Strategic Human Resource Development: Pot of Gold or Chasing Rainbows

1
Strategic Human Resource DevelopmentPot of
Gold or Chasing Rainbows

• Dr Trevor Morrow
• University of Ulster

2
Employee Development

• The Importance of Training Needs Analysis
• Comparing Actual Level of Performance with
  Desired Level of Performance
• Performance can be interpreted as Skills,
  Knowledge and Attitudes Necessary for Staff to do
  their Job Effectively
• Data Collection Process should include appraisal
  of current employee performance and assessment of
  desired levels of Employee Performance
• Training Needs Analysis Drivers
• Changes in Corporate Strategy, Internationalizatio
  n, Changes in Quality of Goods or Services
  Produced
• Reliant on Extensive Knowledge of Existing
  Workforce

3
Employee Development

• The Process of Traditional Training Needs
  Analysis
• A Job Description
• A Job specification
• A Training Specification
• Task Analysis
• Faults Analysis
• The Types of Analysis
• 1) The Comprehensive Analysis
• 2) Key Task Analysis
• 3) Problem Centered Analysis

4
Employee Development

• Approaches to Competence
• Input Approaches A Series of Training Inputs
  Creates the Appropriate Skills base in employees,
  focuses on what effective employees bring to
  their jobs.
• The Outcomes Model NVQ GNVQs based on
  National Standards of Competence Ideally Assessed
  in the Workplace.
• Manual Skills Analysis
• Job Learning Analysis
• Physical Skills, Complex Procedures,
  Checking/Assessing/Discrimination,
• Memorizing Facts, Ordering/Prioritizing/Planning,
  Forward Thinking,
• Diagnosing/Analyzing/Solving, Adapting to New
  Ideas Systems

5
Employee Development

• Carrying Out Individual Training Needs Analysis
• Step 1 Gain Co-operating of All Concerned
• Step 2 Carry Out Pre-Analysis Investigation
• Step 3 Decide Appropriate Analytical Approach
• Step 4 Analyze the Job
• Step 5 Write Job Description
• Step 6 Write the Job/Training specification
• Methods of Analysis
• Observation by Analyst
• Self Observation

6
Employee Development

• Questionnaire
• Fact Fining Interview
• Assessing Performance
• Self Assessment
• Range and Scope of Appraisal Schemes
• Assessment/Development Centres
• What are the Essential Competencies /Job
  Requirements
• How Can We Monitor The Competencies Required in a
  Changing
• Environment
• Can we Devise Tasks which really do assess theses
  competencies

7
Employee Development

• Does Performance on the Task Actually Transfer to
  the Working
• Situation
• How can we Evaluate the Scheme as a Whole
• The Key Role of Line Managers
• Team Based Training, the Complexities and the
  Potential Advantages
• Organizational Training, the development of Core
  Competencies i.e. IT Skills, Communication Skills
• The Need for a Continuos Cycle of Training Needs
  Analysis
• Links to other HR Functions

8
Employee Development

• Learning How People Learn Behavioural and
  Cognitive Approaches
• What do we Understand by Learning?
• Cognitive Theories and Problem Solving
• Activists Involve themselves fully and without
  bias in new experiences, they enjoy the here and
  now and are happy to be dominated by immediate
  experiences. They are open minded, not sceptical
  and this tends to make them enthusiastic about
  new experiences.
• Reflectors Like to stand back and ponder
  experiences and observe them from many different
  perspectives, the collect data, both first hand
  and from others and prefer to think about it
  thoroughly before coming to any conclusions.

9
Employee Development

• Theorists Adapt and integrate observations into
  complex, but logically sound theories. They
  think problems through in a vertical, step by
  step logical way. The assimilate disparate facts
  into coherent theories. They tend to be
  perfectionists who wont rest until things are
  tidy and fit into national schemes. They like to
  analyse and synthesise and are keen on basic
  assumptions, principles, theories, models and
  systems thinking.
• Pragmatists Are keen on new ideas, theories and
  techniques to see if they work in practice. They
  positively search out new ideas and take the
  first opportunity to experiment with
  applications. They are the sort of people who
  return from training courses brimming with ideas
  that they want to try out in practice. They like
  to get on with things and act quickly and
  confidently on ideas that attract them.

10
Continuous Development

• THE CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT SPIRAL
• STARTING POINT
• Need for New Knowledge and Skills
• Confidence/Apprehension
• Successful Achievement of Learning Goals
• Confidence in Own Learning Ability
• Motivation to Learn More
• Increased Confidence
• Need for New Knowledge
• and Skills
• No Apprehension

11
Continuous Development

• Continuous Development
• Learner Has Learned to Learn
• Self Generated
• Self Perceived Need for Knowledge and Skills
• Enthusiasm
• Successful Achievement Increased Ability in
  Learning

12
Links to SHRM

• Employee Development and the Links to Strategic
  HRM
• The Influence of Environmental Factors on
  Training and Development
• Education and Training Cross-Country Comparisons
• Management and Training The Current State of
  Play
• Aligning Training and Development with
  Organisational Objectives
• Linking Training and Performance Some Choices
• The Strategic Purpose of Training Some
  Possibilities
• The Strategic Positioning of Training Some
  Difficulties

13
Managers SHRM

• The Influence of Senior Managers on Training and
  Development
• Senior managers as shapers of culture
• Senior managers as sponsors of training and
  development
• Evidence of Strategic Approaches and Outcomes
• The incidence of training and development
• The strategic impact of training and
  development
• In any development strategy there are likely to
  be three areas of
• focus
• Organisational level, where corporate
  requirements such as induction, Quality
  Improvement, Leadership, Customer Care and
  Culture Change Programmes are addressed

14
Approaches

• Departmental/Business Unit level, where
  job-related training and development is likely to
  take place
• Individual level, where people are usually
  motivated to close the gap between their current
  and desired capabilities
• Some areas of development. Such as identification
  of talent, high
• flyer schemes and succession planning, usually
  involve all three
• levels
• Expenditure on the development and training of
  employees
• (especially managers) is highest in those
  companies where
• developmental and learning are part of the
  corporate plan

15
Management Training

• Management Training the State of Play in the UK
  and Ireland
• Strong indicators in terms of both resources and
  finance,
• Larger companies invest more in management
  training
• Advances in management education are often only
  evident in leading edge companies, typically in
  the private sector and large enough to be able to
  afford the luxury of training investment and
  innovation
• It is essential to distinguish between the
  rhetoric of what could and should be done, from
  the reality of what actually does get done.
• National training strategies based on
  prescriptions need careful contextualization
  depending on the sector, product/service and
  workforce expectations of the organizations
  concerned

16
Training and Performance

• Linking Training and Development to Performance
• Skill gaps are a common feature as a trigger for
  strategic Change
• There are a range of possible responses that a
  firm can make when a skill gap has been
  identified
• 1) The exposure may prompt a concerted attempt
  revise the overall human resource strategy by
  increasing such things as recruitment criteria,
  rewards strategy, increased or decreased use of
  flexible workers
• 2) Change in the HRM policy may also result in a
  shift in the organizations approach to training
• 3) Performance gaps may focus attention on the
  organisations HRD policy

17
The Strategic Purpose of Training

• 4) The higher importance placed on schemes like
  graduate recruitment, tiered recruitment or the
  appraisal process and assessment centers it is
  likely that such activities would stimulate
  demand for off the job training as well as
  secondments, mentoring and self development.
• The Strategic Purpose of Training
• 1) Assessing the capabilities necessary for staff
  to perform effectively in the future
• 2) Training can act as a catalyst for change
• 3) Training can give an organisation a
  competitive edge
• 4) Training can encourage the development of a
  learning climate

18
Senior Managers

• The Influence of Senior Managers
• 1) Senior managers as shapers of culture
• 2) Senior managers as sponsors of training and
  development
• The incidence of training and development
• The Strategic Impact of Training and Development
• Evidence for both academic researchers ad
  practitioners
• The Way Forward
• Summary

19
HRD SHRM

• Managing Human Resource Development (HRD) and the
  Links to Strategic Human Resource Management
• Defining HRD for the Practitioner Perspective (3
  key areas)
• 1) Education Education is defined as activities
  which aim to develop the knowledge skills, moral
  values and understanding required in all aspects
  of life rather than knowledge and skills relating
  to only a limited field of activity
• 2) Training Training is a planned process to
  modify attitude, knowledge or skill behaviour
  through learning experiences to achieve effective
  performance in an activity or range of
  activities. Its purpose, in the work situation,
  is to develop the abilities of the individual and
  to satisfy the current and future needs of the
  organisation.

20
HRD SHRM II

• 3) Development Developing people as part of an
  overall human resource strategy means the skilful
  provision and organisation of learning
  experiences, primarily but not exclusively in the
  workplace, in order that business goals and
  organisational growth can be achieved
• Such developments must be aligned with the
  organisations vision and longer term goals in
  order that, through enhancing the skills,
  knowledge, learning and innovative capacity of
  people at every level, the organisation as well
  as the individuals can prosper
• Linking the benefits of employee training and
  development to the concept of human resourcing
  strategies

21
HRM Policy Goals

• Well-trained labour forces are productive
  cohesive, motivated and capable of
  accommodating change and introducing new
  technologies.
• (Graham and Bennet, 1995 254)
• Clear links between effective employee
  development strategies
• and the policy goals of HRM (Guest 1987)
• Guest Identifies 4 Key policy goals of HRM
• 1) Strategic Integration
• 2) High Commitment
• 3) High Quality
• 4) High Flexibility

22
HRM Policy Goals II

• The Terms Cohesive and Motivated can be
  linked to the view that organisations can build
  commitment by giving employee the opportunity to
  develop. This in turn highlights to the
  employees their individual importance in the
  overall organisational strategy and can help
  increase motivation.
• The statement capable of accommodating change
  implies that training labour forces can enhance
  flexibility and therefore the ability of an
  individual to cope with and be adaptive to
  change. This is particularly important to
  organisations in this period of rapid change and
  reflects the growth during the 1990s of the
  concepts of managing change or change
  management, which regularly appears in business
  journals, business texts and provides the focus
  for many training courses.

23
HRM Policy Goals III

• The concept of the flexible firm is now well
  established, and it is apparent that for
  individuals to be able to cope with the growing
  demand for flexibility in terms of their skills
  (functional flexibility) their training and
  development needs are paramount
• Links can also be made between employee training
  and development and the concept of quality
  referred to in the Guest (1987) model of HRM
  policy goals. We can refer to Leopolds (2001)
  definition of this dimension
• Here there is meant to be an interrelationship
  between high-quality employees in whom employers
  are prepared to invest and develop in the belief
  that such employees will in turn deliver high
  quality goods and services which will help
  distinguish and organisation from its competitors

24
HRM Policy Goals IV

• notion of investing and developing demonstrates
  the obvious links between employee development
  and the practice of strategic human resource
  management. The concept of strategic
  integration is a central policy goal of human
  resource management, it is clear that the
  integration of the practice of employee
  development is vital to achieve both internal
  coherence and to promote the interrelationship
  between human resource strategy and business
  strategy.
• Keep (1992) emphasises the vital role of training
  and development in
• human resource management
• the case that the adoption of a strategic
  approach towards training and
• development of their workforce represents a vital
  component of any
• worthwhile or meaningful form of HRM (or HRD) is
  easily made

25
Challenges

• The Challenges facing the role of employee
  training and
• development
• 1) Top Management Support
• 2) Size of the Organisation
• 3) Nature of the Business
• 4) Demand for Training and Development
• 5) Geographical Position
• 6) Responsibility for Employee Development
• 7) Culture of the Organisation
• 8) External Factors, e.g. Legislation
• 9) Expertise

26
Typologies

• Typology of Trainer Roles
• 1) The Provider 2) The Passive Provider
• 3) The Training Manager 4) The Change Agent
• 5) Role in Transition
• Integration Is it desirable?
• A number of different HRM solutions can be
  detected amongst
• organisations since the mid-1980 as they grappled
  with major
• strategic change. In each case the intention was
  to add value to
• the organization by identifying, analysing and
  implementing a set of
• principles and activities to solve the various
  people related
• concerns.

27
Integration

• Each of these strategic reactions brought with
  it a particular focus
• on human resource activity
• Integration Is it Happening
• Organisational examples (small in number but
  nonetheless
• important)
• Models of HRM Integration
• Organisational Integration
• Policy Integration
• Functional Integration
• Process Integration
• Integration Is it Working?

28
Integration II

• 1) Employee Development Policy
• 2) Policy Formulation
• 3) Implementation
• 4) Priorities
• 5) Diagnosis and Support
• The Key role of Line Managers Changing Patterns
  of Involvement and Responsibility
• The Creation of a Stakeholder Model of Strategic
  Training and Development
• Summary

29
Employee Development
BUSINESS STRATEGY SENIOR MANAGERS SUPPORT
ALIGNMENT WITH Promote Learning
ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES INVOLVEMENT OF LINE
MANAGERS Involvement in planning, coaching and
mentoring TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT (COURSE,
EVENTS ASSIGNMANTS) QUALITY OF DESIGN AND
DELIVERY MOTIVATION OF
TRAINEES INTEGRATION WITH HRM POLICY HUMAN
RESOURCE STRATEGY Recruitment and Selection,
Appraisal Assessment Rewards Development

30
Further Reading

• Gibb, S (2002), Learning and Development
  process, practices and perspectives at work ,
  Palgrave.
• Harrison R. 2005 Learning and Development (4th
  edn) London CIPD.
• Millmore, M Lewis, P Saunders,M Thornhill, A
  and Morrow, T (2007) Strategic Human Resource
  Management Contemporary Theories and Practices,
  FT Prentice Hall, Harlow, Essex. Chs
• 1-4 10.
• Mumford, A. and Gold, J. (2004) Management
  development strategies for action. 4th ed.
  London Chartered Institute of Personnel and
  Development.
• Reid, M, Barrington, H, and Brown, M (2004) Human
  Resource Development  7th Edition, CIPD, London