Employability Skills Nowadays - Report Example

EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Table of Contents EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS 1 Table of Contents 2 Summary 3 Part One 3 1.0 Essay 3 Part Two 6 2.0 Identification of the Problem 6 2.1 A definition of Strategy 8 2.2 Tools and Methods for Developing Solutions to Problems 8 2.3 Solutions and How They Were Developed 9 2.4 Risk-Benefit Analysis of Each Solution 11 2.5 A Detailed Strategy Developed and Potential Impact on the Wider Organisation 12 3.0 Conclusion 14 4.0 References 14 Employability Skills Summary Teamwork depends on people collaborating to accomplish common goals by means of sharing skills as well as knowledge. Teamwork has enabled us to identify the problem facing CSC Engineering and also come up with viable solutions. We have demonstrated that when employees are denied privileges, are overworked, or lack growth and development opportunities as evidenced at CSC Engineering, they become dissatisfied and start leaving the company. Whenever the company’s management makes decisions regarding work, they seem to ignore the value of these factors on employees. Considering that the workplace is evolving continuously, job satisfaction has become crucial than ever. Part One 1.0 Essay Teams, according to Mullins (2010) happen when numerous individuals have a common goal and acknowledge the fact that their individual success relies on other people’s success. Practically, this connotes that in the majority of teams individual skills would be contributed by the members and many of these skills will be different. Teamwork can be described as a cooperative process which enables people to realise remarkable outcomes. All teams often have a common purpose or goals where the members are able to create mutual and effective relationships to accomplish the team goals. In a team, members tend to assume ’team roles’ which is determined by their behaviour, contribution, and their interrelation with team members. As mentioned by Batenburg et al. (2013), while studying teamwork, Meredith Belbin established that successful teams are typified by the roles’ compatibility that team members play. With the view to the roles that team members play as well as how they could join forces to achieve shared goals, team roles according Belbin theory, could be divided into three categories: action-oriented roles (shaper, implementer as well as completer roles); people-oriented roles (coordinator, resource Investigator and team worker roles); in addition to thought-oriented roles (specialist, plant, and monitor-evaluator roles). Basically, teams created based on Belbin's categories are deemed successful in realising their goals and objectives since the roles are not overlapping and the team has all the needed qualities. In the team, the shaper role is carried out by individuals who relish challenges and are dynamic. Such individuals never quit when facing challenges, instead, they remain positive and search for ways to overcome the team challenges. The implementer role is played by people who make things happen in the team. They are well-organized, efficient, as well as practical and often turn the thoughts and ideas of the team into actual plans. Completer normally focuses on the details and are considered as perfectionists since they detect omissions and errors and make ensure that the team meet the deadlines. Coordinators normally possess the conventional team role, they are confident as well as mature, and their listening skills are great. The team workers are considered individuals who make sure that the team is always united and they focus on resolving issues or conflict that affects the dynamics of the team. Resource investigators are naturally enthusiastic and inquisitive and have great networking as well as negotiating skills. On the other hand, monitor-evaluators are considered to be the team’s critical thinkers they are always cautious and serious minded. Specialists are individuals with expert knowledge whose priority is to maintain professional standards. Lastly, the plants are innovative team members who develop original ideas and approaches which enable the team to overcome challenges or solve. For teams to be successful, they must be steered by a sense of mission that is deeply rooted. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure that all members fathom the mission of the team from the very beginning. Having this approach would allow the shared team goals to become extremely vital as compare to the individual agendas. With the view to team dynamics, Tuckman’s model provides five different stages involved in group dynamics. All these stages are deemed inevitable and important since they allow the team to grow, to handle problems, to confront challenges, to search for solutions, and so forth. Forming is the first stage that involves bringing the group together and finding the group goals and ways of accomplishing them. The second stage is storming, where ideas from group members could be challenged and leadership can be questioned. Norming is the third stage, where the group starts working together to create a single plan that would facilitate the realisation of the common goal. In the fourth stage, performing is where the team members collaborate to achieve the goal with minimal input or supervision from outside. The last stage is adjourning, whereby the group is dissolved and members are allowed to reflect on unsuccessful or successful outcomes. As mentioned by Hingst (2006), team evolution towards effectiveness depends on the many factors like team membership stability, geographical spread, size, meetings’ duration as well as frequency, team types’ synergy, time pressures and external influences. Positive group dynamics would enable the group to accomplish the goals and make impact team activities as well as outside meetings. Free flow of information in the team enables all members to make a difference. The alternative ways to complete tasks as well as achieve team goals is through effective interaction and communication process. Clearly, having a communication loophole makes it challenging to effectively handle conflicts and share information. Therefore, the alternatives involve creating improved communication and ensure that there is a sense of respect in the team. Respect would help create a healthy relationship between team members. More importantly, dedicating resources to facilitate team building could enable team members to understand each other and work together effectively; thus, resulting in high motivation and improved productivity amongst the members. Part Two 2.0 Identification of the Problem At CSC Engineering, the talented employees have been resigning to join a nearby competitor who was offering attractive remuneration packages. As a result of these employees leaving, the company’s turnover has increased tremendously while customer satisfaction has enormously reduced by 32%. CSC Engineering is also facing financial problems. As a group, we have identified that the problem was caused by three factors; lack of privileges at work, overworking and increased pressure, and lack of opportunities growth and development. Lack of privileges at work Legally, the employer is prohibited from refusing or failing to discharge or hire a person or failing to give them employment privileges due to their colour, race, sex, religion, or age. The employers should not limit employees in a manner that deprives them of opportunities such as employment since the person’s status as a worker would be affected adversely. At CSC Engineering, it appears that employees are not allowed to make their own choices; therefore, they are not happy and are less productive as compared to the competitor’s employees who are less restricted. In the modern-day world, most organisations are allowing their employees to make their own choice and schedules, and as a result, they become more productive and committed to the organisation. CSC Engineering has failed to give its employees work privileges, and for that reason, their performance and productivity have been affected adversely leading to high turnover. Lack of autonomy at the company has resulted in poor productivity considering that the complexity of work creates the need for more creativity. Pressure at Work and Overworking The pressure at CSC Engineering is unavoidable because of the increased demands of the modern-day workplace. However, employees at CSC Engineering deem the pressure as unacceptable, and as a result, the employees are inattentive, less motivated, and cannot effectively utilise the accessible resources. Excessive pressure at the company has resulted in work-related stress. Without a doubt, stress could affect the heath and performance of the employees. Employees are likely to be stressed when the poor working conditions and work design and lack of support from top management. It seems that CSC Engineering employees are somehow stressed because demanding supervisors, never-ending workload, and hazardous conditions. Furthermore, overworking could be a major reason why the remaining employees are performing poorly since overworked workers are inclined to be stressed and often make work-related mistakes. Besides that, when employees are overworked they are inclined to negatively affect companies employing them.  Since the companies use a lot of money to cover for the increasing job-related errors and the illnesses related to stress. As mentioned by Carmichael (2015), overworked employees normally experience emotional and psychological distress and their well-being is negatively affected. Lack of Growth and Development Opportunities Many companies often hire educated and talented professionals since they have abilities and skills deemed valuable to the delivery of high performance. However, CSC Engineering failed to consider that these talented professionals are very marketable; therefore, they whenever the company is not able to provide the opportunity to grow as well as advance their skills. It appears that employees at CSC Engineering were not sure whether the company could satisfy their career goals. The company found it challenging to retain its talented employees because it did not have a well-developed program for professional development such as workshops, peer-to-peer exchange and on-the-job, mentoring. Many companies understand that continuous professional development helps to ensure that you maintain is crucial for employee retention and building an innovative as well as competent workforce. When employees are denied opportunities for professional development they become less committed and engaged. As a result, they become less loyal and start looking for companies that would develop their skills and knowledge. Training programs, according to Scott (2003), can help reduce high dissatisfaction level amongst the employees. 2.1 A definition of Strategy As a group, we have determined that employee engagement is a suitable plan of action that would help solve the problem faced by CSC Engineering. The strategy would help the company check in with the employees periodically to ensure that they feel engaged and less challenged. The strategy would also enable the company to devise personalized retention plans such as offering a competitive salary. 2.2 Tools and Methods for Developing Solutions to Problems Nowadays employees have high bargaining power; therefore, companies have started investing in analytics tools determine why employees are resigning and joining their competitors. According to Beevers and Rea (2010), employees need an environment that support coaching, where they are taught to find their own solutions. The tools needed to develop solutions to the problems facing CSC Engineering include the trial and error technique is a suitable means of problem-solving which can be utilised when every ether alternatives are not functional or available. When alternatives are available, then trial and error cannot be utilised as a problem-solving method. Besides that, the Deming- Shewart Cycle would be a suitable tool that would be utilised in planning, performing, checking, as well as acting with the objective of improving the process. Besides that, The Eight Discipline Methodology was considered a suitable team based tool for solving the problem. It is normally utilised to identify and correct recurrent problems through statistical techniques to instigate the gathering of data, analysis of root cause, as well as resolving the problem. Other tools deemed suitable for developing solutions include ‘Five Why Methodology’, where ‘why’ is asked five times until the problem root cause has been uncovered; appreciative inquiry; Kaizen, and Kepner-Tregoe Decision Analysis. 2.3 Solutions and How They Were Developed Employee engagement As a group, we determined that employee engagement was the most suitable solution for the CSC Engineering’s problem. We established that engagement could lead to talent and reward programs that could enable the company balance the needs of the employee needs and manage the cost pressures. When the level of employee engagement is high, employees become motivated and start desiring to retain the jobs. We discerned that employee surveys are the most suitable way of examining employee engagement, but CSC Engineering can use informal interactions between leaders, employees, and managers to gauge employee engagement. Focus on Work-Life Balance The second solution that we considered suitable for CSC Engineering’s problem is focusing on work-life balance considering that achieving an elusive work-life balance could lead to flexibility and reduced work-related stress. We developed a work-life balance approach that could help CSC Engineering overcome the various problems it faces. In this approach, the HR should are required to work with the company’s top leadership to come up with a flexible plan which would benefit all the employees. More importantly, the company should invest in communication considering that implementing flexible work arrangements needs a dedicated communication system. More importantly, work-life balance cannot be achieved if employees are not flexible themselves. Therefore, the company should make sure that employees participating in flexible work arrangements observe the published guidelines and are accountable for their actions. The work-life balance would essentially reduce overworking and work-related stress and normally lead to improved job satisfaction and performance. Introduce Training and Development Programs The group enormously concurred that the effective way to retain talented employees and improve customer satisfaction was through training and development programs. Without a doubt, these programs would allow employees to grow and develop and would make the company a learning organisation. For CSC Engineering to be nurtured and maintained as a learning organisation, we established that the company must strategically focus on the employees’ learning needs. More importantly, there must be a direct connection between the organisation’s learning culture and mission, and the company must have resources to support growth for employees’ experience and capability. With the view to this approach, we observed that the training and development programs must address numerous pivotal issues. Most importantly, the programs should cover important critical skills, integrate state-of-the-art learning techniques and technologies, be adequately flexible to focus on the existing operations, and must facilitate the personal development of the employees. 2.4 Risk-Benefit Analysis of Each Solution Solution Benefits Risks Reducing Risks Overall risk RATING: L/M/H Employee Engagement Improved employee satisfaction Lower turnover and improved retention Increased profitability and improved productivity Low level of absenteeism Increased loyalty amongst the employees False promises Uncertainty and chaos Security It is imperative to make sure that employees clearly understand the significance of engagement surveys and actions should be taken according to the data collected. Low Focusing on Work-Life Balance Improved productivity Lower level of absenteeism High motivation Improved employee well-being and health Positive perception towards the employer improved loyalty and commitment reduced employee turnover and costs of recruitment Exploitation Complicated engagement Poor communication A virtual team can be used to reduce risks attributed to geographically dispersed teams by using technology to facilitate collaboration. Medium Introducing training and development programs Remaining up-to-date with industry changes Keeping in touch with every latest technology development Becoming more competitive Discerning skill gaps and employees; weakness Maintaining skills and knowledge Increase levels of job satisfaction Becomes easier to attract new talent Too much theory Overtraining Combining hands-on and practical knowledge and experience to ensure that employees are adequately engaged all through the training process. low 2.5 A Detailed Strategy Developed and Potential Impact on the Wider Organisation Engaged employees are less likely to quit their jobs and their performance improves tremendously. Through identification of talent needs required for future growth, CSC Engineering can take suitable steps to develop workers internally. We formulated a five step approach that CSC Engineering can utilise to create an engaged organisation. The first step is connecting the employees to an engaged purpose, which must be in form of a written statement. The second step is regularly measuring the engagement in order to capture the employees’ mood at the moment, instead of delivering an engagement picture all through the year. The third step is showing employees that the engagement is not a passing trend, but a permanent focus. CSC Engineering must be intentional and clear regarding their commitment to support employees’ wellbeing and improve engagement. The fourth step is providing the employees with a safe mechanism and environment that allows them to anonymously and confidentially offer feedback and insights. When employees are compensated handsomely, they are less inclined to look for a higher salary somewhere else. High salary would make the employees feel appreciated, and consequently, they would become more motivated and productive at the company. The strategy would enable CSC Engineering to determine how to encourage growth considering that many employees are leaving the company because the company does not have a clear career path. The strategy would enable the company to come up with a career advancement program that would facilitate employee retention. More importantly, the strategy would open the communication channels; thus, giving employees a platform to voice their concerns. Open communication would enable the company to build trust and credibility with the employees. Employee engagement is associated with improved employees performance, productivity, customer satisfaction, employee turnover, and profit. At CSC Engineering, employee engagement would lead to positive individual health and work attitudes. Employee engagement is positively associated with organisational performance indicators: safety, productivity, customer satisfaction, and employee turnover. 3.0 Conclusion In conclusion, by creating a work environment that allows for employee engagement, CSC Engineering’s likelihood of business success would increase tremendously. Without a doubt, employee engagement is a factor that determines the organisational success, since it has an effect on employee loyalty, employee retention, as well as productivity and is also associated with customer satisfaction. 4.0 References Batenburg, R., Walbeek, W.v. & Maur, W.d., 2013. Belbin role diversity and team performance: is there a relationship? Journal of Management Development, vol. 32, no. 8, pp.901-13. Beevers, K. & Rea, A., 2010. Learning and Development Practice. CIPD. Carmichael, S.G., 2015. The Research Is Clear: Long Hours Backfire for People and for Companies. [Online] Available at: https://hbr.org/2015/08/the-research-is-clear-long-hours-backfire-for-people-and-for-companies [Accessed 7 March 2017]. Hingst, R., 2006. Tuckman’s theory of group development in a call centre context: does it still work? In 5th Global Conference on Business & Economics. Cambridge, UK, 2006. Mullins, L., 2010. Management and Organisational Behaviour. 9th ed. Essex, UK: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Scott, G.G., 2003. A Survival Guide for Working with Humans: Dealing with Whiners, Back-Stabbers, Know-It-Alls, and Other Difficult People. New York, NY: AMACOM Books. Read More