Meroche Brewery - the Importance of Expertise in the Performance of a Workplace - Case Study Example

Name Institute Tutor Date EXPERTISE IN THE WORK PLACE Introduction Expertise basically refers to the systems underlying the realization of an expert- through specialized training and practical experiences (Webster's dictionary, 2002). Expertise also refers to skills and proficiency that a person has. For instance a teacher who has undergone school and training is said to have expertise or a musician who has been to music school and is conversant with that music entails is said to have expertise. A person who can perform a task more professionally and in a better way as a result of instruction and extended practice is said to be a proficient person or rather have expertise. Expertise may also be in arts like weaving or even games like chess. This paper aims to discuss the importance of expertise in the performance of a workplace. It also discusses the extent to which the required expertise is key in the effective performance of a workplace as well as the factors that hinder the development of this expertise. Workplace expertise is the root of any organization (Billet 2001). The workers with expertise are good trouble solvers in their areas of specialization because they have the necessary proficiency, training, knowledge and judgment in relation to the problem in place in their areas of specialization (Swanson 2007). It is that fact that leads to many organizations developing and fostering expertise among its employees. The key trends in the development of expertise will be put in check in this paper in order to bring out clearly the importance of the same. A sample of a workplace chosen is a manufacturing company known as Meroche Breweries. This is a brewery set up by a female entrepreneur with ambitions to enter into the beer industry dominated by men. She starts a local brewery in the outskirts of Joskah area which is unheard of. She is the doctor of many learned youth who are idle and jobless. It is through her initiative that she is able to come up with expertise-the staff in the brewery- to help her run the busy brewery. She is aware of the ready and available market of beer in Joskah region. She has a work force of about 100 people whose main role is to run different roles in the company starting from the managerial roles, Human Resource Officers, Supervisors to the Messengers, Watchmen and Cooks. These employees are both skilled and unskilled laborers respectively. Most organizations don’t have the proper skills in developing and maintaining expertise. Some of them farm out some roles which are to be done by expertise they don’t have. This is one recipe to losses in a business because the market will always change and to satisfy it, it is important to have standby expertise that can perform roles if they come up. Sometimes the mission of the company may not be fulfilled and many gaps may be left unfilled which at times results to starting the company a fresh. Organizations that wish to endure in the competitive market must face this menace of unskilled workforce. In our case the managers of Meroche brewery should be in a position of weighing the expertise of its employees for smooth running of the organization and avoidance of negative impacts on the organization. The messengers and cooks though not very conspicuous in the company must have the necessary expertise in order for the company to run smoothly. It is evident therefore that undervaluing the workforce in an organization is a major threat to the company’s performance (Swanson 2007). The managers of an organization ought to embrace three important features of work expertise. These include; the job description, task inventory, and task analysis. If this is put in place, definitely the company will be on the runway to success. Job Description Job description is basically the boundaries of one’s job (Swanson 2007). For instance the Human Resource Manager of Meroche Breweries is the head of the head of corporate wide human resource department. He supervises the 100 workers in Meroche Breweries, proposes and implements policies on performance improvement of the brewery. The cooks on the other should ensure all meals are cooked and served on time for all the staff in the brewery while the messenger should ensure that all customers are ushered in politely into the company, all the mails are posted and records of the brewery are properly filed. Task Inventory This provides a listing of job descriptions for all the employees in a workplace. The managers should have a detailed report sent to all workers on their roles to avoid misunderstandings. They should be consulted on what roles they perform for a comprehensive inventory to be produced. Task Analysis After preparation of an inventory the managers should categorize the workers into various groups. This is key to our paper as we are supposed to distinguish the sorts of learning needed to be able to carry out the jobs in the workplace of choice in our case brewery. There are procedural tasks (Swanson 2007) which are simple because they simply entail following a certain process. For instance, the managers of Meroche Brewery need a very high educational qualification to perform this role. They simply draw up plans and procedures which are supposed to be followed by other employees while they just supervise work done. The next category is that of system tasks which in our case include the secretaries, drivers in the brewery. Though their academic levels are not high enough, they perform a very important role in the brewery. They simply must rely on other employees in different departments to achieve their goals. Lastly we have knowledge tasks in an organization (Swanson 2007). These are related to management roles. This task is a two-way with communication ability by the employee. They have to establish rapport among employees which is a prerequisite for success of an organization. Their main task is probably to develop healthy working relationships in the company. In our case study- Meroche Brewery-this role can be ascribed to the managers at all levels of the brewery. Body Critique of the roles in regard to the essay- development of expertise in selected workplace The brewery has toiled hard enough to ensure that it maintains and develops expertise in its workplace. This is aimed to support them for lifelong learning which no doubt reflected in the brewery’s outcome. One method the brewery has undertaken to maintain professional development is by getting employees make evaluation or critical evidence on their learning and progress through their jobs by letting them discuss with their workmates and peers. They are made to write down on their personal encounters and challenges they face. This can be a very powerful formative assessment based on the clientele reflections. In the process, they can learn from one another by ridiculing of bad behaviors by some members of staff. For the human resource manager to perform the following roles, he has to be an expertise. Roles of the Human Resource Manager They perform the most important role in bureaucracy. They serve as the systematizing and policing arm of executive management (Ezorsky and Nickel 1987). They are change mentors who advocate and follow up change in the organization. They are Strategic Partners who contribute to the development and accomplishment of the organizations objectives and business plan in our case the Brewery. The design of the roles in the workplace, hiring, recognition of the best employees in the Brewery is the role of the Human Resource Manager. The performance development, appraisal systems, employee development, succession planning is possible in the Brewery thanks to the Human Resource Manager. Employee advocacy is another key role of the Human Resource Manager. This entails creating a peaceful working environment for the staff in the Brewery. If the environment is peaceful and staff motivated the performance will automatically be high. The HR manager with enough expertise can ensure that all the staff in the brewery adopt the virtue of responsibility and perceive their working place as their own home! Competency, concern and commitment is evident which ultimately brings about commitment in service delivery to the customers. The HR manager in the brewery is the change champion. For the brewery to be different and outdo the other breweries the HR must come in and bring change in the brewery. Change and the strategic needs of the organization have to be well linked by the HR manager. Some members of the staff may resist change and is therefore the role of the HR manager to ensure that the dissatisfied employees are catered to and uphold change as a positive thing. He helps establish whether the Brewery is on the right track in success of its policies (Lengnick-Hall and Lengnick-Hall 2003). If this process is endowed with a considerable dialogue and openness, the Human Resource Manager is able to perform his roles easily. This reflective practice is lasting as it is continuous and done frequently in the Brewery. Formal training and education is another method the brewery has used to maintain its staff’s expertise. Continuous vocational education is primary for renewing the workforce’s minds on their roles in the Brewery as well as widens their scope of knowledge in their areas of study. The current or the existing skills are upgraded through education and training the Brewery allows its staff to go through. The staff is also able to maintain their position in the Brewery which is a positive aspect as they implement the brewery’s policies consistently due to the mastery of activities in the Brewery. For instance, for the brewer to carry out the following roles he has to undergo training and education. Roles of the brewers These are the main workers in Meroche brewery. Their main role is make beer which undergoes quite a long process. The alcoholic beverages are entirely produced by these brewers who have the needed expertise. They choose and check the finest barley or grain which is used to prepare the beer. They also select other ingredients for the preparation for instance, water, yeast of the best quality. It is their expertise that aids them in checking the fermentation rate of the mixtures for preparing beer; supervise their pH levels and finally the standard temperature for heating the mixture. The quality of the beer from Meroche brewery must stand out for it to sell more than from the other breweries. The brewers therefore need to check the quality of the beer being produced. Another role is to maintain the milling machine, filtering apparatus, carbonating equipment and brew tanks by constant cleaning and sterilizing them. All repairs must be on time to avoid inconveniences in the brewery. The brewers do not only mix ingredients for the purpose of making beer but also package the beer in an attractive way which will capture the consumer’s attention. They are also charged with the responsibility of monitoring the entire beer production process. It does not end there; they have to also interact with other companies to ensure that their beer is up to standard and also build on their ideas. From these functions therefore it is necessary to have a brewer with a lot of expertise. The brewery treasures its workers and to develop and maintain this expertise, it has sponsored some of its brewers to educational institutions who are later re-employed to implement the learnt skills. This is considered a good investment by the Brewery. If the brewer performs the above roles in a perfect way, this is considered as expertise in the brewery. The brewery has embraced informal learning in the quest to maintain and develop its workforce’s expertise. Though formal continuous vocational training assists in maintaining the brewery’s workshop, it fails to notice that technical and professional training relies so much on the informal aspect of it rather in the confined of the four walls of a building. The brewery does this by engaging the staff in work related networks which assist the employees in performing their roles effectively for instance the Public Resource Officers. They gain expertise by being in a profession for a long time. The Human Resource Department ensures the staff turnover is reduced so that one person performs a role for a long time and in the process gain expertise (Brown, 2005). The staff can also be transferred to various branches of the brewery which expands their scope of experience. In the other branches, they are promoted to higher job groups which boost their morale and increase the performance of the Brewery though indirectly. They develop strong networks with the brewery and we can argue that the informal sector is very useful to the development of individual’s skills in the brewery. Let’s use the example of Procurement Officer who plays a very key role in the brewery. Role of the Procurement Officer There are various qualifications that enable one be a procurement officer in terms of education, experience necessities and certification. This role can be performed by a person who is of Post-secondary education qualification be it diploma or even university degree. This is now considered an expertise. This role is present in Meroche Brewery because of its busy Purchasing department. This officer has a range of activities to perform in the brewery. They prepare and manage request applications for the brewery. Afterwards, they review the numerous purchase orders coming into the brewery. He has to work closely with other members of the staff to closely monitor the bidding process. All the buyers are basically under the procurement officer. He supervises all the workers in his department to ensure all their needs are met. All the complaints on buyers should be handled by him. This simply means complying with the complaints policy. They may even negotiate with suppliers who supply the ingredients of beer making and even stationery in the brewery. Their main aim is to therefore to act on behalf of the brewery to get the best prices and services in line with the Brewery’s terms and conditions. It is only an expertise who can help the brewery obtain the most quality goods and ensure there is proper cash flow. These skills can easy be gained through practical experience rather than formal skills which are inculcated through training programs in training institutions. It is therefore important to say that information and expertise is easily maintained through informal learning which is effortless. This sector ensures continuum career development in the brewery. The brewery has undertaken to let its staff attend workshops and seminars. This is a very effective way to progress towards a knowledge-based workforce. Their overall expertise is improved and the workers are therefore competent in their areas of specialization in an improved way. Their current ‘highest’ level is no longer high but polished to be better. In the case of Accountants, Public Relations Officers and Sales Agents, seminars will enable them be experts in their roles in the Brewery. Some of the ideal Accountants, Public Relations Officers and Sales Agents perform the following roles competently. Role of an accountant The accountant’s role in Meroche Brewery seems as easy as data entry but is as difficult as tax compliance officer (Stevenson, 2008). He is responsible for all the breweries operations financially. Money is the main business in an organization. The accountant is therefore the main man in an organization. He categorizes all the brewery’s transactions, records and classifies them. The brewery being a big firm, he supervises the personnel in the accounts department, aid in decision making in the brewery and ascertains the accuracy of the financial information. He is also an adviser to the firm operations and ensures that the Brewery complies with the law. Maintaining the Brewery’s financial operational is the first step to success to the Brewery. This information is presented to decision makers of the Brewery who in turn move the company ahead. A good accountant with the necessary expertise is able to determine liquidity levels of the Brewery, assess the viability of investments and stock valuations. If he does not have the necessary expertise, he cannot push the Brewery in the right direction. Role of the sales agents The sales broker or rather agents, represent or act on behalf of a company. The sales representatives of Meroche Brewery make deals with various business enterprises in the quest to market their products. They are buyer brokerage agents where they represent the customers who want to make a purchase. He is the mediator in the transactions undertaken by both parties. It is mandatory to have a sales representative who has the required expertise to run this role (Bray, 2009). He ensures that both parties gain a fair deal in the business transaction and the paper work is well done. It is also their role to implement the strategies of the sales department. This will lead to improved profits for the Brewery from the large sales volume. If the deals are well closed by both parties, the customer’s wants are fulfilled and will no doubt keep coming back for more. Sales agents with proper expertise will keep questioning in order to be at par with the consumer’s changing needs and not over-evaluate or under- evaluate their requirements. Role of Public Relations Officer This officer is concerned with maintaining the Public image of the Brewery. This being a unique and upcoming brewery, it is important to have an officer with the necessary expertise to create its good name. They counsel the organization’s leaders to aid them implement the planned programs of the Brewery for the sake of public interest. They should use both horizontal and upward communication to maintain relations among the staff members and also customers. They hold meetings which aim at building rapport among its workforce, clientele, investors as well as public at large. It is evident that these three members of staff have a very important role in the brewery. If they continuously attend seminars and workshops, they will be more enlightened on their roles. Lastly the brewery has undertaken the issue of collaboration (Mott, 2000). This is reckoned to support and uphold the workforce in the brewery and in the process develop their expertise. Collaboration facilitates informal exchanges among workers and team work. It is obvious that a divided workforce leads to a divided organization. The Brewery encourages its workforce to work as a team which is very valuable in an organization. Brown 2005 argues that most companies that have failed were partly as a result of disunity in the workforce. The workforce personal development was limited and their expertise ultimately questionable. Meroche Brewery is a unique case that set its standards right in terms of developing and maintaining its expertise through collaborative measures. Conclusion Meroche brewery therefore can be said to be in the process of developing its expertise through a number of ways discussed above. The workforce assessment and development is key in the progress of expertise in the brewery. For the above staff members to be titled as having the necessary expertise they have to perform their roles to the letter and have the necessary academic qualification to perform their roles perfectly (Billet 2001). The brewery has therefore put forward plans which are intended to ensure that long term solutions to proper workforce with the desired expertise are maintained. Employee development and progress is the responsibility of the management of the brewery if it is on the run way to success. We have also noted that not education training determines the performance of the brewery. Informal training is also mandatory because it simply exposes the staff to informal networks which add to the brewery’s output levels. The workers with expertise will absolutely be change agents in the company both in the organization level and constant learning and progress. References Bray, I. (2009) Healthy Employees, Healthy Business: Easy, Affordable Ways to Promote Workplace. Studies from the University of Washington: Washington. Billett, S. (2001).Enhancing enterprise expenditure on VET: policy goals and mechanisms. Journal of Vocational Education & Training. Griffith University: Australia Brown, A. (2005). 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