Designing of the Competency Development Plan in the Hong Kong Freight Forwarding Industry - Essay Example

Designing of the Competency Development Plan for Managers of Key Client Sales Teams in the Hong Kong Freight Forwarding Industry Introduction Today it is undoubtedly that each organization, aiming at success of its business, tries to put the right people with the right skills and attributes in the appropriate positions. Executives and human resources managers are well aware that wrong decision in employees’ appointment can cause the loss of productivity, and as a consequence, lower morale of workers and raise a turnover. To avoid this and to improve performance, nowadays more and more organizations use the behavioral characteristics of superior performers as “template”, or “blueprint”, for employee selection and development (Spensor and Spensor, 1993). These “templates” gained the name “competency models”. Competency modelling approach originated about 30 years ago, the first competency model was developed in the early 1970’s by David McClelland and his colleagues as a response to a problem of proper selection of junior Foreign Service Information Officers in the U.S. Department of State. From this initial study the methodology has evolved, partly in response to changes in organizations and the workplace, and partly in response to the needs of people using the competency models to address specific needs in organizations. Spensor and Spensor (1993) define competency as an underlying characteristics of an individual that is causally related to criterion that referenced effective and / or superior performance in a job or situation. Mansfield (1996) gives the following definition: “a competency model is a detailed, behaviorally specific description of the skills and traits that employees need to be effective in a job” (p.7). Mansfield (1996) asserts that “any competency approach must define a consistent set of levels for the building block competencies to distinguish the extent to which a competency is required in different jobs” (p.13). He argues that it should be the same number of levels for each competency, and each level should has a consistent name, e.g. Not Demonstrated, Developing, Capable, Outstanding. Rating an employee for this competency involves selecting the level that best describes the employee (Mansfield, 1996). Thus, briefly stated, the competency assessment method is based upon the assumption that the best way to identify current level of employee’s competencies is to compare the employee’s knowledge, skills and abilities against knowledge, skills and abilities of the “effective performer” on the same position. Today more than half of the Fortune 500 companies are using the competency modelling in their managerial practices. A comprehensive and manageable set of personal characteristics can serve as a conceptual framework for the whole range of human resource management tasks: selection, assessment, professional development, performance management, and other human resource programs (Mansfield, 2005). One of the important applications of the competency assessment is an optimizing of employees’ personal development plans. Personal development plan is an excellent tool that executives and human resources managers can use to develop and motivate personnel of their organizations. Employing a focused approach to each employees developmental needs, managers can help their employees enhance their job skills and become more effective and productive. These plans are designed to structure educational activity of employees and to accomplish specific areas of development within the practice (Gallen and Buckle, 2001). Organizations which carry out personal development planning emphasize that there is not only about identifying training need and suitable courses to satisfy them, other learning activities are much more important. Examples of such development activities include: action learning, coaching, distance learning, e-learning, formal training courses, guided reading, on-line study community, planned use of a learning resource centre, good practice interchange, project work or special assignment, working with a mentor, etc. (Armstrong and Baron, 2005). 2. Reasons for research Gallen and Buckle assert (2001) that the “important part of the personal development plans is to keep them manageable in order to ensure that as many modalities as possible are covered within these plans” (p.5). We assume that linking a competency assessment results with further alteration of personal development plans well answer to this challenge. In our research we intend to examine connections between gaps in core competences of sales managers of key client sales teams in the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry and alterations of key elements of their personal development plans. We consider such kind of research might offer helpful insights to the Hong Kong freight forwarding companies’ executives in adopting the appropriate strategy of personnel development suitable to their current business needs. It is particularly important nowadays, when the freight forwarders in Hong Kong face the challenge of improving their services drastically. Lai and Cheng (2004) describes the major business of the Hong Kong freight forwarding companies as a purchase transport services from various carriers and a consolidation of small shipments from a number of shippers into large shipments moving to a certain destination at a lower rate. Some companies have their own equipment and transport carriers themselves. Typical activities of a freight forwarder include preparing relevant documents, paying freight charges, arranging for inland transportation services, etc. Currently many of the Hong Kong freight forwarding companies feel that “they must not only continuously improve their consolidation efficiency in freight forwarding, but also need to strengthen their ability to provide an expanding range of logistics services that are increasingly expected by customers” (Lai and Cheng, 2004, p.72). Murphy and Daley (2001) assert that customers of freight forwarding services are becoming more knowledgeable about international trade and are also demanding that freight forwarders provide a broader spectrum of services. As Lai and Cheng (2004) summarize one way for the Hong Kong freight forwarding companies to strive for a competitive edge is to provide the value-added services desired by the customers. Preliminary reviewing current conditions of the Hong Kong freight forwarding business, we’ve derived the following challenges that companies have to cope with: Global competition becomes stronger. Selling the entire services and customer interaction becomes much more demanding and knowledge intensive. Consistent and uniform standards for sales accountability, direction, development and evaluation are required. World-class sales people are required. We hope that our study can help managers of the Hong Kong freight forwarding companies to cope with the challenges in this new era of the global business environment. We expect that it will promote an improvement of existing human management practices and consequently cause positive changes in customer relationship management and sales. 3. Research Purpose and Objectives Main purpose and research question The purpose of this study is to work out the method of designing the competency development plan that can be used by organisations of the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry for training and improving competences of managers of key client sales teams. The main research question is: “How organisations of the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry can use a competency assessment method to design competency-based personal development plans for their managers of key client sales teams?” Research objectives To explore the state-of-the-art methodologies and practices of personnel development, generally in a world, and in particular in the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry. To investigate the key elements of personal development plan in the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry. To evaluate differences (gaps) between desired (standard profile) and real (self-assessed and manager-assessed) key competences of sales managers of key client sales teams in the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry. To investigate the potential connection between gaps in core competences of sales managers and alteration of key elements of their personal development plans. To propose a methodology of designing the competency-based personal development plan of sales managers in the freight forwarding industry and to explore feasibility of the proposed methodology. 4. Research Design Methodology We intend to use a descriptive form of research, so that to present the existing nature and status of a situation, the relationships and practices that exist, beliefs and processes that are ongoing, as well as conditions held in organizations as it occurs now (Creswell, 1994). The descriptive approach will also allow us to obtain first hand data from the respondents, based on their current impressions, and thus to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study. The study will combine qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Such mixed research method will allow gathering pertinent data and achieving the objectives of the study effectively. Qualitative research. Primary Sources of Data. The qualitative research approach will be used to gain in-depth information (explanations, interpretations, opinions) on the situation from real executives and human resource managers of the Hong Kong freight forwarding companies. As the main technique for gathering data we will use semi-structured face-to-face interview with human resource directors, senior line management executives or heads of sales departments. Semi-structured interviewing is the most common type of interview used in qualitative social research (Dawson, 2002). In this type of interview, the researcher wants to know specific information which can be compared and contrasted with information gained in other interviews. To do this, we will ask the same questions in each interview, they will be open and precise enough to give the interviewee the place and the opportunity to speak and develop own ideas. We will try to remain the interview flexible so that other important information can still arise. We will also produce an interview schedule - a list of specific questions or a list of topics to be discussed; each interview will be conducting according this schedule to ensure continuity. During the study the schedule might be updated and revised after each interview to include more topics which have arisen as a result of the previous interview. We intend to use interview methods for investigation of the key elements of personal development plan and the potential connection between gaps in core competences of sales managers and alteration of key elements of their personal development plans. Interviews will be focused on personal management strategies and activities of company; key factors of the strategy, e.g. core values; employees’ attitudes to personal management and development strategies; specific personal development practices and its effects (both positive and negative) and other aspects related to our research objectives. Another qualitative research method that seems to be useful is a case study method. Yin considers that a case study is an “empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident” (2003, p.13). Hayes (2002) claims that case study has several important advantages over other methods, namely: Case study highlights unique situation, processes and behavior. Case study sometimes challenges established theory assumption as these often come from generalized theories that do not explain a specific situation. The exploration of a single case allows for greater detail and richer information mining. Case study allows for the studying of complex processes. We intend to use a case study approach to describe our previous successful experience in competency modelling for sales managers of key client sales teams in one of the service companies. We assume the case study might be used as a tool for benchmarking for the Hong Kong freight forwarding companies, as benchmarking provides an opportunity for companies to compare their performance against other firms and copy their best practices. We assume our case study will help in identification of strengths and weakness in relation to competency assessment and areas that need improvement. Secondary Sources of Data. In support of the primary data gathered, investigation will be done with the help of secondary data from printed sources, such as academic and professional journal articles, magazines articles, books, corporative materials, as well as from online sources. The exploring of state-of-the-art methodologies and practices of personnel development, generally in a world, and in particular in the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry will be provided as well. It will give a strong foundation of the whole study. Secondary research will be performed on a basis of: Data available within the Hong Kong freight forwarding companies’ boundaries – corporate and human resource management politics and documents, annual reports, websites and marketing materials. Generally accessible data - published articles, books, business journals, research papers, related studies, etc.      Quantitative research. The quantitative approach will be used to draw measurable data to determine relationships between some variables. We suggest the following hypothesis: Hypothesis H1. The hypothesis H1 is based on the assumption that competency assessment provides organizations of the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry with a specific picture of gaps in desired (profile) and real (self-assessed and manager-assessed) key competences of sales managers. The null and research hypotheses are stated as follows: Hypothesis H10. There are no gaps in profile, self-assessed and manager-assessed levels of key client sales managers’ competences in the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry. Hypothesis H11. There are gaps in profile, self-assessed and manager-assessed levels of key client sales managers’ competences in the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry. Structured questionnaire survey will help to test Hypothesis H1. Survey aims to draw information from a large sample; it allows us to derive and investigate precise and impartial data to support conclusions and generalizations. The questionnaire will be designed after the exploring the state-of-the-art methodologies and practices and investigation of the key elements of personal development plan. Then it will be revised after discussing with some experts and managers, and then it will be spread among the study sampling panels via email. Results of the survey will be analyzed using statistical methods, which determine the existence of a relationship between the dependent and independent variables. We intend to make a statistical analysis using SPSS. The exact method of analysis will be determined after the questionnaire design, when a set of variables becomes clear. Final results of the quantitative research will be presented in tables and graphs to facilitate readability. Sampling Companies for the research will be selected from the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry using convenience sampling based on our access to key personnel. We intend to select companies with different organisational contexts – e.g. different sizes (small, medium and large), different ownerships (joint, individual, or state), different capital, etc. We identified three major groups of interested parties (the “panels”): Panel A: Executives or senior managers of the freight forwarding companies. Panel B: human resources managers or consultants of the freight forwarding companies. Panel C: employees of the Hong Kong freight forwarding companies. The population for our study will be composed as follows: Population for face-to-face interview should include 5 representatives of panel A, and 5 representatives of panel B. Population for questionnaire survey should include 10 representatives of panel A, 10 representatives of panel B and 50 representatives of panel C. 5. Significance of the research We’ve already mentioned above that our research will help managers of the Hong Kong freight forwarding companies to cope with the challenges in this new era of the global business environment. Particularly we presume the following benefits connected with the results of our study: Key client sales managers will get a clear overview of what company expects of them and what possibilities it suggests for their growing. Executives will be able to drive, develop and improve key client relationship management based on the right competencies and individuals. Organizations will be able to align key client sales strategy with competence-based development. Clients will get right salesman whose competencies match their current and evolving business requirements in a more appropriate way At a whole, it will promote an improvement of existing human management practices and consequently cause positive changes in customer relationship management and sales. Our study will also be helpful for researchers who are going to conduct further research concerning the subject. 6. Limitation Clearly, however, there are limitations in our research. The major limitation is connected to right selection of enterprises and its representativeness. It should be companies working in the Hong Kong freight forwarding industry with different organisational contexts. Since the study intends to make use of both qualitative and quantitative data, problems regarding the data acquisition may be encountered. Face-to-face interview is able to provide significant information, but, giving the limitation of 10 persons, interview results would not possibly enable to make a broad generalization of the issue. Qualitative data is analyzed in the most part intuitively and they do not show cause-effect or correlation analysis of the relationship between variables. Besides, analysis and generalization of information will be done only by a researcher, so it will evidently have elements of subjectivity. The next limitation of the interview approach is that executives and human resources managers will be key participants in the study, so potential response bias may occur. We should try to adjust to the demands of the situation so that to gain the most reliable responses without implicating any biases to the respondents. It may also not be easy to contact with persons directly. In this situation, telephone interview should be a substitute method in data collection. Possible weaknesses of the quantitative method, such as failure to provide information about the context of the situation, inability to control the environment, or pre-determined outcomes (Frankfort-Nachmias and Nachmias, 1992), which can influence the research poorly, should be compensated by interaction with the research participants during interviews, learning about the context in advance and after interview, and uncovering new emerged research themes. As for questionnaire survey the main problem we may be faced with will be to diagnose the veracity of the comments by the respondents who fill in the questionnaire. Not all of them may want to tell the truth, so we can gather distorted information. Possible weaknesses of the qualitative method, such as departing from the original objectives of the research or excessive subjectivity of judgment (Cassell and Symon, 1994), should be compensated by clearly stating the research problem and crosschecking with the results of the statistical analyses. One of the major problems will be the time factor since we have to conduct interviews and surveys in limited period of time. Second, the illness and some unpredictable problems will also affect the process of this research. To avoid this situation, we should try to work in advance. References Armstrong, M., and Baron, A. (2005) Managing performance: performance management in action. London, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Cassell, C., and Symon, G. (1994) Qualitative research in work contexts. In C. Cassell, and G. Symon (Eds.), Qualitative methods in organizational research (pp. 1-13). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Creswell, J. W. (1994) Research Design: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications. Dawson, C. (2002) Practical Research Methods: A user-friendly guide to mastering research. Oxford, How To Books. Frankfort-Nachmias, C., and Nachmias, D. (1992) Research methods in the social sciences (4th ed.). New York, St. Martins Press. Gallen, D, and Buckle, G. (2001) Personal and practice development plans in primary care: a practical guide to getting started. Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann. Hayes, N. (2000) Doing psychological research – Gathering and analysing data. Buckingham, Open University Press. Lai, K.-H., and Cheng, T. C. E. (2004) A Study of the Freight Forwarding Industry in Hong Kong. International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications, 7 (2), pp.71- 84. Mansfield, R. S. (1996) Building Competency Models: Approaches for HR Professionals. Human Resource Management, 35 (1), pp. 7-18. Mansfield, R. S. (2005) Practical Questions in Building Competency Models. [Online] Available from: www.workitect.com/pdf/PracticalQuestions.pdf [Accessed 10 April 2010] Murphy, P.R., and Daley, J.M. (2001) Profiling international freight forwarders: an update. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 31, (3), pp. 152–168. Spencer, L. M., Jr., and Spencer, S. M. (1993) Competence at work: models for superior performance. New York, Wiley. Yin, R.K. (2003) Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications. Read More