Address the following questions in a well-integrated case assignment. Bring in information from readings and research to help strengthen and validate your response.
- As an HR consultant, design a process you would follow to analyze what changes are needed in HRD procedures, policies, and practices to improve the development of employees. Discuss the process you would follow and why you selected those process steps.
- Be sure to bring in what you have learned from your change management, internal consulting, and organizational development readings.
Provide private-sector employer examples of HRM programs, systems, processes, and/or procedures as you address the assignment requirements. Provide names of the employers. Use different employer examples in this course than what have been used previously in your other papers and courses.
HUMAN RESOURCE
DEVELOPMENT
The HRD division at The King Company is managed by training
director Karmen Scholl, who supervises two other employees: a trainer and an
administrative assistant, who coordinate the logistics of King’s training
programs. Recognizing the continuous dynamics of the high-tech industry, King
has been a strong supporter of employee development.
With approval of the immediate supervisor, King encourages
employees to attend training seminars, and tuition reimbursement is available
for college-level courses that are related to the employee’s job. In-house
training is conducted regularly to ensure all employees are up-to-date on
sexual harassment and safety procedures. Other training is made available as
the need arises. Whenever possible, training programs are developed and
facilitated by in-house staff members. When that is not practicable, a request
for proposal is generated and King hires outside facilitators.
Since the labor problem a few years back, Scholl
aggressively trained management employees with particular emphasis on skills
for first-line supervisors. She wants to see improvement in people skills and
consistent implementation of King’s policies across department lines.
Unfortunately, her efforts are not universally well received. Some managers
grumble that HR just gets in the way and ties their hands when dealing with
difficult employees. All too often Smith hears managers say that there is the
“classroom way” and the “shop floor way.” She sees training for King managers
as an ongoing process.
Last year’s strategic planning process identified knowledge
management as an area for organization-wide improvement. King has a history of
employees working in silos, with little communication across functions. Hoping
to bridge the gap and encourage collaborative exchange, Scholl established
“communities of practice,” where individuals could meet to problem solve and
exchange ideas. Her first community-of-practice group consisted of individuals
from research and development, engineering, and production. A number of other
communities have since been established. More informally, Scholl encourages
“snack and chat” meetings on Friday afternoons, where employees can drop by for
a snack and talk about their work.
To increase information exchange with employees working
off-site, an idea blog was added to the company’s intranet, where staff could
share information about their successes and failures on various projects. At
first, people were reluctant to comment, and it took some time before they were
willing to share their knowledge and ideas. Scholl had not anticipated how
proprietary some individuals would be about their work methods. Progress has
been made; with increasing postings, the blog is becoming a source of ideas and
information sharing. To manage the volume of information generated by the blog
and to make it easier for more employees to use the system, Scholl submitted a
budget request to add enhanced knowledge software to the intranet.
To capture knowledge that might be leaving the
organization, Scholl worked with Employee Relations Manager Shaun White to
improve the exit interview process. Departing employees are encouraged to talk
informally about their career at King and to pass on information other
employees need to know. There has been some success here, but as expected, not
all exit interviews generate a positive exchange.
As part of the recent directives to “tighten up” for
increased results, HRD was asked to update and improve the company’s
performance management system. In addition, the organization is looking closely
at all training expenses, and Scholl was asked to identify the return on
investment for all programs. She is worried about her management training
program and feels certain that tuition reimbursement will fall under the ax.
Source:
This King Case scenario is adapted from SHRM 2014 education documents.
