The Strategic Role of ABCs HR Department - Essay Example

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 an overview of ABC Corporation ABC Corporation 1is a Japanese trading company having more than 200 bases of operation in Japan and 80 other countries (including USA). They serve customers around the world in virtually every industry, from energy, to chemicals, metals and machinery, food and general merchandise. 1.2 REASONs for selection of organization People, above anything, are ABC’s most valued asset. Our team interviewed Mr. Tsuneo Ayobi, COO HR and Admin. Dept. ABC Corp. He emphasized: “Our basic policy is to foster employees by creating an environment that allows employees to display their full potential and create more value.” At the moment many new reforms are underway at ABC Corp.: Reforms of personnel systems Enhancement of training programs Promotion of health and safety of employees Contribution to the development of a sustainable society.(environment protection, medical research) These initiatives are premised on consideration of basic human rights and labor rights, regardless of where ABC’s employees are in the world. 1.3 ABC’s Vision / Mission / Corporate Values The strategic role of ABC’s HR department is to link HRD closely to business; the practical role being to provide learning opportunities for employees. The execution of HRD activities is a shared task of ABC’s professionals, managers and employees. ABC Corp. aims at “Motivating employees and enhancing their business sensitivity”2 Our team has concluded that ABC Corp.’s HRD strategy is based on: Corporate standards of conduct Fairness and integrity an integral part of the recruitment and training criteria (isn’t this more a corporate core value?) Employee labor relations Operating in a global environment Compensation/Benefits Legal aspects (labor rights, sexual harassment etc.) Employee training staffing Development of ABC’s human resource is also an integral part of the mission statement of the organization. Mission statement ‘Triple jump image of growth: “Hop”, “Step” and “Jump”. Hop stage: 2 year plan, development of management systems, future business growth proposals, development of human resources. Step stage: continuation of strategies to take us to a new growth plane. Jump stage: the goal is to ensure that we can consistently deliver consolidated net income of at least 200 billion yen. Vision STATEMENT: “New industry innovator” 1.4 SCOPE OF RESEARCH OF ABC 1.4.1 Training and development at ABC Corp. 1.4.2 Performance appraisal and counseling at ABC Corp. 2.0 General Strategy Driving HRD in ABC corp. The corporation houses a ‘Human Life Business Division’. It is a new division, est. April 2005. Its goal is to create business in support of happy and healthy lives. It aims at making life more enjoyable for the workers, and providing services that address issues in the health field. “We are putting in place systems and creating the environment, as outlined below, for nurturing and retaining human resources and motivating employees further.” a. “Nurture and retain human resources to support growth.” “We recognize the importance of our obligation to develop human resources with outstanding business sensitivity. Based on this recognition, we are working from a long term perspective to groom people with the ability to function as CEO’s and CFO’s of subsidiaries and affiliated companies, as well as grooming reliable people with the ability to build businesses that respond to customer needs, an approach that has long been the foundation of our approach to businesses. We will also retain and nurture people to support our growth strategy.” b. “Establish systems to motivate employees further” “Ongoing efforts are being made to establish personnel systems, such as evaluation and training systems, so as to further motivate employees and bring out the best in them.”3 Let us analyze this statement. ABC Corporation’s HRD policies aim at “nurturing”, “motivating” and “retaining” its employees. ABC Corporation is a growth oriented organization. Its short term objectives include training and development of its employees, which it calls “NURTURING”. It hopes to provide them with adequate and effective training. It also aims at “MOTIVATING” the employees by evaluations, performance appraisals and constructive criticisms. Also, challenging work environment, competition, rewards, appreciation and acknowledgement of good work motivate ABC Corp.’s employees further. ABC Corp. also hopes to “RETAIN” the trained employees and looks forward to seeing them as CEO’s and CFO’s of its many branch offices around the world. (Can we elaborate a little or give some analysis to what the comments mean?) 3.0 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AT ABC CORP. ABC is dealing with strong competitive markets and rapidly changing technologies. They respond with strategies focusing on improving organizational flexibility and employee competency. Human resources are regarded as the most important assets and the answer to competition. ABC believes that T&D should be directed towards assisting workers in performing tasks specified in their present job descriptions or preparing them for broader responsibilities by expanding their knowledge, skills and abilities. 4The following flow chart clarifies this point. Training at ABC Corp. is designed to provide learners with the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for their present jobs. Practical examples of training at ABC Corp.: Trainees sent to Corporate universities Coaching of employees Mentoring by senior staff Case studies Internships (in other branches of org.) Role playing On-the-job training Outsourcing Business games Job rotation Videotapes (corporate scenarios) In-basket training Computer/web based training Video conferencing Distance learning Apprenticeship training Simulators Community colleges training Development at ABC Corp. involves learning that goes beyond the present day job. It is focused on long-term profits. It prepares employees to keep pace with the organization as it grows and changes, and competes with other organizations. ABC, we have concluded, is a learning organization. One that learns from its experiences, and adds every new experience to its corporate memory. The employees continuously adapt to changes, learn to anticipate changes and respond proactively to them. T&D at ABC provides services to their staff that are comprehensive, organized, and logical in their approach and application. ABC is investing in innovative HR practices that can be used as a resource for the design and development of its existing HR system. 3.1 Organization change and T&D of EMPLOYEES (Sorry, I feel this part is irrelevant because it does not relate to any other parts, not T&D too. It’s just a mere listing of change, but does not state how it impact T&D. There seems to be no linkage?) ABC Corp. has experienced many changes in the last 5 years, and T&D has responded proactively to these changes. (T&D responded proactively?) Changes in organizational structure have been caused by mergers, rapid growth (international), outsourcing and downsizing, leading to many new posts being created; T&D of new and old employees has been started for employees being hired for these posts. Technological progress has resulted in changes in the required technical expertise of employees. Effective training and development policies have helped in providing technical training to older employees. Some examples are: In house networking, software, information technology, new machinery. T&D has also helped in upgrading the educational level of employees. employees have been enrolled in executive masters and higher education programs to meet the rising work demands Due to globalization, there is now an increased emphasis on a global corporate culture, and predetermined employee roles have been developed. ABC Corp. has drafted these roles for their employees and T&D is provided to employees based on the roles they now serve. 3.2 OUTSOURCING OF ABC CORP.’S PERSONNEL AND HOW IT HAS AFFECTED TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF HR (What has this got to do with T&D? I don’t seem to be following the links. The flow doesn’t seem to be there?) (This part has been included because it shows how a T&D procedure at ABC Corp. has FAILED. Outsourcing of employees is part of Training and Development at ABC Corporation. You can delete this part if you think it is still irrelevant. I have edited it though) Outsourcing of employees of the human resource department at ABC Corp. has been unsuccessful, and has not resulted in positive results. As shown in the following figures, outsourcing of personnel helps in only 30%-36% of development. Most of the development is carried out by the “inside staff”. Outsourcing of employees was a T&D plan of ABC Corporation (INNOVATION 2000) ABC Corp. had predicting that outsourcing of human resource personnel would help in more than 70% development and innovation in its global T&D policies. Results however showed that outsourcing did not contribute as much. TRAINING OF HUMAN RESOURCE DESIGNED BY OUTSIDE SOURCES AND INSIDE STAFF (our approx. of ABC Corp.) TRAINING OF HUMAN RESOURCE DELIVERD BY OUTSIDE SOURCES AND INSIDE STAFF (our approx. of ABC Corp.) (I apologize. I don’t seem to see the point you are making. Maybe you want to delete this section please?) 3.3 SOME PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF T&R AT ABC CORP. Quality circles (Is this part of T&D? Effectiveness? Evaluation?) (I found this in a book on human resource T&D so I think it is part of T&D. The book is HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, mentioned in the bibliography.) The concept has Japanese origins, transported from Japan over 20 years ago; it is actively used in many organizations all over the world. Quality circles are groups of ABC’s personnel who meet voluntarily with their supervisors and employees to discuss any job related problems, investigate problems they face, come up with solutions, and implement new plans. Clear goals for the program are set; the employees seeking quality circles get full top management support. A qualified manager is selected for the program; she communicates the plan to all employees concerned. Quality circles help in team building and successful communication between the workers. It has been successful at ABC Corporation, and has become part of the corporate culture of the organization. Employee surveys of employees being trained (Part of T&D? Did they do it well? Why/why not?) (I found this in a book on human resource T&D so I think it is part of T&D. The book is HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, mentioned in the bibliography.) ABC Corp. collects data regarding employee job satisfaction, their training status, personal growth, achievements, progress, absenteeism, and productivity. This aims at the evaluation of an employee’s acquired knowledge (during training), establishing better working relationships and increasing productivity. Most importantly it indicates the effectiveness of the training these employees are going through. Analysis of poor performance is also carried out and steps are taken to improve performance. Employee surveys are carried out every month (apart from a biannual performance appraisal). They are very effective, carried out efficiently and effectively, as it is an important T&D procedure. On the job training (Analysis seems lacking. Objectives met? OJT executed properly?) OJT at ABC Corp. motivates workers to learn more about their jobs. At times, we have felt that a trainee might feel so much pressure to perform that learning is negatively affected. The trainers (who provide on the job training at ABC Corp.) are supervisors and senior managers. They aim to inculcate strong work ethics and a desire to learn in their subordinates. 70% of OJT objectives have been met at ABC Corporation. OJT is executed to all trainees and new recruits. It is an effective practice, as all work related problems are mutually solved by supervisor and subordinates as soon as they arise. This also gives the employees practical experience and enables them to also apply the theory they have learnt to their job. Technological advancement and employee reaction (States why T&D is required, but is not a practical example of T&D right?) During the last 5 years ABC Corp. has been faced with a mismatch in the demand and supply of personnel expertise. The employees were required to perform technical tasks involving computer systems and information technology, manual labor was fast losing importance and computerized networking was taking its place. Learning programs were provided to the employees to keep pace with the changing technology. IT education, software handling and networking have been added to the T&D plan of ABC Corporation, and such training is currently underway. Effective Employee Orientation Programs (did ABC do it well?) New employees have to be trained so they can be productive as quickly as possible. Employee orientation helps keep turnover manageable. It helps employees make connections with the people they need to know for better performance. Employee training programs have been successful at ABC Corporation. They include training in different countries, to help prepare the employees for the global expansion ABC Corporation is going to go through. These trained employees will be ABC Corporation’s major future assets. 3.4 ORGANIZATION OF LEARNING PROGRAMS IN ABC CORP. (What does interview hope to find out? Can you attach a draft copy of the interview questions please?) What strategies do HRD personnel employ at ABC Corp. to organize learning programs? Draft questionnaire: 1. What training sis you go through as a new recruit? 2. Duration of your training? 3. How effective do you think your training was?( rate on scale of 1-5, 1 being lowest.) 4. what do you think ABC Corp.’s new employees and trainees need?( T&D policies required.) 5. hierarchy of T&D policies, according to you.( concluded by flow chart that follows…) 6. your contribution to current T&D plan 7. barriers to implementation of your plan: employee motivation superior’s approval Cost of plan (resources involved.) Long term plan not encouraged Technological requirements of plan not met Overlooked due to better suggestions (superiors’ classification.) 8. your comments on the T&D plan of ABC Corp. We planned this study by carrying out a survey. The study is based on data collected from 15 personnel in ABC Corp.’s HR Dept. using an interview questionnaire. A qualitative analysis was carried out on the interview summaries. Results indicate a wide range of different HRD strategies employed and various problems and barriers encountered in putting their strategies into practice. The main content of the summaries discusses the characteristics and values of T&D in general and explores how these might influence the HRD policies and practices in ABC Corp. The following flow chart shows the strategy employed for the realization and implementation of T&D plans. 5 (what’s this referring to? I think I messed it up. Sorry) (this superscript is for the flowchart that follows) 3.5 Overall Evaluation of Effectiveness of T&D AND RECOMMENDATIONS (I think this part is a little strange. The recommendations are to address specific problems that T&D is supposed to solve? Yes, the specific problems are bulleted and underlined). Can we have a proper flow of the problem definition & then the respective recommendations please? Thanks a lot.) What problems and barriers do HRD personnel at ABC Corp. encounter in organizational reality? The problems and barriers faced include: Problem: Extensive learning programs for employees. The recruitment and selection efforts at ABC are based on attracting employees with only marginal qualifications. As a result a more extensive T&R program is needed to train them. Time and resources are spent on months of training of new employees. Recommendation Our team recommends ABC Corp. to Set higher qualification demands. The educational backgrounds of employees vary considerably because of the diversity of tasks, duties and levels of responsibility in the organization. In filling entry-level jobs, ABC’s employers should seek college graduates who have majored in business administration, or industrial and labor relations. They should also look for college graduates with a technical or business background or a liberal arts education. For top management positions degrees in human resource management are highly recommended. Overcome the disparity between the demand and supply of labor by focusing on institutes which are producing the labor required. Require all new employees to have basic software systems knowledge. Problem: Information sharing and confidentiality Sharing of information among coworkers should be made common. Our team detected loopholes in the system of sharing of information between the different branches of the organization. This can affect the knowledge of employees and can result in lack of the corporate knowledge required. Recommendation For this purpose we recommend, online sharing of information libraries to help in the growth of knowledge of employees(investment for future profits) Problem: Globalization ABC Corp. is a Japanese company with bases in 80 different countries (including USA). Globalization is leading to more competition (internal and external). The employees have to be able to cope with changes, and to be prepared for them beforehand. Also, the growing diversity of the workforce requires that they work with people with various cultural backgrounds, education levels, and corporate experience. They must be willing to manage conflicting points of view, work under pressure, and demonstrate confidentiality. Recommendation Our recommendations are: Effective communication system between different branches should be developed within the next year. Innovation office to be set up, where all new ideas from the various branches all over the world can be collected and processed Problem: Evaluation of T&D plans The T&D plans of ABC Corp. are not evaluated regularly. Performance reports are also not formally prepared. Recommendation We recommend ABC Corp. to: 1. Evaluate the T&D plans regularly( annually or biannually) 2. The results should be analyzed carefully, reports prepared and presented 3. Performance of employees should be compared 4. Progress reports for every employee should be maintained 4.0 THE performance appraisal SYSTEM AT ABC CORPORATION Performance appraisal at ABC Corp. is seen as an official system of periodic assessment and evaluation of an individual or team’s job performance. There are two forms of performance appraisal: Individual performance appraisal Team performance appraisal We found that more emphasis was laid on individual performance appraisal than on team appraisal. 6 ABC Corp. cannot effectively explore each of these tasks; therefore, the management has selected specific appraisal goals it believes to be most crucial for performance appraisal of its employees. ABC Corp. emphasizes on job analysis, examination of work performed and appraisal performance. 4.1 Collection and Analysis of Data ABC Corp. has developed a performance appraisal questionnaire that is filled by the managers, evaluating the capabilities of their subordinates. The appraisal period is set to 6 months, at the end of which the managers submit these questionnaires to the top management. For the appraisal period January 2006 to June 2006, the employees were rated as follows: 10% of employees ‘outstanding’ (consistently exceeding expectations) 45% of employees ‘above expectations’ (consistently meeting and occasionally exceeding expectations) 38% of employees ‘meet expectations’ (consistently meeting expectations) 7% of employees ‘need improvement’ (consistently failing to meet expectations) The employees’ work is generally good, and is up to the mark required. 10% of the “outstanding” employees are being considered for promotion by ABC Corp. 45% of the employees who are “above expectations” are an asset to the org., they are the innovators and creative heads. 7% of the employees lying in the “need improvement” group have been absent from job for long periods. Their work is often being performed by colleagues. Analysis of the questionnaire showed that 40% of the employees showed good interpersonal skills and leadership qualities. The traits found missing in most employees were creativity, adaptability, and crisis management skills. Teamwork and developing others were found to have lowest weightage. Interpersonal skills were found lacking in most employees. This is mainly due to emphasis on individual development and achievementof goals rather than on team work. “Developing others” had greatest weightage in the human resource department. Most finance employees were found rated very poor at developing others. Analysis of personal traits showed that good appearance and attitude, manners and style of talking of an employee contributes a lot to the appraisal. Those who were found pleasant looking and pleasant to talk to had much higher ratings than those who were not social and dressed poorly. (what’s the analysis to this? Can you comment a little please?) 4.2 Objectives of The Performance Appraisal in ABC The questionnaires lay special emphasis on personal behaviors and personal traits. the objective of the appraisal was to find out the percentage of each of these skills found in the employees of ABC Corporation: Leadership qualities Crisis management skills Interpersonal skills Time management skills Developing others Sharing information Customer service Team work Personal traits to be evaluated: Adaptability Judgment Ability to reason and compare Appearance Initiative Attitude Drive Creativity The purpose of the evaluation is to give feedback and offer input to help the employees improve on the job. It is not a corrective process. It is not criticism by the heads and supervisors. The appraisal process at ABC should be seen as a positive and supportive experience for the volunteer. It provides an employee with an opportunity for self-evaluation. Performance appraisals can also serve a variety of other functions. Sometimes ratings are intentionally inflated or lowered. Reasons for inflated ratings at ABC Corporation: Accurate ratings might have a negative impact on an employee’s performance and motivation. Avoid display of unsatisfactory performance (especially in reports and publications, which are sent to every branch office in the country.) Avoidance of confrontation with some employees. Need to reward employees, believing it to be a source of increasing future productivity. Most employees need to know how well they are performing. Most compete with their colleagues, and this constructive competition helps in generation of creative thinking. It has been noticed at ABC Corporation that daily problems are best handled as they come up, the personnel do not wait for a 6 monthly appraisal interviews. Appraisal interviews should not stop day to day discussion of work related problems between subordinates and supervisors. 4.3 summary of strengths and weaknesses PRODUCTIVITY VS QUALITY OF WORK ABC Corp. has always emphasized on the quantity of work rather than on its quality. Appraisal reports would help in obtaining qualitative analysis of every employee’s work. thus appraisal now aims at evaluating an employee’s quality of work rather than the quantity. Qualitative analysis is an important aspect of a worker’s appraisal. Most employees were found lacking consistency in quality and standardization. It has been proposed to cut down on the work load of the employees and demand good quality work. This new plan has been implemented in the next appraisal period. We are yet to see the results of this innovation,(analysis?) EMPHASIS ON TASK OUTCOMES At ABC Corporation ends are considered more important than the means. Hence task outcomes are evaluated. The outcomes which lead to the organizations’ profitability are considered successful. Task outcomes are not considered favorable as far as human resource development goes. ABC is a profit oriented organization. Many employees put in a lot of effort in plans that prove fruitless. Their hard work is not acknowledged, and they can be demotivated. Our team has concluded that this is an unfavorable policy. (analysis? Good or back to be task oriented?) IMPROVEMENT POTENTIAL Improvement of employees is obtained by comparison with past records. Future improvement of the employees’ skills can be determined (indicator). The manager working on the performance appraisal provides the employee with specific examples of how to improve development and achieve goals. This aspect of employee appraisal is considered most important at ABC Corp., as it is the most positive element of the report. METHOD OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL ABC Corp. uses the rating scale method for performance appraisal. They had been using the ‘essay’ method and ‘work standards’ method for the last 10 years, but now the appraisal team is working with the rating scale, as it is very user friendly and easy to tabulate. PROBLEMS IN PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL DATA ABC Corp. faces many common problems of performance appraisal. These include: Lack of objectivity : In the questionnaire traits such as attitude, devotion and personality are hard to measure. Often people might confuse terms. Personal bias : Personal bias of supervisors, managers etc. can result in wrong appraisals. PRAISE AND CRITICISM IN ABC CORPORATION The use of praise and criticism has strict rules in ABC Corporations set by the appraisal team. It aims at emphasizing the positive aspects of employees, giving them credit for good performance (preferably rewards); and criticism of actions which have led to losses to the organization, not criticism of the employee. Providing a guideline for favorable behavior and helping the employee to achieve better appraisal in future are also aims of the team. Development of the employee through constructive criticism is the aim of performance appraisal at ABC Corporation. 4.4 shortcomings and our recommendations. ABC Corp. focuses on individual performance appraisal rather than on team appraisal. This has led to failing team spirit and poor information sharing between employees. We recommend greater emphasis on team performance appraisal and setting of team goals. Some high level executives at ABC Corp. believe that performance appraisals are considerable and useless documentation. It neither motivates individuals nor effectively guides their development. We recommend evaluation reports for all employees and presentations requiring employees to discuss and display what they have learnt and what skills they have acquired in the appraisal period. At ABC it is a popular belief that performance appraisals create conflict between supervisors and subordinates. We recommend that the appraisal team should rate the employees such that they do not reveal the sources of their information. The supervisors’ remarks regarding the subordinates should be kept confidential. The team should use more informal feedback, customer appraisals and more than one method of performance appraisal. We recommend the appraisal team to include the ‘ranking method’ with the ‘rating scales’ method to analyze the development of employees. ABC Corp. cannot effectively explore each of the tasks of performance appraisal.7 The management has selected specific appraisal goals it believes to be most crucial for performance appraisal of its employees. ABC Corp. emphasizes on job analysis, examination of work performed and appraisal performance. We recommend that all the processes and stages of performance appraisal be given importance to obtain a correct performance appraisal. Promotions are very slow and red tapism rules in ABC Corp. We recommend that the 10% of the employees whose work is ‘outstanding’ and exceeds expectations should be promoted and their exceptional work should be acknowledged. The crisis management and adaptability of employees is found to be poor. We recommend ABC Corp. to develop the adaptability of its employees. This can be achieved by sending employees to different branches of the org. crisis management skils can be established by role playing and case studies. ABC Corp. stresses on quantity of work, not quality. Quality is a very important factor in obtaining customers, and maintaining a good reputation. We recommend ABC Corp. to give more importance to quality of work. Qualitative analysis should be carried out. 5 CONCLUSION (Hi, can this be more ABC focused, instead of directing to the teacher? It would be good to have a conclusion which is HRD focused with respect to ABC. That would be full of impact  Thanks.) In this report our team has explored the Human Resource Department of ABC Corporation, with special emphasis on training and development and performance appraisal divisions. We have visited these divisions of the branch offices of ABC Corp. in our city. We have conducted interviews, carried out surveys and primary analyses, and done extensive research and secondary analyses of the operations of ABC Corp. We have also provided analyses for all the statements made by us in this report, and have included graphs and flow charts as part of analyses. ABC Corporation has requested a copy of this report, which we hope to submit this term. We have concluded that ABC Corporation’s Human resource department is shaping itself for globalization and expansion, is goal oriented and focused, and its current plan is very efficient and effective. Dear Writer, Thanks a great deal for this very fine effort. I’m sorry that I’ve so many comments. Would really appreciate yr efforts on it please. The teacher is very picky on flows and linkage. The focus of the paper should also be on analysis. I’ve incorporated a contents page. Could you please regroup some of your sections & follow the contents page please? Thanks a great deal. Will leave it in yr very good hands  Best regards. Read More