Human Resource Management - Assignment Example

of Introduction Every organization requires workers who are knowledgeable and possess adequate skill set for the job requirement. Finding a candidate with the required skill set is a very difficult job for any organization. Skilled workforce can contribute in the growth and stability of the company. Rather than searching for proper skill set, employer should provide training to improve the essential skills of those workers (Spencer & Kelly, 2013). Gender and differences issues can impact on the desired result of the training and development programs. Employer must analyze the impact of issues regarding gender differences and cultural differences before implementing any skill program (Spencer & Kelly, 2013). This discussion provides details about the requirement of considering gender and differences issues during skill training and how this impact on the work and learning of the employees. Before discussing about the impact of different issues in skill training, it is necessary to understand the importance of any training and development program in an organization. These trainings can provide numerous good impacts to the organization such as improvement in safely of the employees from issues related to gender or cultural bias, increase in retention rate and increase in productivity. Issues like gender difference and cultural diversity always need to address in these training programs. There is several negative effect of ignoring these issues in the first place (Spencer & Kelly, 2013). Importance of gender issues in skill training Gender training is getting higher popularity in many organizations in Canada and economic south. Complaint against gender harassment is a very popular issue across various organizations (Morgan, 2014). In most of the cases employees are not intentionally discriminating women. This discrimination is happening in various development agencies due to lack of proper awareness and skills about gender differentiation. To increase the awareness, proper training procedures need to be designed which will improve the social and interpersonal skill of the employees. The main objective of this study is to achieve a gender-equitable work atmosphere in the organization. The main objective of the gender training is to raise awareness about the gender and development issues (Sawchuk & Taylor, 2010). This is the primary step of this training. Another objective is to transfer skills to the gender-aware employees, so that need assessment of each gender can be done properly. This objective also can help in gender diagnosis and evaluate the current policies and programs. These accrued skills should be translated into planning process to ensure that employees can apply the knowledge in day to day work life. This training also involves motivational factors as employees are less motivated to apply their training in the work place (Sawchuk & Taylor, 2010). Various organizations in Canada use gender audit tools to understand the overall gender related performance of the organization (Morgan, 2014). This audit program is a comprehensive method to understand cross-organizational performance. This audit program focuses on recognizing the gender–based difference between the performances and their values toward the overall achievement of the organization (Australian centre for leadership for women. 2012). For instance, a renowned gender audit organization, GSI, conducted an extensive gender audit in Oxfam Canada in the year of 2006. In this program GSI assisted Oxfam Canada through various transformations. These transformations have been done mainly in their programming, internal structure and organizational practices. The main focus of these transformations was introducing more respectful procedures to appreciate the diversity between men and women in the organization (Australian centre for leadership for women. 2012). According to researchers, the approach of men and women toward any work is different and organization needs to identify these differences so that they can utilize this uniqueness into the growth of the organization (Morgan, 2014). Proper training about gender equality is also very essential to minimize gender discrimination in the workplace (Siwal, 2005). Organizations should follow rigorous training regarding gender equality to increase women empowerment in the organization. This is focused on eliminating inequalities in work places and enhancing women’s’ rights. This program is designed to make employees aware about the implementation of laws and regulations which will help them to reduce work place violence toward women (Morgan, 2014). Various organizations have taken initiatives to promote women as worker and entrepreneur. These initiatives have shown a great support in the economical growth of the country. To create a better managerial level, proper training and understanding about gender dynamics in the workforce and adequate knowledge about the gender elements in the economic policy is necessary. In the Millennium Declaration of the year 2000, 189 UN members mentioned a benchmark to understand the progress of gender quality and women’s empowerment program (Woroniuk & Schalkwyk, 1999). The Government of CEE countries have made some commitments towards gender quality in the workplace because this can support their economic growth and also increase business initiatives (Woroniuk & Schalkwyk, 1999). The main goals of this training program is to eliminate the myths and misconceptions about women, analyze the structure of exploitation and oppression, make the workforce aware about their rights in the organization, develop a positive image of every employee and to recognize one’s strength and values (Morgan, 2014). Importance of other issues in skill training Understanding the cultural differences within the employees is another major issue in an organization. Most of the workplaces comprises of employees from different cultural background. Some workers have different cultural needs and requirements in terms of dress, religious practices, social values, family obligations and non-verbal behavior (Hark & DeLisser, 2011). Employers should be responsible for the physical and psychological well-being to their employees and they should encourage others to respect the cultural differences between employees. Various multinational organizations confront issues related to cultural differences within their workforce. Different religion followers can cause various problems in the workplace such as different religion groups have different holidays and they require vacation at that time. Cultural differences also can create problem in resolving conflicts in organization. Language barriers make it difficult to solve problems between workers. Lack of awareness regarding cultural differences between workers can generate a sense of division in any organization (Deogratias, 2009). It is very important to minimize cultural differences in the workplace to generate harmony between workers of different cultural backgrounds. Cultural differences and their importance are another major issue in the skill training of employees. Employers need to train their staffs about the behavioral guidelines in a multicultural workplace. The responsibilities of an employer are using the cultural skills of workers and promoting cultural celebration. Clarity, competency and credibility toward culturally diversified workforce is necessary to create a diversified organization (Deogratias, 2009). Cultural competency training is an important tool for an organization to make people aware about all the cultural diversification in the workplace and to train them about the procedures to utilize this diversification for organizational betterment. This training facility is sponsored by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration in Canada (Human Resources Professionals Association, 2012). This certified training program helps a workplace to be culturally inclusive. It also influences the organization to introduce new strategies that will help them to hire, train and retain workers from different cultural background in Canada (Human Resources Professionals Association, 2012). The main objective of this program is to ensure an effective and productive work pattern throughout the diverse team of the organization. Empowering the human resources team to become more culturally competent is one of the main objectives. Other objectives include attracting and retaining the finest talents from all over the world and utilizing talents to compete in the global market. This program also helps to minimize bias due to cultural differences during selection procedure (Provincial Health services Authority. 2014). Application of this training program enhances the global communication skill of the employees and it also promotes the image of the organization in the global market. This training program helps an organization to create a course of action that includes strategies to improve organizational and individual cultural competency (Provincial Health services Authority. 2014). This training program has various valuable learning outcomes. In last few years, this program was highly beneficial for hiring managers, front line managers, Directors and employers of a team of diversified cultured employees. Various multinational organizations who have shown positive results from this training and certification program are Lambton Kent District School Board, Ontario Public Services-Diversity, Sarnia Lambton Workforce Development Board, Grenville Printing and Management, Toronto Police Services, Ontario Northland and Womens College Hospital (Provincial Health services Authority. 2014). Conclusion Gender issues and cultural diversification have numerous impacts in the work culture and growth of global and multinational organization. Recognizing issues related to gender bias and providing proper training to the workforce is very important. This training program generates awareness related to gender differences and this also helps organization to improve the interpersonal skill sets of employees. Employers can understand the differences between the skill sets of different gender groups and can utilize them in the improvement of their work pattern. Similarly, cultural differences are another important issue that requires proper guidance from the employers to minimize the bias. Government and human resources departments in various countries such as Canada and the economic south is already aware of the importance of these issues and they have introduced different training programs to develop the skill set of the organizations. Organizations in those areas are also very open to these training programs and they are adapting this certification programs to create more aware, talented and culturally diversified workforce. References Australian centre for leadership for women. (2012). Gender Equality Training. Retrieved from http://www.leadershipforwomen.com.au/empowerment/leadership-gender-articles/interviews-on-leadership-gender-theory/empowerment/exploration-of-leadership-theory/gender-equality-training. Deogratias, H. (2009). Cultural Implications of Knowledge Sharing, Management and Transfer: Identifying Competitive Advantage: Identifying Competitive Advantage. New York: IGI Global. Hark, L. & DeLisser, H. (2011). Achieving Cultural Competency: A Case-Based Approach to Training Health Professionals. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Human Resources Professionals Association. (2012). Cultural Competency Training Program. Retrieved from http://www.hrpa.ca/professionaldevelopment/pages/culturalcompetencytrainingprogram.aspx. Morgan, R. (2014). Promote Gender Equality And Empower Women. Retrieved from http://www.undg.org/docs/11421/MDG3_1954-UNDG-MDG3-LR.pdf. Provincial Health services Authority. (2014). Indigenous Cultural Competency Training Program. Retrieved from http://www.culturalcompetency.ca/. Sawchuk, P. & Taylor, A. (2010). Challenging transitions in learning and work: Reflections on policy and practice. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Siwal, B. R. (2005). Basic Framework And Strategy For Gender Training. Retrieved from http://www.eldis.org/fulltext/DOC20260.pdf. Spencer, B. & Kelly, J. (2013). Work and learning: An introduction. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing. Woroniuk, B. & Schalkwyk, J. (1999). Gender Equality & Business Development/Management Training: In Brief. Retrieved from http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/inet/images.nsf/vLUImages/Policy/$file/CEEbusiness3.pdf. Read More