Training and development in HRM - Essay Example

Training and development in HRM Abstract This essay is a reflection of the challenges I personally faced during the period I was part of the ‘The importance of training and development in human resource management’ group, in addition to the challenges facing the group as a whole. The reflection is a close evaluation of the relationship between leadership, diversity and change in organizational context. I hereby expound on my experiences within and without the group, with a comparison to a similar organizational context. The essay is mainly focused on the importance of effective leadership and the importance of organizational change. I also expound on the importance of cohesion and conflict resolution mechanisms through leadership, decision making and problem solving. The latter is mainly focused on effective implementation of organizational change with a counter to change resistance from the employees. Experiences and Challenges Encountered The selection of effective group members could not go better than the selection of friends to enjoin in a group. As a matter of fact, it is much easier for friends to relate, discuss and/or share ideas as compared to a group consisting of strangers. However, my personal view is that it is much easier for a group of strangers to work efficiently and relate well, with a much easier management or supervision as compared to a group consisting of friends. As I came to learn that, during the period I was part of the ‘The importance of training and development in human resource management’ group, commitment is core for effective human resource coordination and management. On the other hand, it is easier for strange members of a group to relate and experience more since they have much diversity to share and experience. According to research, it is highly probable to get commitment and contribution from members of a group whose members have never priory interacted or worked together. However, challenges are inevitable in group and organizational human resource management. Some of the main challenges I experienced while working in the ‘importance of training and development in human resource management’ group include; Absenteeism According to research, absenteeism of employees can be very costly to an organization. Concurrently, absenteeism in working groups can also have a huge impact in the terms of effectiveness of the group and accomplishment of the assigned task (Treble & Barmby, 2011). I experienced absenteeism in the ‘importance of training and development in human resource management’ group, whereby one of the group members was absent in the group meeting. This only meant that his space had to be covered by the remaining four members, with the contribution of the member out of reach. This was bound to compromise on the overall performance of the group due to the lack of commitment and collective contribution. As a matter of fact, a reduction of employee absenteeism is considered to bring substantial gains and changes in an organization (Cascio & Boudreau, 2008). I can factually state that if the absent group member was in attendance, the discussions and contributions within the group could have been more diverse and probably the overall group performance could have been better. Absenteeism in groups and organization is considered as an individual challenge, and hence there is need for appropriate actions or rules to counter the absenteeism in both groups and organizations (Cascio & Boudreau, 2008). Absenteeism makes a group or an organization less resourceful in the terms of human resource and ideological diversity (Treble & Barmby, 2011). Absenteeism reduces the level of individual contribution and commitment, which in turn affects the cohesion in the group (Treble & Barmby, 2011). It also compromises on the sense of belonging, contribution and achievement on the part of the absent member. Cohesion among group members and employees is important in group work and organizations, respectively. Human resource management requires a lot of commitment, contribution and cohesion in organizational settings (Thongpapanl De Clercq & Dimov, 2012). The absenteeism of the member of my group created some divisions and laxity amongst the rest of us, and hence there was a compromise on the group’s cohesion. Though having friends converging to a group almost guarantees cohesion, it does not guarantee individual commitment. The formation of a group by new members who are completely new to each other is likely to bring about more diversity that in turn increases teamwork, relations and cohesion (Thongpapanl De Clercq & Dimov, 2012). As I joined the group, there was not much interest to discover more about other members since they were already my friends. However, there was increased cohesion and diversity because of the introduction of a new member to the group, who was a stranger to the rest of us. It is evident that many global organizations and businesses prefer employees with diverse nationality, cultures and skills. It is, therefore, sound enough to conclude that the formation of a group or organization may affect the overall organizational performance (Cascio & Boudreau, 2008). Absenteeism is a major setback in organizational growth and service delivery. This results from consequent reduction in organizational commitment and cohesion. Employee absenteeism creates a liable overload to the other employees, which is likely to spur conflict and reduce organizational cohesion (Treble & Barmby, 2011). In the education institutions, group work is common. However, some students tend to take advantage of the little supervision granted to leave most or all of the work to some of the intelligent and hardworking group members. This has a long-term effect on the latter in the terms of loss of motivation when they persistently experience this overloading. In an organizational setting, employees who neglect their duties and responsibilities lead to overworking of the hardworking few. This is bound to reduce the productivity of the organization in the long run. On the other hand, some students tend to input less effort due to a misplacement or loss of the sense of accountability that is vested on the group. This is likely to reduce the effectiveness and productivity of the group. Theoretically, the lack of organizational commitment due to neglect of duties and responsibilities assigned to some of the employees reduces organizational cohesion and creates employment conflict (Thongpapanl De Clercq & Dimov, 2012). Leadership As per my experience in the ‘importance of training and development in human resource management’ group, I came to realize that leadership is core in any group. My group consisted friends and an additional new member, and hence we chose to work harmoniously without a group leader. I came to realize that this was misguiding and had adverse effects on our group performance and productivity. The lack of a group leader led to poor planning and organization within the group, and hence a reduced performance. Everyone acted as a leader and there was conflict of interest. Organizational or group leadership is important in decision making and conflict resolution. As a matter of fact, there was poor decision making within my group and more so increased conflicts (Saaty, 2010). Any successful group, business, or organization must have a set leadership that is critical and core in organizational human resource management. Leadership is core in employee hiring and recruitment, and also helps in organizational decision making such as hiring, firing and conflict resolution (Butterfield, 2010). The lack of a leader in my group led to reduced individual commitment since everyone was their own leader. This led to reduced cohesion within the group and lack of commitment and responsibility amongst the group members, as exposed by the absenteeism of one of the group members in the meeting. In human resource management, leadership delivers improved organizational cohesion and appropriate communication channels where each member of the group or organization has a freedom of interaction and contribution. It also creates a proper channel of conflict resolution and decision making (Saaty, 2010). Effective leadership brings cohesion within the group through the creation of trust, in addition to the creation of a sense of purpose and accountability to the group or organization (Armstrong, 2012). There is a basic communication control with a sense of belonging and respect amongst group members, and hence each of the group members feels free to table their diverse ideas without fear of intimidation and/or rejection (Saaty, 2010). Leadership is a critical human resource management tool that builds a sense of belonging for each employee, improves organizational cohesion, and creates an excellent communication channel and it is hence a perfect conflict resolution tool (Butterfield, 2010). An effective leader is a perfect communicator whose work is to build trust, criticize and navigate ideas, as well as be a sponsor of learning (Dess, 2012). A leader must be chosen on merit to be able to effectively lead the group or organization to achieving high productivity. My experience in the group was a cocktail of both good and bad experiences. There was no allocation of duties to each of the team members, and hence the poor planning led to unsatisfactory individual contribution and commitment (Dess, 2012). As a matter of fact, allocation of duties and responsibilities through a group leader could have increased the individual commitment, with every member having an owned responsibility to be present in every group meeting. Contrary to this, my friend’s absenteeism proved a lack of commitment and led to internal conflict (Dess, 2012). It is a fact that if there was a group leader, every member could have been present and actively participating in the activities of the group to help in yielding better results. The presence of effective organizational leadership ensures efficient employee relations and conflict resolution, and also acts as a performance evaluator (Proctor, 2010). This ensures that there is equity and justified employee compensation where each employee is rewarded in accordance to their respective performance (Saaty, 2010). In consequence, the lack of effective leadership in group or organization can easily lead to the collapse of the human resource due to poor human resource management. This can easily lead to the organizational stagnation and a probable collapse of the entire organization in the long run (Ohtaki & Bucknall, 2005). The lack of leadership in my group impacted greatly on the group performance and presentation as a result of reduced commitment, conflict, reduced cohesion and poor planning (Searle & Skinner, 2011). The growth and experience of an organization is totally placed on the organization’s leadership and individual employees (Ali, 2012). Globalization has brought about intense changes and revolution, especially in the technology sector, and hence leaders must be responsible for organizational communication and learning to be able to withhold the organizational cohesion (Searle & Skinner, 2011). Leaders must also be innovative and informed on current global market trends to be able to enhance organizational growth and development, as well as withstand market competition (Ohtaki & Bucknall, 2005). Proper leadership ensures employee equity, hence reduces employee conflict and/or creates an effective channel of conflict resolution (Searle & Skinner, 2011). On my part, the lack of leadership in my group led to a dismal presentation of the assignment due to lack of proper guide and planning. I can confidently say that with a leader, the group could have had a better quality work and an improved presentation. The decision of the group members to work harmoniously led to increased conflict of interest and a reduced individual contribution and commitment (Proctor, 2010). As a matter of fact, other groups that had installed leaders tended to have better presentations with little challenge since there is effective planning, analysis, teamwork, evaluation, and presentation (Armstrong, 2012). Effective leadership also helps in achieving effective human resource management through effective logistical planning and an overall contribution from each member/employee. This in turn surges the output of the organization in the long run (Proctor, 2010). Additionally, effective leaders must adhere to strict ethics and high integrity. Leadership is a core human resource management tool in achieving employee and organizational growth through critical decision making, problem solving, and conflict resolution (Searle & Skinner, 2011). Change of Topic and Group Membership Human resource is considered as the most important resource in any organization, with most organizational challenges and opportunities considered as human-generated (Ohtaki & Bucknall, 2005). Human resource management is considered as a challenging responsibility, mostly due to the diversity and nature of the human resource (Bateman & Snell, 2012). As much as diversity is core in organizational growth and development it is also as much of a challenge to human resource managers (Natemeyer & Hersey, 2011). This is mostly due to diversity in human values, attitude, aspirations, objectives, culture and other human resource attributes. According to research, organizational change is inevitable and enhances the organizational growth and increases productivity (Gill, 2006). However, unexpected change may as well be a challenge to performance in the human resource (Ohtaki & Bucknall, 2005). In my group, there was an abrupt change of topic from ‘online recruitment’, which was our prior group work topic, to ‘the importance of training in human resource management. This had an effect on our planning and investigation since our prior research on online recruitment was nullified through the change of topic. Additionally, the change of topic also increased conflict within the group and further led to reduced cohesion amongst the group members. However, the change of topic also increased the sociality and relations in the group as we consulted to work harmoniously as per the new topic. I experienced difficulties in relating with my friends in the terms of accomplishment of the assignment since there was reduced commitment and diversity in the group. I tended to related more with the new member of the group with whom I worked with closely. I can hereby state that there was indeed an urgent need for a leader in the group since working harmoniously was less involving. There was a reduced sense of belonging and cohesion within the group, with no equitable reassignment of duties. Group roles were highly compromised and hence there was reduced individual commitment and contribution, which in turn created conflict amongst the members. As a matter of fact, there was reduced learning in the group due to the lack of strategic leadership (Ali, 2012). In organizations, human resource managers are critical decision makers and problem solving agents (Bateman & Snell, 2012). Organizational change results from decision making by the human resource managers though implementation of such decisions and change requires a cohesive involvement between the managers and the employees (Nelson, 2005). Organization change is embedded in the diversity, trends and forces within team members, and the individual capabilities of the members to adjust to the dynamic social conditions for the achievement of the group or organizational objectives (Nelson, 2005). I experienced the challenge of change adaptability in my group due to the lack of consultation before the change of topic, and the additional of a new group member without our consent. This impacted greatly on the individual commitment thereby reducing the efficiency of working harmoniously within the group, and hence created the need for a strategic group leadership. Human resource managers must priory relate with their respective employees to understand the possible impacts of certain organizational changes, as per the employee reaction towards the change, and ensure a smooth transition (Nelson, 2005). I also experienced a loss of loyalty and commitment from the group members, with one member missing in the group meeting, and also created a need for extension of group meeting time to counter the time constraint. Furnham (2012) asserts that change implementation is a challenge to the human resource managers due to employee resistance to change (Furnham, 2012). The following figure illustrates implementation of organization change and its challenges; Source: Furnham (2012) On a lighter note, change creates dynamics in organizational operations in the terms of policies, roles, objectives and rules that in turn improves organizational performance (Furnham, 2012). Change impacts greatly on individuals and the organization as a whole, and is bound to improve the overall performance in the organization or group (Lussier & Hendon, 2013). Leaders and/or human resource managers must therefore identify with the importance of change in order to advance decision making as well as problem solving, in addition to ensuring a smooth change implementation and transition (Lussier & Hendon, 2013). The creation of a two-way communication channel is important in human resource management and decision making to be able to strategically implement organizational changes (Martin, 2009). Many employees tend to be change resistant due to anxiety, fear and change uncertainty, and hence many prefer maintenance of a status quo (Lussier & Hendon, 2013). In the school setting, many hardworking and/or highly performing students tend to resist working in groups due to the belief in their individual abilities, capabilities and objectives (Natemeyer & Hersey, 2011). I experienced this in my group whereby two of my friends had a partially withdrawn participation in group discussions, and rather preferred working individually through duty allocation. This was a challenge to group cohesion and commitment, and also created a lack of motivation within the group. Employees in organizations tend to have an urge to perform better, mostly for job security, achievement of individual goals, employee recognition and rewarding (Natemeyer & Hersey, 2011). In the organizational context, human resource managers must be prepare the employees from change, manage the change and reinforce where resistance compromises the change (Armstrong, 2012). Conclusion In conclusion, I experienced a lack of group leadership leading to reduced individual commitment and cohesion in the group. There was also a lack of critical diversity in the group, following the fact that four of the five group members were friends. The efficacy of human resource management in an organization is determinant to the growth of the respective organization (Ohtaki & Bucknall, 2005). Organizational changes are inevitable though resistant to change from the employees is also inevitable due to fear and uncertainty. Change impacts greatly on individuals and the organization as a whole in the terms of improving overall performance. However, change may also create tension and uncertainty within the human resource workforce, which may in turn lead to reduced loyalty and organizational commitment. This is likely to reduce the overall individual and organizational performances. On the other hand, effective leadership is core in human resource management (Bateman & Snell, 2012). Leadership acts as a communication channel and decision making tool, as well as a problem solving and conflict resolution channel (Ali, 2012). The success of organizational change is a responsibility of the group or organizational leadership and hence leaders and human resource managers must, therefore, identify with the importance of change (Gill, 2006). Effective leadership also helps in achieving effective human resource management through effective logistical planning and an overall contribution from each member/employee. This in turn increases the overall performance of the organization (Martin, 2009). References Ali, A., 2012. 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Lussier, N. and Hendon, R., 2013. Human resource management: functions, applications, skill development. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. Martin, J., 2009. Human resource management. Los Angeles: SAGE. Natemeyer, E. and Hersey, P., 2011. Classics of organizational behavior. Long Grove: Waveland Press. Nelson, L., 2005. Managing the Human Resources in Organisational Change: A Case Study. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 13(1), 55-70. Ohtaki, R. and Bucknall, H., 2005. Human resource management. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons. Proctor, T., 2010. Creative problem solving for managers: developing skills for decision making and innovation. London: Routledge. Saaty, L., 2010. Creative thinking, problem solving and decision making. Pittsburgh: RWS Publications. Searle, R. and Skinner, D., 2011. Trust and human resource management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Thongpapanl, N. De Clercq, D. and Dimov, D., 2012. 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