Farewell, Job Title. Hello, Agglomeration of Skills by Blue - Article Example

Course Code: HRM517 Student Names and ID's: Class: Unit: Introduction The article, Farewell, job title. Hello, agglomeration of skills, by Blue, (2016), https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/06/the-benefits-of-looking-beyond-job-titles focuses on the innovation occurring at unprecedented rates which has led to changes in the employers’ needs. It looks at the way in which job titles are losing relevance and skills sets gaining prominence. According to the article, the best way to measure workforce supply and demand is through analysing the workers skills and the needed skills for the open jobs. The article helps a lot in understanding how the field of human resource management is changing (Blue, 2016). According to Dychtwald, Erickson and Morison, (2006), recruitment is a major role of the human resource management. The role cannot be a success without having adequate talent pool. At the moment, the HR function of recruitment has been facing shortage of skilled employees. The focus is to help in ensuring that the talent pool is broaden and workers who would be left behind by fourth industrial revolution do not become unemployed. Concepts/ issues being studied The article points out at the innovation which is occurring at unprecedented rate. This has led to the employers to have their needs shifted in a rapid manner. It points out at the existing situation where the education system has been force to keep in pace to address the existing gap between the skills needed by the industry and skills workers have. With the current change, it is still common to see workforce supply and demand being measured in an archaic manner. This is through supply and demand of job titles instead of skills. according to Guinn (2000), this approach is wrong since job titles can be used to imply to different things based on industry and geographies. The article points out that job titles are an agglomeration of skills. Thus, the best way to measure workforce supply and demand would be through skills and skills that are required for a given job (Blue, 2016). Employers should look beyond the job titles and focus on skills when looking for the best candidate. When the employer looks beyond the job titles into the skills, they are able to identify a larger pool of potential recruits. Human resource department is expected to follow the trend by focusing more on the skill set rather than on the job titles. For example, a look in the LinkedIn members’ skills set shows that the potential number of qualified employees can be increased if the focus is more on the skills rather than on job titles. This is due to fact that with the skills set required, one can learn the additional skills required quickly if adopted in a different job title (Blue, 2016). This not only broaden the talent pool but it also help in preventing workers who would be left unemployable by the fourth industrial revolution becoming jobless (Schwab, 2017). Eliminating the job titles and focusing on the skills is a way to create opportunity for every member of the global workforce (Blue, 2016). Based on the article, this is an area in which the future workforce should focus on. Why the issue's important Human resource is the most important asset in an organisation. It is a resource in which an organisation is able to gain a competitive advantage in the market since it is inimitable. According to Reynolds and Reynolds (2014), the human resource department has a major role to ensure that the human resource is well taken care of and the available pool of talent is adequate. The failure of traditional human resource planning whose main focus is on job titles has led to a shrinking talent pool. This topic focuses on how to expand the talent tool by looking beyond the titles and focusing on skills. Beechler and Woodward (2009) assert that finding talented employees is the key to organisation success. It is important to note that talent pool can be increased through analysing the available talent. According to Stahl et al., (2007), as the companies expand globally, there is a need to look at talent acquisition in a global context. In this case, the job titles may vary from one country to another. Recognising skills helps a lot in ensuring that the drying talent pool is expanded (Guinn, 2000). There is needed to look for talent which can help the organisations to perform well in the global sphere without being confined to career titles. Having a well-developed talent pool is required for the success of organisation. Despite the fact that there is swift change from the job titles to skills, the labour market continues measuring workforce supply in out-dated manner. This makes it important to look at the need to move from talent to skills (Reiter-Palmon et al., 2006). Moreover, it is important to understand that job titles are an amalgamation of skills and can mean different things in varying environment. Through focusing on this issue, it is possible to have an adequate way to measure supply and demand of workers in an appropriate manner (Blue, 2016). When the focus is on the skills rather than titles, it is important look whether this move can address the current shortage. There are countries who are complaining of low supply of qualified workers (Reynolds & Reynolds, 2014). Through focusing on skills rather than titles, it is possible to reduce the gap. The issue on the job titles versus skills in the modern workforce and hiring is very critical. This is in the face of the current talent shortage and underutilisation of skills due to job title limitation. The focus helps a lot in determining how reskilling and up-skilling the current workforce can help in addressing the talent shortage being faced (Dychtwald, Erickson & Morison, 2006). At the moment, it is hard for most of the global workforce to keep up with the shifts in skills required for the jobs based on the fourth industrial revolution (Gray, 2016). Despite this, there is availability of data on labour supply and demand which is vital for the policy makers, educators, employers and the workforce. Based on Dowling (2008), this can help them to react and make appropriate changes based on skills in demand and enhance economic opportunity globally. With the current revolution in the job industry, it is likely that companies will increase their focus on the skills set and not job titles. This has been common in various fields where employers are keen on the skills rather than title for the candidate during the recruitment. Moreover, skills are transferable and hence it is possible to train those with relevant skills but no job titles (Guinn, 2000). The main aim is to have competency based workforce. Most of the HR programs are designed to look at the jobs and not the skills with their workers. The recruitment, selection and succession had been previously based on the jobs titles rather than the competencies and skills that are required in an organisation. According to Schwab (2017), this is bound to change with the new approach based on the fourth industrial revolution. The HR programs are now being designed with the main focus on the skills and less on people titles. Use of formalised job titles has also been associated with bureaucracy. This is where everyone looks at the bureaucracy of the formalised job structure. Use of titles also leads to unnecessary hierarchies and layers making it hard to communicate. This may also contribute to the main focus being on skills rather than the titles. The issue is also vital due to fact that it leads to maximised performance for the individuals involved. When the focus is on the employees’ skills rather than their titles, it is possible to have workers who are better suited for their tasks (Blue, 2016). Skilled workers perform better and help an organisation to attain its set goals. Job titles are very general and in most cases do not necessarily say much about the candidate experience or qualifications. This is what makes the human resource concerned on hiring based on titles only. When the business focus only on job titles when hiring, they make the talent pool small and may end up having workers gap. For the organisations who are suffering from the lack of necessary talent and skills in their talent pool, focus on skills rather than job titles acts as the way forward. This can also help a lot on cost saving in the human resource department. This is due to fact that the costs of training new employees on skills and reskilling that goes with new hires is reduced when the focus is on skills. This can all be fixed by focusing more on the skills and ensuring that the new hires are capable of quickly learning. This is an important approach where potential recruits are not judged by their titles but on what they can do (Lépolard, 2016). When the focus is on the job titles rather than the skill set, there is a fear that some of the workers will be left unemployed due to the fourth industrial revolution. This is due to fact that some of the job titles will become redundant and eliminated in future (Davies, Fidler & Gorbis, 2011). These are pool of workers whose skills can be used elsewhere if job titles are not considered. The focus on this group skills ensures that the talent pool is not compromised by the trends and those organisations are able to gain access to more skills. Thus, the issue of focusing on the skills rather than job titles ensures that everyone is given an opportunity. At the moment, there is skill shortage where employers are finding it hard to fill positions in their organisations. This is despite the fact that the level of unemployment remains high in most of the countries. According to Reynolds and Reynolds (2014), securing individuals with the high in demand talents have proved to be a daunting task for most of the employers. While the main cause of talent shortage has been associated with the lack of available talent, it may also be due to more focus being on job titles. The inability to fill key positions may be due to fact that most of the employers’ main focus is on titles rather than what the candidate has to offer in terms of skills. As given in the example, it is possible for a candidate to lack the appropriate job title but have the right skills and knowledge required. This will reduce the risk being evidenced in organisations due to lack of adequate talents. In countries such as UAE, the economic growth experienced over the past decade has not coincided with the growth in human resources. This raises concerns on the ability to have future sustainable growth. There is inadequacy in skilled labour which has led to overreliance on the expatriate skills. The approach of matching skills to the available job opening might help this situation and reduce overreliance on the expatriates. While some mismatches are inevitable, it is possible to reduce them. It is important to note that lack of adequate talent pool is costly for the organisation, workers and the society at large. Although most of the employers still complain of difficulties in finding the right skills, these difficulties could be in part associated with the poor recruitment policies. The current generation of works are more digitally inclined and may work best where the traditional models of job titles are eliminated. This is despite the fact that changes in technologies and generations have not led to changes in way people looks at the careers. While the previous generations were obsessed with their job titles, this is bound to change with the current generations. Thus, the focus on the issue of job skills and titles is the right move in time where focus should be on talents over titles (Blue, 2016). With the increasing pace of technology, disrupting technologies may make the labour market redundant. It is important to note that lack of focus on the skills will lead to more people becoming redundant. Recommendations and implications from the perspectives and how they can be fitted to UAE culture and environment With the high reliance on the expatriates, it would be advisable for UAE to enhance their global talent pool (Ali, 2011). This is through ensuring that they look more at the skills of the expatriates rather than their job titles. This is a major way in which the country can optimise their talent pool (Farndale, Scullion & Sparrow, 2010). The method also makes it possible to effectively recruit and retain employees while ensuring a competitive advantage. While dealing with talent scarcity, the main focus should be on skills. The organisation may focus more on the talent identification based on skills. According to Dowling (2008), the outcome will be a better talent pool which who have a higher leadership. Stahl et al., (2007) asserts that effective recruitment will only be attained through having the right and skilled candidate for the job whether locally or globally. The HR departments in the country must be ready to adopt a skill based approach in global talent (Dowling, 2008). Ali (2011) argues that labour shortage continues being a major problem in the current UAE culture and environment as the economy continues growing. This is with the local population being choosy on where to work and lack of adequate talent pool from the nationals. It has been argued that most of the UAE nationals prefer to work in the government than the private sector (Raven, 2011). Thus, it is recommendable for the private sector to use skills rather than job titles in looking for the new employees. This can only be possible if the human resource department can change its recruitment policies. This is due to fact that private sector is at a disadvantage in the national labour market. A search of skills in the labour market shows that it can increase the talent pool compared to use of job titles. With the current labour shortage and reduction in organisations talent pool in UAE and globally, there is a need to change the approach. There is need for the organisations to reduce their focus on job titles and focus more on the candidates’ skills. This has been proved by the look at the LinkedIn profiles where job titles can limit the talent pool. It is through going beyond the job titles that UAE can address the talent pool shortage. Ali (2011) asserts that lack of qualified national labour is a major challenge as the country tries to increase national workers. Adopting a skill based approach might help a lot in providing jobs to the locals who wants to work in private sector. It is important to note that the level of unemployment in UAE is not caused due to lack of jobs but lack of skills required for the jobs. Moreover, most of the unemployed prefers to work in the public sector due to high pay and job security. This is a trend that can be partially addressed by employing people based on skills. Despite this, the private sector has to undertake reforms that ensure they have better working conditions and job security. UAE human resource department should realise that focusing much on the job titles limits the role of their employees in only certain areas of responsibility. This is when in reality their skills would have been used in a greater scope. The organisations are suffering from shortage of labour while they continue limiting their employees through use of job titles. As the economy grows, it is expected that most of the organisations will continue with overreliance on the expatriates. This should be addressed through an increase in the focus of skills rather than titles (Blue, 2016). At the moment, it is expected that employees are more digitally aware than their predecessors. This is a trend that will continue being more evident in fast growing economies such as UAE. Despite the fact that most of the traditional job titles lack the digital prefix, it is important to note that some of these workers might have the relevant digital skills. The sole focus on their titles might be misleading and may lead to human resource department missing out on the right talent. There has been a major concern on the UAE education system where education focus more on the job titles rather than skills. There is need for actions that will reduce the existing gap between the knowledge gained through the education system and the skills needed in the job market. According to Muysken and Nour, (2006), there is need for stakeholders’ collaboration to enhance the education system and make sure that it focuses more on the skills development rather than job titles. This may require a complete overhaul of the current approach to ensure that students are trained the relevant skills which will fit the labour market. Jobs can only be performed by those who have skills. According to Gray (2016), employers should stop overreliance on the job titles when hiring to avoid workers being left behind in the fourth industrial revolution. As the UAE government works hard to increase the number of locals in the workplace, their efforts can be enhanced through looking beyond the job titles. Some of the UAE nationals looking for jobs lack required job titles and in some cases they have the skills. Moreover, they are expected to compete with the nationals from other countries globally (Pennington, 2015). With this environment, it is important to look more at the skills of the nationals rather than their career titles. In careers which face challenges due to the changing trends, human resource department should be ready to adopt those with the relevant skills. It is recommendable to adopt locals with relevant skills into job industry to increase the number of UAE nationals in the workforce (Raven, 2011). In a country where culture emphasises on job titles rather than skills, there is a risk of a group being left behind in the fourth industrial revolution. This will ensures that the country does not continue increasing the talent gap that is evidenced today due to jobs becoming obsolete. Job titles in a growing economy such as UAE runs the risk of becoming irrelevant. This should be the best time for UAE human resource to engage more in talent search through skills identification rather than use of job titles. Based on UAE culture, there is high level of bureaucracy. Despite the fact that it may be hard to eliminate bureaucracy based on the country culture and environment, it is possible to reduce it through emphasizing on skills. Job titles leads to a long structure and bureaucracy in a formal job structure. The job titles are creating unnecessary hierarchies and layers which can be eliminated through the use of skills rather than the job titles. This is due to fact that having complex bureaucracy leads to communication challenges and waste of resources and time (Guinn, 2000). Moreover, unnecessary hierarchies are wasteful and inconsistent in creating a high performance workforce. With time, most of the job titles become rigid and obsolete. It is important to have agile and flexible employees who are ready to learn new skills and develop what they have. This ensures that they are not left obsolete due to market changes. When the employees are selected based on their skills, they are able to go beyond their job descriptions in their performance. It is recommendable that the human resource department to move against the tide where the current focus is on job titles rather than the skills (World Economic Forum, 2016). Through embarking on this change, it will be possible for the organisation to gain satisfactory results. It is time that the UAE labour market focuses on their policies. The labour policies have to be amended to focus more on the building of the human capital on the unemployed (Blue, 2016). The main aim should be to enhance skills through a learning program. According to Pennington (2015), this is through retraining those with poor skills or low qualifications to fit the labour market. The current polices based on the UAE context focuses on the work first approach based on job titles. This can significantly improve the number of workers based on skills that are required in their workplace. The reduction of skills mismatch has a lasting impact on the workplace and economies. There is need for competency based HR programs. This is where the employees will be paid based on skills and competencies rather than jobs. The competencies and those with them should be centre of the HR programs. This may require paying and employing workers based on what they know rather than their job titles. Dowling (2008) asserts that most of the current HR programs are designed to focus on the jobs rather than the skills. Moreover, recruitment and selection in most cases is based on filling jobs instead of looking for the best talent with the skills that are required by the organisation (Beechler & Woodward, 2009). With the current level of competition both locally and globally, it is important to have people who are capable of working instead of job titles which can be misleading (Lépolard, 2016). Conclusion To sum up, the article has focused on the importance of focusing on skills rather than job titles. In fact, the current focus for modern organisations is on talent and skills as job titles continue to lose relevancy. focusing on skills helps a lot in enhancing the talent pool and ensuring that no one is left unemployable due to fourth industrial revolution. Based on the article, it is clear that a focus on skills can help a lot in expanding the current talent pool. 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