The IT Help Desk - Essay Example

Human resource management Name Course Task Date Abstract Management of the human resource is one of the most important functions in an organization. Human resources is largely a vital resource in an enterprise and its management is very crucial. Effective staff management entails leadership, staff motivation, training, development, and goal setting for the organization's staff. In addition, the management involves offering supportive services to enable staff carry out their everyday jobs successfully and efficiently. Staff management is crucial for the success of any business in the modern world. Staff recruitment is a process that management should give special attention. The management should ensure that recruitment is based on merit and competence. Staff training enables an organization to attain business profitability and competitiveness. Training staff and keeping them updated on new inventions and developments is the solution to the success of every organization. Close staff management also entails providing help services to the employees of the organization. Among the supportive services are help desk services which attends to the enquiries of employees in the organization (Blojdijk, 2008, p.81). The IT section is a very crucial section of a company, hence staffs need close management. The department allows effective flow of communication, processing, acquisition and storage of information in a company. Management of these staff ensures that organization's communication channel remain open. Introduction Recruitment can be defined as to the procedure of selecting, employing and retaining employees in companies. Recruitment of qualified IT staff is crucial in the department if the operations are to run smoothly. In this paper, we analyze different techniques that organizations can use to recruit the IT staff. In addition, we discuss the various training and developments processes necessary to improve the performance of the IT staff. The role of helpdesk for the IT staff is discussed in detail. Moreover, recent trends in recruitment, training and development of the IT staff and helpdesks are highlighted. This paper explores how best to manage IT staff. Literature review The success of an organization can depend on the competence levels of the employees in the company. Good staffs have the ability of developing a company while poor staffs have the ability to make a company lose customers and business. IT department requires people not with just technical expertise but also interpersonal expertise as indicated by Demkin, et-al (2008, p.65). The organization needs to know whether to recruit on a permanent basis on full time or part time basis or on a temporary basis. The basis of employment is determined by the duration of the project. If the IT project is to be permanent, then the company should employ permanent staff, however, if the IT project is for a short period of time, it would only be sensible for the organization to employ temporary staff, whose term will end when the project comes to an end. Thousands of companies are employing information technology specialists to work in the IT section of the organizations. Companies may employ the services of IT service consultants to offer the IT services. This happens when using the services of the consultant is cheaper than establishing an IT department. In this case, the company benefits from these services because it gets rid of the learning curve effects of training new employees. The consultants are already experienced in their areas of specializations, and the company benefits from such. According to Info Tech employment (2008), it makes economic sense for companies to hire the services of a consultant when the IT project has a short life span. The organization can decide to recruit IT staff for themselves. In this case, they place adverts for the vacant positions, go through the applications, conduct interviews and select the successful candidates. This method allows the employer to gauge not just the technical and professional qualifications of the potential employees, but also their intra and inter-personal skills. Organizations need to employ staffs who are all-rounded. The organization can as well employ the E-recruiting systems where the organizations employ web based designs to recruit IT staff. The employers can use recruitment agent to assist the recruit their staff (Khosrow-Pour, 2006). The agents match the qualifications of job seekers with the qualifications being sought by the company. Mostly, the agents will conduct interviews and recommend the qualified applicants for the jobs. Companies will only pay for such services. This process of recruitment helps the organization to save the time they would have used on advertising, going through the applications and conducting interviews. Moreover, the recruiting agencies are professionals in these areas and chances of nepotism and favouritism are minimal. The company, therefore, is assured of getting professionals for their IT departments. For every organization to successfully improve on its productivity, employee development and training is very crucial. IT staff are no exceptions to this. Human resource managers and supervisors in charge of the IT section should emphasize training and development in the management, technical and team skills (Debra et-al., 2007). The speed at which knowledge, expertise and skills in the IT get absolute makes it necessary for continuous training and updating of technical skills. Intra and inter-personal training is also necessary to ensure effective workgroups and team work in the department. This is also important in developing and maintaining a strong and effective customer services. Organizations use different techniques in training their IT staff and improve their performance. Organizations can plan for on-the-job training where the employees learn as they go o with their jobs. Supervisors provide challenging assignments which enable employees to enhance their skills. Organizations can also use off-the-job training. Employers also encourage their IT staff to take some courses on part time basis to enhance and update their skills at work. Moreover, some companies pay tuition fees for their IT staff in the local universities and colleges (Debra et-al., 2007). This way, the staffs are able to keep with the pace of the developments and inventions in Information Technology. Some companies apply the internet to train its employees. Managers and supervisors develop training models and share the knowledge throughout the companies. Employees are encouraged to do more online research on the new development in Information Technology. Supervisors also encourage training and developments through competitions and rewards. Those employees who win get rewards. This motivates the employees to keep updated on the new developments. The company, on the other hand, benefits from the efficiency that comes with such updates. Victorious IT departments should be able to solve problems as well as provide excellent customer service and attention to customers. They should also be able o attend to the problems facing the IT staff. The role of IT help desk include reporting, managing and addressing issues and problems brought by the IT staff. The helpdesk manager should provide expertise in soling such problems to ensure that the IT staffs are efficient in their work. Most problems experienced by the IT staff are redundant and routine, the IT help desk should establish relational database which will store problem-solution tracks and histories. This will enable the help desk staff to get rid of the redundant problems and offer timely solutions to problems experienced by the IT staff. The database should be shared to all staff so that they can refer to them when faced by problems already experienced in the past. The IT help desk is also responsible for developing team training programs. This training relate to the improvement of productivity, working together, problem solving skills and meeting skills. In addition, the help desk is responsible for developing leadership skills among the employees. The IT staff learn how manage their minds, words, changes, and adapting to diversity at work. Moreover, help desks can be used as a management tool for sending and receiving feedback, supervision, and managing disagreements. These roles help in improving the performance of the IT staff. They also assist the staff to cooperate and intermingle with other employees. Current practice report With the current business trends, globalizations and advancements in technology, recruitment procedures have changed in the recent past. Recruitment techniques will vary form organization to organization depending on the size of the and kind of employees being sought. Internal job advert and employee referrals are preferred in the business today as the staff recommend people they feel fit in the organization's profile and culture. Most employers consider their employees first for promotion before making external advert. This is because the employees already know the organization reducing the need for much orientation. The employers can determine the job description and solicit the assistance of the employees in getting qualified candidates. This is opposed o the traditional advertisements on media where strangers applied for the jobs (Khonsrow-Pour, 2006, p. 79). Graduate recruitment is another technique in use today. Companies recruit fresh graduates under management trainee's programs. Companies have arrangements with local universities to identify potential candidates for jobs in the company. These people bring fresh energy to the company. This is a successful recruitments method being used in the world today. The use of external recruiters or search firms is another technique which many companies are going for to employ their employees. Traditionally, this method was used to fill senior management positions but this has changed with time. Firms are using search engines to employ entry and middle levels staff. In addition, Companies seek services of employment agencies in an effort to get qualified employees. These companies do the pre-screening and pretesting of candidates. They then conduct interviews on behalf of the company (Weihs, Intner & Evans, 2010, p. 102). With globalization, new recruitment methods and technological developments, training of IT staff is facing new trends. One of the new training practices is multimedia training and web based training. E-learning is also another training practice that can be used. Courses are being offered online and through websites and the staff do not have to go attend remote schools classrooms to study. This can do this in the office or at home on computers and over the internet. People can even get certificates and degrees through online studies. Performance consulting is another emerging trend of training IT staff. Consultants are changing the traditional training completely. Few organizations are available and they offer generic classes as solutions to organizational problems (Arthur, 2001, p.76). Employers employ services of consultants and professional to train their staff on the new inventions in information technology. Emphasis is on identifying a range of possible solutions by an in-depth assessment of organizational needs through focus groups, interviews and surveys. The employees should take part in the identification of solutions relating to the organizational problems. Performance management is another trend which has swept training and development of employees. Organizations are shifting from one-one performance review or appraisal with the manager done once per year. This trend integrates training into the entire process of performance management. Performance management establishes systems that combine personal goals, professional goals and training opportunities (Martin, 2006, p.66). Training and development becomes a continuous process of an employee. Constant feedback is given to the IT staff to improve their performance and correct where they deviate from their goals. Performance management also integrates a development plan for the IT staff. The plan enables IT staff to develop their skills and expertise. The plan may comprise of coursework, serving teams from other departments, special projects and skill stretching tasks. Many corporations have recognized advantages got from making use of help desk software. The software is useful for providing timely response to enquiries to the problems relating to the IT staff. Managers have identified metrics to measure the level of desk activity. The managers assess and track the operations of the help desk staff for efficiency. This is to ensure that the IT staffs have the necessary help and assistance to enable them handles their responsibilities effectively. Another development in the It help desk is outsourcing. Most IT departments have embraced outsourcing as a way to lower risks, reduce costs and improve service consistency. Organizations employ offshore companies to undertake their helpdesk tasks. This improves the quality of service delivery (Lawler, Mohrman & Benson, 2001, p.87). The other new trend in IT help desk is the benchmarking of staff. Organizations realize that the helpdesk is as important as other departments. More qualified staff are placed in the department to ensure that there is enough staff to take care of the IT staff. Comparison The IT staff forms are very crucial part of the human capital in the organization. They undertake most of the technical operations and their inefficiency would affect the operations of the whole organizations. For this reason, employer's need to hire technical staffs who have the skills and expertise to undertake such responsibility. Employers should employ a recruitment process that will ensure only professional come on board in the company. A thorough recruitment process should be undertaken to ensure that the employees professional, technical, intra and interpersonal skills (Werner, Jackson & Schuller, 2008, p.71). After the company has employed a professional team, they should ensure that continuous training and development process to ensure that the employees remain updated in an industry where skills get obsolete at a very high rate. Training on interpersonal skills should also be done continuously. This is because; the employees should be able to work as together to attain the goals of the company. Companies should take the responsibility of establishing an effective help desk for the IT staff. This is to ensure that the employees get timely service and assistance to ensure that their work do not come to a halt. The desk should have the necessary tools to enable the staff attend to the problems affecting the IT staff. Efficient feedback mechanisms should be established. This ensures that people get timely response about all concerns they have had. Conclusion The success and accomplishment of businesses relies on the quality of staff on board. To enjoy the full benefits of information technology, organizations must be the necessary workforce. When an organization has a team of qualified and dedicated IT staff, then the flow of information and other operations that depend on information technology will be smooth. However, in the absence of such people, an organization is bound to fail and suffer from confusion and miscommunication. When the organization gets the required workforce, it is necessary to establish necessary support mechanisms to enable the employees work effectively. Training and development should be one of the ways of ensuring that the employees remain relevant in the information technology industry. Moreover, organizations should have a mechanism of addressing the issues that affect the efficiency of the IT staff. An effective helpdesk should be in place with enough staff to attend all issues. References Arthur, D 2001, The Employee Recruitment and Retention Handbook, New York, Amacom Div American Mgmt Assn. Blojdijk, G, 2008, Help Desk 100 Success Secrets; Much Lulu.com Demkin, A, J et-al 2008, The architect's handbook of professional practice, London, John Wiley and Sons. Khonsrow-Pour, M, 2006, Emerging developments, challenges in IT Management, New York: Idea Group Inc (IGI), Front Cover. Lawler, EE, Mohrman, SA, & Benson, G 2001, Organizing for high performance, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Martin, V 2006, Managing projects in human resources, training and development, New York, Kogan Page Publishers. Weihs, J, Intner, S & Evans, G 2010, Introduction to Technical Services, ABC-CLIO. Werner, S, Jackson, S & Schuller, R 2008, Managing Human Resources, London, Centage Learning. Read More