Behind the creation of every product or service is a human mind, effort, and sweat. The production process of every product or service will always involve a human being. The power of human capital is undeniable, and it’s every organization’s desire to recruit and keep skilled and competent individuals to make their company the best.
Human resources offer strength, competence, skill, creativity, knowledge, values, talents, enthusiasm, and so much more to a company. With proper training, companies can further hone an individual’s potential for the benefit of the business and its objectives. But to do so must require an understanding of each role, goal, and process in the company.
So, what is a human resource diagram? A human resource diagram is a visual diagram used to plan and facilitate human resource functions and processes. Human resource diagrams are useful in planning processes, team collaborations, and assigning tasks. Knowing the needs and demands of HR will help in properly delegating tasks, addressing issues, and leveraging your employees’ skills.
By learning how to create a human resource diagram properly, you can better ensure that HR processes run smoothly, maximizing the talents and opportunities presented by your people.
Defining Human Resource Diagrams
Viral Gajjar
, HR Manager at Tax Technologies, Inc., said on the use of a human resource diagram, “The diagram is more important than the design since it is useful to give the architectural solutions to their management. The diagram includes the resource requirements, selecting the right talent, training and development, performance, feedback, succession, career planning, compensation and benefits, structuring/description of work and process and many more. The diagram [is used] to maximize all the employees’ performance within the organization they work for.”
In addition, he shares that human resource diagrams are useful for checking the criteria when hiring new employees, training new and existing employees, managing tasks, and so much more. Human resource diagrams have various functions and benefits — it all just depends on your purpose for creating one.
Why Do You Need a Human Resource Diagram?
A human resource diagram poses many benefits to a company. Its primary uses for different companies are as follows:
- Collaborating with your team on planning HR processes and strategies
- Identifying inefficiencies in current processes and optimizing them with effective solutions
- Clarifying and instructing employees on their tasks
You might need a human resource diagram if there is confusion among your employees about their roles or if you need to keep track of or reassess certain operations and strategies. As previously mentioned, recruitment processes will also significantly benefit from having a solid diagram to guide people.
Whatever stage your business is in or the situation you’re currently facing, there’s always merit to creating a human resource diagram. It assures the smooth sail of procedures and other business matters. It helps detect problems within your processes early on so you can nip them in the bud. In some cases, creating a human resource diagram only when a problem presents itself would be too late.
Types of Human Resource Diagrams
Human Resource Organization Chart
The most efficient way to organize an HR team in large organizations is to create separate units dedicated to a different function. Even if you have a small to mid-sized organization, it would still be most practical to have each individual dedicated to and focused on a different function. If you want to find out more about the role of human resources in small businesses, check out our detailed article, “People Power Your Small Business: Human Resources in Small Business”.
Establishing such a hierarchy would allow employees to be clear on what’s expected of them and how they contribute to the company. A human resource diagram helps detail the roles of employees and clarify their responsibilities. Identify the different functions in your organization, collect staff details, use suitable tools for the chart creation, and make it accessible.
Human Resource Management Process
Formulating strategies and execution allows a company to work towards one vision. At the base of this strategy formulation lie various processes and the effectiveness of the former lies in the meticulous design of these processes.
Some of the various HR processes may include:
- Human Resource Planning (i.e. Recruitment, Selecting, Hiring, Training, Induction, Orientation, Evaluation, Promotion and Layoff)
- Employee Remuneration and Benefits Administration
- Performance Management
- Employee Relations
These processes must have efficient designs to ensure that they add value to the company. When designing a process, the best option would be to create a flowchart. With this, you can avoid wasting a lot of time explaining complex concepts and create an easy-to-follow and easily digestible diagram to explain human resource management and operations.
Human Resource Development
Human Resource Development includes training and onboarding an individual after they are first hired, providing opportunities to learn new skills, distributing resources that are beneficial for the employee’s tasks, and any other developmental activities. While Human Resource Management Process refers to the procedures that HR has in relation to managing human resources, Human Resource Development (HRD) focuses on how to develop employees’ personal and organizational skills, abilities, and knowledge.
This diagram is critical to employee on-boarding and retention. Without proper training, employees can’t succeed. Without learning and development of personal and professional skills, employees grow stale and stagnant.
TV Rao, Chairman at TV Rao Learning Systems, explains, “No one can develop them without their interest and actively seeking and managing learning. HR departments are mainly facilitators for building their skills and using them appropriately. People should use HRD systems and processes and initiatives as tools for self-managed growth. They should use HRD and not fight HRD and HR staff. Even employee unions should be helped to become facilitators of HRD and skill development.”
We’ve written a detailed article on how to strengthen your employees’ skills and abilities in the article, “5 Easy Ways to Upskill Employees and Maximize Your Human Capital”.
Human Resource Recruitment
Recruitment refers to attracting, selecting, and appointing suitable candidates for jobs within an organization. It involves everything from the identification of a staffing need to filling it.
Benjamin Friedman, President and Founder of Build Scale Grow, Inc., shares, “Startups have an urge to solve problems quickly. Working relationships are a long-term investment and can cause success. After investing time and effort in the recruiting process, end the search strongly based on your criteria and objective feedback.”
Depending on the size and nature of an organization, recruitment processes might be different. Larger organizations may have entire teams of recruiters while others will only have a single recruiter. As there are a multitude of hiring roles, there are also many ways to gain candidates for hire such as advertisements, job boards, and social media sites, among others.
Therefore, you need to be very clear on your criteria, methods, and objectives. The recruitment process and criteria can be documented and visualized through flowcharts, diagrams, and illustrations.
Human Resource Management System
An HRMS or Human Resource Management System is a suite of software applications used to manage human resources and related processes throughout the employee lifecycle. It enables a company to understand its workforce in full. With this, companies can also empower managers and employees with self-service for common tasks. Executives could use a Human Resource Management System to generate data on workforce trends and their business implications.
The system focuses on the internal aspects of HR wherein employee data are stored. It doesn’t explain how things are done as in the processes, but how information about human resources is stored and can be accessed.
Human Resource Problem Solving
Just like any other department in a company, HR also encounters their fair share of problems. In fact, they are also involved in resolving problems outside their department since they’re in charge of handling employee-related issues. As problem solvers, HR professionals must act like investigators and think out of the box. They dig deep into the heart of the matter, ask probing questions, gather information, analyze, draw conclusions, and take remedial actions.
A human resource diagram is incredibly useful for solving concerns within the company. Furthermore, it not only helps organizations get to the root of their problems but also prevents them from happening in the first place. It aids in managing schedules, events planning, and time management, among others.
Interested in finding out more about HR trends? Learn about the current trends in HR that you can use to optimize your HR management or solve existing problems in our article, “5 HR Trends Human Resources Professionals Can Utilize”!
How to Create a Human Resource Diagram
Before you can create a human resource diagram to assess future personnel needs, establish the foundation for HR functions, train new hires, clarify the roles of current employees and roles that need to be filled in, you’ll need to conduct human resource planning. This refers to planning how to increase and leverage the existing human resource capacity of the company to meet future HR requirements.
The accuracy and effectiveness of the diagram hinges on HR planning. There are 7 key steps to human resource planning:
- Identifying objectives. First, you need to identify the key objectives of the company. Then, understand the human resource capacities needed to achieve them and align them with the company’s goals and values.
- Creating inventory. Make an inventory of current human resources. Gather information on employees’ skills, talents, and experiences to see if they’re enough to fulfill the future HR requirements of the company. When it comes to employees’ skills, be sure to include “soft” skills, too.
Psychologist Susan David said, “In 2022, prompted by the critical lessons learned from the COVID pandemic and the growing use of automation, organizations will prioritize emotional agility skills within their strategic plans and core competencies. Emotional skills aren’t soft; they are essential, learnable, practical human skills that are at the core of healthy organizations.”
- Make estimates. Time to bust out your mathematical prowess and estimate the number of employees — as well as the performance you expect from them — you’ll have to hire in the future to meet the company’s strategic plan.
- Determine demands. Once the forecast is done, determine your capability of meeting the demands with your current employees or if you have to hire, outsource, or train the current employees to meet your goals.
- Create an action plan. Whether you’re hiring new employees or training existing ones, you’ll need to come up with an action plan detailing your goals and the steps you’ll take to achieve them.
- Implement the plan. After smoothing out the details, you’ll finally be able to implement the plan. Make sure that all the employees understand it and its goals to ensure full cooperation and success.
- Monitor progress. After implementing the plan, closely monitor the progress. Take into consideration the changes that occur and pinpoint areas of improvement. Then, make the necessary adjustments.
Once you’ve got these things laid out, it’s time to turn them into a diagram. With all these steps done, you can clearly define the processes and systems that govern your organization and create a human resource diagram that employees can understand well.
You can even come up with a diagram while the HR planning process is ongoing. For example, once you find out the skills and capabilities of your employees, you can now create a diagram to assign tasks or roles that will suit them. Likewise, if you find any issues or opportunities to improve with the action plan, you can use an HR diagram to solve the problem.
The Role of HR and How HR Diagrams Make It Easier
Executive Assistant of Human Resources at Cleveland Clinic Nahashley Marc said, “Overall, you have seen that human resource management is the process of acquiring, training, appraising, and compensating employees, and of attending to their labor relations, health and safety, and fairness concerns. As professionals/HR (in both private and public sectors), we must be the eyes, ears, and mouths for justice, equity, and fairness for employees, customers, and society.”
That’s quite a lot of responsibility, isn’t it? Human resources are tasked with both managing and valuing its employees, among so many other things. The responsibilities that HR has can be overwhelming. Nonetheless, human resource diagrams can help make systems and processes more understandable. This simplifies the workflow and allows things to run as smoothly as possible.
With a well-constructed human resource diagram, you can empower employees to contribute to the company and recognize their impact. More importantly, you can define business processes, systems, and objectives clearly to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
Human Resource Diagram Related Questions
Q: What are some tools to create a human resource diagram?
A: There are various online tools available to create flowcharts and diagrams. Some examples would be Lucidchart, Microsoft Visio, Textografo, Draw.io, Creately, Cacoo, Omnigraffle, SmartDraw, and Gliffy Diagram. You can choose whichever tool you’re most comfortable with. The diagram or template itself doesn’t have to be flashy or complex — what really matters is the organization of the elements or steps within it.
Q: What’s the purpose of human resource management?
The purpose of HR is to provide the structure for an organization and serve as the engine that keeps it running smoothly. It governs important aspects of a business, such as employees, workplace culture, policies and procedures, and compliance with employment laws. These aspects have a major financial impact, as well as other ramifications, on a company.
