Human Resource Development for Westway Land - Case Study Example

WESTWAY LAND: Human Resource Development Introduction Westway Land is currently experiencing problems in regards to linking the company’s strategic objectives with management training initiatives. The company maintains an expansion philosophy, at its current growth rate, to include various acquisitions and external investments to advance the business portfolio. However, despite these initiatives, Westway Land requires new policies and procedures to ensure that junior-level managers are trained efficiently to handle the roles of middle management and requires systems by which to evaluate training successes. Because the soft learning of management training is not measured currently, Westway Land requires a different human resources model to determine management growth in training using a Critical Incidents Technique and alterations to how HR approaches the assessment of management learning. Critical incidents technique Because the movement from a junior-level position to a middle management position requires maintaining the specific skills and competencies necessary to fulfill a higher-influence role in business activities, Westway Land requires a template by which these competencies can be measured from identified trainee to trainee. The critical incidents technique describes a series of hypothetical management situations or other relevant encounters, asking for a specific solution from trainee members regarding how best to appropriately handle these situations. Based on the individual demands of the business, whether the middle management positions entail heavy customer interaction or simply the organisation of subordinate employee job roles, the critical incidents template can be constructed at a relatively low cost, with low staff investment in its design, to capture the essence of management job roles after training has occurred. Because the systems and processes already exist at the company which measure individual job performance and clearly outline the role responsibilities in management positions, the critical incidents techniques should be constructed with 10-15 unique circumstances, calling for an ultimate qualitative analysis of assessed manager responses. Lau and Neal (2009) offers that significant contributions to what drives employee satisfaction are job security, communication, autonomous working environments, and compensation. With this in mind, from a rather practical HR viewpoint, if the junior manager’s new role (upon training completion) will involve a heavy focus on staff interventions and project leadership roles, assessment criteria built into the new critical incidents template will involve several real-life scenarios of internal situations relevant to the operations of Westway. Specific questions on this template will inquire as to how the human relations involved in the scenario should be handled, taking into consideration the current hierarchical relationships between management and executive role expectations and the necessity to manage human behavioural responses to various workplace stimuli. This is a practical, preliminary effort, at exceedingly-limited costs to the business, which will identify talent who are already prepared with the real-life aptitudes and skills necessary to handle a promotion to higher levels of management and those who require more in-depth training to succeed in job role transfer through promotion. For instance, specific responses which, after being assessed by HR professionals or other peer managers in these roles, can create a set of individualised training and a timeline for predicted completion for each manager. Under Abraham Maslow’s model of human behaviour, which suggests that deficiencies in various stages of workplace needs actually prevent workers from succeeding to their fullest potential (Fairhurst, 2009). An indicative lack of self-esteem, as one example, may jeopardise individual ability to succeed in full job role development, thus making them ineffective for long-term goal attainment in their new positions. The critical incidents technique, or new model for handling HR at Westway, can identify whether the individual being considered for job role promotion is aware of the psychological mechanisms which drive their subordinate behaviours and have creative, innovative, and policy-related skills necessary to handle the obligations of middle management. The first step in identifying the training needs of the selected junior members is to create a competency profile which clearly identifies both the hard and soft expectations for managers in these positions. Though there is already a technical job description in existence at Westway, the more informal portions of middle management roles should be identified, using HR professional experience and peer management knowledge, can assess these necessary talents for successful management. This suggests the necessity for a competency profile under a new competency management model, which “enhances an organisation’s performance and yields a competitive advantage” (Robinson, Sparrow, Clegg and Birdi, 2007, p.65). Because cost is a significant issue at Westway, the development of this new profiling system and preliminary critical incidents technique is the most appropriate method for identifying the specific, individual training needs of each manager whereby if, as one example, a specific manager seems to already maintain the competencies necessary to excel, a customised training session to simply outline weaknesses in managerial approach could be scheduled with the HR professional or other colleague manager. This would avoid the necessity for redundant training, remove the risk of creating the perception that managers’ are being under-utilised and under-assessed for their capabilities, and eliminate the long-term costs of excessive training for individuals not requiring this in the same proportion to other junior managers. During the course of training, once specific needs have been identified, the critical incidents model can further be utilised to measure the overall effectiveness of training once it underway. Anderson and DiBattista (1997) offer that under this model, managers currently in training should log specific situations where they have observed inferior performance stemming from procedures, peers and subordinates in order to engage the worker in the identification process of workplace errors or systems slowdowns. Over a period of several weeks, the junior manager participating in the training course can discuss these incidents with the HR professional or senior-level manager coordinating training activities, to discuss the problems occurring and their own, unique solutions on how to handle these problems. In many ways, the aforementioned critical incidents technique/model allows for the assessment of informal learning, such as how staff members interact during critical phases of projects related to company strategy, and offer unique solutions on how best to motivate others, reward others for performance, or acknowledge the reward of autonomous working environments for employees observed following standard business policies and procedures. Should the manager in the assessment process identify that the junior manager does not recognise these factors, an informal meeting can be arranged with other peer managers to identify these managerial deficiencies and offer guidance on how best to lead in these unique scenarios. It really tends to reinforce the importance of identifying the soft skills of managers and, since there are already techniques and models in place which identify the hard skills of management, the critical incidents approach will bring the most long-term value to the training expectations of Westway leadership. During the course of training, the 360 degree feedback system, already being considered by HR at the company, would be highly vital to understanding how the employee is engaging in all aspects of training. Because training for these positions involves more than merely coordinating the efforts of subordinates in order to meet profitability and efficiency guidelines, the critical incidents template can be modified over and over again (if necessary) to outline the appropriate behavioural responses necessary to lead in an efficient and well-organised manner. As the Chief Executive was concerned about allocating a higher budget toward training simply because the processes and procedures did not exist for identifying current talent levels in junior management groups, the proposed model will identify these deficiencies and may, in the long-term, eliminate the redundant training exercises which might exist in Westway training programmes. The use of a development centre, in this new model of assessing talent capabilities, would not be necessary as managers would be able to apply both their hard and soft learning in a real-life business environment and by assessing a wide variety of hypothetical situations which may occur in the course of a regular business day. The largest benefit to the business for this new approach to assessing training is that it will eliminate the risks associated with whether or not the costly (and high investment in human capital) training programmes are creating fully well-rounded members of the management staff. As part of a short-term performance management system, designed to view whether specific goals are being met and linking them with individual performance, assessment of learning can begin immediately after the start of training interventions and be followed through until the individual has exhibited that he or she is capable of exiting training and taking on their new job roles. Further, by assessing performance against the new critical incidents model and setting specific targets for learning in the programme environment, this could further shorten the span of training for individual members, giving some who have exhibited higher levels of management competence the opportunity for a fast track programme. This could create the positive competitiveness among junior managers in training, giving them the motivation to absorb as much of the training as possible and prove their capabilities to exhibit their ability to succeed in training over that of their peers. From a cost perspective, assuming that the critical incidents template is able to be assessed appropriately by skilled and experienced managers and HR professionals, the new model of identifying and assessing manager strengths and weaknesses could streamline the delivery of training and open the doors for HR managers to focus on improving performance assessment rather than the high concern over the effectiveness of training. With the critical incidents process, competency in leadership would be illustrated clearly and allow for the removal of unnecessary or redundant training packages. The most impressive aspect of a critical incidents model could provide Westway is the ability to review managers in the field, outline specific objectives for both hard and soft components associated with a management role, and give the junior managers an opportunity to further develop their communications and interpersonal skills by forcing discussion of business situations between colleagues and senior management. These are the skills necessary in a company which maintains a top-down hierarchy of management, such as with Westway, and there is really no more efficient system which can work as both a preliminary assessment tool and a tool which measures the long-term learning provided by a variety of training seminars. Conclusion The development of the critical incidents template, using a 360 degree feedback system to further enhance its reliability, would be the most appropriate tool to satisfy both of the goals of the Chief Executive in terms of training and the identification of management competencies. It does not appear that Westway, despite the firm’s successes in other areas of HR, has managed to create an assessment template which can measure behavioural responses, social responses, or professional responses to a wide variety of potential business situations. Many of these elements are informal learning which is delivered as a result of training which focuses on meeting corporate objectives and cost requirements. Evaluation by use of questionnaires cannot possibly assess the different leadership potential of individual in-training managers and is not an efficient measure of whether or not training improvements are necessary. The company should explore, immediately, the creation of a competency framework which identifies all aspects required of managers (even the psychological or socio-cultural) which contribute to the success of a leader in this type of management position. There are no other assessment methods available to the contemporary HR professional which can guarantee to act as a preliminary and a secondary assessment tool which can determine whether training is effective or worth the budget alloted to it. Bibliography Anderson, R. and DiBattista, R. (1991). ‘Linking training with HR management’. Training and Development Journal. 45(3), 75. Fairhurst, David. (2009). ‘Maintain a focus on the long-term’. Human Resources, London. Jan 2009, 6. Lau, S. and Neal, V. (2009). ‘Economic Trends, Buddy Systems, Receiving Criticism’, HRMagazine, 54(3), 26-28. www.proquest.com. (accessed 17 Mar 2009). Mumford, A. and Gold, J. (2004). Management Development: Strategies for Action. Reid, M., Barrington, H. and Brown, M. (2004). Human Resource Development. Robinson, M., Sparrow, R., Clegg, C. and Birdi, K. (2007). ‘Forecasting future competency Requirements: A three-phase methodology’. Personnel Review, Farnborough. 36(1), 65. www.proquest.com. (accessed 16 Mar 2009). Read More