Human Resource Development - Learning, Education, and Training for Individuals and Organisations - Coursework Example

Name Class Unit Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Key discoveries 3 Applicable lessons learnt 6 Reflection based on key competencies developed from the course 7 Conclusion 8 References 10 Introduction Human resource management (HRM) is one of the most vital departments in an organisation. HRM is the functional area in an organisation which deals with recruitment, hiring, training, promotions, employee retention and support. These are all functions that relates to the people in an organisation (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The HRM department is expected to evaluate the human resource needs and fulfil them in an organisation. HRM has become the dominant approach in managing workers through the world. Over the years, the functions of HRM have changed a lot due to the increasing challenges in the global environment. The challenges have made HRM to be looked as a change agent for sustainable and profitable organisation. The dramatic changing business environment, regulations and global business landscape continues to be a challenge for the HRM (Hendry, 2012). This report is based on an interview with a professional in HRM on specific HRM functions and practices and other relevant areas of personal curiosity for working with and managing people in business in Saudi Arabian context. The report summarises my key discoveries, applicable lessons learned during the project and reflections focusing on key competencies developed by attending the course. Key discoveries During the interview, it was possible to make key discoveries. One of the discoveries was the importance of employee training function of HRM. The interview was able to reflect the importance of employee training and development. The education may prepare the student for their first job but they will need training, experience and more education as they progress in their career (Wilson, 2014). To maximise the training function of the HRM, the organisations are expected to keep a constant assessment of their employee career needs. There is also need to know the specific employee needs since each employee has different needs. Employees need change as they progress in their careers (Storey, 2007). Employee training is directly related to employee turnover. Investing in employees ensures that they improve their individual capabilities as well as those of the organisation. Training improves employees’ knowledge and skills. This helps in improving their individual capabilities. The training is based on a cost benefit analysis. This implies that the cost of training should be lower than the employee job performance. The improved performance of the employees leads to improved quality of products and services. To manage effectively the training program, the organisation is expected to measure the benefits of their training program (Hendry, 2012). It is important to know that employees finishing the training program do not imply that they will always have a positive return. Another discovery is that organisations with high HRM quality have a large number of their employees in training programs. This involves having new and experienced employees undergoing training each year. This implies that having a lot of investment in training and development helps an organisation to increase their value of HRM. The organisation capabilities are improved and employees become more important (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). In the Saudi Arabian context, I discovered that some of the organisation prefers use of coaching to help their employees develop strategic thinking skills. This includes skills such as; creativity, vision and innovation (Budhwar & Mellahi, 2006). This is especially to the high potential employees who are discovered early in the process. Instead of allowing the employees to develop the job skills on their own, employers comes with plans to develop and manage employees’ skills. Coaching is utilised and involves training and offering feedback to the employees (Ramlall, Al-Amri & Abdulghaffar, 2012). The importance of team in an organisation cannot be ignored. Most of the modern organisation operates through use of teams. Teams helps in forming a fundamental learning unit in the modern organisation especially in Saudi Arabian context. The team members are made to know each other in all steps of their development. Team building activities are used in training employees to attain high performance as a cohesive group. Most of the organisation in Saudi Arabia invests highly in continuous learning (Ramlall, Al-Amri & Abdulghaffar, 2012). The organisations invest part of their budget for training the employees. This ensures that employees are able to gain about six days of formal training each year. The aim is to ensure that employees have continuous learning in the span of their career. Employee are encouraged to gain a firm grounding in a given career area. This ensures that they are able to acquire broad experience and enhance their long term career goal (Storey, 2007). Lastly, employee training, it becomes easy to motivate. Workers motivation increase in organisations which invests in their career training and development. This makes the workers to feel valued and becomes more committed. An organisation is able to benefit from employees who are motivated in their work and are ready to contribute towards they set goals. This has made organisations to invest heavily in employees training. It is also challenging to manage training in a large organisation. This is due to large capital investment required and the number of employees involved. This has made the HRM departments to come up with training programs that can cater for large group of employees. It involves use of technology in employee training and team based training (Hendry, 2012). This has ensured that large group of employees involved. Applicable lessons learnt During the interview there are several lessons that were learnt. One of the lessons is the fact that human resource training and development should always be upheld in an organisation (Wilson, 2014). This involves investing in time and finances on the employees development and training. It was evident that the organisation has benefited from increased productivity through well trained employees. Once and organisation fails to train their employees, they risk losing their competitive advantage through poor quality of goods and services (Rynes, Colbert & Brown, 2002). Another lesson learned was the importance of training and development in improving creativity and innovation. A trained workforce is able to become creative and innovative. Most of the innovative firms have high investment in employees training and development. The HR department encourages risk taking through their training and development programme. Thus, if an organisation wants to improve their creativity, it is important for them to invest heavily in employee training and development. There is also need to create a culture of risk taking in the organisation to ensure that employees are not afraid of innovating. Effective human resource managers know that having a timely coaching for their employees can lead to high performance. Use of mentors and coaches helps in offering advice to the employees on ways in which they can grow in their profession and attain their goals (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The interview was able to show that successful companies align their human resource strategy with the overall business strategy. This is a lesson that shows the need of having a competent HR manager who is able to align the strategies and gain maximum returns. This leads to high overall return of the firm investments. It is important to ensure that all aspects of human resource management are improved for the firm to succeed in their operations (Storey, 2007). Lastly, employee training and development leads to a challenge of retaining the employees. Once trained, the employee becomes more attractive to other employers. This poses a major challenge to the firm since they have invested in the employee training and development. The program costs the organisation a lot of revenue and time hence losing the employee is a major challenge. This implies that apart from training the employees, the organisation is expected to come up with ways of retaining employees. The mobility of labour implies that employees can leave the company and join competitors even after being trained. Organisations which fail to come up with methods for employees’ retention learns this lesson when it is too late. Once the organisation trains the employees, they have a duty to come up with means that will ensure employees are satisfied with the company and have low intention of leaving. This may include use of pay rise, bonus, flexible working schedule and good working environment (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Reflection based on key competencies developed from the course This course has been a great help for me as I develop my skills in HRM. I have been able to learn the functions and competencies of the HRM department through the course. From what I have learned, the field of human resource management requires being able to meet the challenges. This is due to fact that it is a dynamic field with changes occurring regularly. Change occurs everywhere and failure to manage it may lead to poor productivity in an organisation. The role of the HR professional has changed and is no longer only service based but consulting and advisory. The HR professionals have a great role to play in ensuring that the business complies with the set standards of human development and training. I think one of the biggest challenge that HR faces is gaining a deep understanding of the overall business strategy, customer needs and the financial drivers. The HR department is also required to market the organisation internally and externally based on current and prospective employees which is a major challenge (Rynes, Colbert & Brown, 2002). I learned that the most important asset in the firm is human resource. This implies that employees in an organisation matters a lot. As a HR manager, I am required to hire and keep valuable employees while at the same time firing employees who does not contribute to firm goals. I have been able to learn how to deal with the challenge of recruitment. This is through ensuring that the employees hired are capable to helping the firm attain their goal. I was also able to learn how to carry out other functions of HR department including planning, organising, recruitment, hiring, employee training and development and motivation. Learning the functions and challenges of HR department puts me in a great position to success as a HR professional. Conclusion To sum up, the project has helped a lot in learning applicable lessons and making key discoveries. The reflections show the key competencies that were learned by attending the course. HR department is one of the most vital departments in an organisation. The HR department provides well trained employees who are committed to the company goal. The HR department has to recruit, train and develop the employees. During the interview, the importance of employee training was discussed a lot. I was able to gain insight into the importance of employee training and development. I discovered that in Saudi Arabia context, organisations invest in employees through training and development. There is use of coaching and mentorship. In some cases, team development is used. The lessons learnt include upholding training and development, improving creativity and innovation through training and importance of aligning business strategy with human resource strategy. The main challenge is losing trained employees to competitors. From the course, I have been able to develop my skills and knowledge in human resource management as evidenced from the reflections. References Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Budhwar, P. S., & Mellahi, K. (Eds.). (2006). Managing human resources in the Middle-East. Routledge. Hendry, C. (2012). Human resource management. Routledge. Ramlall, S., Al-Amri, H., & Abdulghaffar, N. (2012). Human Resource Management In Saudi Arabia. International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER), 11(10), 1155- 1162. Rynes, S. L., Colbert, A. E., & Brown, K. G. (2002). HR professionals' beliefs about effective human resource practices: Correspondence between research and practice. Human Resource Management, 41(2), 149-174. Storey, J. (2007). Human resource management: A critical text. Cengage Learning EMEA. Wilson, J. P. (2014). International human resource development: Learning, education and training for individuals and organisations. Development and Learning in Organizations, 28(2). Read More