Introduction to Human Resource Management & Learning and Talent (Doc)

Introduction to Human
Resource Management &
Learning and Talent
Development

Table of Contents
ESSAY 1.........................................................................................................................................1
Introduction..................................................................................................................................1
Main Body...................................................................................................................................1
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................3
ESSAY 2..........................................................................................................................................3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
Main Body...................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................5
ESSAY 3..........................................................................................................................................5
Introduction..................................................................................................................................5
Main body....................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

ESSAY 1
Question: Some organisations have extremely high levels of absence. a) Why is it important to
proactively manage this? b) What might be included in a procedural document?
Introduction
Absence is one of the most common issue that is faced by many organizations. Absence
from work place has become a part of employees (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017). It has been
observed that employees are expected to remain absent for a fixed number of days but most of
the employees remain absent from workplace for more than fixed number of days. Due to which
productivity of whole organization is affected.
Main Body
It is important for each and every organization to manage and monitor absence as higher
level of absence can result in increased operational cost of the business as well as it can affect the
overall performance of an organization. It is important to proactively manage it as absence of
employees not only increases per employee cost of an organization but it also reduces
productivity of business. This makes it important for business to measure, record and monitor
absence of employees. Absence of a genuine reason is tolerable but absence of no reason should
not be tolerated by any organization. It is important for organizations to proactively apply or
make changes within procedures and policies of an organization and also communicate these
policies and procedures to both the managers and employees. This will help the organizations to
control employee's absence from workplace and will restrict them to take unnecessary absence
from work (Buchanan and McCalman, 2018). Many times extreme absence of few employees
influences others to take holiday which directly affect the company financially and productively.
It is also important for organizations to identify high level of employee absence from workplace
and work on those factors in order to reduce this rate. These high level absence causes can be of
many types such as: harassment or bullying of employees within offices, low employee morale
or stress or burnout, responsibilities other than work such as childcare or elderly care,
depression, illness, partial shits, job hunting and many other reasons. If any of these causes are a
reason for increasing level of absence then it becomes extremely important for organizations to
work on it and bring changes within their procedure and policies accordingly. It can be managed
by working on these reasons in order to eliminate them. For this they should define their policies
in a clear manner which will help the employees to balance their personal and professional life
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and understand what is acceptable and what isn't. By monitoring accurate and updated data of
employees and maintaining a log book regarding the same. By creating an open atmosphere for
employees, this will help them to open up to their problems and the difficulties that they are
facing. By continuously monitoring employees behaviour and attitude towards their work this
will help the organizations to understand whether their employees are comfortably working
within their organizations or not. Managing absence benefits in finding out how much employee
values organisation. Also, it helps in evaluating their performance in terms of attendance. By this
it is easy to identify which staff is highly concerned about his or her job. It also shows how much
leave an employee is taken in a month, quarter, etc.
A procedure document is a policy developed that provide an outline of a process. By this it is
easy to analyze how overall process flows. In an organisation it can be used as a policy to
manage absenteeism. It must include several things that are defined below :-
 The first included is to take permission from supervisor for any leave. The employee will
need to inform about their leave and reason behind it. The supervisor will be responsible
for granting permission of leave (Aguenza and Som, 2018). Beside this, in case of sick
leave employee will be eligible to provide medical.
 The unscheduled time off can be included as well. Here, an employee will be eligible to
take instant leave from supervisor on current day.
The employers need to explain about the organizational absenteeism polices in detail to the
employees during induction. They need to make them aware about the obligations at the
workplace in concise and clear way.
The Absenteeism policies clauses should include -
 The importance of the filing a form of leave (any kind) in the organization.
 The Manager should be notified by their employees that they will remain absent on a
particular day and reason behind it. If an employee do not inform then supervisor is
having right to take proper action. The leave can be marked as absent or loss of pay.
The Absenteeism policy can be useful in reducing and controlling absence. It will restrict
staff to take unnecessary leaves and set a procedure that what they have to do to take leave.
Apart from it, policy will set criteria and guidelines that must be followed while taking leave. In
this way, positive culture can be developed. Moreover, it will benefit in maintaining regular
attendance of employees.
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Conclusion
It can be summarized that an organisation should manage absenteeism so that it will help in
restricting employee from any unnecessary absence. Also, they will be able to manage work and
find out reason behind absence. Furthermore, if absence is controlled it enable in creating a
positive work place culture. Also, the work is managed and goals and objectives are attained on
specified time period. A procedural document is a policy that includes guidelines and criteria
regarding leaves. It contains two things that are scheduled and unscheduled leaves and what
process is to be followed to take a leave.
ESSAY 2
Question: Many organisations fail to evaluate training and therefore cannot prove that it is a
worthwhile business investment. How might they go about an evaluation process?
Introduction
Training is an important part of an organization as it helps in enhancing the overall skills,
knowledge and capabilities of an employee so that they can efficiently fulfil their job
responsibility (McGarry, Aubeeluck and De Oliveira, 2019). Training also helps employees to
improve their quality of work so that they can become more productive and enhance their
performance.
Main Body
Training plays a vital role in any organization and it is one of the main reason behind any
organizations' failure or success. However, if organizations want to become successful they not
only need to effectively implement and run training program but they also need to evaluate it.
Training not only helps in increasing an employees' efficiency and improves their morale but it
also helps in decreasing the level of supervision required to supervise the employees as skilled
employees need less supervision and can efficiently fulfil their duties within anyone's help or
supervision. It also helps in reducing number of human errors or accidents that are conducted
because of employees fault and correction of these errors or accidents require both time and cost.
Training helps in reducing such accidents and cost to time required to correct them. Effective and
productive employees will also help in increasing the productivity of overall organization. But
for this it is required for organizations to efficiently and effectively evaluate complete training
program in order to make it worthy for business investment.
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Many organizations fail to evaluate training programs and their worthiness because of
many reasons such as: First of all they lack planning required to organize effective training
programs and reason for which it is being organized, budget required for organizing the training
programs and resources required for the training programs (Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Evaluation of training programs also becomes difficult to prove its worthiness for business
investment because managers mostly focus on learning of employees and based on this they
judge the success of the training. It is not important that increased learning will improve the
overall performance of the employees. Other than increasing the learning of employees they
should also focus on implementing their learning within their work only then they can evaluate
the worthiness of training programs for business investment because many employees are not
taught the way they can implement their learning within their work. Due to this they lack to
implement their knowledge and increase their overall performance in order to justify their job
roles within the organization. Many organizations fail to justify the correct reason and
requirement of training within their organization and if they identify the reason then they fail to
evaluate whether their employees have successfully learned what they have been taught and
whether they can implement it within their work or not (Sabella and Analoui, 2015). Due to this
they face difficulty in identifying whether their organized training programs are worthy for
business investment and will benefit their organization or not.
There are various methods through which evaluation of training programs can be done:
By recording their employees reaction and satisfaction level. By evaluating knowledge
acquisition which can be done by conducting an examination for the employees. This can be
done by doing one to one interaction with the employees, conducting employee's survey or
organizing post training quizzes for the employees. This will help the organization to record their
employees satisfaction level as well as the level of knowledge they have gained. This will also
help the managers to understand that whether employees were able to learn and implement their
knowledge within their work or not. Another way through which evaluation of training can be
done is by evaluating or measuring business improvement or improvement within overall
performance of employees then it can be said that training provided to the employees was
worthwhile for the business investment. This evaluation can be done by measuring increase or
decrease in sales, revenue, increase or decrease in customer base. This can help the business in
evaluating whether the training was worthy for investment or not.
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Other than this, in order to evaluate training organizations can bifurcate training within
two parts i.e. on the job training and off the job training (Hasson and et.al., 2016). On the job
training doesn't require much of business investment as it is given to the employees on the basis
of every day working concerns. It is a cost efficient training method as in this training is
provided to the employees in actual working scenario. There are various kinds of on job training
methods such as temporary promotions, job rotations, coaching etc. It can be evaluated by
evaluating employees performance before and after the training, that is given to the employees.
Off the job training method is quite costly and need more evaluation as it is given to new
employees through workshops, seminars, conferences etc. it is quite tough to evaluate as this
training is provided to large number of employees within a short duration of time. For this
organization can conduct quizzes, test, survey etc. this will help them evaluate whether the
employees were able to learn and implement their learning within their work or not. So, in
simple words organizations can follow a simple process i.e. first of all identify the reason, budget
and resources required for the training. Then whether it will be an on the job or off the job
training, then by conducting surveys, quizzes, assessments. Lastly by measuring the difference
between business performance before and after the training. With the help of this process
training evaluation can be done.
Conclusion
From the above essay it has been identified that it is quite important to evaluate training
process as it helps in identifying worthiness of training with respect to business investment.
Organizations should follow an evaluation process which will help them in evaluating the
worthiness of the program.
ESSAY 3
Question 6 How can an organisation reward package be enhanced to improve motivation
without increasing employee salary?
Introduction
It is important to motivate employees so that their efficiency is improved. The motivation
may be in terms of extrinsic or intrinsic. A motivated employee is able to put more efforts in
attaining goals. It also results in creating a positive work place culture. Beside this, motivation is
useful in retaining staff and reducing absenteeism (Schlechter, Thompson and Bussin, 2015).
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Moreover, staffs become eligible to take challenging takes. Motivation is often source of
improving staff performance beside training and development.
Main body
Motivation is an important source of enhancing staff efficiency. It is essential to
continuously encourage them so that organisation productivity is not affected. It also ensures that
productivity is maintained for longer time period and competitive advantage is gained.
Motivation also changes attitude of staff towards work. It allows them to initiate things and set
high goals. Other than this, motivation provides direction to staff and convert them into loyal
work force (Reward package. 2016). An organisation must motivate their employees in order to
retain them. Also, motivation brings in positive working culture and improves their productivity.
Usually, employees are motivated by providing them training and growth opportunities.
Moreover, by empowering them and allowing to take their own decision staff is motivated. Lack
of motivation among create a great impact on employee productivity. It leads to absenteeism and
rise in employee turnover (Nazir and et.al., 2016). However, there are several ways of motivating
staff. It depends on organisation policy and norms. By improving the reward package it is easy to
motivate staff.
Usually, offering high benefits and reward benefits to a great extent in motivating
employee. In this an employee gets bonus apart from their salary. The organisation can motivate
staff by improving their reward package. It is concept that aims to motivate employee in to
enhance their efficiency without increasing their salary. It can be done by involving employees
and deciding what changes can be made in it. Here, several criteria can be set based on employee
performance. For this they can be given extra bonus or rewards. In this many other things can be
included. They are as follows :-
Compensation – It is a structure that involves providing compensation to employees. In this
additional benefits are given apart from salary (De Vito and et.al., 2018). Financial reward
package include quarterly performance bonus, low insurance premium, etc. For instance- rise in
2% incentive of staff that are having more than 90% attendance. It will result in reducing
absenteeism. Other employees will be encouraged to get rise in their incentive as well. So, in this
way it motivates staff.
Recognition- this is also a useful technique where an employee performance can be recognised.
Here, they can be awarded for their achievement. For example- by starting recognising them as
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employee of month and giving certificate. Moreover, there are many other types of recognition
as well like printing employee name in company annual report, news, notice board, etc.
Alongside it, the manager can also give appraise employee in meeting, seminar, etc. this
increases moral and boosts confidence of employee. With this staff is encouraged to get
recognised.
Time off – In this staff can be given paid time off like paid vacations, weekly off, etc. It will
enable in motivating them and improving their performance (Prouska, Psychogios and Rexhepi,
2016). In addition to it, by providing paid half day on various occasions employee morale is
increased. However, when they get these kinds of pay off it allows them to relax. So, they are
able to maintain work life balance.
Catalog programs- It is a program where employees can gain points and redeem it on particular
offers. There are two advantage of this program. First is it shows how much points an employee
has gained, so through this their performance can be measured. Another benefit is it provides
flexibility to staff to choose their own rewards. Thus, it helps in motivating them without
increasing salary.
The above methods or techniques can be applied to make changes in reward system. It
will help in changing behaviour of employees. For example- if an employee is recognised he or
she will put more efforts in order to achieve that recognition again. Alongside it, other staff or
colleagues will also get motivated to get recognised. This will benefit business as well as it will
save their salary expenses. In addition to it, employee will also get encouraged. Alongside it, by
this individual employee feels encouraged (De Gieter and Hofmans, 2015). A motivated staff
develops strong relation with each other. Also, they encourage others as well to complete their
task by taking own decision. Beside this, by making frequent changes in reward package it is
easy to motivate employees. In this way, staff satisfaction is gained and they are retained for long
time. However, reward package is best method to encourage staff. It reflects that how much an
organisation value their work force and what benefits or incentives are offered. Apart from it,
motivation changes behaviour of staff and allow them to work in creative way. There is direct
impact of motivation on employee performance. So, through extrinsic benefit as well staff can be
encouraged. Their needs will be fulfilled by getting rewards, incentives, etc.
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Conclusion
It can be concluded that it is necessary to motivate employee as it helps in retaining them
and improving their performance. Basically, there are two types through which staff can be
encouraged that is intrinsic and extrinsic. But an organisation can motivate employee without
increasing their salary. There are many ways of doing it like compensation, recognition, catalog
programs, etc. by these staff can be easily encouraged.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aguenza, B.B. and Som, A.P.M., 2018. Motivational factors of employee retention and
engagement in organizations. IJAME.
Bakker, A.B. and Demerouti, E., 2017. Job demands–resources theory: Taking stock and looking
forward. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. 22(3). p.273.
Buchanan, D.A. and McCalman, J., 2018. High performance work systems: The digital
experience. Routledge.
De Gieter, S. and Hofmans, J., 2015. How reward satisfaction affects employees’ turnover
intentions and performance: an individual differences approach. Human Resource
Management Journal. 25(2). pp.200-216.
De Vito, L. and et.al., 2018. Employee motivation based on the hierarchy of needs, expectancy
and the two-factor theories applied with higher education employees. IJAMEE.
Hasson, H., and et.al., 2016. Improving organizational learning through leadership
training. Journal of Workplace Learning. 28(3). pp.115-129.
Kirkpatrick, J.D. and Kirkpatrick, W.K., 2016. Kirkpatrick's four levels of training evaluation.
Association for Talent Development.
McGarry, J., Aubeeluck, A. and De Oliveira, D., 2019. Evaluation of an evidence-based model
of safeguarding clinical supervision within one healthcare organization in the United
Kingdom. International journal of evidence-based healthcare. 17. pp.S29-S31.
Nazir, S. and et.al., 2016. Influence of organizational rewards on organizational commitment and
turnover intentions. Employee Relations. 38(4). pp.596-619.
Prouska, R., Psychogios, A.G. and Rexhepi, Y., 2016. Rewarding employees in turbulent
economies for improved organisational performance: Exploring SMEs in the South-
Eastern European region. Personnel Review. 45(6). pp.1259-1280.
Sabella, A.R. and Analoui, F., 2015. Managerial training and development in telecommunication
organizations in Palestine. Journal of Management Development. 34(6). pp.685-703.
Schlechter, A., Thompson, N.C. and Bussin, M., 2015. Attractiveness of non-financial rewards
for prospective knowledge workers: An experimental investigation. Employee
Relations. 37(3). pp.274-295.
Online
Reward package. 2016. [online] Available through : <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-
reward-packages-motivate-employees-11615.html>
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