Human Resource Practices Development Team

Executive Summary

This final report summarizes the work of Human Resource Practices Design (HRPD) Team during the period June through September 1996, which was further refined during subsequent discussions about the team's recommendations at three levels: the Reengineering Steering Committee (10/8/96), the Academic Council (12/17/96); and School Councils (February through March 1997). The team was chartered in the spring of 1996 to define human resource practices to support the changing needs of MIT and its workforce.

In 1996, through a process of education, research and evaluation, and interaction with approximately 10% of the MIT's campus-based staff at all levels, the team found that:

• Current human resource practices (1996) no longer align with the Institute's changing environment
• Performance assessment, classification, and compensation systems don't accommodate new ways of working
• In the absence of integrated technology, simple transactions require too many steps by too many people engaged in repetitive work
• Members of the community will support human resource practices that provide clarity for employees, support career development, reward and recognize high performance
• Employees observe unevenness in accountability and want more consistency
• Employees are willing to work in new ways, but they expect MIT to provide basic training
• Human resource practices must be designed in such a way to meet the diverse needs of the different constituencies
• Though important, dollars aren't the only currency of interest
• There's an interest in greater control at the local level, e.g., in rewarding outstanding performance.

In discussions with school councils, there was concurrence that assessing and adjusting human resource practices to support the academic and research programs more efficiently and effectively makes sense. Senior faculty and administration cautioned, however:

• Don't assume that everyone will be working in teams in the future
• Understand that technology is a tool, not a replacement for human interaction
• Understand the different cultures in effect in academic and administrative areas
• Not everything need be done centrally; greater flexibility (e.g. in hiring, setting salaries) at the local level is desirable.

The team believes that the eight broad recommendations for human resource practices respond to the issues raised on all fronts at MIT: (1) incorporate new ways of work; (2) rethink job design and classification; (3) simplify hiring and transfer processes; (4) devise a different compensation structure; (5) develop a rewards and recognition program; (6) expand performance planning and assessment; (7) provide more training and development; and (8) evolve a strategic planning process.

Key components of the project plan for going forward are:

• A core team, acting as a de facto research arm of the Personnel Department, will further define, test, and refine proposed practices, with the sponsorship of Institute leadership.
• The team will collaborate with a variety of areas (both academic and administrative) in the definition, testing and refinement of practices.
• Using new technology to integrate human resource practices will be critical for success.

The team believes MIT will be best served through implementation of a system of interrelated human resource practices. However, everything cannot happen at once. Therefore, the team, in consultation with its sponsor, will set priorities for the next phase of work on the basis of urgency of need, feasibility, and co-dependencies among practices.

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