If anything is a talk of the HR world it is HR metrics. We are looking for quantifiable data that will give justifications for efforts we put. This makes us very similar to the Marketing and Operations field. I would now call it HR operations.

Just consider the comparison made by me between Marketing and Human Resource: -

1.     They both try measuring Human Behaviour by administrating tests.

2.     Jargons popped up with intention to simplify things

3.     Need to have good idea of the Product, in case of HR it is OD tools.

 

Some of the differences are

1.     Marketing deals with short and medium plans that are very Product Development oriented where as HR deals with medium to long terms plan that involves Organisational Development.

2.     Marketing and Sales are an integrated part of the organization whereas Personnel dept, Training, OD are usually not.

 

Before I go any further I would like to make it a clear that statistical tools are just the means and not an end.

 

Research: A careful, Patient and Methodical inquiry done as per certain rules. It includes

1.                  Interviewing

2.                  Construction of Questionnaire

3.                  Observation of Natural Behaviour and

4.                  Conducting of an Experiment

 

A major feature of good research is its Validity and Reliability of its results.

 

Validity: Consists of two parts

1.                  Internal Validity: It refers to the whether the instruments or procedures measure what they are supposed to measure.

2.                  External Validity: It refers to general applicability of the findings in different situation. Research in Natural settings has higher External Validity compared to that from Laboratory.

 

Validity of a test is expressed in a coefficient of correlation. We try to correlate the test scores with some other scores obtained by the same subjects (in this case it’s the employees) on some criteria of actual success the persons have in the behaviours, which are measured by the test scores e.g.

If the poor scorers on the test also are people with people with low enthusiasm in work we can say that there is high correspondence between the scores.

 

Reliability:  The reliability of a test is the degree to which people earn the same scores each time they are measured. If it is a matter of chance whether a subject does well or poorly on the test we can be rest assured the test instrument is unreliable

 

The reliability of a test is expressed in coefficient of reliability, which is usually determined by repeating the test on a group of subjects on several occasions. If they show great similarity the coefficient of reliability would be high, thus proving that the test instrument is acceptable (not the ultimate).

 

Defining and Analysing the problem (conflict, change etc.)	Usually Employee related
Determining sources of Problem	Possible Who, When, Where, What
Preparing Data collection forms	Questionnaires, Case studies, Group Activity, Synchronised/Computer based Activities
Designing Samples (usually in companies avoided)	Employees Top, Middle, Bottom etc. even outsiders
Collect	Role Play, Questionnaires, Group Discussion
Analyse	Standard Deviation, Variance, Probability (Normal) Distribution, Correlation and Regression, Pareto chart, Six Sigma
Purpose / Report