What is Resource Management?
Resource management is the practice of planning, scheduling, and allocating people, money, and technology to a project or program. In essence, it is the process of allocating resources to achieve the greatest organizational value.
For a working agency, its resources/employees are the most valued investment. Market instability is causing constraints on skilled resources and it has become of vital importance to undergo resource planning and utilize the workforce in the most optimal way to maximize their potential.
Resource management is the practice of planning, scheduling, and allocating people, money, and technology to a project or program. In essence, it is the process of allocating resources to achieve the greatest organizational value.
For a working agency, its resources/employees are the most valued investment. Market instability is causing constraints on skilled resources and it has become of vital importance to undergo resource planning and utilize the workforce in the most optimal way to maximize their potential.
To effectively plan resource management, managers are to follow the best practices that would enhance productivity, project performance, and profitability. Now, let’s have a look at two cases that require resource planning and after that, we will learn about the best practices that would help us in managing the resource in a highly effective way.
CASE I - Excess availability of resources
When the demand for talent/resources is less than the available capacity it results in excess availability of resources than demand. This extra capacity can be mitigated by bringing future project work ahead, adjusting timelines, and managing resource capacity in other projects.
In case of excess availability of human resources, the best-considered practice is to lay off some of your staff. This way, your workers can collect unemployment benefits and search for new jobs to further their careers, while you maintain some profitability for the business.
In any situation involving an excess of resources, don't hire new workers. A hiring freeze is a necessary step while your company's management team determines the best path forward. In addition, you should end contracts with outsourced talent and transfer those tasks to internal labor instead.
CASE II - Shortfall of resources
When the demand for resources is higher than the capacity, that results in a shortage of resources. The HR Manager can resolve it through two different resourcing channels. Many times an agency can face the challenge of increased workload and less workforce available, to handle this, it's up to the HR management what channel to follow to handle such cases.
Following are the hiring channels that HR may follow in this case:
In any situation involving an excess of resources, don't hire new workers. A hiring freeze is a necessary step while your company's management team determines the best path forward. In addition, you should end contracts with outsourced talent and transfer those tasks to internal labor instead.
CASE II - Shortfall of resources
When the demand for resources is higher than the capacity, that results in a shortage of resources. The HR Manager can resolve it through two different resourcing channels. Many times an agency can face the challenge of increased workload and less workforce available, to handle this, it's up to the HR management what channel to follow to handle such cases.
Following are the hiring channels that HR may follow in this case:
● Internal Hiring:
Internal hiring of resources focuses on the employees who are already on the payroll of the agency. Selecting an employee from the already available list of resources based on the skills and qualifications or transfer of resources from different projects.
Following such practice reduces job posting, recruiting, and training time & costs boost employee morale and decrease employee turnover rate.
On the other hand, the practice of internal hiring causes jealousy in the workplace and the aspect of hiring fresh minds with new ideas misses out.
How internal hiring can be considered:
+ Promotions of existing employees
+ Transfer of employees from one agency branch to another
● External Hiring:
If a suitable resource can not be found from the internal channels of the organization, then the resource managers hire the resources from external sources. It includes hiring resources through multiple platforms and recruiting the required talent to cater to the demand.
Hiring through external channels gives you the option to select the most suitable candidate from a whole pool, add fresh minds to your agency, enhance diversity, and discourage the politics of internal hiring.
However, there is increased hiring, recruiting, and training costs, and since there is a whole hiring process going on, this may take a long time to hire and train a single resource.
● Freelancers
Now, Freelancers are also considered as an external channel for hiring on a project basis as they are independent contractors who earn a per-job basis, typically for short-term work. In case of excessive workload and fewer resources available at the agency, freelancers can only be hired for that project.
Best Resource Management Practices During A Project
Resource management is not only in terms of hiring but in project management, also. During an ongoing project, a manager also has to manage the resources at hand and it's always a concern what practices should be followed to manage all the resources during the project.
Here are the best practices to consider for effective resource management during a project:
Resource management is not only in terms of hiring but in project management, also. During an ongoing project, a manager also has to manage the resources at hand and it's always a concern what practices should be followed to manage all the resources during the project.
Here are the best practices to consider for effective resource management during a project:
1. Take time for planning - Build project timelines, track progress, and register time to mark milestones of every task.
2. Get to know about your resource availability - Use a resource management tool to have a clear picture of which resource is available at what time.
3. Set an achievable deadline - Estimate your task timeline and plan the project intelligently and set deadlines everyone can meet.
4. Task allocation - Divide and give tasks to the most suitable resources with relevant skill sets or experience. It is a good practice for everyone to make a to-do list for themselves.
5. Capacity planning - It is essential that everyone in the team maintains a work-life balance instead of spending every day buried in tasks and burning themselves out.
6. Draw task matrices - Co-dependent tasks act as a bottleneck for the next team. Having a clear view of dependent tasks in the matrix would help to spot the reason for the delay.
7. Add resource buffers - Try to have some margins (in terms of extra time & other usable resources) on top of a perfectly scheduled project timeline, just in case.
8. Set priorities - Clear priorities to the team so they can focus better on top-priority tasks and can have slight leniency on other tasks.
9. S.M.A.R.T - Discuss the timeline and goals of the project most efficiently by being SMART.
S - Specific, M - Measurable, A- Attainable, R - Relevant, T - Time Bound.
10. Avoid multitasking - Working on multiple tasks can be overwhelming and can confuse at times.
11. Be flexible about the change - As the project unfolds, employees will most probably be compelled to make certain adjustments to meet the initial timing and budget.
12. Register time - Have a task-based or hourly log to register the completion or progress status of every task. All the updates are to be mentioned there.
13. Automate regular tasks - Some regular and lenient tasks that only waste time. Such tasks must be automated to increase the productivity of the main tasks.
14. Review some habits - Keeping track of how much time you spend on checking emails and other time-wasting habits and managing it effectively would optimize your daily routine.
15. Have quality work done - Instead of doing overtime work and extending hours, it is always preferred to do quality work with all the focus to get maximum efficiency.
While developing strategies for resource management, do not forget to comb through your tasks and see if all of them make a difference in the project. By reducing the unnecessary fuss or scheduling some secondary tasks for later you can save your team a lot of time and get your project ahead of the timetable.