Employee Training and Development - Coursework Example

Human resource management xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Instructor xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS Introduction People or human resources remain to be the core in organizational development. Organization cannot exist without staff which underscores the need for proper management of these resources. The importance of human resource management (HRM) is becoming increasingly important with the fast paced competitive business environment. The human resource department in any given organization is positioned to play an instrumental role in ensuring the success of the organization by becoming an environmentally and socially responsible firm. Generally, the HRM is assigned the responsibility of managing the people within the organization. The concept of HRM underpins all the activities that have to do with employees and all the issues that affect them. The role of a human resource manager spans through a wide range of activities. At one extreme, he recruits employees while on the other extreme he trains and develops them (Armstrong 2009). By definition, human resource management refers to the coherent and strategic approach to management of the most valued and regarded asset in the organization; individual and collective groups of people working there with the common goal of achieving the organizational objectives. According to Boxall and Purcell (2003) the HRM is a set of policies which are interrelated and contain philosophical and ideological underpinnings. The human resource manager’s overall purpose is to ensure that organizational success is attained through its people. The purpose of this paper is to dissect through the basic roles of the HRM as learnt throughout the course. It will basically analyze the web post ‘everything business corp’ which provides a good example of HRM practice within real organizations. The analysis will focus on three related topic discussed in the course which are employee training and development, staffing and employee value proposition. Employee training and development Change in information technology is tremendously increasing knowledge spread across the globe. Obsolesce of this information is also increasing at this same speed which increases the need for discovery of new knowledge all the time. On the other hand, increasing turbulence, uncertainty and complexity of the environment is requiring greater and different knowledge. The modern world of business is requiring more and more knowledge and skills that are apparently insufficiently produced in formal education settings. In simper terms, there is a widening gap between business knowledge requirements and the knowledge acquired in schools (Brewster 2004). This is illustrated by the FONA marketing incorporated company which engages its employees in training and development programs which according to its human resource managers contributed to its top ranking. Evidently, the period of ignorance has long been passed by time as customers have become more selective. New knowledge and solutions are required to match with increasing customer demand. In addition, competition has reached its peak hence increasing the need for constant revision of managerial methods, product and service mix as well as production methods. Caldwell (2001) asserts that knowledge is the only adequate source of competitive advantage in the current complex and global environment. He maintains that knowledge is locked up in the human minds and major concerns for the HRM would be how to locate this knowledge, realize it and develop it so as to achieve organizational goals. This is the reason why employee training and development is gaining more popularity in contemporary organizations. This is exemplified by the Henry Ford Health Systems and the BGT Partners companies which have integrated training programs for its employees as a way of ensuring the production process remains relevant in the dynamic environment. According to many firms, training and developing employees is the optimal answer to complex challenges that organizations are bound to face. Through the process of training and development, the human resource management creates conditions for experience exchange, knowledge development and proactive behavior which provide a platform for satisfaction of all participants and contributes to competitive advantage. Darby (2000) maintains that the first step in ensuring effective employee training and development is to understand the changes that might occur as a result of the learning process. As a factor affecting employees, employee training and development is placed within the strategic context of the HRM which has the basic responsibility of ensuring both group and individual training for the benefit of both the organization and the employees. Thus, training and development programs have significant roles in boosting organizational and individual performance. Procedures of training and development should be aimed at ensuring inventiveness, encourage creativity and shape knowledge of the entire organization so as to give the company a unique and distinctive place in the marketplace (O’Sullivan 2010). The only way for modern organizations to survive is the initiative to innovate. The ability to achieve this is determined by the knowledge the organization possesses relative to its competitors. Evans et al (2002) suggest a logical consequence in the process of adapting a learning organization: knowledge-innovation-competitive advantage. The question that would be raised is ‘If at all knowledge is that good, does it mean that the more knowledge we have the better?’ However, this is always not the case. Many organizations that have discovered the importance of knowledge have often been tempted to gather as much knowledge as possible. However, much knowledge does not imply good knowledge. Knowledge not relevant to the organization is not important and can only be regarded as unnecessary. The hustle to obtain such knowledge is wasted effort. The only knowledge considered important is one that is in line with the company’s objectives, significant with the company’s strategy and helps increase company value. Knowledge should not be acquired for the sake of it rather it should be in accordance to the needs of the company. According to O’Sullivan (2010) the effects of knowledge and education on the labor force can only be felt if they are harmonized with the particular needs of the organization, its goals and the objectives of the employees. Clear definition of the educational goals is an imperative consideration in determining the choice of the education systems and methods to be applied. Employee training and development does not only entail acquisition of new knowledge, skills and abilities, but also involves promoting entrepreneurship minds, encouraging attitude change and involving employees in the decision making process as depicted by the Miller Johnson company which inspires its employees by engaging them in decision making. Simonini and Ozsomer (2009) observe that power does not come from knowledge but instead through exchange of knowledge. By combining individual knowledge and exchanging knowledge, more qualitative knowledge can be obtained relative to individual knowledge. This underscores the need to involve employees in the decision making process as ideas can be exchanged for the general benefit of the organization. Even after the realization of the need to have training and development programs within organizations, these procedures are still undeveloped in many organizations. Many regard it as an occasional event, view it as having little strategic significance and are not connected to organizational strategies (Amy 2008). Employees view training and development as an imposed obligation rather than viewing it as a way of improving their own personal performance and an avenue to maximize their potential. On the other hand, management still views employees as expenses instead of assets worth of investment. An evident notion in such managers is that training is expensive, it might disrupt the current business, it is only meant for the young and it is not rewarding. However, knowledge is expensive but ignorance is extremely expensive. Studies have shown that investing in employee training and development is much more rewarding than investing in material resources such as equipment. The HRM needs to integrate employee training and development as one of its core functions. It needs to constantly encourage and support development of new knowledge and skills as a foundation of development of the entire organization. Contrary to the classical model of HRM, the new type of leadership requires that managers become aspirators and moderators rather than all-knowing supervisors and bosses. In addition, it involves a participative management style where there is substantivity and decentralization of employees through employee orientation and competence. Staffing In modern organizations, the role of the HRM is basically that of a partner in assisting the organization to attain its strategic goals. The HRM is constantly searching for new ways of enhancing and improving the human resource on investment (ROI). Such plans require systems of recruiting, controlling and monitoring human capital. These procedures are basically encompassed in the staffing role of the HRM. Staffing is defined as a managerial function of developing, employing and retaining human resources who are meant to carry out various tasks within the organization; both managerial and non-managerial. Therefore, staffing is an ongoing process within any given organization as the process of updating and retaining the workforce is a never ending process. Personnel requirements keep changing with changing circumstances of the organization such as expansion of activities thus requires the HRM to keep a close watch over their composition and numbers. Besides that, at any point in time, employees will be retiring, leaving and getting transferred or promoted which implies creation of vacancies that need to be filled up. In a wider sense, the staffing function of the HRM might include activities of determining performance appraisal, decisions of promotion and transfers as well as determination of remuneration. It is paramount for any organization to have systems or guidelines of recruiting, deploying and retaining its employees. Recruitment or acquisition procedures involve staffing activities that govern processes involved in the intake of workers into the organization. Activities involved include assessment of the types and numbers of people needed, characterizing of qualifications needed to perform the outlined jobs, determination of the kind of reward expected from the job, conducting of recruitment campaigns, evaluation applicants qualifications using selection tools, deciding which applicants are the most appropriate and putting together job offers that applicants are expected to take up. Deployment on the other hand refers to the process in which qualified employees are placed in their actual jobs in terms of geographical location or specific work unit. Deployment also encompasses the guiding principles behind the reshuffle of current employees throughout the organization. This is done through internal staffing systems which handle transfers, promotions, and assignment of new projects for employees. Retention systems are processes which manage the outflow of employees. These outflows can be either involuntary such as sale of business units and through layoffs or voluntary such as leaving the organization to follow a spouse or take up another job. (O’Neill and Adya 2007) maintain that staffing is not an event but instead a continuous process that governs and establishes flow of people within the organization, out of the organization and into the organization. The systems used to manage this flow are usually many and interconnected. Actions or occurrences in one stage directly or indirectly affect other. For instance, if the planning system predicts increased number of vacancies, the recruitment system will need to be escalated to generate more applicants while the selection system will have to be adjusted to handle larger volumes of applicants. Organizational staffing requires the HRM to pay attention to both types (quality) and numbers (quantity) of people moved within, brought into and retained by the firm. Staffing involves making critical decisions about the issues underlying the process. This necessitates staffing strategy. There are several staffing strategies used in organizations. The first important decision is with regard to development or acquisition of talent. To fulfill its personnel needs, the HRM should concentrate on hiring employees who can hit the ground running and attain peak performance immediately they start working in the organization. These are employees who will bring talent into the organization and will fit into their jobs without necessarily going through training and development. Foss and Pedersen (2002) observe rapid competition among companies to hire talents and not any other qualifications in employees such that will be able to handle the urgency of designing new products so as to place the company on a competitive edge. The importance of having talent within organizations is illustrated by the Nuspire Networks company which attributes its success on its motivated and talented workforce (Naresh 2012) The second most crucial decisions the HRM would be required to make is whether to hire employees internally or externally. While most situations require blending of both external and internal hiring, others would only utilize one of them. For instance, in the case where the company intends to cultivate a committed and stable workforce, internal hiring would be most appropriate. This provides a springboard for employees to launch and develop their long-term career prospects within the organization. External hiring might only be relevant where there are specific entry-level jobs and where new jobs have been created and their probably no acceptable internal applicant. External hiring is also necessary when the number of vacancies created by rapid organizational growth outstrips internal supply. The third important consideration in staffing is whether the workforce is core or flexible. The core workforce comprises of regular employees who work on either full-time or part-time basis. Flexible workers on the other hand are made of more peripheral workers who work on a need basis; just-in-time basis. Employee value proposition Employee value proposition refers to the offers given to prospective and existing employees so as to persuade them to remain in the organization or join it. The most important element in value proposition is remuneration. However, other non-financial factors do play part in retaining and attracting employees. The developer of the of the Headspring company states that it is the respect, support and autonomy she receives for the company that has retained her in Headspring (Naresh 2012). Value proposition includes the degree to which management respects its employees, attractiveness of the organization, opportunities for professional and personal growth as well as work-life balance. The aim of value proposition is to make the organization the employee’s best choice. Value proposition can be regarded as the employers brand; what the makes the organization distinctive or sets it apart. It is defines the set of qualities and attributes possessed by the company to make it appealing and provide a particular kind of experience for its employees relative to its competitors. Employee value proposition has a direct impact on the turnover of employees in the organization which therefore, requires proper planning and application of certain strategies to ensure that the company retains its value proposition. Foss and Pedersen (2002) maintain that turnover of core employees can cause disproportionate impact on the organization. He further asserts that the people the organization intends to retain are the ones in many cases likely to leave. Therefore, there is need for concerted action to retain talented people within the organization which requires strategic measures by the HRM. It is imperative to encourage and appreciate existing talents as well as add value to them accordingly. For instance, the management of BGT Partners company regularly appreciates and awards its employees and this has led to a near 100% employee retention. The HRM should take into account the factors that affect whether employees stay or leave the company while determining retentions strategies. Employees who are under 30 years have prospect of advancing their careers while those in the age bracket of 31-50 years are more concerned with managing their careers and gaining maximum satisfaction from their jobs. Those over the age of 50 years are already satisfied with their careers and they have already established job security. In this case therefore, younger employees are likely to change their jobs more often than older employees. Therefore, retention strategies should target the younger employees. Other factors that affect retention strategies are recruitment, selection and deployment, learning opportunities, performance awards and recognition and leadership systems within the organization. Bassi and McMurrer (2007) point out other factors that also play part in retaining employees and they include feedback processes, realistic self-assessment and mentorship programs. According to Brome (2006) the market and not the individual company determine the flow of employees in and out of the company. He maintains that the HRM does not have the ability to shield its employees from aggressive and attractive recruiters but can influence them to stay in the company. The classical role of the HRM was to reduce the overall employee turnover but this is gradually being replaced by new goals which are to influence the leaving employees. A crucial consideration the HRM needs to take into account is the risk that could result from leaving of employees. This requires a risk analysis to basically evaluate the likelihood of occurrence of employees leaving the organization, the effects of the loss toward normal businesses of the organization and the ease of replacement as well as cost of replacement. In addition, risk analysis provides the HRM with specific information regarding issues that would affect retention such as remuneration, employee training and development, job security, working conditions, people relationships and personal issues. Information concerning reasons that prompt people to leave the organization and areas that need immediate action can be obtained by conducting exit interviews. The results can be used to identify areas of dissatisfaction hence provide a ground for designing a retention plan (Minbaeva 2005). Absence management is another aspect of employee value proposition that needs the attention of the human resource manager. It refers to the development and implementation of strategies and policies aimed at reducing levels of absenteeism. Research shows that an average employee loses at least eight working hours each year on sick leave which costs the organization approximately £666 per employee. This is indeed a serious situation that calls for action. First and foremost, the HRM needs to understand the causes of absenteeism and thereafter adopt comprehensive absence management strategies. Minbaeva (2005) categorizes causes of absenteeism into three broad classes: personal factors, attendance factors and job situation factors. Job factors include stress, frequent job transfers, excess task repetitiveness, nature of supervision and the size of the organization. Large organizations are more likely to experience absenteeism as compared to small firms. Personal factor include age, sex and employee value. Younger employees tend to miss work relative to older ones. Women on the other hand fall sick more often than men hence are absent from work more days than men. Some of the most common strategies of avoiding absenteeism include extending flexibility of working hours, invoking disciplinary measures for unnecessary absenteeism and keeping close contact with employees to discuss reasons why they miss work. Besides inspiring its employees through training and development the FONA company also provides its employees with health and wellness programs to ensure that absenteeism due to sicknesses is kept on the low. Another crucial role of the HRM in maintaining employee value proposition is flexibility planning. This basically refers to development of a more flexible firm. This means introducing a flexible working environment based on multi-skilling, assessing the need to use core or peripheral workers such as outsourcing and sub-contracting and introducing more flexible working arrangements which include homeworking, job sharing and teleworking. Overtimes, flexible working hours and shifts would also provide an attractive working environment for employees. The importance of flexibility planning is that it reduces employment costs; improve the utilization of employee’s capacities and skills and increases operational flexibility (Husted and Michailova 2002). A good example is the management of Dodge Communications provides its employees with a flexible environment with opportunities and good benefits for its employees. BGT Partners involves its employees in multi-skilling such that they can work in any department. Multi-skilling occurs when employee attain skills in a range of areas so that they can carry out tasks in different departments. This means that they are flexible hence can be transferred across the organization as occasions demand. Multi-skilling can be achieved by providing employees with a diversity of experience through various approaches such as training programs, job rotation and secondments. This leads to a flexible employee resourcing policy where the organization can instantly deploy employees to various departments when need arises. Job sharing on the other hand occurs when two employees share work of one employee and thereafter share the pay and other benefits accordingly. The benefit of job sharing is that it reduces absenteeism and employee’s turnover as employees can have flexible working hours based on their needs. Homeworking occurs when employees work from their homes to carry out such roles as designing, analysis, consultancy and programming among others. This is a clear practice in Dodge Communications where employees are allowed to work from home at least one day in the week. The direct impact of this is that it reduces absenteeism during other days of the week as employees can carry out their personal activities during such days. The advantage of homeworking is that it ensures flexibility in responding to fluctuations in the number of employees and reduces employment costs (O’Neill and Adya 2007). Conclusion The human resource management is an integral part of the organization. Besides being involved in matters pertaining to employees, the HRM is directly linked to the overall outcome of the organization. The report on the best and brightest companies in the USA in 2011 by Naresh provides a general overview of the importance of the HRM in modern organizations. The main themes with regard to the roles of the HRM that come up in the reports following interviews with personnel from the companies are staffing, employee value proposition and employee training and development. With increasing competition and rapid spread of information to most people including customers there is increasing need to engage employees in constant knowledge acquisition. Training should be aimed at increasing creativity, innovativeness and inventiveness of employees. Training and development of employees does not only include formal education but also employees engagement in decision making processes so that they are up to date with the needs of the company thus engage in relevant knowledge search. Staffing is a central role of the human resource manager. Staffing includes all the procedures involved in employment, deployment and retention of employees. Under staffing, the HRM has to make certain critical decision including the kind of talents need to be resourced and the type of employees that need to be employed. Employee value proposition is quite fundamental in attracting employees and retaining existing ones. Employee value proposition is mostly achieved through establishment of a flexible environment for employees. References Naresh, R 2012, The winning formula: 101 best and brightest companies of 2011. 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