Current Trends in Human Resources - Essay Example

Human Resource Department plays a significant role in the strategic growth of every organization whether it is small or big or school. Teacher mentorprograms have entered into a "second-generation" phase as experience with such programs deepens and the understanding of the interconnectedness of mentoring, teacher recruitment, retention, and development grows more sophisticated. Environmental sensitivity, organizational learning, leadership and people processes play a significant role in planning and managing organizational growth. Although current programs have much in common with earlier prototypes, today's most effective programs proactively take into account several new trends, including (a) the growing prominence of many new types of "beginning" teachers, (b) an expansion of the "routes" leading to a teaching career, (c) the role of mentor programs in recruiting and retaining teachers, and (d) linking mentoring to licensure and standards. The senior teachers of the school are expected to proactively scan the environment and provide leadership for planning and managing organizational growth. At the same time, Human resource systems and processes are expected to enhance the effectiveness of learning process and develop leadership pipeline in the daily activities of school. Recruitment/selection, training/development, compensation, employee performance evaluation, reward systems and industrial relations are regarded as generic features of effective Human resource Management. With the increase of global job mobility, recruiting competent teacher is increasingly becoming difficult in the sector of education. Education Institute have a clear employment policy that emphasizes recruiting quality teachers in which case due importance is given to selection, but at the same time they also emphasize on providing training to upgrade the knowledge and skill of existing teachers in order to posses and retain their quality. Therefore by creating an enabling culture, schools are also required to work out a retention strategy for the existing skilled manpower. All of the schools had high expectations of the 45+ age group. In a number of cases this was simply a reflection of a very strong organizational culture which placed high expectations on everyone. In the cases where that was not so evident, the distinctive feature in common is that the schools have very positive attitudes to older teachers. Role of HR Managers is to implement the policies strategically to use the workforce skill sets and capabilities in order to exploit environmental opportunities and neutralize threats. This also includes the planning of innovation reward policy that recognizes contributions of older experienced teachers and their grant enhancements. At the same time, older teachers give training, develops the counseling programs to motivate the young teachers to improve their quality so as they remain in the field of teaching. The educational system should provide education that aims to benefit all those participating in it as well as society as a whole. The collective effort of senior teachers should increase the quality of education that will cater to the needs of local culture, the economy and a society based on knowledge and democratic principles, and ensures the right to education for all. The starting point for senior teachers is to define the content and activities which would contribute to the development of a better quality, more accessible, more flexible and effective system that would create intellectual and working human capital of junior teachers as the key asset. Recruitment and selection process should use the innovative techniques that include newspapers and internet so as to identify applicants with the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities and due importance is given to educational qualification and work experience. Various selection tools are used to assist in determining a person's personality, attitude and character in relation to the specifications that a position may require. The absolute necessity for the individual characteristics as defined in terms of educational and technical competence is for suitability with organizational values and fulfills the jobs dimensions and attributes. These are schools where experienced and capable staff are respected and given 'space', not over-managed as if they are junior technical operatives who cannot be trusted. These are schools with the confidence to respond selectively and discriminatingly to external initiatives. These characteristics of organizational culture enable teachers to enjoy the benefits of the two main sources of their job satisfaction: first and greatest, the pleasure they derive from their work with children; and secondly, the respect, support and trust of their colleagues and superiors. These factors, especially the rewards of working with the pupils within a caring and enabling organizational culture, apply in a similar way to the special school. It is therefore particularly important to pay attention to junior teacher's education and their continuing professional development. Teacher, education/educator training is a high priority issue for ministries/departments of education and training as it converges with a large number of educational issues. Senior teachers should teach junior teacher how to teach using technology. As technology advances, teacher education programs must incorporate into the curriculum lessons on how to teach using technology. Technology is not just using PowerPoint or putting on a microphone. It is not using a computer as a glorified blackboard. One can use computer based training programs that can be used at both the levels that is at the level of student as well as at the level of teachers. New innovative techniques like video conferencing or internet or other software packages can be used to make the teaching and study process easier, interactive and interesting. In order to improve the education quality, particular attention has been given to updating the content and teaching methods used in schools, as well as evaluating the achievements and the continual professional training of teachers. Senior teachers experience should be of great help in this regard. The entire education system will be strengthened in terms of what it offers, and implementation will closely follow the educational standards. Higher competence, improved technical skills and improved behavioral skills are named as the top three benefits of training which should be the part of mentor program governed by senior teachers and staff members of the school. Improved technical skills could easily be linked to concrete business returns -measures such as greater productivity, innovation and less wastage provide a clear focus for the evaluation of skills-related training. Immediate ways to reinforce the impact of training include refining end-of-course reviews to focus on action planning, establishing support systems and other strategies to overcome resistance to the transfer of learning, and finding more time for follow-up reviews with mentors. One way to achieve reinforcement of training activity is to incorporate a set of questions into the annual appraisal of teachers. An additional box asking mentors to specify any training and development received by their staff and to provide evidence of its impact on the other teachers, their job and the department or school as a whole unit can be very effective. HR/training need to gather some basic evaluation information about what training can achieve, and then, with managers and directors, identify and begin to resolve the real issues in achieving business outcomes such as growth, cost efficiencies and innovation. This way Mentor programs will be able to enforce credible suggestions about the best ways to improve individual teacher performance. 'Training' is now much more multifaceted in mentor program. Its power, value and cost-benefit needs to be assessed in comparison with other learning methods, rather than merely course by course. Make time for evaluation, focus it on the achievement of performance outputs and corporate outcomes, and use it as an opportunity to engage with mentors and other senior officials of schools. A significant shift is taking place away from training as to-down intervention and towards learner centered initiatives. This shift demands both a new mindset from those involved in human resource development and the formulation of processes that encourage and support the learner. New teachers need confidence and appropriate learning skills, opportunities to turn their commitment into productive action and a positive learning climate created by the presence of supportive systems and colleagues. Performance appraisals are the major key factor of these mentor programs which should be used intelligently to enforce retention strategies with in the school sector. The mentor program also includes provisions for the aging workforce which will be seeking better prescription coverage and long-term care benefits. In order to better accommodate shifting demographics, family design changes, and an evolving work culture, older teachers put particular emphasis on the need to be placed on offering work/life benefits such as flextime, adoption assistance, telecommuting, and dependent care flexible spending accounts. Mobile phones, personal digital assistants and laptop computers are ubiquitous, and high-speed Internet connections are rapidly becoming available at work, home and even coffee shops. At the same time, societal and demographic changes have increased the number of dual-earner families, and the pressure of work and family are raising stress levels and decreasing productivity. The blurring boundary between work and non-work that results from around-the-clock work will create new sets of challenges for employment policies and government regulations. More specifically, it will lead teachers to demand more flexible and increasingly individualized employment relationships so that those who are expected to work regardless of time and location are treated equitably when it comes to compensation and benefits The attraction, preservation and development of high caliber teachers are a source of competitive advantage for educational institutes and are the responsibility of HR in association with senior teachers who are the basic foundation of every school. Therefore it is clear that if Human Resource policies are implemented and enforced properly they can bring a well organized system that turns out to be good for individual institution and for the whole education sector also. References: Mabey, C. Salaman, G. and Storey, J (2001) HRM: A Strategic Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell. Marchington, M. and Wilkinson, A. (2003) People Management and Development,London:CIPD. Millward, N, Bryson, A. and Forth, J. (2000) All Change at Work London: Routledge Bjrkman, I. and Xiucheng, F. (2002), HRM and Performance of Western firms in China, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 13 (6): 853-864. Mendonca, M. & Kanungo, R. N. (1994), Managing Human Resources: The Issue of Cultural Fit, Journal of Management Inquiry, 3 (2): 189-205. Read More