Executive Summary
Human resource development programs have become very important in preparing people to join and fit in the workforce. This report seeks to bring out a full human resource development portfolio for a human resource executive job. It seeks to bring out all training needs and requirements for a person seeking to take a human resource executive job in an organization. This paper provides a number of findings concerning human resource development portfolio for a human resource executive job.
Human resource executive is strategic job in an organization that requires experience and training skills. All principles of learning have to be grasped and utilized in the development of a strong portfolio for the position. These learning principles are embedded in skills, abilities and requirements for the job as explained in the paper. This paper presents a report of a human resource development portfolio job, which is the Chief Executive Officer slot in charge of the human resource. The report defines and clearly describes all aspects that relate to the job. These are presented under a human resource development program present in the human resource development portfolio.
Introduction
According to Werner and DeSimone (2012), human resource development has become an important component of human resource development. It is a tool that is used in preparing employees to take over jobs or assume responsibilities in the labour market. Human resource development helps employees in identifying and developing their personal and organisational skills, abilities, and knowledge. It entails the many opportunities and activities that are related to employees and job development. These are employee identification, training, career development, coaching, employee mentoring, planning on succession, and the general organisational development.
The aim of human resource development is to nurture a superior workforce in the organisation. A superior workforce is made up of employees who easily accomplish their roles and ensure better service delivery to customers of the organisation. Organisations often present numerous opportunities for the human resource development of their employees. These opportunities exist both internally and externally (Sofo, 2000).
Human resource development is enhanced through human resource development programs. Under these programs, potential employees can identify and model themselves to attain jobs or careers they intend to pursue. This is done through the development of human resource development portfolios. This paper presents a report of a human resource development portfolio. This is the job of a Chief Executive Officer in charge of human resource within an organisation. The report defines and clearly describes all aspects that relate to the job. These are presented under a human resource development program present in the human resource development portfolio (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2003).
Needs assessment
Personal analysis
I am a hardworking, intelligent, and focused person with an ability to develop healthy working relations in an organisation. I have academic qualifications that I believe makes me fit for executing duties enlisted for the human resource executive job. I have a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in human resource management with a specialisation in human resource planning and development. I also hold a diploma in finance management. I have worked with different organisations and served in various capacities human resource departments. I am currently serving as a vice human resource manager for a small marketing firm. I also lecture a course in human resource management at college level.
Organisational analysis
Without a clear description of the duties expected to be performed or discharged by employees holding certain job positions, turbulence becomes imminent in organisational performance. Human resource development does not advocate for turbulence in organisations where activities and duties are discharged in a haphazard manner. It advocates for orderliness through the streamlined activities, assignment, and discharge of roles in the organisation.
Roles and responsibilities of employees are well defined under human resource development. There are numerous reasons for this. However, the key reason is to bring about responsibility and orderliness in performance or organisational activities. The second major reason is the promotion of accountability in the organisation thereby minimising conflict arising from work performance by organisational employees (Winterton, 1999).
Being in charge of human resource management within any organisation is not an easy thing. It requires a combination of academic qualifications, personal, as well as interpersonal skills. This job also requires a person to have grasped how to perform roles in a contextualised setup. This means that the person should have a great deal of experience for him or her to perform well in this job (Mathis & Jackson, 2010; Kandula, 2009).
Current skills and abilities
Deb (2006) noted that there are numerous qualifications and skills required from a person aiming to attain such a high ranking job in an organisation. The qualifications often resonate from the academic achievement of the person who is eyeing the job followed by other trainings and experience of the person. These skills combine to make a person whole and ready to discharge roles that relate to the job. A poor combination of skills and knowledge may work to disadvantage a person even if the person is offered the job (Sims, 2006, Kandula, 2007).
Knowledge and skills needed
A human resource executive must portray the potential to manage people in a collective setup and lead these people towards attaining the goals that inform collectiveness. Therefore, the person must have trained in human resource management with probably a degree in human resource management from any certified university. Additional qualification such as having a master’s degree in the same field would also boost the ability of the person to specialise and perform in a job related to that field (Snell &Bohlander, 2013). According to Heathfield (2012), knowledge, skills and abilities are embedded in the competencies of a person and suitability to take over the job. Some of the most important competencies for the job of human resource executive in an organisation include the following:
- The person must portray a high level of skills of managing payrolls within an organisational set up. This is because it is a critical role performed by human resource departments of organisations.
- The second important competency is the demonstration of experience in human resource management. This includes experience in applying and interpreting several pieces of legislation that are relevant to the human resource management. The person should show the ability to apply these lawsrelated to human resource legislation in actual organisational situations and attain desirable results.
- Team leadership skills and abilities have also to be demonstrated. Team leadership skills are attributed to the ability of an individual to lead the organisation in reaching its goals through effective guidance of organisation’s employees.
- The other competency is the ability to make and review effective supply policies and procedures for the organisation. In this case, creativity and initiative are the desired personal characteristics.
- Customer focus tendencies are argued to help in attaining good customer relations and boosting the performance of an organisation. Therefore, for any person to be an effective human resource executive, he or she has to show the ability to foster customer focus activities. All functions overseen by the human resource executive have to ensure that customers are given attention. This is often the end product of human resource management.
- Human resource is all about ensuring that the organisation has the right employees. The employees should be well motivated to enable the organisation achieve its goals and objectives. Human resource establishes and manages employee relations. Therefore, the human resource manager must have strong interpersonal skills to aid in the development and management of healthy relationship between the organisation and employees.
- Lastly, human resource management deals with all functions that appertain to organisational learning. The human resource executive is the chief overseer of the training practices in the organisation. This implies that the human resource manager is also a trainer of organisational employees and thus must have a grasp of training and presentation skills.
The above mentioned competencies denote the need for a well trained person to do the specified job. The person must have acquainted him or herself with human resource management from both the theoretical and the practical angle. The practical aspect of competencies shows the ability of the person to apply theory in the real organisational perspective. All these competencies may not be fully possessed by a person. Some of them are developed as a person gains more on-job experience and modalities of working. This comes as a result of continuous application of theory into practice.
Task Analysis
Explanation of the task
Human resource managers or executives are bestowed with the discharging of many responsibilities in the organisation. There are various functions of the human resource executives including the training of employees. Therefore, this implies that the manager will need to be well equipped with the training environment, training tools and training equipment. They may also need to learn so as to instil learning in the organisation (Randhawa, 2007).
The first key function or responsibility of the human resource executive is to manage the payroll. This is a broad function that involves a collection of sets of small functions in the organisation. Among these functions are the maintenance of clears employee records, timely preparation of payrolls and ensuring that costs are properly allocated to jobs in the organisation. The manager has to oversee the regular release of human resource manual such as monthly reports and journals.
These carry different information on human resource practices taking place in the organisation such as compensation. The job under this function also entails the provision of cost analysis and information on wages and salaries of employees to the responsible departments in the organisation. The manager makes general inquiries concerning the salaries or wages of workers in the organisation (Randhawa, 2007).
In this regard, the person handling this job must be armed with all information concerning the payment and the salary and wages of employees in the organisation. All these records should be updated to give the manager ample time to discharge this responsibility. These records will give the manager a basis on which to assess the assessment of the performance of the organisation concerning this function. A clear understanding of issues in these records has to be attained so as to sustain the payroll function of the organisation. The manager is expected to make improvements to these functions as he or she familiarises with the operations of the organisation (Randhawa, 2007).
The second broad function of the job is human resources. This is a very broad function that is quite engaging. Its also includes several other mini-functions all which combine to make the function successful. The human resource executive will need to foster and manage industrial relations. The human resource executive works on ensuring that a good climate is developed and maintained between the organisation and its employees. This is a comprehensive function that requires the mastery of the steps of negotiation in settling conflicts between employees and the organisation. The manager is required to work on balancing the interests of the employees relative to the interests of the organisation (Randhawa, 2007).
The other elaborate responsibility of this function is the recruitment and training of employees. This exercise entails the identification of skills and talents among the employees. It also entails efforts to enhance the skills of employees and maintaining preforming employees. The sustainability of employees such as maintaining the best skills and talents in the organisation is dependent on other functions within the organisation. This is an aspect that is facilitated by the human resource executive.
The manager will need a lot of support from both employees and management of the organisation and combine it with his or her own personal initiatives. The resources needed for training and enticing or motivating employees in the organisation should be regarded with great emphasis. The resources used in training are mobilised by the human resource executive. Learning and development have to be carried out in accordance with the objectives and general strategies of the organisation (Heathfield, 2012).
The harmonisation of this activity with the general organisational strategies is the responsibility of the human resource manager of the organisation. Learning and development is a continuous process in any organisation and often involve the structuring and restructuring of organisational functions in order to meet the objectives of leaning. The expenses of training should be tracked for accountability purposes at the end of the exercise.
The human resource manager accounts for all these training and development expenses and expenditure to the finance and accounting department of the organisation. In general, organisational training falls under the performance management. Training comes as a result of performance review that is prepared and administered by the human resource department. This exposes the gaps in performance that need training. This training is different from that offered to the new employees (Heathfield, 2012).
Learning and the human resource executive job
There are two aspects or dimensions of learning that applies to this case. The first dimension of learning applies to the person who will take over the job in an organisation. The second dimension of learning concerns how the human resource executive will conduct organisational learning as one of his or her core responsibilities. All these are important to the person as they will denote success of the general human resource management function.
- The first aspect of learning is a precursor to the second dimension of learning in the organisation. This will be achieved when several aspects are addressed.
- The first factor of success for this exercise is ensuring that all relevant information is availed to the human resource executive. All human resource records should be availed to the manager to enable him or her grasp the organisation.
- The second thing that will enable adaptability and learning of the organisation is the establishment of support and corporation with the new manager in the organisation.
- The manager is expected to foster learning in the organisation by combining different skills. Personal, communicative skills are combined with generative situations to craft a learning environment in the organisation. The nature of learning in organisation is dependent on several other factors such as appraisal.
- Organisational learning is linked to training. The needs for training have to be identified by the human resource manager after he or she has grasped how the organisation works – the strengths and weakness of the organisation.
Conclusion
Human resource development is meant to enhance the skills of employees and is attained through training and learning. Training and learning increases the ability the ability of an employee to perform.
References
Deb, T. (2006). Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management: Concepts, Tool and Application. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributers.
Heathfield, S. M. (2012). Sample Human Resources Director Job Description. Web.
Kandula, S. R. (2007). Human resource management in practice: With 300 models, techniques and tools. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India.
Kandula, S. R. (2009). Strategic human resource development. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt Ltd.
Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. (2010). Human resource management. Mason, Ohio: South-Western.
Werner, J. M. and DeSimone, R. L. (2012). Human resource development. Mason, OH: South-Western.
Randhawa, G. (2007). Human resource management. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.
Rothwell, W. J., & Kazanas, H. C. (2003). Planning and managing human resources: Strategic planning for human resources management. Amherst, Mass: HRD Press.
Sims, R. R. (2006). Human resource development: Today and tomorrow. Greenwich: Information Age.
Snell, S., & Bohlander, G. W. (2013). Managing human resources. Mason, Ohio: South-Western.
Sofo, F. (2000). Human resource development: Perspectives, roles and practice choices. Warriewood, N.S.W: Business & Professional Publishing.
Winterton, J. (1999). Developing Managerial Competence. New York: Routledge Publishers.