The Need for Human Resources Development - Report Example

Human resource development Introduction: This report is a detailed of the need for human resources development in one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturer Hyundai Motor Company. At first the program will be conducted only in the Ulsan plant and after its successful completion the program will be extended to its other plants. “With more than 47,000 employees and capital exceeding US$350 million, Hyundai Motor Company currently has the largest independent manufacturing plant in Korea, located in Ulsan, South Korea.” (Customers, Technology drives decisions at Hyundai. 2008). The report critically analyses the need for an employee development program in the company. At present Hyundai Motor Company is the world’s fifth largest automaker. The company management is very much aware of the fact that in order to be the world’s leading automobile company, the cars that are manufactured by the company must be technologically well advanced and must also be superior in safety, quality and luxury and/or comfort standards. In order to improve the quality and technological features of the cars the company has to make drastic improvement in its human resources, facilities at the plant, research and development, etc. For making improvements in product, the existing production modes are to be changed to a great extent. The employees are to be taught new methods of production. This necessitates a human resource development program to be conducted in the company. The development program planned to be conducted in the company is ‘personal and professional development.’ Personal and professional development program helps the employees to develop his behaviour as well as his skills to perform the job. “Seeing personal and professional development in your life will also instill a sense of self worth and higher self esteem.” (Christopher 2006). Organizational description This work is related to human resource development in Hyundai Motor Company. Hyundai motor Company is the largest automobile company of South Korea and has emerged as the fifth largest automobile company of the world. The company was formed in the year 1967. The company started its initial operation in collaboration with Ford Motor Company of US. Later on the company also launched models in the market with technological collaboration from Mitsubishi. As an expansion plan the company first entered the US market in the year 1986. Hyundai cars got greater popularity in the US market due to its affordability. Later in 1988 Hyundai started enjoying independence in technology and launched the first car that is completely Hyundai, which is Sonata. At present, Hyundai is one of the most respected brands in the world. “With a brand value estimated at $4.1 billion, the power of the Hyundai brand on a global basis now surpasses several competitors.” (Hyundai Brand Value Rises. 2005-2006). Hyundai was able to make this achievement through its continuous product improvement and marketing techniques. Quality of Hyundai vehicles have improved over years and have been highly recognized in different countries. The company has its production plant established in different countries. The company employs over 68000 people worldwide. The company is also on a high focus on developing technologically advanced vehicles. The company has a well committed and highly motivated group of employees. Hyundai is also highly focussed on providing better after sales services. “Hyundai Motor Company has been continuously focusing on improving the Customer Satisfaction in order to achieve the objective of entering the Global Top 5 automakers. In this regards, Hyundai Motor Company is taking all necessary steps to improve the quality of its after-sales service activities.” (After Sales Service. 2008). Main body Human resource development Human resource development is an indispensable activity for an organisation’s prosperity. Human resource development improves the skill of the employee which ultimately contributes to the productivity of the organisation. “A more highly-skilled workforce can accomplish more and a supervisors group can accomplish more as employees gain in experience and knowledge.” (Employee Development: What is Employee Development. 2008). Human resource development is also essential to improve the motivation level of the employees. If a person is employed in the production department of a company, his development involves teaching him new methods of production. Employee/human resource development in an organization is a planned approach. “It is concerned with improving the existing skills and exploring the potential skills f the individual i.e. upgrading the employees’ skills and extending their knowledge.” (Employee Training and Development Program. 2007). It involves selecting the right group of employees, assessing their levels of knowledge, finding out the area of improvement, etc. The successful completion of a development program requires good commitment from both the employees and employers. For a development program the organization either hires specialists from the industry to the organization or sent the employees to concerned institutes. Employee development involves a huge investment on the part of the employer. Development activity Employee development is an essential requirement for the success of a company in its long run. “Employee development is a joint, on-going effort on the part of an employee and the organization for which he or she works to upgrade the employees knowledge, skills, and abilities.” (Employee Development: What is Employee Development. 2006). The development activity chosen here is ‘personal and professional development.’ Personal development helps an employee to develop his behaviour as a social being in the organization and professional development helps the employee to develop his skills of performing the job. “Money is important, but survey after survey reveals that workers also consider the chance to enhance their skills a key job satisfaction factor.” (Brett 2007). Group selected The group selected here is the employees who are involved in the production department of Hyundai plant in Ulsan, South Korea. The Ulsan plant was established in year 1975. “Its Ulsan plant is claimed to be the biggest automobile factory in the world with a combined capacity of 1.5 million units.” (Hyundai: fact file. (2002-2007). The employees in the production department are the persons who have direct involvement in the production of Hyundai Cars. In such a case a personal and professional development program for the production department employees will directly impact the quality of the cars that are produced at the plant. After all the primary objective of human resource development in the company is to enhance the quality of the cars and to emerge as the world’s leading car manufacturer in the world. Since the goal of the company through employee development is to improve the products in terms of technology, safety and quality features, the development program should be conducted in the production plant of the world across the whole world. But initially the program should be conducted only in one plant. The preferred plant is Ulsan plant in Korea. After completion of the program in Ulsan plant its influence on the output should be analyzed. On the basis of that the program should be conducted in other plants of the company across the world. “The mammoth-sized Ulsan complex sits on a 1,200 acres site and it is Hyundai´s main production plant comprised of five independent plants capable of producing 5,600 vehicles daily.” (About Hyundai: Company overview: the Ulsan plant-the world’s single largest automobile plant in the world. 2008). Program characteristics and requirements of the organization An employee development program is not a periodical function in an organization. A development program has certain aims and objectives and the program must be conducted only if the organization requires it. The objectives of an employee development in Hyundai Motor Company and the characteristics of personal and professional development are outlined below. Objectives / need for employee development To widen the knowledge of employees for better performance: The major objective of employee development in Hyundai Motor Company is to widen the knowledge of employees. For improving the quality of the cars produced by Hyundai the skills of the employees who produce it must be improved. If the research and development unit of the company introduces any new technology and features for the cars, the employees in the production department must be intimated about that for applying it to the final product. They should be educated about the new technology. “It is concerned with the structure and delivery of acquisition of knowledge to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of organization.” (Employee Training and Development Program: Training and Development Defined. 2007). To improve the quality of production and product: The second objective of the development program is to improve the quality of the production and product. “The most important benefit is better quality work.” (Art 1999). Hyundai is an automobile company that is recognized as one among the top 100 brands in the world. Its effort to be the world’s leading auto major can be accomplished only if it improves the quality of production as well as the product. For making improvement in the production and product quality the employees need to be trained on better production techniques. To improve the productivity: Hyundai ranked fifth in the automakers of the world on the basis of the total sales it made. For further improvement in sales, the productivity needs to be accelerated and improved. Productivity can be increased only when the production facilities and employee skills are improved. Improvement in employee skill is possible only through an employee development program. To enhance the behaviour of employees: Behaviour of an employee in an organisation is an important influencing factor on the organisational culture. A good organisation culture can only be developed by good behaviour of the employees. The personal problems of an employee will influence his behaviour within the organisation he works and ultimately affects his productivity. Therefore a personal development program will help the employee to redress his personal problems and thus his behaviour within the organisation will be enhanced. Characteristics of the program Impart technical knowledge to the employees: The development program selected for application in the company is personal and professional development. The objective of personal and professional development is to impart technical knowledge to the employees. Impart knowledge of new methods of doing present job: Improvement of productivity of an organisation requires improvement in the production process. To speed up the existing production process new methods have to be introduced in the system. The characteristic of personal and professional development program is that it will educate the employees about new methods of producing a job. (reference) Helps the employees to develop their interpersonal skill: The personal and professional development program will help the employees to improve their behaviour within the organisation. This will result in an improvement in the motivation level of the employees and as such it will result in an improvement in the productivity of the organisation. Undergoes training under specialized trainers: Personal and professional development program is being conducted in the organisation by experts from the industry. Thus the expertise of the experts can be utilized by the employees for their personal development. From the above comparison it can be inferred that the Personal and Professional Development program will meet the objectives of the company. The personal and professional development program will satisfy the need for employee development in Hyundai Motor Company. The next issue is to develop an appropriate program design. Design of the program 1. First of all the employees of production department should be grouped on the basis of the sections in which they are employed. In the production department itself there are sections like engine development unit, assembling unit, electrical unit, etc. The knowledge that has to be imparted to the employees differs from one section to another. Appropriate grouping will help the trainers to give personalized attention to each group. 2. Secondly an assessment should be made about the skills possessed by an employee. Every employee in an organisation will not be equally skilled. The skill level of one employee will differ from that of his co-worker. Therefore, the particular area where an employee lacks knowledge should be identified. 3. Thirdly a specialized person should be appointed to study the different divisions and the developments to be made in each division. The specialized persons are usually the experts from research and development division of the company. The experts decide the components to be improved in the product in order to improve quality. 4. Fourthly the employees are to be divided into different batches. When the whole employees are given training at the same time, the normal production in the company will be hampered. When the employees are trained in batches, one batch will work when the other group undergo training. The final stage is follow-up. After completion of the training program the next batch of cars that are produced must be examined. If the products are improved in terms of quality the program can be expanded to the other plants of the company. Benefits of training program to the Company The main goal of the company is to develop technologically advanced cars so that the company emerges as the world’s leading car manufacturer. The personal and professional development program will help Hyundai Motor Company to achieve its goal. The benefits of personal and professional development program for the company are enumerated as follows. (McNamara 1999-2008). Helps the employees to develop their technical skill: The training program will help the employees of the production department to improve their technical skill. The employees undergo training under specialist in the industry and also in the technical institutes. The employees thus gather the method of improved way of performing current job. 1. Employee specialization reflected in the product: The skill acquired by the employee will be reflected in their way of production and will help to improve the quality of the cars that are produced. 2. Better interpersonal relationship: The personal development program will enhance the pattern of employee behaviour. They will try to maintain better relationship with other employee thus fostering a good interpersonal relationship in the organization. This will also enhance the motivation level of the employees. 3. Improves the job satisfaction of employees: Improvement in the skill to perform the job will help the employees to perform well. The employee will feel highly satisfied when he performs better. This will also result in improvement in the employee morale. 4. Improvement in the production efficiency: The efficiency of production activity in the plant will be improved. Efficiency in production means speedy performance and low wastage. This will help to improve the efficiency and profitability of the company. 5. Reduction in the cost of supervision: Better knowledge of work will help the employees to manage the work more independently. Thus the cost of supervision of employees in the production department will be reduced to a great extend. Conclusion This report has clearly summarized the requirement for en employee development program in Hyundai Motor Company and has outlined clearly the benefits of such a program for the company. The benefits that the company is likely to earn through the employee development program will transform Hyundai into the world’s number one automaker in future. It is seen that the first benefit of training program is improvement in the technical skill of the employees. The training program will help Hyundai to develop its employees for achieving its organisational goal of becoming world’s best car maker. The development program to be adopted in the company is personal and professional development. Professional development is related to the skill required for doing the work and personal development is related to the personal development of the employees. The program will not only help Hyundai to improve the quality of final product but will also help the company to reduce employee turnover in the company. Bibliography About Hyundai: Company overview: the Ulsan plant-the world’s single largest automobile plant in the world. (2008). [online]. Hyundai. Last accessed 7 May 2008 at: http://worldwide.hyundai-motor.com/common/html/about/overview/profile_04.html After Sales Service. (2008). [online]. About Hyundai. Last accessed 7 May 2008 at: http://worldwide.hyundai-motor.com/common/html/about/part_services/after_sales_service.html Art, Vasconcellos (1999). Automotive Industry: Employee Development. [online]. BNET. Last accessed 7 May 2008 at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3828/is_199903/ai_n8842550 BRETT, Good (2007). Professional Development Initiatives Boost Employee Retention. [online]. Orange county business journal. BNET. 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