Human Resource Management - Assignment Example

9th December Human Resource Management Reflective Essay Introduction While working in a task oriented groups or just as an individual, it is essential for learners or workers to reflect on the skills they have learnt. As a result, individuals are in a position to evaluate the gains in addition to skills they have gained in the process. During the reflection, students can emulate various models such as The Kolb Cycle and Gibbs Reflective Cycle among others. Major areas that are covered by Gibbs Reflective Cycle include feelings, description, evaluation, conclusion and action. During the reflection process, a student should ask himself or herself various questions that will guide them in the identification of what they have gained or not gained in the learning process. On its part, the Kolb Cycle consists of 4 stages that include experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. During my active participation in my group, I was exposed to quite a number of experiences that resulted to improvement of my communication skills as well as performance. Due to the wide range of activities that we undertook, each one of us attained a certain skill despite the few challenges we faced especially in the initial stages of forming the group. My reflection, which touches on issues surrounding group leadership and management, employs the concept of Gibbs Reflective Cycle, a theory that was established in 1988 by Graham Gibbs. What happened to me/my group during the group work? Why might this have happened? In our efforts to create a good atmosphere where the contribution of each member could be heard in a simple manner, most of the debating took place in the afternoons in an open space or closed room. As result of lack of noise in the places we choose to hold our discussion, communication among the members of the team was quite effective and clear. Lack of noise also allowed me to easily put down information and suggestions that were provided by the group members. As the leader of the team, I was responsible to ensure effective management of the group strategies. For example, I was in charge of identifying the location that we could hold our discussion by considering the places where the members of the group came from, the security and level of noise among other aspects. Personally, during the group work, I gained exhaustive information on the human resources management issues that we researched on. Despite my own research from the library and in the internet, I looked for the opinions from other people who have skills in human resources management. As indicated by Gibbs Reflective Cycle, when one is reflecting it is crucial to ask the question why were you there? My intention in the group was to gain extensive skills and opinions in matters relating to human resources management. The group had 5 members with 4 of them being Chinese and 1 an English student. Thus, the group success despite the communication barriers was based on the diversity that was valued by each member of the group. Once the group met for debates, I opened the meeting with a remark that touched on the issues that has been experienced since the last meeting. Members were given chances to make their contributions thus making them to have the ability to express themselves. At my part, I gained the skill of dividing labour. This was through the aspect of sharing of tasks within the members of the group. Additionally, my leadership skills were improved thus becoming able to create strong workforce that is in a position to attain its objectives. Before the formation of our group and improvement of my communication skills, I experienced the feeling of anxiety and low confidence while talking to a group of people in a meeting. Additionally, I felt demotivated by the questions that I was asked by other people including students. Prior to the group formation, I was not in a position to guide other members of the group in order to make them attain their goals thus making them to positively contribute to the goals of the group. Once the group started its activities, my feelings took another course. For instance, I felt that my self esteem was enhanced since I was now able to make a presentation in front of a big crowd. One of the major aspects that made the change in my self esteem and improved confidence was the training I obtained in the field of human resources management as well as group formation and motivation. What did I learn? What would I do differently? Through the group work, I learnt how to be a responsible leader. Just as indicated by Gibbs Reflective Cycle, learners should in a position to describe the skills and lessons they have learnt. Through the various challenges that we faced, I also learnt how to solve problems for example due to language barriers and poor relationship among the workers. Notably, during my efforts to create strong positive relationship among the members of the team, I adopted the Simplex Process to solve their problems. This included the application of the 8 stages to settle the disputes that arose among the group members. These included problem finding, fact finding, problem definition, idea finding, selection, planning, selling idea and taking action. As a result, group members’ productivity was greatly improved. As a way of enhancing the productivity of employees, it is vital to ensure that they remain motivated. Through the use of intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors, I was able to make the group members have morale to contribute during the debate. Motivation is one of the key aspects that make firms to have a productive workforce. Through my research on huge companies including Toyota and Coca-Cola, I realized that without a motivated workforce, it is difficult for a firm to remain competitive and attain its goals. In this regard, I adopted various strategies to make our team be motivated. For instance, I offered free training on leadership as well as management skills to the members especially after we were through with the debates. As a result, the group members became more focused at achieving group objectives. As the result of the cultural diversity in our group, I learnt that I value diversity which is a major aspect that leads to the success of local and global companies. I think that the experience in the group and the roles that I prayed has improved my leadership as well management skills. As a leader who was guided by plans and objectives, I learnt that without involving all the stakeholders while making organizational decisions, it is difficult to avoid resistance to change within a firm. In case I did not have the human management skills that I used to make the group members remain focused at the group objectives, I would have adopted another approach. For instance, I would have hired a third party who could provide the same skills to the group members. During the performance of their duties, human resources managers are faced with challenges that require them to look for solutions from other sources. Thus, my outsourcing of the members’ training would still be in line with the human management strategies that are used by local and globally successful companies. To deal with the problem of language barrier, I could also hire a translator. The role of the translator will ensure that the communication between the Chinese members and the English single member is effective. However, the hiring of the translator would mean looking for funds to pay him or her. This implies that I would request each member to make a weekly contribution that would cater for the translator wages. As a result, I would have created a strong sense of responsibility among the group members. As the result of the group work, I now feel secured and eager while undertaking any obligation as an individual or in a team. Based on our accomplishment, I think that other members of the group people feel happy. According to Gibbs Reflective Cycle, it is essential for learners or workers to ask themselves how they think that an experience makes other people to feel. For example, within an organization, an experience by the workers or an act by one of the employees may result to a bad feeling that may jeopardize the performance of the firm. This implies that workers who have caused the bad feelings should use other methods to avoid similar situation in future. For the group members who were helpful, I also believe that they feel as part and parcel of the group an aspect that also makes them to feel a higher sense of motivation. Based on my effectual leadership and strategic plans for the group, I think that the members feel secured such that in future we may form stronger groups that will be ready to deal with any challenges that may occur during group formation or in the debating stages. What would be result if the same thing happened in an organisation? By engaging in the group work, I was able to implement my leadership skills that optimistically impacted on the group activities. If the same strong and focused leadership happened in an organisation, there would be an improved workers’ confidence. By engaging workers in a decision making process and allowing them to give feedbacks, it would make them have confidence with their leaders. This would as a result ensure that any the employees trust their leaders to settle any problem that they face during their day to day activities. Additionally, the employees will act as the watchmen for an organization thus ensuring that any problem is reported to the supervisors in a timely manner. Through establishing leadership and management training programs in an organization just like the ones I came up with in our group, workers, level of motivation will greatly be enhanced. It is imperative to note that increased of salaries is not the only motivating factor. When workers are trained on other skills, they feel developed and have hire ability to deal with any challenge during their duties. Such training will also expose them to hire possibility of becoming supervisors and managers. On their part, the workers will improve their performance in order to get promoted thus improving the profitability of an organization. Another method that a firm should use to make the workers performance improves is by providing a flexible benefit scheme. For example, an organization can allow the employees to choose any benefit that they wish to get such as scholarship for their children, paid holidays abroad, annual gifts, promotion and working in shifts among others. If similar leadership occurs in an organization, managers and workers will remain focused at achieving their own as well as organizational goals. By minding the social lives and employees welfare, managers are in a better position to make the workers focus at the objectives that are outlined by the management team. One of the ways that managers should adopt come up with a focused team is by identifying any deviation and taking appropriate actions to deal with it. For instance, if the workers level of concentration is low, managers must take the role of a counsellor or hire professional psychologists to address the problems faced by the employees. In this way, the employees will be in a position to perform their duties without passing their attention to other personal or family issues. Strong relationship among the employees is another notable aspect that would occur in an organization. Through the Simplex Process just like the one I used in our group, workers will work in a peaceful manner that includes treating their colleagues just like their brothers and sisters. In this way, the management team will not waste a lot of time solving unnecessary problems during the working hours. Additionally, workers will have strong sense of trust towards their managers. Apart from seeking manager’s support, workers will be in a position to report any personal issue that may demotivate them. Such a relationship has led to development of many companies especially in the hospitality industry. Improved performance by the employees is another important aspect that will be experienced in an organization that adopts focused at effective leadership style like the one I applied in my team. With the ever growing stiff competition in the international market, it is imperative that employees are recognized during company interior and exterior strategies. Through the use of democratic leadership style, I made the ideas move freely while I took control of the rapidly changing working environment. In an organization, similar kind of leadership would offer a great deal of flexibility to adapt to more useful ways of undertaking duties. Democratic leadership would also bring the best out of a professional team and experienced workers. Good fits for democratic leadership in an organization includes establishing a creative group, regular consulting, allowing flexibility depending on customers’ needs and education to different ideas. Examples of companies that have become successful due to the use of democratic leadership style are WorldBlu and Da Vita Incorporation, Basically, an organization that identifies and value their employees will attain its objectives. Employees just like group members are important resources whose roles cannot be overlooked. By making them to be part and parcel of an organization, management teams will be in a better position to make their companies attain a competitive advantage. How might Human Resource policies and/or practices be used to engender further success/mitigate such problems? Human resources policies aim at establishing a framework that provides standards that guide us how we should behave as managers and employees. For example, during hiring of the employees, human resources manager must take into consideration the skills possessed by the potential employees. This is an aspect that an effective team leader should also consider during team formation. Cultural diversity should also be considered. While language can be a barrier during communication, it should not be an obstacle during a hiring process. For instance, an organization with more Chinese workers should not hesitate to hire English speaking employees since it can train them to speak Chinese language an aspect that would ultimately motivate the hired workers. On the matters of leaves and absence, upholding working ethics is needed. While managers are required to provide resting time for the employees, workers on their part should seek permission from the management team if they need to attend personal issues. Clear guidelines should be included in organizations’ working ethics which indicates cases that may lead to absenteeism or leave. As indicated earlier, proper leadership style will enable employees to inform the managers regarding situation that may lead to absenteeism. If the relationship between the employees and managers is poor, cases of absenteeism and sacking will increase in a company. Termination of employment is another aspect that further would require a leadership skill for a manager. An effective manager must be conversant with the Employment Standards Act of (ESA) 2000. According to this act, an employment is terminated if the employer stops hiring an employee or where a worker is no longer employed due to insolvency or bankruptcy, constructively dismisses a worker or lay off an employee for a longer period. On their part, employees should be aware of the qualifications for termination under ESA. For example, workers should be aware that some kind of behaviours does not need a notice of termination under ESA. These include disobedience, wilful conduct, intentional neglect of duties and temporary laid off employees who have declined to take alternative job in the company (Employment Standards Act 2000). Another aspect of human resources management is provision of benefits. While employees are significantly motivated by high wages, other forms of benefits such as training, promotion, holidays, gifts, travelling allowances and leaves among others makes their performance to improve. By providing workers with time to handle their personal issues as indicated earlier makes them to have higher level of concentration as indicated earlier. Just like I looked for safe locations of our group meetings, managers should ensure that they consider workplace health and safety. By realizing that their security and health are guaranteed, employees are able to undertake their duties without fear. In this way, they will focus at their own objectives as well as those of the organization. Just like indicated by Gibbs Reflective Cycle, I need to take an action after the experience that I underwent during the group work. First, I aim at undertaking more research that I would apply during the formation of the team in our organization as the manager. With the growing challenges in the global business environment, ranging from economic issues to political factors, I need to focus on the relationship between members of the team especially if they came from different cultural background. Similarly, I need to research on the methods that I would adopt to create a strong team work and which are in line with the needs of my group members. Conclusion The human resources management experience has exposed me quite a number of issues which I will apply in future. Be acting as the group leader, my employee’s management skills were greatly improved. Additionally, I was able to adopt motivating factors such as training and mentorship and noted their positive impact on the performance of the group members. By applying the same to my organization, I will ultimately receive positive response from the workers. Despite the occurrence of the situation of language barrier in some debating situation, the team worked out fairly well. Works Cited Employment Standards Act of (ESA) 2000. Available from http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/pubs/guide/termination.php Read More