Human Resources Development Proposal for Woolworths - Example

Human Resources Development Proposal for Woolworths Student name: Institutional affiliation: Date of submission Human Resources Development Proposal for Woolworths Introduction The labour demand analysis for Woolworths earlier conducted identified some gaps and hence necessitated the company to establish a human resources development plan with an aim of ensuring that the company always has a continuous supply of the right quality and quantity of labour as it continues with its growth strategy. Some of the gaps identified include the fact that though women constitute 61% of the total workforce at Woolworth, only 16% of the employees at the management level are women. Hence, a need was identified to develop more women to the management level in a bid to motivate them and hence retain them. The changing demographics of Australian labour supply were also identified. The number of young people in the population has significantly declined and continues to decline thus posing a challenge to Woolworth’s future labour supply given that a significant portion of its total labour is composed of young people. It is also worth noting that Australia having many immigrants means that Woolworths has to incorporate intercultural aspect in its human resources development if it is to stay competitive in the market. These and many more gaps identified have indicated necessity for a human resources development program for Woolworths. Thus, this paper presents the proposed Human Resources Development program for Woolworths with an aim of overcoming the above gaps thus ensuring the company can continue performing well without the challenges in an ever changing labour supply world. Human Resources Development program rationale and needs analysis Human resources development has been defined as the process of developing and unleashing expertise with the aim of improving organizational system, work process, individual and team performance. As such, human resources development programs would incorporate such activities as training and development, organizational development, improvement of performance, career management, organizational learning and leadership development. Organizations like Woolworths need human resources development so as to be able to fill such gaps as the one identified above while keeping at par with the changing dynamics in the world of labour supply. Thus, the rationale for Woolworths’ human resources development program will include a number of factors such as; i) Keeping with the fast rate of change around the organization. In this regard, the company has been growing rapidly while expanding into new areas such as petroleum and banking. Thus, the company would need a human resources development program that will keep its employees at par with these changes in operation (Werner and Randy, 2011). ii) Focusing on quality-in the increasingly competitive environment, quality will be the only competitive advantage that Woolworth will have over others. Thus, there is need to equip its employees with skills that will ensure it offers superior quality in comparison to others. iii) Globalization of business-the world today is a global village hence the need to equip its human resources with skills necessary for it to survive in the globalized business world. iv) Woolworth will need a human resources development program that will increase the organization’s flexibility and responsiveness. v) New competitive structures have emerged especially with the latest development in technology. For instance, most businesses are now going online and hence a good human resources development program should prepare Woolworth’s for this. The human resources development program to be implemented by Woolworth’s will have a number of objectives including facilitating an organizational environment at Woolworths where people come first. The program will aim at recognition of every employee irrespective of who they are thus creating a very good working environment at Woolworths. The human resources development program is to ensure that there is an organization culture which provides equal opportunities to every employee as far as career planning, quality of work life, promotion, training and development are concerned. The human resources development program will seek to enhance employability by enhancing their ability, skills and competencies. This will motivate Woolworth’s employees to work with effectiveness. In addition, the human resources development program will aim at enhancing employees’ adaptability through continuous training with an aim of developing their professional skills. This will be important in helping them adapt to organizational change that is always continuous. Needs analysis The need for a human resources development program for Woolworths is necessitated by the big size of its workforce at more than 19,000 employees. It is to be noted that such a program is needed to ensure the company maintains more sustainable development in a market that is highly competitive and an ever changing online world.it is important to note that the nature of Woolworths business requires it to have a large number of employees at the ground level who are responsible for introducing the products to customers thus necessitating a HRD program. It is also to be noted that the company has an argent need to develop its female employees who form the bulk of its employees at the ground level and even at all levels of the organization at 60% yet only 16% of them are found at the organization’s managerial level. This poses a challenge for the organization’s sustainable development owing to the need to develop and retain all employees whether male or female in a bid to achieve the organization’s resource growth plan. However, owing to the women’s under-representation at the managerial level, women are always dissatisfied about the career development or growth path leading to high turnover among women (Woolworthslimited.com.au, 2016). Thus, a HRD strategy is needed to retain, promote and move more women in the organization to managerial levels. Another need for a human resources development program for Woolworths arises from the fact that the organization maintains a rapid growth status as evidenced by a number of growth projects it has been undertaking since 1996 to date. Such an organization maintaining a rapid growth status will have its labour demand increasing thus necessitating establishment of a HRD program and a career development to help it attract, train and retain the best talents in the market. The need for a human resources development program for Woolworths is also supported by its strategic plan. Woolworths adopts a growth plan that will see it establish more growth businesses in such areas as mobile business and online shopping based on online technologies. Thus, it would need a human resources development plan to support its strategic plan. Another need arises from the demographic changes and labour mobility. The Australian demographic has serious challenges of serious ageing with the population of young people dropping drastically in recent years. This is bearing in mind that the company largely depends on the young for its labour supply. The rapid decrease in young population would thus pose a challenge for Woolworth’s in future owing to labour shortages. Another challenge emanates from the fact that Australia could be considered a migrant country implying multiple cultures. Cross-culture management would therefore pose a challenge to Woolworths both in labour management and recruitment. This also poses a challenge of labour shortage owing to labour mobility. Thus, this necessitates establishment of a human resources development program that would ensure employee training and retention (Mankin, 2009). The company also needs a human resources development program with an aim of ensuring that its recruitment is not only based on organizational talent requirement but also on organizational strategy and cost management. Striking a balance between the full time employees and part time employees would be important in ensuring cost effectiveness in the company’s cost of labour while avoiding labour shortages and over supplies. HRD Practices to be used and the rationale for using them The human resources development program at Woolworths will involve a number of activities both at the employee individual level and the organizational level. The application of the program will also depend on whether one is an existing employee or he/she is a new employee in the organization. The program is described below in detail together with the rationale for its application. i) Development plans for individual employees The first step in the HRD program will involve identification of the specific skill development areas for individual employees as well as the competencies they require. This will depend on the employee’s job specification, his character as well as his expected level of performance. The needs can also be identified from the employee’s personal profile records and various employee performance appraisals that reveal skills strengths and skills gaps depending on how they perform. Employees could also be asked to suggest their development targets and from this an employee personal development plan can be developed. Thus, each employee at Woolworths will have an individual plan clearly detailing his skills and those requiring development over a specific time period as well as the methodology through which they will be achieved. The organization through expending the required resources should share the responsibility for the employee’s development by taking appropriate action to support the employee’s development while at the individual level, the employee will have to initiate and participate in the agreed development plan. The rationale behind this is to ensure that every employee is equipped with the required skills to achieve individual development needs and thereby achieving organizational objectives. ii) Organizational level At the organizational level, Woolworths will identify the needed skills for achieving organizational objectives on the basis of the gaps identified above and hence develop the people on Woolworth’s strategic and corporate objectives (Bruce, 2016). This should be done by reviewing employee’s skill profile hence identifying skills gaps between the skills already available and those that are needed. This will equip the organization with all skills necessary to achieve its objectives both now and in the future. In offering development opportunities, Woolworths should ensure that the development opportunities are availed to all employees equitably especially to women who are currently not well represented at the organization’s management level. iii) Woolworth’s Human Resources Development method This will mainly be delivered through training after the training needs have been assessed and training objectives and approaches have been identified. The training program will be planned in such a way that it achieves a number of functions including providing an appropriate learning environment, enhancing participation and involvement of every employee while promoting interaction and cohesion. In addition, it should give greater control of the learning process to the practitioners. A number of training methods which are either on job training or outside training have been identified in line with the gaps identified in the analysis above. These have been explained below and will be applied as the need arises. a) On-the-Job training This is the training that will be planned and structured to take place mainly at the various workstations within Woolworth’s establishments. In this regard, the trainers and managers are expected to spend significant amount of time with the trainees in a bid to impart the required skills identified above. This will include mentoring and coaching, learning through doing, job rotation and shadowing, apprenticeship and e-learning. Mentoring and coaching will involve use of experienced employees to train and develop new employees. In this regard, the older employee will act as adviser and protector of the trainee. At the managerial level, coaching will involve giving guidance by managers to fellow managers through advice, criticism, directions and suggestion with an aim of growing employees at the managerial level. Training will also involve learning by doing to impart new skills and methods to employees under supervisors. Woolworth’s will also use shadowing and job rotation as part of its employee training program. Shadowing will be intended at trainee managers acquiring organizational experience through working in different departments. On the other hand, job rotations will help raise productivity while providing workers with excellent learning experience while eliminating employee boredom. Woolworths will use e-learning in a bid to impart knowledge and facilitate employee learning whenever and wherever the employees may be. It will also be vital in training current employees in matters to do with online business thus enabling easier and smooth transition (McGuire, 2014). This will also involve computer based training. On-job training will also involve apprenticeship where there will be a structured process for employees to become skilled workers in their field through combining classroom training sessions and on the job training. b) Off-the-Job training This type of training will be aimed at getting people away from the hustle and bustle of Woolworth’s working environment thus enabling the employees study theoretical information while being exposed to new and innovative ideas. Some of the proposed off-the-job training methods will include active and passive learning where Woolworths will provide willing employees with passive learning opportunities whenever they arise. This will include such strategies as attending workshops, role plays, case studies, role plays and simulation. The company will provide sensitive training as a way of changing behaviour through group processes whenever need arises. Woolworth will also design formal lecture courses depending on the needs identified above designed to help existing and potential managers acquire required knowledge while developing conceptual and analytical abilities necessary for their performance. In this case, Woolworth being a large organization will offer this courses In-The-House by Woolworths itself. The courses are to be organized one time a year with the courses taking three weeks to complete. However, employees willing to pursue further studies elsewhere will be given opportunity to do so. There will be transactional analysis aimed at helping managers in better understanding others thus assisting them to alter their responses and thus producing effective results. Woolworths will also design simulation exercises geared towards management development and will involve such exercises as case studies, role playing and simulated decision games. Training at Woolworths will involve the employees being taught about the history of Woolworths as well as being introduced to the working system including working time, day offs and similar labour related issues including how to wear and present oneself to the customers. Employees will also be taught on workplace health and safety including labour safety, prevention of accidents as well as fire regulations. Employees will also be taught on such issues as punctuality and good customer service. How to arrive and leave including observing time, stealing prevention and how to behave within the organization. Other issues to be taught will include emerging issues in retailing as well as use of technology in the business. It is also worth noting that the training program will include an apprentice program where the staff will be given a chance of gaining new skills while going for technical turn in their skills. It is to be noted that such programs are expected to last for at least one ear and will be starting very year in January. Such opportunities will be specifically available to management trainees who will be given a chance to train on managing various departments within the organization. The human resources development program will also include Woolworths HRD week whereby managers in the head office will be given a chance to have a store experience through spending a whole week in the store once every year whereby they familiarize themselves with various aspects to do with store operations while identifying skills gaps and identifying suitable candidates for further development to managerial levels. Under the program, Woolworths will also have a store development program and a commercial development program. The store development programs will involve the trainees joining the company to attend a two day course in a university to equip themselves with knowledge about store management, environment, personal and professional development (Woolworths, 2016). The personal development program on the other hand will include activity plans of what to learn, what to do and keeping a checklist. It will help the trainees carry out own analysis regarding progress thus helping them become more positive, valuable and productive to Woolworths in the long run. It will also help improve their motivation level. The rationale for this training program is to help increase employees sense of ownership while helping them becomes more organized, flexible and productive. This will help the organization to better meet the needs of the customers. The human resources development program will also help the organization deal with the gaps identified above (Cummings and Worley, 2009). This will be see more women rise into managerial levels while the organization will be better prepared to deal with the demographics identified above as well as the ever changing technological environment. Furthermore, the organization will be better prepared to continue in the ever changing and highly competitive operating environment by having highly motivated human resources with the right composition in terms of quality and quantity in accordance to the company’s needs and requirements at any given time. Training outline and a tentative list and description of training materials needed As stated above, the training program at Woolworth’s is proposed to take a period of one year. The following is the proposed outline for management training at Woolworths. It is expected that the trainee will gain a detailed understanding of what goes on in all departments as well as their management practices by spending at least 2 months in each of the departments. It is to be noted that there will be no major materials requirements for the training program. This is because the training materials will depend on the departmental needs (Gold and Holden, 2013). However, the trainee will be required to work very closely with the department’s management and supervisors to ensure efficient and effective skills acquisition. It is also worth noting that every trainee will be assigned a supervisor whenever in any of the departments to guide them throughout the training period. Time Department Objectives and skills acquisition 0-2 months Management -The trainee to acquire a comprehensive understanding of management and administrative strategies, decision making skills and policy making techniques. The trainee will acquire institutional structures, staff management and time management skills as well as management behavior in business settings. The trainee will gain conflict resolution, data processing and software concept skills necessary for business management. 3rd and 4th Month Sales and marketing department The trainee will gain sales and marketing skills by devising marketing schemes with the help of the department and attending related seminars to equip the trainee with comprehensive knowledge of how to develop sales and marketing plans and goals, factors that affect decision making in the department, strategic marketing and planning methods, supply and demand effects on the consumer market, marketing and advertising principles, advertising, promotions, public relations and strategies and concepts of sales planning. The trainee will also acquire selling and negotiating skills as well as methods of formulating sales statistics. 5th and 6th month Public relations The trainee will acquire strategies of promoting corporate social responsibility by working with the community. In this regard, the trainee will gain administrative and decision making skills in the field, policy making skills related to the company’s relationship with the external environment as well as reasons for communal involvement (Meade, 2012). 7th and 8th month Accounting and finance department The trainee will acquire comprehensive understanding of Woolworths accounting policies and procedures as relates to various issues including assets and liabilities, payroll and taxation. The trainee will gain understanding of internal audit function, various accounting documents, costing and budget preparation, preparation of various financial statement while gaining an understanding on them as well as computer aided budgeting, financial planning and accounting. 9th and 10th month Human resources department The trainee will gain knowledge in designing orientation materials for new employees while acquiring knowledge on policy implementation to do with interdepartmental communication (Cummings and Worley, 2015). The trainee will gain understanding on personnel management approaches and theories of organizational development, change management and downsizing, corporate restructuring, hiring and dismissal practices at Woolworths, techniques for interviewing, new employees training, ongoing staff training as well as Australia’s regulations with regard to workers’ rights and compensation 10th and 11th month Operations The trainee will acquire various operations management skills including floor management as well as production management. The trainee will acquire transportation problems solving skills, inventory and quality control techniques, management of supplier and producer relationships, government regulations with regard to Woolworths business, products handling and packaging as well as computer aided techniques of handling operations Evaluation of the Human Resources Development Program at Woolworths The training program is expected to be evaluated using highly structured monitoring tools to gauge the progress that the employees make as well as the achievement of the training program for the company both in the short run and in the long run. The evaluation tools will include scheduled task whereby a task will be expected to be completed within certain time duration. Other tools will include use of time tables, measures and checklists. The employees will also be required to assess themselves through setting of objectives in activity plans, personal development plans as well as recording of outcomes in learning logs. Activity plans will involves setting goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time framed. The achievement of such training goals is self-evaluating. To get feedback from subordinates and managers, Woolworths will make use of a number of techniques that will help in identifying gaps and hence rectification. The techniques will include both formal and informal approaches for interacting directly with employees. The company will hold weekly reviews between managers and trainers that will be formal and informal aimed at tracking the progress against the development plans. Feedback will be carefully monitored and scored. Woolworth will make use of 360-degree appraisal technique with all stakeholders having contact with employees will assess the performance hence giving feedback. For instance a management trainee will get feedback from the immediate supervisor, the departmental manager and the human resources manager as well as the team with which he/she is working. This will be helpful in identifying gaps that would call for further training. The human resources department is to develop a color coded development rating with red indicating that the employees’ progress is wanting as it is not on schedule. Amber will represent where there is need for more work and effort (Mindtickle.com, 2016). On the other hand, green will be used n indicating that all the activities are on target with blue indicating where the trainee is in fact ahead of the program and where the trainee’s skills are being used in adding value to the organization. Long-term evaluation of the HRD program will depend on the achievement of the objectives set forth above. These are listed below; i) The number of women in managerial roles is to rise to more than 33% within the next five years ii) The employee retention rate is to increase by 50% within the next five years and thereby bringing down the employee recruitment costs by the same rates during the same period iii) 20% of the current employees to be trained on doing business online strategies within five years iv) The workforce composition to reflect the cultural composition of Australia within the next five years. v) The level of customer service and hence the number of customers served to increase by 100% within five years. vi) Employee satisfaction levels to rise by 50% within the next five years with the number of graduate trainees successfully absorbed and retained in the company to rise by 100% from the current levels. Conclusion It is hoped that this human resources development plan as proposed for Woolworths if implemented will go a long way into filling the human resources gaps identified hence leading to a better performing organization in future. Efficient and effective human resources development program is deemed essential of Woolworths’ continued growth. The company requires committed and flexible employees that will successfully aid its business growth strategy. Thus, the structured approach to developing its human resources as presented will provide a strong foundation for its continued growth strategy. This will however depend on its ability to retain current customers while recruiting new ones. This program will ensure that customers are confident that thy will get what they want and happy with the company’s services. This will in turn depend on the company’s employees being committed and flexible and their ability to deliver the highest standards of services thus meeting Woolworth’s objectives. References: Cummings, T&, Worley, G2009, Organizational development and change, Stamford, Cengage Learning. Cummings, T&, Worley, G2015, Organizational development and change, South Western College, Cengage Learning. Werner, M&, Randy, D2011, Human Resources Development, South-Western College pub. Woolworthslimited.com.au, 2016, Working at Woolworths, Retrieved on 13th May 2016, from; http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/A_Great_Place_To_Work/Working_at_Woo lwort hs/ Mankin, D2009, Human Resource Development, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Bruce, V2016, Restructuring challenge on the cards Woolworths HR, Retrieved on 13th May 2016 http://www.hcamag.com/hr-news/restructuring-challenge-on-the-cards-for-woolworths- hr-210692.aspx McGuire, D2014, Human Resources Development, Edinburgh: UK, Sage Publications. Woolworths, 2016, Corporate Responsibility Report 2015, Retrieved on 13th May 2016, from; http://woolworthslimited2015.csr-report.com.au/ Gold, J&, Holden, R2013, Human resources development: Theory and practice, Palgrave, MacMillan. Meade, G2012, Human resources software handbook: Evaluating technology solutions for your organization, New York, John Willey and Sons. Mindtickle.com, 2016, How to measure the impact of your training program, Retrieved on 13th May 2016, from; http://www.mindtickle.com/blog/measure-impact-training-program/ Read More