Module 02 - TALENT MANAGEMENT

“Talent management is the use of an integrated set of activities to ensure that the organisation attracts, retains, motivates and develops the talented people it needs now and in the future. The aim is to secure the flow of talent, bearing in mind that talent is a major corporate resource” (Armstrong, 2006)

It is assumed that talent management is only concerned with significant people of the organisation. But all employees have various talents, even if some have more ability than others. However, managing skills is a collaborative activity to ensure retains, motivates and develops capable employees in the present and the future.

Talent management begins with business strategy and what it underscores by people with talents with the skills of the organisation. The element of talent management as follows;

• The resourcing strategy
• Attraction and retention policies and programmes
• Talent audit
• Role development
• Talent relationship management
• Performance management
• Total reward
• Learning and development
• Career management

(Source: Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th Edition))

Talent management can only be managed concerning human resource performance or discipline, or small businesses that are targeted at the development of the people and the organisation. It could be used for mapping people against the future initiatives of the organisation by conducting an interview for all employees end of the year and discussing their strengths and developmental needs. Further, it could be more beneficial to the organisation as follows,

The right person in the right job – It is essential to the organisation because the right person is deployed in the right position, then employee productivity is increased and their interest and job satisfaction increased.

Retaining the top talents – It is essential to leadership, market share and stable in the market because the risk can be mitigated by implementing the finest stagiest to their competitors.

Better hiring - The quality of the organisation will increase with talent workforce top to bottom since the hiring assessment also should be perfect and should be hired only highly skilled people.

Understanding employees’ better - The annual appraisal give a deep insight into the employee to the management. Then the administration should analyst their development needs, career aspirations, strength and weaknesses, abilities, likes and dislikes. It is easier, therefore, to determine what motivates whom and this helps a lot Job enrichment process. 

Better professional development decisions - When an organisation gets to know who its high potential is or more suitable, it is easy to invest in their professional development. Since the investment decisions may be towards learning, training and development of the individual either for growth, succession planning, performance management etc., an organisation remain bothered where to make this investment and talent management make this more comfortable for them.

The talent management process can describe as follows,

1. Understanding the Requirement: It is the foundation and plays a vital role in the success of the whole process. The primary objective is to determine the requirement of talent.
2. Sourcing the Talent: This is the second stage of the talent management process that involves targeting the best talent of the industry. Searching for employees according to the requirement is the main activity.
3. Attracting the Talent: It is essential to draw talented people to work in the organisation.  After all the main aim of the talent management process is to hire the best people from the industry.
4. Recruiting the Talent: The actual process of hiring starts from here. iT is the stage when people are invited to join the organisation.
5. Selecting the Talent: This involves meeting with different people having the same or different qualifications and skill sets as mentioned in the job description. Candidates who qualify this round are invited to join the organisation.
6. Training and Development: After recruiting the best people, they are trained and developed to get the desired output, and they gradually adapt to the organisation culture.
7. Retention: Hiring them does not serve the purpose altogether. Conservation depends on various factors such as pay package, job specification, challenges involved in a job, designation, personal development of an employee, recognition, culture and the fit between task and talent.
8. Promotion: No one can work in an organisation at the same designation with the same job responsibilities in an extended period. Job enrichment plays an important role.
9. Competency Mapping: Assessing employees’ skills, development, ability and competency is the next step. If required, also focus on behaviour, attitude, knowledge and future possibilities for improvement. It gives you a brief idea if the person is fir for promoting further.
10. Performance Appraisal: Measuring the actual performance of an employee is necessary to identify his or her real potential. It is to check whether the person can be loaded with extra responsibilities or not.
11. Career Planning: If the individual can handle the work pressure and extra responsibilities well, the management needs to plan his or her career so that he or she feels rewarded. It is good to recognise their efforts to retain them for a more extended period.
12. Succession Planning: Succession planning is all about who will replace whom shortly. The employee who has given his best to the organisation and has been serving it for a very long time deserves to hold the top position. Management needs to plan about when and how succession will take place.
13. Exit: The process ends when an individual gets retired or is no more a part of the organisation.(Source: Management study guide)

Reference

Armstrong, M. (2006). Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th Edition). 10th ed. London, GBR: Kogan Page, Limited.

Juneja, P. (2018). Talent Management Articles. [online] Managementstudyguide.com. Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/talent-management-articles.htm [Accessed 30 Dec. 2018].

Bhattacharyya, B. (2018). Step by step Talent Management Process - Keka. [online] Keka. Available at: https://www.keka.com/talent-management-process/ [Accessed 30 Dec. 2018].

Module 04 - EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

Every employee shares a specific relationship with his colleagues at the workplace, and it is either good or bad. It can be between organisation and co-workers or between an assistant and superior. However, the relationship is essential that it has a healthy relationship with each other to deliver their best performances.

Most of the problem faced by the employee cannot take alone since the one person looks in to in one-way. Hence the person needs guidance and advises of others to implement the best solution because we miss out on essential points. Further, the responsibilities should be divided among the team members to become easy for the employee and in turn, increase his productivity. Then the organisation becomes the happiest place to work when all members work together as a family. An employee relations environment can be useful, bad or indifferent according to perceptions about the extent to which:

• Management and employees trust one another;
• Management treats employees fairly and with consideration;
• Management is open about its actions and intentions – employee relations policies and procedures are transparent;
• Harmonious relationships are generally maintained on a day-to-day basis, which results in willing cooperation rather than grudging submission
• Conflict, when it does arise, is resolved without resort to industrial action and resolution is achieved by integrative processes which result in a ‘win–win’ solution;
• Employees are generally committed to the interests of the organisation and, equally, management treats them as stakeholders whose interests should be protected as far as possible (Armstrong, 2006).

Hence, the management should encourage individuals to share their work with effective communications among the team members, and the responsibilities should be assigned as per their interest and conveniences. Then all employees will equally contribute to achieving the organisation objectives/targets within the desired time frame.

“The approaches and methods adopted by employers to deal with employees either collectively through their trade unions or individually” (Armstrong, 2017).

The procedures and methods will be carried out individually or through their trade unions, followed by employers to deal with employees. An employer fully recognises a union for the collective bargaining, the labours’ wages and conditions are agreed between the management and the trade unions. Partial recognition takes place when employers restrict trade unions from representing their members on issues arising from employment. However employers are in a stable and robust position then they recognise a union or not, which union they want to understand and the terms on which they would grant recognise.

References,

Armstrong, M. (2006). Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th Edition). 10th ed. London, GBR: Kogan Page, Limited.

Armstrong (2017). Armstrong''''s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice potx. [online] 123doc.org. Available at: https://123doc.org/document/1110427-armstrongs-handbook-of-human-resource-management-practice-potx.htm [Accessed 26 Dec. 2018].

Emmott, M. (2014). Employment relations over the last 50 years: confrontation, consensus or neglect?. Employee Relations, [online] 37(6), pp.658-669. Available at: https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrWqv4TvCRcqjgAUXIPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTByb2lvbXVuBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--/RV=2/RE=1545940115/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ebsglobal.net%2fEBS%2fmedia%2fEBS%2fPDFs%2fEmployee-Relations-Course-Taster.pdf/RK=2/RS=Q1jW_VkeAQjSeBnTzzUExPWOVUM- [Accessed 27 Dec. 2018].

Module 05 - HRM AND THE DESIGN OF WORK

Work or job design has evolved and continues to grow to meet the demands of a dynamic work environment of the organisation. Further, Job design is to evaluate how the organisational tasks or complete work environment services, which will ensure compliance with the employee attributes. Job design is focused on administrative changes which should be required to improve the working conditions and work design is a focused strategic approach and addressing the adjustment to be implemented to the workstation.

“Work design is the creations of systems of work and a working environment that enhance organisational effectiveness and productivity, ensure the organisation becomes a ‘Great place in which to work’ and are conducive to the health, safety and wellbeing of employees” (Armstrong, 2014).

Objectives of work design,

• Efficient utilisation of resources
• Effectiveness
• Uninterrupted production flow or service delivery
• Enabling employees to deliver their services
• Providing employees scoop for variety, challenging and autonomy
• Encourage cooperative effort through team working
• Provide a healthy and safe system of work
• Environmental consideration

“Job design specifies the contents of jobs to satisfy work requirements and meet the personal needs of the job holder, thus increasing the level of employee engagement” (Armstrong, 2014)

A properly designed job guarantees that the worker can accomplish what is required in a safe and healthy. It increases the level of satisfaction of the workers and productivity since they well engaged with their work and these outcomes would benefit both employees and organisations.

The process of work or job design,

When work and job design should occur within organisations, it should exceed the capacity of an individual employee. Then the worker's exhibition ill health, such as psychosocial strain, and it is usually the time when interventions are required to address the adverse effects of work. Steps to be followed to design a job,

1. Do an assessment of current work practices
2. Do a task analysis.
3. Design the job.
4. Implement the new job design gradually.
5. Re-evaluate job design on continual basis.

References,

Foss, N., Pedersen, T., Fosgaard, M. and Stea, D. (2018). HRM Practices Impact Performance: The Case of Rewards, Job Design, and Work Climate in a Knowledge. [online] Researchgate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269877540_Why_Complementary_HRM_Practices_Impact_Performance_The_Case_of_Rewards_Job_Design_and_Work_Climate_in_a_Knowledge-Sharing_Context [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018].

Armstrong, M. (2006). Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th Edition). 10th ed. London, GBR: Kogan Page, Limited.

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong m and taylor s 2014 armstrongs handbook of. [online] coursehero. Available at: https://www.coursehero.com/file/p79e8sb/Armstrong-M-and-Taylor-S-2014-Armstrongs-handbook-of-human-resource-management/ [Accessed 25 Dec. 2018].

Module 09 - ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

The origins of this field of organisational behaviour and the related discipline of management began investigating organisations in term of culture as early as the 1930s.

“Organisational or corporate culture is the pattern of values, norms, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions that may not have been articulated but shapes how people behave and things get done. Values refer to what is believed to be important about how people and the organisations behave. Norms are the unwritten rules of behaviour” (Armstrong, 2010).

Organisational culture is as concerned abstractions values and norms such as stopping over in whole or in the organisation. Different cultures can also occur in organisations. The exterior-looking marketing sector can be entirely different from the internal production process. There may be some organisational values or standards. However, different work environments are different.

Components of culture as follows,

• Values - It can be trusted to be the best or the best for the organisation and something must or should happen. A 'value set' of an organisation can be identified only at the highest level and can be shared through a business. Values are strong, and they have a greater impact on how they behave. In an organisation's culture, it is strengthened by the values and management of profoundly enhanced values that do not influence their exemplary and mental behaviour.

•  Norms - Norms are the unwritten rules of behaviour, the ‘rules of the game’ that provide simple guidelines on how to behave. It says that what they are supposed to be doing, saying, believing and even wearing. They are never expressed in a written form - they are then policies or procedures. They have been adopted by verbal or behavioural conduct and are violated when the people's reaction can operate them.

• Artefacts – It is the visible and tangible feature of an organisation that people hear, see or feel. Further, it can include the environment of the organisation, the tone and language used by the people in a meeting or over the telephone and the welcome given to the visitors.

• Leadership or Management Style - There are many styles of leadership, and leaders can be classified — Eg: charismatic or non-charismatic leader, an autocratic or democratic leader and Transactional or transformational leader etc.

As Furnham and Gunter (1993) suggest:

Culture represents the ‘social glue’ and generates a ‘we-feeling’, thus counteracting the process of differentiation which is an unavoidable part of organisational life. Organisational culture offers a shared system of meanings which is the basis for communications and mutual understanding. If these functions are not fulfilled satisfactorily, lifestyle may significantly reduce the efficiency of an organisation.

However, the culture is differentiated with the organisation to organisation as well as the employees attached to the same. They build and develop their own culture to increase the productivity and discipline the people of the organisation and the management of the company also influence employees to adhere to their culture.

References,

Armstrong (2010). Organizational Culture | Organizational Culture | Value (Ethics). [online] Scribd. Available at: https://www.scribd.com/document/36894638/Organizational-Culture [Accessed 23 Dec. 2018].

Armstrong, M. (2006). Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th Edition). 10th ed. London, GBR: Kogan Page, Limited.

DrMaverick (2018). Culture bound syndromes. [online] Slideshare.net. Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/DrMaverick13/culture-bound-syndromes-104998657?qid=84cb7cc9-114c-4a16-91fd-e1d3c5ac25b2&v=&b=&from_search=2 [Accessed 25 Dec. 2018].

                                           

Module 06 - MANAGING PERFORMANCES

Managing performances defined as “A systematic process of improving organisational performance by developing the performance of individuals and teams” (Armstrong, 2006).


The organisation can achieve to best result by understanding and managing performance within the framework agreed upon the planned objectives, standard and competency requirements. To establish a shared understanding of what the business is accomplishing, therefore managing and developing people to be increased the probability of short and long-term acquisition. It focuses on people doing what is right by their goals. It is owned and operated by track management.


“The continuous process of improving performance by setting individual teams and goals which are aligned to the strategic goals of the organisation, planning performance to achieve the goals, reviewing progress, and developing the knowledge, skills and abilities of the people”(Armstrong, 2017).


As he said, the organisation objectives and goals of the individual groups targeted to achieve the performance planning, review progress, and continuous process to improve performance through the improvement of knowledge, skills and abilities of the employees. The management of the organisations probably implement latest technics, recruit skill labours and enhance the quality of the training provided by the institute to mitigate the unproductivity.


Further, organisational objectives and individual employees’ expectations are aligning by managing the motivation factors. It provides for the achievement of responsibilities and accountability, skills and behaviour of the peoples.


Main objectives of the performances management as follows,

• Empowering, motivating and rewarding employees to do their best. 
• Focusing employee’s tasks on the right things and doing them right. Aligning everyone’s individual goals to the goals of the organization.
• Proactively managing and resourcing performance against agreed accountabilities and objectives.
• The process and behaviours by which managers manage the performance of their people to deliver a high-achieving organization.
• Maximizing the potential of individuals and teams to benefit themselves and the organization, focusing on achievement of their objectives.

 (Source; Human resource management practice – 10^th edition, Michael Armstrong)

Key elements of the performance management,

• Agreement
• Measurement
• Feedback
• Positive reinforcement
• Dialogue                                                                      (Capelli, 2008)

References 

Armstrong, M. (2006). Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th Edition). 10th ed. London, GBR: Kogan Page, Limited.

Sutton, A. (2018). Encouraging and Managing Performance. [online] researchgate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322598315_Encouraging_and_Managing_Performance [Accessed 21 Dec. 2018].

 
Cappelli, P. (2008). Peter Cappelli - Management Department. [online] Management Department. Available at: https://mgmt.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/cappelli/ [Accessed 20 Dec. 2018].