Human Resources Development and Employee Empowerment - Coursework Example

Human Resources Development and Employee Empowerment The process of developing human resources in an organisation by rendering their knowledge contemporary; and upgrading their attitudes, perceptions and skills in order to address the ever changing trends of the globalised economy and to exploit them for realising the goals of the organisation, constitutes HRD. The latter endeavours to help individuals to develop competencies that are essential for carrying out their allotted tasks in an efficient fashion and to ensure that the organisation benefits from the talents and skill of these individuals (Radhakrishna & Satya Raju, 2015). As such, HRD is an indispensable process for the continuous growth of employees. This, in turn, ensures the development and growth of the organisation. The contemporary situation is one of liberalisation and globalisation, and this demands comprehension of the real value of individuals in an organisation. Consequently, it is insufficient to merely regard individuals as strategic assets of the organisation. Something more is required, namely that people have to be considered as the real and most important asset of the organisation (McCrie, 2015). As such, the encompass of human resources significantly exceeds HR development. The HR field consists of creating the system, maintaining it, and improving it. HRD relates to improving the system and is comprised of individual development, career development and organisational development. The majority of the activities related to HR management (HRM) pertain to maintaining the system and include information systems, selection and staffing, compensation and benefits, labour relations, and employee assistance. On the other hand, creating the system entails activities, such as job and organisation design, planning and occasionally staffing (Bell, 2012). For understanding the positive effects of HRD, it is necessary to analyse the relationship between HRM and HRD. HRM is a process that develops and applies expertise, via organisational development, personnel training and development for enhancing performance. It is founded upon the conviction that organisations are entities created by humans that depend upon human expertise for establishing and realising their goals (Sung & Choi, 2014). Moreover, a major idea projected by HRM is that its implementation through human resource practices in organisations contribute towards organisational and individual performances, including high performance, outstanding organisational and individual problem resolution, improved commitment towards the organisation, and enhanced retention in the organisation (Tandung, 2016). Furthermore, HRD is based upon the belief that its professionals are advocates of groups and individuals, work processes and integrity of organisations. In addition, a wide range of practices have been specified by the different models of HRD. Upon being adopted, these hold out the promise of increasing human capital. This can be utilised by organisations to develop their competitive advantages (Hassan, 2007). As such, HRD is seized with enhancing the performance of the system in which it is employed. In addition, the activities and interventions undertaken by HRD have to perforce improve the performance of the system at the mission, critical performance, process and individual levels (Holton, 2002). The following functions of HRD managers have been specified: first, development of enabling competencies among individuals and the system. Second, integration between the development of people with the development of the organisation. Third, maximisation of learning opportunities of individuals in organisations, via several mechanisms, responsibility and autonomy. Fourth, decentralisation, shared responsibility and delegation. Fifth, arriving at a balance between adaptation and change. Sixth, developing reinforcement and feedback systems (Hassan, 2007). In addition, the contemporary literature on leadership indicates that coaching is associated with effective management behaviours and provides managers with a procedure for implementing leadership theories (McCarthy & Milner, 2013). Upon realising that they have developed skills and developed, employees work with greater productivity. Such employees tend to remain with their organisation to a much greater extent than the other employees (Chatzimouratidisa, Theotokasb & Lagoudis, 2012). As a consequence, the organisation is benefitted immensely, on account of the consequent drastically diminished employee turnover (Rahman & Nas, 2013). As such, HRD is central to economic, environmental and social development. In addition, it is crucially important for realising the agreed sustainable development goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals, and for improving opportunities for all, especially the most vulnerable sections of society. It has been the common experience that HRD empowers individuals by creating contributory capacities that these people can utilise for improving the quality of life of themselves and their families, communities, societies and enterprises (United Nations, 2016). Due the development of employees, the organisation and its employees can achieve their common goals. Under these circumstances, employees realise that the organisation promotes their progress, with regard to their individual or organisational goals. The provision of training to employees promotes their career development (Baker, 2010). Initially, HRD had focused upon individual capacity. Over the years a transformation occurred and HRD began to concentrate upon other features, notably upon institutional capacity building at the national level via socio-economic policies, development plans and strategies. Therefore, HRD promotes the development of human capabilities, at the national level, in order to realise inclusive, equitable and sustainable development, whilst improving the wellbeing of individuals. Thus, HRD strategies have become an important aspect of national development planning. In the current situation, the international labour markets change and adapt to the developing occupational frameworks of burgeoning economies. This requires HRD strategies to strike a balance between the supply of the required skill and the demands of the new employment sectors. In the majority of the nations, the crucial sectors include information and communication technology, development of agriculture, and a green or blue economy. With respect to the developing world, it has become vitally important to improve skills in the emerging sectors (United Nations, 2016). For instance, the organisation DENSO had developed a training course for its employees. This had a minimum set of lessons, as the aim was to develop the employees into individuals who would think and learn on their own and face challenges continuously. With a view to inducing the new employees to obtain deeper and better self-learning, this organisation formulated a process of blended learning that integrated e-learning and group education into training programmes The primary structure consists of advance learning by individuals, via mobile devices; group education through discussion; and recapitulation and sharing of the knowledge gained in this manner, between the members of the group. A few of these programmes are conducted by new employees autonomously. It has been observed that it is essential for corporate growth to have in place, employees with superior skill and technical competence, so that these individuals can develop and produce innovative products. To this end, this organisation operates the DENSO Technical College. This institution provides technical education at the high school and college levels. Several among the alumni of this college have been acclaimed at the WorldSkills International Competition, wherein the competitors are among the best technicians in the world (DENSO, 2016). Furthermore, individuals cannot be regarded as a mere collection of acquaintance and skills. People are free agents with expertise to deal with the competition, on account of their potential. As such, individuals possess the capacity to provide their organisation with unimaginable values. The contemporary milieu of aggressive competition obliges organisations to develop HRD strategies that administer their employees in an organised manner and derive the maximum benefit from their competencies, in order to achieve the objectives of the organisation. As such, organisations are presented with innumerable opportunities for human resources or employee development. The American Society of Training and Development has claimed that HRD is the integrated employment of training and development, and organisational and career development that enhances organisational, individual and group effectiveness. In addition, HRD can be regarded as a continuous process for achieving the following. First, acquisition or honing of the competencies necessary for carrying out the various functions related to the present and future requirements of the job. Second, development of the general capabilities of individuals, in order to help them realise and utilise their inner potential. Third, development of a congenial organisational atmosphere, wherein dyadic association and team collaboration are robust and promote the professional wellbeing of employees (Radhakrishna & Satya Raju, 2015). In relation to this, the researchers, Shuck and Reio, in the year 2011, had proposed a framework of employee engagement for HRD. This was aimed at achieving a correlation between the theory and practice of HRD. Albeit, considerable research exists regarding employee engagement related antecedents and outcomes, empirical examination of its context and operation tends to be scant. However, Shuck and Reio have stated that cognitive, emotional and behavioural engagements work in tandem to produce the experience of employee engagement (Shuck et al. 2014). As a strategy, HRD endeavours to develop the capabilities of individuals, in a manner that enables them to perform in an outstanding manner at their present task, while preparing them to shoulder their future responsibilities. Thus, HRD tends to be proactive instead of reactive. Effective performance demands the presence of the following competencies: conceptual, human, managerial and technical. Managerial capabilities are comprised of decision making competencies, coordinating, monitoring, planning, organising and evaluating abilities. On the other hand, technical capabilities are essential for gaining technological proficiency and skill development. These traits are essential for achieving quality performance (Radhakrishna & Satya Raju, 2015). For instance, the HRD centre of Samsung, with its idyllic location among the hills near Seoul, resembles a holiday resort. This fantastic place moulds the employees and makes them strong adherents to Samsung’s corporate philosophy. This group attaches great importance to its employees and constantly endeavours to prepare them to face the swiftly transforming global market with its continuously changing challenges. The employees of the 70 odd companies in this group, are trained and inspired at this locale and taught to think out of the box. This HRD centre introduces a healthy combination of work and relaxation. Thus, there are popular performances in between the cogitation sessions. The kitchens in this place provide culinary delights from across the globe. The importance attached by Samsung to human resources is demonstrated by the fact that it has an attrition rate of just five to six percent (What is human resource). In addition, the human resource function of Cisco, namely the Worldwide Leadership Education group, works with leaders in order to identify candidates for its programs on leadership development. Subsequently, executives assist in the design of these programs and make certain that they address the business needs of the organisation and align with its strategy (Fulmer, 2007). Moreover, responsibility for leadership development, at Washington Group International, is shared between business units and the corporate leadership. As such, the development and strategy office has been made responsible for the design, development, implementation and maintenance of programs. Moreover, the chairman’s office approves, reviews and provides feedback regarding the progress of the development. Thus, with increasing significance of leadership development in corporations, partnerships with executives and human resources have to be reinforced so as to ensure the success of these efforts (Fulmer, 2007). Watkins had described HRD as the study and practice that promoted and preserved long term work related learning ability at the level of the individual, group and organisation. It is essential for organisations to improve the learning capacity of their members, assist groups to overcome impediments, and to help in the generation of a culture that encourages learning on a continuous basis (Muda et al. 2014). The human capital theory of Schultz claims that the knowledge and skills procured during education and training produce positive outcomes for the organisation due to certain elements (Lemos et al. 2011). These are: flexibility and adaptability, competencies, enhancement of the individual, development of organisational abilities, and individual employability. In addition, it has been conceded that human capital is related to organisational performance (Muda et al. 2014). In conclusion, according to the above discussion, it has been established that HRD has a major influence upon the improvement of self-ability among employees to realise the goals and carry out the duties of their organisation. Moreover, organisational performance is utilised as a symbol of an organisation’s capacity to realise its goals effectively. It is generally conceded that organisational performance depends to some extent upon the behaviour of employees. Such behaviours are sculpted by training and development programmes that could be conducted by organisations. In addition, organisations have demonstrated their willingness to invest in specific programmes that generate the capacity to perform tasks in an efficient manner. In fact, it has been claimed that the investment aimed at acquiring knowledge and skills via training programmes is of greater importance than concerns related to physical capital investment (Muda et al. 2014). In the contemporary situation, which is distinguished by being global, competitive and liberalised, HRD systems have become central to every organisation. Consequently, it is incumbent upon organisations to develop HRD systems, in order to realise their targeted goals. HRD tends to be seized with several factors, including hiring and selection, organisation function in the scope of the job, rewards and recognition, planning for success, career planning, strategy development and performance appraisal (Rani & Khan, 2014). As such, employers and employees are aware of the crucial importance of HRD. In the presence of support for HRD, in an organisation, the motivation for working is significantly enhanced among the employees. In addition to providing employees with education and training, HRD has to be implemented in a systematic manner in the organisation. In this regard, a study in Malaysia by Ahmad and Raida involving white collar workers, scrutinised the correlation between organisational commitment and training. This study disclosed that factors, such as the availability and support for training, and training environment had a positive contribution towards the overall commitment scores. Furthermore, the HRD function varies from the HRM and personnel functions (Hassan, 2007). Furthermore, the recent years have been witness to an escalating interest in employee engagement. The latter term denotes the experience of engaged individuals being attentive during the performance of their duties (Valentin, 2014). As such, employee engagement has been regarded as a combination of commitment towards the organisation and the values promoted by it, motivation, job satisfaction and willingness to assist colleagues. HRD, per se, plays a major role in promoting employee engagement. References Baker, N. 2012. Employee feedback technologies in the human performance system. Human Resource Development International, 13(4): 477-485 Bell, G. 2012. Playing the HR field. Human Resource Management International Digest, 20(7): 39-41 Chatzimouratidisa, A., Theotokasb, I. & Lagoudis. 2012. Decision support systems for human resource training and development. 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