Assignment 4: Identify Resources and Constraints

How to do it:

• Personnel;
• Stakeholders who have needed expertise;
• Data;
• Funding and budget;
• Staff expertise;
• Involvement of decision makers; and
• Authority or approval.

• Current policies;
• Competition for resources;
• Lack of expertise;
• Time deadlines;
• Existing bias or indifference;
• Institutional entrenchment; and
• Someone who could veto or provide conflict.

• You have identified all constraints that will affect resources.
• You have enough resources to meet the objectives. If not, will you need to phase-in solutions or modify objectives?
• You can solve the problem with the current resources and constraints.

Resources to use:

• The Summary Report Template on Findings in Recruitment and Retention Research [2.1.3.a.2] summarizes all of the information gathered from interviews of key stakeholders, employee exit interviews, employee satisfaction surveys, and information gleaned from HR materials.
• The Organizational Recruitment and Retention Research Workbook [2.1.2.d.1] is a worksheet documenting stakeholder survey information, organizational recruitment and retention materials, and trends highlighted from employee satisfaction surveys and exit interviews.

If you need organizational information on specific topics, rather than a general overview, use the data you have already collected from:

• How to Determine your Retention, Turnover, and Vacancy Rates [2.1.1.a.2]. This resource includes calculation formulas to determine retention rates, turnover rates, voluntary turnover rates, average tenure of employees, average tenure of employees who have left, special characteristics of employees who have left, and vacancy rates.
• Interview Questions for Researching Prior Approaches to Recruit and Retain Staff [2.1.2.a.1]. These 12 questions solicit information from stakeholders and document their perceptions on past efforts in recruitment and retention.
• Employee Satisfaction Survey Review Worksheets [2.1.2.b.4]. These worksheets give percentages and averages of each question and question category on your employee satisfaction or exit survey worksheet.
• Define the Problem [2.1.3.a.3]. This resource provides a series of questions to help you reflect on the possible issues surrounding recruitment or retention challenges.

Other resources are available at Tools to Help with Making Decisions [2.1.3.b.1.].