematical
standards as a base, the team may uncover errors while they are still minor. Often this
approach is supplemented with comparative data from external sources such as other
firms, or industry association surveys. The information is usually expressed in ratios or
formulas that are easy to compute and use.

Compliance approach: This approach reviews past practices, to determine if actions

taken followed legal requirements and company policies and procedures.

The audit team here often examines a sample of employment, compensation, discipline
and employee appraisal forms. The purpose of the review is to ensure that the field
offices and the operating managers have complied with internal rules and legal
regulations, such as minimum wages and equal employment opportunity laws. By
sampling elements of the human resources information system, the audit team looks for
deviations from laws and company policies and procedures. The team can then determine
the degree of compliance achieved.

Management by Objectives (MBO): In this management by objectives approach,

managers and specialists set objectives in their area of responsibility. Then they create
specific goals against which this performance can be measured. The audit team
researches actual performance and compares it with the previously set objectives. They
can then evaluate the trends in this area.

Q.3 Describe How to approach a HR Scorecard.

Ans: This mode of scorecard is based on the assumption that competent and committed
employees are needed to provide quality products and services at competitive rates
emphasizing on the ways to enhance customer satisfaction.

The Seven Steps in the HR Scorecard approach to formulating HR policies activities and
strategies are as follows:
 • The first step is to formulate business strategies i.e. define the business strategy of
the organization so as to be very clear about the way to exploit the human
resource towards the achievement of the organizational goal.
• The next step is to outline the companys value chain activities and identify the
strategically required organizational outcomes.
• Now after the outcomes have been decided clearly, identify the workforce
requirements and behaviors expected so as to achieve the desired outcomes.
• The next step is to formulate HR policies and practices which are strategically
relevant such as new training and grievance systems.
• After ensuring that all above steps are correctly conducted then develop detailed
scorecard.
• Then design the HR Scorecard measurement system.
• In order to ensure the productivity, periodically re-evaluate the measurement
system.

Q.4 Explain A the process of workplace behaviors that support legal compliance.
Ans: safe, dignified, and respectful work environment is not only mandated by the law,
but also increases motivation and productivity of the employees. An example of review
of business practices used to deal with allegations of harassment safe working
environments should be considered especially for the females in the offices so as to make
them feel confident and concentrate on work is shown as under:

Tailored Reviews can be added to the General Audit

By Joan Curtice: Read the following example at the end to observe how in practical
world organisations pursue safe working environment for their employees.

1. Ethical trading initiative: promoting conflict resolution in union negotiations

Cambodia (Source: http://www.ethicaltrade.org)

In November 2005 the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) was alerted to allegations of
serious interference in union rights in a Cambodian factory. In response, the organisation
brought member companies sourcing from the Fortune Garments factory to meet with
workers, intermediary suppliers, factory management and International Textile, Garment
and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF) representatives, in order to seek a solution to
the conflict. After negotiations, in May 2006 an agreement was reached by all parties
resulting in: payment of compensation to unfairly dismissed workers; entry of the
Coalition of Cambodian Democratic Apparel Workers Union into the factory; and
acceptance of trade union demands over pay and conditions.

2. Nike, Adidas, Umbro and more: working group with trade unions to promote trade
unionism Global (Source: http://www.ituc-csi.org)
The International Trade Union Confederation reported in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing
Olympics that sporting apparel companies including Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Umbro
and Speedo had formed a joint working group with trade unions and NGOs to explore,
amongst other issues, how to promote trade unionism and collective bargaining across the
sector.

3. Agreement with UNI property services to ensure rights of workers Global (Source:
http://www.g4s.com/)

In 2008, G4S, one of the worlds largest international security firms, signed a global
agreement with UNI Property Services, a global union, to ensure that all of G4Ss 570,000
employees (spread across more than 110 countries) have the right to organise in a free
and fair atmosphere. This is in addition to complying with international standards and
national law in its relations with workers.

4. Training internal monitors on freedom of association Global (Source:

http://www.gapinc.com)

In 2006 Gap Inc. partnered with the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers
Federation (ITGLWF), the global union federation for the apparel and textiles sector, to
train its internal monitoring team on freedom of association and collective bargaining
issues. In the same year, the ITGLWF provided Gap Inc. with a detailed briefing. Gap
Inc. supplemented this training by holding workshops on the Indian subcontinent and in
south east Asia with the ITGLWF and local trade union representatives.

These workshops aimed to strengthen engagement between Gap Inc.s Vendor

Compliance Officers (responsible for inspecting factories and documenting violations)
and key worker rights representatives at regional and local levels.

5. General Electric: expanding supplier due diligence to include freedom of association

Global (Source: http://www.ge.com)

In 2008, General Electric (GE) expanded its supplier due diligence programme to cover
freedom of association, discrimination and harassment/retaliation. To do this it engaged
in benchmarking activities with other companies to determine how they monitored and
audited their suppliers in relation to the ILO principles. In addition, it reviewed its on-site
assessment tools and guidance materials and developed new training materials. As a
result, over 150 suppliers were asked to change their policies with respect to freedom of
association. In addition, around 400 suppliers were asked to adopt an employee dispute
resolution process.

6. Mod-Style: offering worker empowerment and training to suppliers China (Source:

http://www.bsl.org.au)

Mod-Style, a business sourcing optical frames from Asia, has the majority of its factories
in China, where the only government-affiliated All-China Federation of Trade Unions is
recognised and trade union rights are severely restricted. In 2000, Mod-Style joined with
the Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL), an Australian based charity, to implement
business standards based on the conventions of the ILO and the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises. In the absence of independent trade unions, BSL and Mod-
Style have offered worker empowerment training and capacity building in supplier
factories to ensure that workers rights can still be adequately voiced and heard.
Nonetheless, to date no factories have agreed to this training, with BSL and Mod-Style
instead focusing on developing long-term, direct and stable relationships with factory
owners and managers.

Q.5 What are the issues in Human Capital Measurement and reporting .Explain

Ans: The human capital can be defined as "the knowledge that individuals acquire during
their life and use to produce goods services or ideas in market or non-market
circumstances."

Organisations know that that measurement is a prerequisite for good management. As the
popular saying goes, what gets measured gets managed. But in most of the organisations
today, the most basic source of wealth creation human capital is not managed properly.
This is primarily because most organizations systems of measurement, shaped in part by
accounting and reporting requirements, are still overly influenced by measurement
concepts that date back to the industrial era when physical capital was the primary source
of wealth creation.

Expenditures incurred on the development of the employees education and training being
perhaps the most prominent are treated as costs although, these expenditures possess the
traits of an investment (expenditure at one point in time that is made with the intention of
generating an increase in capacity at some future point in time). But this outright focus on
costs and cost cutting is not baseless. Often the known costs associated with people and
their development, because measurement and accounting practices associated with human
capital are remains of the industrial era, the measured costs are only a portion of the total
costs. Moreover, because benefits are both uncertain and unknown, a conservative
strategy has its merits. And finally, because human capital cannot be owned, spending on
the development of people does not meet the traditional accounting concept of an
investment, since employers cannot control the asset, i.e., the people in whom an
investment is being made. There are genuine arguments in favor of the status quo with
regard to measurement, accounting and reporting of human capital development and
management. There are, however, also powerful arguments to be made that change is
necessary.

Human capital represents a huge operating cost that must be managed efficiently because
of its absolute scale. At the same time because human capital is also the only asset that
cannot be owned it must be managed wisely, but also with humanity. As a result, a
strategy that focuses exclusively on efficiency and cost containment can, at best, only be
successful in the short-run. This creates a fundamental paradox.
Exceptional management in the knowledge era is defined by the ability to resolve this
paradox through a both/and, rather than an either/or strategy. The both/and strategy
requires a relentless focus on finding ways to cut costs and improve productivity, while
simultaneously evoking the passion, creativity, loyalty and best efforts of the people on
whom an organization relies.

Q.6 Discuss the auditing for HR professionals.

Ans: Competence for HR function is demonstrated by an extensive audit of all its

aspects. An audit of HR professionals is essentially an assessment of the extent to which
the professionals demonstrate competence for HR function. Such an assessment requires
a 360 degree feedback, and, according to Ulrich, usually employs the following five
steps:

1. Developing a model of competencies: Before embarking on an assessment of

competence, it is necessary to first determine what are the competencies that make a
successful HR professional. These competencies usually stem from knowledge of
business, knowledge of HR, knowledge of change and finally personal credibility. In
addition to determining the competencies that account for a successful HR professional, it
is also important to determine the behavioral attributes that reflect these competencies. A
model that reflects both these aspects may be said to be a comprehensive model for
auditing of HR professionals.

2. Collect data using the model: Several techniques may be employed to collect data
about the extent to which an HR professional exhibits the modeled competencies. These
include interviews, questionnaires and focused groups.

3. Summarized data and give feedback to the HR professionals: The quantitative and
qualitative data collected in the above mentioned ways, need to be synthesised and
codified so that specific themes emerge. These themes are then used as aids to help the
HR professionals identify his/her strengths and weaknesses.

One of the key activities of an HR audit is to give feedback. This needs to be done in a
way that protects the confidentiality of the participants. The manner of the feedback
should take into account the sensitivities of the receiver. The tenor of the feedback should
neither be accusatory nor defensive. In addition, the individual data that is collected may
be integrated into an audit for the overall HR function.

4. Create action plans: The HR audit goes beyond defining the competencies and
inadequacies of the HR function. It also identifies the measures to develop the
competencies at both, the individual and the departmental level. At the institutional level,
this may involve doing an HR for HR. At the individual level, the action plan will
concentrate on developing a tailored set of trainings, readings, assignments and training
opportunities.
5. Continuous improvement: Auditing of HR professionals is not a one time activity but
an ongoing continuous process through which HR professionals are able to constantly
build on their HR competencies and strengthen the HR functions in the organisation.