Enhancing the Productivity and Profitability of the Organisation through Enhancing Employee Output - Assignment Example

Student Name: Instructor’s Name: Class Name: Date of Submission: Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 1.0.Description of the Program 1 2.0.Program Objectives 2 3.0.How the program may benefit employees and the organisation 5 4.0.HRD practices to be used and a rationale (justification) for their use based on HRD theory 6 4.1.Employee Training and Development 7 4.2.Employee Motivation 8 4.3.Employee Empowerment 9 5.0.Evaluation of HRD Program 10 5.1. Evaluation Schedule 11 Works Cited 13 HRD development program 1.0. Description of the Program In a contemporary world where the level of competition is rising dramatically, there is need for companies to undertake Human Resource Development in order to achieve a competitive edge (Busine and Watt 226). This HRD development program aims at achieving competitive advantage through enhancing learning and development, motivation and employee empowerment within the organization. The program is highly essential in enhancing employee capabilities, skills and knowledge; which in turn drive up the level of productivity and profitability within the firm. This program stresses the importance of enhancing the capability of employees through training and development, motivation and empowerment in order to promote their involvement in the company’s success. Training and development will be done through enrolling employees in various courses as well as conducting seminars. Motivation on the other hand will be achieved through monetary and non-monetary incentives to promote employee dedication. Finally, empowerment will be achieved through increased involvement of employees in decision making in the organization. The program banks on employee potential that often goes unutilised within the firm and therefore seeks to unleash this potential so as to ensure that the company benefits optimally from this potential while enhancing employees’ career growth. Sustainable success of this HRD program is expected within a period of 1½ years. Optimal success however can only be achieved from the second year because it is during this time that all the necessary plans in the program will have been put in place. 2.0. Program Objectives This project seeks to enhance the productivity and profitability of the organisation through enhancing employee output. The main objective is to empower employees through increased knowledge, work drive and involvement; such that they are in a position to deliver according to the expectations of the organisation. The program works through training and development, employee motivation and employee empowerment to promote the productivity of employees in the organization. More specific objectives of the HRD development program include the following: To equip employees with education and intellectual knowledge aimed at promoting their career development and professional capabilities through training and development. This is an achievement that will not only promote employee productivity but which will also play an imperative role in enhancing employee dedication towards the organisation’s success. Training and development will therefore serve the purpose of empowering both the employees and the organisation. To enhance increased employee commitment and productivity through motivation. This objective is based on the fact that motivation resulting from monetary and nonmonetary incentives often result in increased employee performance due to an increased sense of belonging (Sonnentag 86). The program aims at ensuring that the employees feel appreciated through rewarding them with financial incentives and other non-tangible incentives. To provide empowerment to employees through increased involvement in decision making. This aims at ensuring that their potential is well utilised and that productivity is enhanced within the organisation. It is also important to note that empowerment is a form of motivation that plays the role of making employees feel appreciated and thus promotes their dedication towards achieving the organisation’s objectives. It also enhances the relationship between the employees and managers, thus creating a good working environment. Chances of employee turnover are therefore decreased significantly. To promote sustainable relationships between the organisation and employees through enhancing employee involvement and through motivation. It can be established that through increased involvement and motivation, good relations are likely to be created within the organisation. To enhance employee satisfaction and thus enhance dedication in meeting the organisation’s objectives. Through training and development, motivation and empowerment, the organisation will be making employees feel appreciated in the organisation and thus increase satisfaction levels. To promote employee loyalty and reduce turnover. This program presumes that with the HRD activities included in this program, it will be possible to promote employee satisfaction and thus improve their commitment to the organisation’s success. Employee satisfaction will also reduce staff turnover because employees are assured that the organisation cares about their welfare. To enhance profitability of the organisation; thus creating competitive advantage through utilising employee potential and capability. Research indicates that many organisations often fail to utilise the full potential of employees either due to their inability to promote the use of this potential or as a result of being unable to identify potential in the employees (D’Netto, Fotini and Prashant 8). Through training and development, motivation and empowerment, the organisation will be in a position to catalyse the capabilities in employees and thus enhance their performance in the organisation. Increased productivity on the other hand will result in increased profitability for the organisation. 3.0. How the program may benefit employees and the organisation This HRD program will provide highly valuable benefit to the employees as well as the organization. To begin with, the training is expected to provide highly valuable skills that the employees can use in developing their career further. Further, the training will act as a basis in their eligibility for promotion within the organization and also help them in the self-actualization process. Beynon (119) notes that through participating in training, employees gain skills and knowledge that help them to become more confident in their work because they are assured of getting valuable results. Accordingly, they are more likely to participate in complex projects and decision making; thus promoting their professional credibility. Given that this HRD development program includes motivation, it can be established that employees stand to gain significantly through incentives; both monetary and non-monetary if they portray their ability to deliver efficiently. As a result, employees are likely to exert more effort at work in order to benefit from the incentives, thus increasing their skills and proficiency (Beynon 120). This would increase their chances of promotion significantly. Lastly, employee empowerment that will result from increased involvement in decision making is expected to improve employee performance, managerial skills and confidence. This is because with increased autonomy, the employee is bound to have increased responsibility and job expectations such that increased commitment to work will be necessary to enhance success. Such commitment will play a major role in enhancing managerial skills and confidence in decision making. The HRD program is in essence developed to enhance the efficiency of the company; though the development is actually performed on the employees. This is because the employees are responsible for conducting all the activities in the organization and are basically the ones who run the organization (Sonnentag 69). Accordingly, the development of employee knowledge and skills will be of great significance to the company, which is expected to translate into increased efficiency. Further, it is expected that with increased knowledge and skills among the employees, the level of creativity and innovativeness is likely to rise and this will lead to increased productivity in the company. The HRD program is bound to unleash new potential within the organisation; a factor that is expected to promote efficiency and increased productivity. Through training and development and increased employee involvement in decision making, the organisation is expected to help employees in realising their potential and thus make use of previously unutilised skills and knowledge (D’Netto, Fotini and Prashant 8). This will not only increase productivity but it will also reduce the need for the organisation to hire employees with desired skills. It is notable that employees are expected to become more committed to the organisation if they continually participate in Human Resource Development. This is because HRD tends to improve the relationship between the organisation and the employees and also makes them to have a sense of belonging; knowing that their employer cares about their development. The result of this is increased commitment and consequent reduction in employee turnover. 4.0. HRD practices to be used and a rationale (justification) for their use based on HRD theory 4.1. Employee Training and Development The first HRD practice to be used in the program is employee training and development. This is a practice that concerns helping employees in getting additional knowledge and skills in areas that are expected to improve their careers. Training and development with an aim of enhancing the level of talent within the company; thereby leading to increased efficiency and productivity (Beynon 121-122). The use of training and development as a HRD practice can be justified in that it will empower employees to deliver more for the organization and therefore increase the organization’s productivity. In essence, learning and development helps in the development of human resources and helps employees to achieve personal growth; which in turn translates into increased motivation and productivity (D’Netto, Fotini and Prashant 5, 8). Secondly, training and development will ensure that the company benefits through optimum utilization of the human resources available within the firm, given that knowledge and capabilities play an imperative role in the organisation’s development (Busine and Watt 231). This is because training and development plays the role of unleashing hidden employee potential through providing enhanced knowledge and skills to catalyze this potential. Thirdly, training plays a significant role in enhancing motivation or morale in the organization which in turn translates into increased productivity and profitability. According to Haasan and Shea (166), employees tend to feel appreciated when their employers are concerned about their career growth and this therefore motivates them to work harder and dedicate more energy towards the success of the firm. The fourth rationale as identified by D’Netto, Fotini and Prashant (5) is that training and developed helps to enhance organizational development and increases profitability. This is achieved through enhanced decision making capabilities and elevated problem solving skills among employees. 4.2. Employee Motivation The second HRD practice to be used in this program is the use of employee motivation. This will be achieved through financial incentives and other reward schemes aimed at increasing productivity among employees. Motivation tactics will also involve non-tangible rewards such as praise, promotion and increased decision making autonomy. The use of employee motivation can be justified by the expected level of productivity and the consequent profitability that would be recorded at the company (Thomas 133). Motivation works through making employees feel more appreciated; such that they tend to be more dedicated to the achievement of the organization’s goals (Sonnentag 86). Employee motivation is increasingly being used in organizations as a strategy for enhancing growth through encouraging employees to harder. The incentive theory proposes that a reward, whether intangible or tangible should be given upon the occurrence of a certain preferred behaviour in order to encourage a repeat of the same (Ortiz and Mitchell 32). This is a means of associating positive meaning and behaviour. With time and as the reward continues to be administered, the action becomes a behaviour and it is therefore ingrained in one’s life. In this theory, the reward at hand attracts the person towards it as opposed to other theories where the need for something attracts an individual towards the motivation (Ortiz and Mitchell 32-33). The theory of motivation is further explained by Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory. Vroom notes that an individual is likely to act in a particular way based on the motivation associated with selection of certain behaviour (Oliver 243-244). In this respect, a desirable outcome is expected to trigger action. It is theorized that motivation is a key factor in enhancing employee satisfaction and therefore it is imperative for any organization to ensure that employee motivation is placed at the centre of the HRD program (Thomas 133). In this relation, employees are expected to be more loyal to their employers and therefore perform better towards the achievement of organizational objectives. Sonnentag (86) argues that employee motivation helps in building sustainable relationships with employees. This leads to increased cooperation and stability, reduction of industrial unrest, easier adaptation to change among employees and the existence of a sound interaction of individual and organizational interests (Haasen and Shea 170). Through increased motivation, organizations are expected to achieve higher productivity and profitability because employees are likely to work harder to meet the objectives of the company and thus receive the various incentives. It must be noted that financial incentives do not necessarily lead to motivation and that a combination of factors including effective employee relations must be considered (Finkler et al 308). To summarize, employee motivation is expected to improve efficiency and stability in the workforce; leading to a more productive and profitable organisation. Finkler et al (306) note that it is possible to ensure full utilization of the human resources through the employee motivation strategy. 4.3. Employee Empowerment The final HRD practice to be applied in this program will be empowerment and decentralisation of decision making. This is a factor under motivation and which works well in enhancing productivity within the organization. Empowerment and decentralization in decision making refers to a situation in which employees are given increased autonomy to make decisions on behalf of the company without necessarily seeking approval from their managers (Potterfield 101). It is notable that in contemporary organizations, it is important for the management to empower employees because it helps in making use of employee potential (Kleiman 107). Arguably, a significant level of knowledge and capabilities exist among employees but these often go unutilized due to the fact that they are not allowed autonomy in decision making. The fact that they tend to take directions from the management tends to limit their capabilities and this denies the company the potential to grow. Accordingly, decentralization of decision making has the effect of unleashing the potential in employees while giving them an opportunity to utilize their knowledge and skills to the benefit of the company (Potterfield 101-102). Furthermore, such decentralization helps employees to build their capabilities and thus enhance their career development. Increased employee involvement in decision making helps in making employees feel more appreciated; such that they are expected to be more productive and loyal to the company (Kleiman 134). Consequently, the rate of employee turnover is reduced significantly while the company’s productivity is enhanced. 5.0. Evaluation of HRD Program This HRD development program is expected to last for at least 2 years and take a maximum of 3 years to achieve desired results. During this time, it will be highly imperative to monitor the program in order to ensure that the objectives set out herein are achieved. In the short-term, the impact of the program in the organization will be evaluated every three months for the first 1½ years. The period will then be increased to 6 months and this will continue until the 3rd year. The evaluation program will explore: Changes resulting from the implementation of these HRD practices on Employees The organization Impact on the productivity and profitability of the organization over the period of implementation Challenges encountered during the implementation of the program Resources and other measures required to correct any mistakes that may have occurred during the implementation of the program. The evaluation of the HRD development program will be conducted using the plan provided below. In each evaluation period, the factors to be evaluated will be listed. 5.1. Evaluation Schedule Period Objectives of evaluation HRD Practice Training and Development Motivation Empowerment Month 1-3 Establish whether plans to start training and development are in place Determine whether employees to be involved are selected and which programs they will undertake Determine the motivation tools identified for use among different departments Establish what limits have been set in enhancing motivation and increased responsibility that employees will hold Month 4-6 Determine whether employees have began the set training and development programs Ensure incentives for different achievements have been set and that the management has planned on how to give the incentives Establish whether the employees are using the autonomy of decision making enabled by empowerment Month 7-9 Check the progress of the training and development Identify any changes in productivity through checking employee performance reports Evaluate the impact of evaluation and impact on employee productivity and employee performance Determine the effectiveness of empowerment in the organization Compare the performance of employees, before and after empowerment Month 10-12 Explore changes in productivity. This should have increased by at least 20 percent by month 12 Identify changes through examining employee performance reports and personal interviews Performance should have increased by 20% and employees should be able to feel the impact of motivation in their work To determine the impact of empowerment on manager load. This should have decreased by about 30% and the managers must therefore indicate how this reduction in workload has helped them in addressing other issues using the extra time. Month 13-15 Continue observing changes in productivity Keep track of the impact of motivation on individuals through personal interviews Examine manager performance and note any change from the previous period Month 16-18 (1½yrs) Establish the effectiveness of training on employee performance Depending on early implementation, the training should be over Determine the effectiveness of motivation and whether the assigned motivation tools are enough to promote change. Explore the perceived impact of empowerment in the organisation Month 19-24 (2yrs Examine the overall effectiveness of the training program. Increase in productivity and profitability should pass 30% mark. Determine whether the organization has finished implementation of the practice Examine overall effectiveness by checking increase in productivity and profitability. Exercise an employee evaluation to determine the achievements of employees who were given decision making autonomy. Month 25-30 Follow up on the impact of training and development to ensure that productivity does not reduce Make a follow-up on whether the organization is designing new ways to motivate employees Follow up on the implementation of the program to determine its use and impact on the organisation Month 31-36 (3yrs) Determine the ability of the organization to sustain productivity by examining performance 1 year after program completion. Examine the sustainability of motivation by examining the costs of maintaining the incentives as opposed to productivity. Higher costs indicate the program is not sustainable Examine the sustainability and effectiveness of empowerment through checking employee and manager achievements over the 3 years Works Cited Beynon, Huw. Managing employment change: the new realities of work. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2002. Print. Busine, Mark and Watt Bruce. “Succession management: Trends and current practice. “ Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources. 43.2 (2005): 225-237. Print. D’Netto, Brian, Fotini Bakas and Prashant Bordia. “Predictors of management development effectiveness: an Australian perspective.” International Journal of Training and Development, 12:1 (2008): 2-23. Print. Finkler, Steven A. Financial management for nurse managers and executives. New York: Elsevier Health Sciences. 2007. Print. Haasen, Adolf and Shea, Gordon, New corporate cultures that motivate. Oakland, CA : Greenwood Publishing Group. 2003. Print. Kleiman, Lawrence S. Human resource management: a managerial tool for competitive advantage. Warren, Michigan: Atomic Dog Pub. 2004. Print. Mitchell, Doughlas, E. Ortiz, Flora, I. and Mitchell, Tedi K. Work orientation and job performance: the cultural basis of teaching rewards and incentives. New York: SUNY Press. 1987. Print. Oliver, R. Expectancy Theory Predictions of Salesmen’s Performance. Journal of Marketing Research, 11. 1 (1974): 243-253. Print. Potterfield, Thomas A. The business of employee empowerment: democracy and ideology in the workplaceAuthor. Oakland, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group. 1999. Print. Sonnentag, Sabine. Psychological management of individual performance: aWiley handbooks in the psychology of management in organizations Volume 4 of Wiley Handbooks in Work & Organizational Psychology Wiley Handbooks in the Psychology of Man Series. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 2002. Print. Thomas, Jane. Guide to Managerial Persuasion and Influence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. Print. Read More