Managing People for Competitive Advantage - Assignment Example

Managing People for Competitive Advantage (JNB324) (Assignment 3) Student: Student ID: 094884 Lecturer: Allison James Subject: Managing People for Competitive Advantage (JNB324) Course: Bachelor of Business (J3N Maritime & Logistics Management) Due Date: 18 June 2012 Word Count: 2561 words Abstract This paper sets out to develop a set of interview questions to be asked, on job training to be offered as well as orientation to be offered to the new lecture. The paper also aims at offer a set of strategies that will aim at reducing skills shortage in the transport and logistics company. This will be closely followed by human capital management which goes beyond the proposal that strategic management of both skilled as well as adaptive human resources the primary source of competitive advantage in a dynamic global environment, suggesting that the individual and collective impact of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) can and should be measured. The paper also proposes that competitive challenges can be solved by management of people. This section is closely followed by a discussion of the major players in the employee relation in Australia and lastly is a conclusion of the paper. Table of contents Abstract ii Introduction Orientation and on job training assists the employees in performing their duties. Thus when been carried out they should be carried out in the most effective way. A number of industries are faced by skills shortage and strategies ought to be implemented so as to deal with skill shortage. Human Capital Management (HCM) has over time achieved a lot of consideration and thus organization ought to look for other competitive advantages such as the measurement of individual and collective contribution of an employee toward the achievement of the organizations goals. Competitive challenges facing organization can be solved by the management of people, when solved organization will tend to have more returns. Most organization tends to establish more employee relations so as to enhance the sustainability of an organization; the major players are the government, employee, employers and the managers. Answer to Question one Interview questions 1. How will you manage your time to effectively deliver the syllabus on time? 2. Is it true that most students fail because instruction delivery is not effective? 3. What are your strengths and how would you use them to improve the learning experience for your students? 4. Have your work ever been criticized by a colleague or a supervisor? How did you react? 5. What was your greatest Achievement at your Last workplace? 6. Why do you think you are the best candidate for this job? 7. How will you conduct your research? Orientation and mentorship To make sure the new employee relocating from Singapore fits into the role of Lecturer in Maritime and Logistics Management at AMC I would take the following steps. First, I would contact the employee in his / her home country and inform him / her I will meet him / her at the Airport. Secondly, I would inform my colleagues that a new worker would be joining the university to take up the vacant position (McCroskey, McCroskey & Richmond 2005, P. 30). On his / her arrival at the Airport I would meet him / her and take the opportunity to describe the Australian way of life. After a week’s rest and brief orientation to life in Australia, I would invite the candidate to the workplace. On his /her first day I would make sure he / she has completed his/her paperwork with the HR department before embarking on the orientation process (Nankervis, Compton, Baird & Coffey 2011, p. 143). I would first of all sit with him / her and explain the university organizational structure with emphasis on his/her department. Secondly, I would introduce him to his/her immediate supervisors and later to colleagues and those who will be reporting to him. Thirdly, I would explain the general time plan at the university while explaining to him when he is supposed to be tutoring and when he is entitled to a break. Additionally, I would introduce him to the communication system and communication protocols at the university including proper usage of phone and computer system. I would also explain the how other departments he will come in contact with operate. I would also obtain new employee hazard and safety checklist and make sure every point is covered. Finally, I would take him around the university showing him the location of his/her associated work areas and other amenities (Miceli & Mulvey 2000, p. 60). During first week at the university I would arrange a meeting with the new employee to discuss their work requirements including: The goals and responsibilities for his/her position. The tasks he will be expected to undertake. Duties and performance measures as a tutor. Duties and performance measures as a researcher. How students are evaluated. The various meetings they will be expected to attend. Explain the semester schedule. Explain how classes are allocated. Discuss the student policy at the university. Explain to him how to obtain the resources needed in her work. On the job training A workshop for teaching and learning induction at the university would be the most important on job training for a new employee. During this workshop the new employee will learn the methods used to deliver instruction at the university and also the teaching materials used to deliver instructions for the units she will be teaching (Walter 2001, p.77). A new employee can prepare for a new semester at the university by attending various professional conferences on Maritime and Logistics Management. This will enable the employee to know the emerging developments in the area and how other professionals are approaching emerging issues (Jacobs 2003, p. 56). The new lecturer should attend a course to learn how to design and administer distance learning classes. The approach to distance learning is different from the ordinary class setting as it involves transmission of lessons over media. Lesson preparation and pacing of student’s learning should be the most important features of a distance learning course that a new lecturer should learn. The lecturer strives to be familiar with lesson capture, note preparation and the communication process with distance learners before the start of the new semester. Answer to Question Two Strategies to alleviate the ‘Skills Shortage’ in the Transport and Logistics Industry Skill shortage seems to be an emerging problem that is facing most industries that are operating in the modern day business world. Therefore Managers ought to implement measures as well as strategies to deal with the skill shortage in their industries (ACIRRT 1999). In reference to this the transport and logistics industry is also faced by the problem of skill shortage. It has already been proved that a combination of various strategies will assist a lot in sufficing the problem to manageable levels (ACTU 2000). Consequently the transport and logistics industry ought to devise ways of curbing the problem. One of the major strategies that can be applied is by making human resources a premeditated boardroom matter. Most industries do not value human resource planning and the issue is mostly treated as an issue in the lowest level when making decision related to the industry (Barnow, Trutko & Lerman 1998, p. 56). Thus the industry ought to make the issue as a core and major issue of concern since a shortage in number of skilled employees in an organization can have costly repercussions to the industry. Another strategy that can be adopted is the provision of training to the workers. The industry ought to provide the high standard of training to the employees so as it make them skilled in performing their duties. With continuous training of employees the industry will not experience any kind of skill shortage (Transport & Logistics Industry Skills Council [TDT] 2005, p. 25). Another common strategy that can the industry can apply is by making the industry more attractive for generation Y. It is widely recognized that there are a lot of differences in terms of precedence among the current working generation and generation Y. The industry ought to make the industry more attractive for the younger generation who are mainly the major source of labour in most industries today (Green, Machin, Wilkinson 1998, p. 44). Thus the transport and logistics company needs to analyse the priorities of the younger generation such as continuous career development, purpose as well as balance between work and life and range of experiences (McIlveen 2007, p. 17). In the aim of solving their needs the transport and logistics industry ought to have a recruitment drive that takes into consideration these principles so as to attract a greater number of generations Y to work in their industry (Shah & Burke 2005, p. 50). Another way in which skills shortage in the industry can be solved is by automation. Though automation, the industry will be able to embrace technology which ultimately leads to a lower number of skilled workers. With automation the industry will be able pay better salaries to the small number of employees working in the industry (Kanter 1985, p. 50). Answer to Question three A wide-ranging Human Capital Management (HCM) is supposed to take into consideration a firms needs to evaluate as well as advance human productivity at both the macro level as well as the micro level. The issue of human social capital has gained a lot of acceptance and the managers as well as other stakeholders need to be aware of the benefits that are associated with HCM. Organizations have a diverse range of competitive resources but most organizations view strategic management of skilled and human resources as the major sources of competitive advantages. Organizations also need to understand that the measurement of individual as well as collective impact of strategic human resources is also an emerging source of competitive advantage. Through such measurement the organization will be able to come up with other sources of competitive advantage in their organizations thus they will end up being more competitively advantaged than the other companies operating in the same industry (Walker 2001, p. 8). While Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) is of the opinion that the strategic management of both skilled as well as adaptive human resources within the organization is the major source of competitive advantage within an organization and most precisely in the ever changing global management, human capital management goes beyond this and explains that individual as well as collective impact of SHRM can be measured and should be measured and the results be reported and be marketed to all the organizations stakeholders (Kramar et al., 2011, p. 67). HCM aims at linking all the human resource activities such as selection, recruitment, retention of talented individuals and allocation. HCM also aims at ensuring that there is continuous training and education and it is mostly used as a critical business strategy and through them a company is able to gain a competitive advantage over the other and therefore they end up gaining more returns on investments. According to Kaplan the organization that are mainly termed as high retention workplaces in other words organization that tend to value the human capital in their organization and at all times these organizations put in place strategic staffing and employee retention plans and thus they are likely to attract best candidates for the available posts, have low absenteeism as well as turnover rate and they also tend to have greater customers satisfaction and loyalty and to nurture innovation, risk taking and creativity. Nevertheless, the measurement of collective and individual impact will enable organizations to provide better training and benefits to the employees so as to contribute to the overall success of the industry. Answer to Question four How to meet competitive challenges through the management of people within the context of the corporate strategic plan Human resource process aims at meeting the competitive challenges though the management of individuals within the context of the corporate strategic plan. The competitive challenges facing most industries range from the global challenges, managing change challenges, managing talent, responding to market, embracing technology and containing costs (McCroske and Richmond 2004). Organization can be able to meet these competitive challenges through the management of people. HRM practices play a greater role in dealing with the competitive challenges and the HRM practices these HRM practices are broadly grouped in four major categories that is; the HR environment, acquiring and preparing HR, assessment and development of HR and compensating HR (Barney 2002, p. 50). One of the major ways in which management of people can be used in meeting the competitive challenges facing organization today is by the management of human resource environment. Management of human resource services seems to be an essential tool and it covers the conformity issues, objectives of the company as well as that of the work environment. A combination of these issues ensures that operations in the organization are running smoothly. Another way in which competitive challenges can be met is through the preparation and acquisition of human resources. In relation to these organizations will have to plan the human resources that are available and at the same time recruit suitable employees for the available posts in the organization. The organization will also need to do selection and placement of the employees and finally training ought to be offered so as to ensure that they are able to perform their duties in the right manner (Lee et al.1992, p. 88). Another common way of in which organizations can meet the competitive challenges is through development and assessment of the HRM. Organizations will need to carry out continuous performance management for the HR, which will be later followed by employee development and lastly employee separation and retention. This will ensure that the employees have all the required skills to perform their current and future jobs adequately (Beardwell, Holden & Claydon 2004, p 144). The last method of meeting the competitive challenges is through compensation of human resources within the organization. The pay structures in the organization ought to be efficient and should be in accordance with the level of work performed by an individual. Employers should also ensure that they recognize individual employee contribution to pay (Analoui 2007, p. 50). High performing employees also needs to be offered some added benefits. Besides interesting work, pay and benefits are the most important incentives that companies can offer employees in exchange for contributing to productivity, quality and customers service. When all this methods of meeting competitive challenges are put in place, an organization will achieve more in terms of their productivity and they will tend to have high retention levels (Williams 1999, p. 57). Answer to Question five Roles and activities of the major players involved in employee relations in Australia Employee relation is more concerned with the maintenance of good relationship between the employee and employers and good employee relations mainly leads to satisfactory productivity and high levels of employee morale in the organization (Goodboy and McCroskey 2007). Employee relations in Australia have a number of players who undertake different roles and activities they include: employees, employers, managers and the government. All of them perform different roles and activities in the aim of enhancing the working conditions in an organization. Employers play a leading role in employee relations; they have been actively performing their role since the commencement of union recognition in most organization notwithstanding the pressures from workers for union representation. Employers have sought to maintain managerial prerogative in their organizations (Bamber, Shadur & Simmons 1997). Another major player in the employee relations is the employee of the organization. Employees are essential aspects of each and every organization and therefore organization must strive at all times to have good relations with the employees so retain them (Leat 2001, p. 140). Another major player in employee relations is the government; the government is said to play an active role in the employee relations. The government role falls in three broad categories that are the economics, the ratification of laws that protects both employer and the employee and the maintaining of order in the labor sector (Atchison 1991, p. 60). The other major player in employee relations is the managers. The manager play a vital role in that they ensure that the activities been carried out in the organization add to the productivity and morale of the work force in the entity. Another role that relations manager plays are that of connecting the top level management team with the lower level employees. The managers also recommend any change that need to be implemented in the organization that will bring about a positive and conducive climate in the organization (Mondy 2010, p. 88). Conclusion Employees tend to perform better in their work related issues if proper on job training is offered and also depending on the orientation that was done. Therefore managers should ensure that all employees are provided with on job training. With the changes occurring in the modern day due to globalization organization ought to ensure that individual and collective contribution towards the organization. The transport and logistics industry ought to implement the suggested measures so as to curb skills shortage in the industry with that they will be able to get more in terms of returns. Employee relations in Australia have certain major players who are actively involved in ensuring that there is a conducive working environment in an organization. References Analoui, F. 2007, Strategic human resource management, Thomson, Sydney. Atchison, T. J. 1991, The Employment Relationship: Untied or Re-Tied, Academy of Management Executive, vol 5, pp. 52–62. Australian centre for industrial relations research and training (ACIRRT). 1999, Australia at work: just managing, Prentice Hall, Sydney. 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