Evaluation of an HR Professional - Coursework Example

Running head: HRM Professional Your name Course name Professors’ name Date Introduction The field of human resources is constantly changing towards supporting managers deliver sustainable organizational capability and performance. This is divergence from the past where managers were expected to manage their people. The CIPD HR Professional Map gives a standard for both HR professionals and HR function such that success is registered. Briefly, the CIPD HR Professional Map is a detailed view of how HR contributes to organizational success now and in the future. It addresses what Human Resource professionals do across HR field. It further expounds on skills, behaviour, and knowledge needed to succeed as a HR professional. CIPD HR Professional Map delivers a flexible framework owing to the fact that HR roles and career path vary. This paper is divided into Assessment activity one and two. Assessment activity one Evaluation of an HR professional In the present society, Human Resource function determines performance of an organization in both the short run and long run period. Through greater specialization, HR professionals would be able to realize organizational performance, which is a wider agenda. In the area of organizational development, businesses often reorganise themselves or develop new ways of doing business consequently putting pressure on HR professionals to bring about change (Ulrich, 1997). The section of employee engagement also requires specialist to analyse data with a view of understanding what really motivates employees. This means that a HR professional must be able to bring change strategies. The capacity to link change to the strategic needs of an organization plays a critical role of minimising employee dissatisfaction and opposition to change. CIPD HR Professional Map gives other eight specialist areas and the requirement to take up such specific function. In the area of strategy, insights, and solutions, a HR professional are required to develop their individual understanding of organizational goals and how the HR function works towards reaching the goals. In order for HR practitioners to be effective, the CIPD HR Professional Map lays out necessary behaviours. Some of these behaviours include curiosity, decisive thinkers, skilled influencer, collaborative, role model, personal credibility, and courage to challenge. There is a belief that banks collapsed during the global financial crisis following inability of HR professionals to challenge the situation at that time. The map outlines that a person exhibiting courage and confidence must be able to speak up and challenge resistance or unfamiliar situations. This is one of the ideals necessary for effective execution of the role of HR professional. At an entry level, a HR professional makes use of questions to explore and appreciate other people’s view. On the other hand, a HR director plays a role of a mirror challenging actions, which are not consistent with values and beliefs of the organization. The four concentric circles of HR professionalism Managing self This revolves around the ability of an HR professional to handle energy, thoughts, feelings, learning, career, in addition to commitment and motivation. Duties of a human resource professional are within the social context of relating with people. It therefore means that a person would always attempt to be on the best behaviour. The concept of managing self is related with the eight behaviours outlined by the CIPD HR Professional Map. These behaviours elaborate on how a HR professional needs to conduct oneself with an aim of realising overall organizational and personal success. A curious individual is active in both internal and external environment. Such an individual continuously develops self and others at both organization and individual levels. It is apparent that curious individual is open in the mind and always willing to learn. Self-management further calls upon a human resource professional to demonstrate aspects of self-drive to deliver. This is where a professional takes accountability for delivery of specific results regardless of situations. Managing groups/teams Diversity in any organization can be utilised to generate returns. This is possible where HR professionals have the right skills to develop teams within the right personalities. People have unique perception of the world, which is pooled together in a team environment. It is important for a professional to note that good and bad traits in a team environment can assist each other and build productive groups. As organizations move towards complexity, HR professions should focus on ensuring that cohesion and cooperation between individuals and groups is developed. Effectiveness of a group or rather teams indicates the possibility of an organization achieving its goals and objectives. In order for a team to be effective, a human resource professional should attempt to describe shared goals and objectives. It entails understanding role of a group within an organization, its duties, and objectives of the group. Additionally, members of a group must demonstrate commitment to achieve those objectives. A human resource professional is also supposed to establish an environment, which allows for individual resource sharing. Managing upwards Effectiveness of a HR professional is determined by the ability to maintain and develop good relationships with both the team and other senior personnel. As a professional in human resources, it is imperative to exert influence upwards i.e. to senior individuals in an organization. The upward influence is meant to compel and deliver necessary human resource policies. Apart from influencing direction, managing upwards plays a critical role of streamlining prospects and cutting down instances of management by interference. To succeed in managing upwards, HR professional needs to understand employees vividly. This entails carrying study of what motivates them, what disheartens them, and scope and expectation of their jobs. The HR professional is also supposed to understand personal strengths and weakness since traits determines overall success as a manager. Some personality traits obstruct formation of constructive relationships while others play a role smoothening path to good relationships. Jay (2002) affirms that after understanding people, the next stage is to build relationships through open and lively communication. Managing across In the present global market, managing across a multicultural scenario can be very difficult. A HR professional is obliged to create conditions that favour a diverse group of individuals. Managing across seeks to understand different orientation of the people in terms of time, communication styles, change tolerance, and motivation. A professional in human resources should be able to negotiate between organizational and individual objectives such that the two parties are satisfied. It is not fair for a professional to disregard employee needs while attempting to meet organizational objectives. There should be a point of balance to avoid worker discontent and subsequent rebellion against an organization. How HR colleagues can work effectively together There are various ways in which HR colleagues can work effectively together and as value adding members of cross-functional teams across the organisation. Colleagues in human resources must define an appropriate communication channel to be used across the organization. Formal and semi-formal meetings held by HR colleagues should be organised in a way to allow different members to take up position of a group leadership (Gallwey, 2002). Relationship among HR individuals is further developed by taking into consideration views aired by all members. The technique of influence, persuasion, and negotiation ought to be fair i.e. cooperation should be obtained by way of willingness. Colleagues in the HR department should be allowed to contribute their opinions without any kind of bias. This is linked with the concept of managing relationships given the different organizational hierarchies. It is vital for a HR professional to device means of settling functional conflicts, stereotypes, and political tensions. Even though disagreements are likely to occur in any business when managing human resources, it is vital to recognize and resole them through a process of discussion. Moreover, recognising boundaries of permission and participating in change programs within an organizational set-up is critical for effectiveness and well functioning of the whole department. The ultimate goal is to build relationships and for personal development. Assessment activity 2 Self-assessment of my capabilities as an HR Professional The intense research carried out by the CIPD gave birth to an outline of what a great HR should look like and what he or she should do to succeed in delivering sustainable organizational performance. As aforementioned in this literature, CIPD Professional Map was initiated by HR Practitioners to be used by their own professionals. This map, in addition to qualifications, membership, and resources within the CIPD, furnishes an individual with knowledge, skills, and other necessary assets for successful execution of HR professional duties. As a professional in HR, I have five key capabilities, which serve the purpose of improving my contribution to any business organization. These capabilities include analytical skills, business intelligence, consulting skills, and the capacity to share knowledge in the whole organization. The analytical skills would enable me to develop recommendations based on well-researched evidence. Analytical skills are required for a vivid understanding of how data flows through various HR systems. My second skill is the business intelligence skill that demands an understanding of strategies and operation within a business unit. As a policy maker, one needs to have sufficient information on industrial dynamics. Apart from day to day operation of the business, business acumen calls for a profound comprehension of customer and partner needs to know how decisions regarding human capital affect organizational stakeholders. To serve as advisors to a business on issues concerning human capital, my consulting skills will come in handy. This skill would enable me to build trusting relationships with senior executives, deduce problems within an organization, and create action plans. The skill is also essential in delivering difficult messages to senior personnel regardless of message popularity. In the context of driving organizational change, I am able to plead for and commence participation from employees within different business units in an effort to support change initiatives. Development areas In a bid to progress professionally, a number of development areas needs to be addressed. One of them, which have been highlighted by CIPD Professional Map, is learning and talent development. This is possible by participating in coaching, workshops and conferences, general training program, and assignments. It is apparent that HR professionals often improve their capabilities through a series of challenging assignments. Coursework at the university level normally integrate external and professional conferences as part of training HR Professionals. This exercise is fundamental for a person seeking to excel in handling human capital and improve business intelligence in addition to analytical skills. I also want to shape my ability in leading and managing human resources function. This is described by a strong sense of operational excellence and clear understanding of organizational requirements. The activity that leads to cultivation of the art of leading and managing human resources is team-building activity. One advantage of team building is that people get a chance of assessing their own effectiveness and strengths. It also helps people improve problem-solving skills. It is the objective of this development area to ensure that human resources are fully engaged, work together, and possess knowledge of the organization. Notwithstanding aforementioned advantages of teambuilding, some members in team are free riders. The task of measuring individual role in a team is also hard. The third area to be addressed is self-appraisal where I wish to respond to a series of questions in relation to performance in a specific period. The essence of self-evaluation is to bridge the gap between senior management personnel and an employee since evaluation process takes the form of a meeting. This self-evaluation strategy is advantageous given that I will review my goals, assess progress, and spend more time examining my job and career path. During self-evaluation meeting, I will be able to discuss with my senior issues concerning quality and quantity of work accomplished, my strategy to enhance performance and self-improvement, and ultimate business goals. On the contrary, this approach of assessing individual’s professional development progress has a disadvantage of low ratings thus self-demeaning. It therefore kills self-confidence and eventual professional development. CPD You can provide evidence of your CPD by completing the following questions. Part 1 Reflecting back Q1 What do you consider were the three most important things (planned or unplanned) that you learned last year? Please also briefly describe how they were learned? 1 1. Knowledge management – This is possible by taking part in various workshops, educational trips, team-building activities where knowledge is disseminated. I had taken the initiative of implementing knowledge dissemination by use of information technology. 2. Team building – I learnt that knowledge can also be acquired from other people and subsequently distributed in a team building exercise. Through team building, I have been able to learn differences existing between people and why they behave differently. 3. Coaching assists employees in a personalised manner. In my organization, different employees were allocated experienced personnel who would train and shape his or her professional knowledge. The effect of this activity is that employees gained more confidences in their area of duty. 2 3 Q2 Please summarise the value you’ve added to your organisation/clients/customers over the last 12 months through your professional development? I cultivated the capacity to create employee mentorship program where each employee was assigned a supervisor and respective reporting officer. Employees were able to realise that their seniors were vital assets in their professional development path. Employees learnt that being corrected by a supervisor or senior person is not an aspect of scolding or rebuke but is a learning exercise. The other value added into my organization is an understanding of the needs of leadership program following an extensive consultation with various business functions. Q3 What have been the tangible outcomes of your professional development over the last 12 months and what aspects of your work have changed as a result? Please give a brief explanation of why you’ve chosen to comment on these specific activities? One outcome is the creation of a program to manage professional development of individuals from entry to leadership level. This concerns organizations that collaborate with academic institution to offer attachment to graduates who want a practical knowledge of leadership. The effect of the program is that people started to have an enlighten view of leadership. I led the formation of an exchange program between my company and sister companies. The original intent of the exchange program was to discover what could be done as partners to reduce cost while increasing productivity of workers. By establish common needs of sister companies, various resources were shared, and it amounted to cost cuts. Q4 Who else has gained from your professional development and how? Finance members: The team building exercise led to a thorough examination of personality traits and differences in approaches to work. In the end, employees tabled and resolved issues that had affected their performance at work. Employees were able to value the benefit of teamwork since they learnt from each other. Now, work efficiency has improved with assignment completed in time. Part 2 Moving forward Q1 How do you identify your learning and professional development needs? 1. Self appraisal where I assess my progress 2. Consulting my coach on the level of my work efficiency. 3. Course program where examination helps me to assess my professional development needs. Q2 What are the three main areas or topics you wish to develop in the next 12 months and how will you achieve these? 1 1. Performance and reward – first I will assess the present employee reward system. I will then build a program that recognises critical skills acquired by an employee, capabilities, performance experience, and equitable reward system. 2. Resourcing and talent planning – I will collaborates with other departments within the organization to formulate a program that facilitates employment of people that creates competitive advantage. My goal is to balance resources to meet changing needs of an organization both in the short and run period. 3. Service delivery and information – I will achieve this by maximising technology and focusing on how information and intelligence is managed across all levels in organization including managers, staff, and supervisors. 4. Improve coaching ability- this is possible by attending training program on best practices. On a frequent occasion, I coach people on team management development of confidence. I have a dream of elevating my own coaching and to subsequently disseminate it to the whole organization. 2 3 Q3 What are the key differences that you plan to make to your role/organisation/clients/customers in the next 12 months? In the present globalised world, organization is now very diverse. I therefore want to understand people more with a view of meeting both organizational and individual demand. I can do this by improving team-building activities and coaching lessons. Q4 When will you next review your professional development needs? I review my professional development needs every three months. The time interval allows for execution of my plans. Development record NAME: MEMBERSHIP NUMBER: COVERING THE PERIOD FROM: July TO: September This record sheet is for your guidance only – you may present your development record in any other format. Key dates What did you do? Why? What did you learn from this? How have/will you use this? Any further action? July I analysed needs of employees within my organization. I wanted to establish root cause of employee discontent I learnt employees demand higher pay with rising inflation This information is vital for my future review of employee benefits, which should take note of world currency. August I participated in budget analysis meeting I wanted t know how organizational employee emoluments affects organizational budgets High salary allocations affects negatively investments needs of an organization I will communicate with fellow employees on the possibility of salary increment if and only if productivity or output increases September I negotiated with recruitment firms on terms and conditions since they are preferred suppliers This is my attempt to improve their efficiency The process of negotiation takes a lot of time but is worth since the outcome is beneficial Future negotiations will be based on the present negotiations. Development plan NAME: MEMBERSHIP NUMBER: COVERING THE PERIOD FROM: TO: This record sheet is for your guidance only – you may present your development plan in any other format. Planned outcome Where do I want to be by the end of this period? What do I want to be doing? (This may be evolutionary or “more of the same”.) What do I want/need to learn? What will I do to achieve this? What resources or support will I need? What will my success criteria be? Target dates for review and completion I need to improve my PowerPoint Presentation skills and also the use of information technology Attend a course at one of recognised IT training institute Time, money, a computer, and dedication Becoming efficient in presenting through PPT December Know dynamics in the industry especially given the present Globalization Attend business workshops and seminars Time, market information Achieve high standards of business intelligence/acumen November Refresh my knowledge on employment law I will attend updates offered by the CIPD Time Well versed with present employment law October/November Conclusion This paper began by giving an integral study of a HR Professional with respect to CIPD HR Profession Map. It then proceeded with an analysis of the four concentric circles of HR Professionalism. Thereafter, ways in which HR colleagues can work effectively were given necessary attention. The second part of this paper is assessment activity two, which tackled four distinct areas within Continuing Professional Development, CPD. Reference List Gallwey, W.T., 2002. The inner game of work. London: Texere. Jay, R., 2002. How to Manage Your Boss: Developing the Perfect Working Relationship. London: Prentice Hall Ulrich, D., Michael, R. L., and Gerry.L., 1997. “Tomorrow’s HR Management”. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Read More