Importance of Human Resource Development (HRD)

Importance of Human Resource Development (HRD) INTRODUCTION It is often debated and generally accepted that human resource development (HRD) activities are important in an organisation. But the question lies within to what extent and how much does it contribute. The reason may lie in the facts that it is not easy to show the direct link between the two activities and that it is both difficult to define HRD precisely and its effect may not be experienced in the short run (Torrington et al., 2005, p.357). The purpose of this paper is highlight on the question on the extent to which HRD contributes to the performance of an organisation. ORGANISATIONS AND HRD Swanson and Arnold (1996) asserted that HRD is a sub-system that operated in the main system; the organisation. In order for the organisation to be successful the objectives and goals of the subsystems must be aligned towards achieving the set goals of the main system. For example, the primary objective of the organisation would be to maximise return on shareholder investment. We may find that the objectives of training and development would be a level removed down, that is to maximise the capabilities of the employees, induce innovation, and produce high quality products and service. They may be different but a closer look at each of these objectives reveals that they serve a singular purpose; maximise the return (Swanson Arnold, 1996, p.15). HRD and Motivation Motivation is certainly the key for the people to keep returning to the job. However it must not be viewed through a single window which shows you that rewards and bonuses makes people motivated. In fact rewards and bonuses and all other financial and intrinsic benefits are classified as hygiene factors. These factors acts as motivators up to a certain level, beyond that they become satisfiers. Extrinsic factors such as the pure feeling of achievement, recognition, job enrichment, job enlargement and training and development are motivating factors. Achievement, job enrichment, job enlargement and training and development are essential elements of HRD and as we can see these elements dominate the motivating factors (Cohen, 2008). Training and development According to Mathis and Jackson (1999), Training is a process whereby people acquire capabilities to aid in the achievement of organisational goals. Simply put training facilitates individuals with the knowledge and skills that are required to perform the present job. It differs from development where, development has a broader impact in providing new skills that is required to perform both present and future jobs (Mathis Jackson, 1999). For example Tesco states that when they have well trained employees on the shop flow it benefits Tescos business image as customers are more confident in the competence and knowledge of staff they deal with. Tesco offers a wide range of training and development opportunities both on the job and off the job to its employees. Tesco takes both organisational objectives and individuals training objectives in account. Tesco believes that efficient and effective training and development programs, helps them to create the flexible and committed employees, delivering the highest standard of service, which is crucially required for their growth and success (TheTimes100, 2009). Organisational Learning CIPD defines learning as an environment where individuals learn to learn and possess the capabilities that enable them to do so to help their employers to build and retain competitive advantage (CIPD, 2008). According to CIPD a firm can achieve competitive advantage when individuals actively seek to acquire the knowledge and skills that promote the organisations objectives. In other words organisations must transform into learning environments, where continuous learning is experienced, thus transforming into a Learning Organisation. Learning organisation thrives for continuous improvement of its capacities in order to make the organisation ready to face the future. For example learning and development process at Corus; a Tata Steel company and Europes second largest steel producer with annual revenues of around  £12 billion, employing around 40,000 people worldwide, is moderated by structuring the learning process within their organisation through setting up a Corus Academy. The Corus Academy was based on sharing best practices and maximizing common approaches. Its main objective focus on Constant Improvement was achieved through the sharing of ideas across the entire company, where both individual and organisational learning occurred simultaneously becoming a learning organisation itself. (TheTimes100, 2009). Other Employee Development Approaches Development is the growth or realization of a persons ability and potential through the provision of learning and training experiences (Armstrong, 2006). Different Organisations adopts different activities in order to enhance their learning capabilities. According to Armstrong (2006), a balanced approach is required, making use of the various forms of learning and development to produce a coherent strategy that contains the plans for creating and maintaining a learning climate and developing and implementing complementary and mutually supportive learning activities both formal and informal. Coaching and Mentoring Coaching and mentoring are informal development activities that organisations practice to facilitate learning. Coaching is an approach based on a close relationship between the individual and one other person, usually their immediate manager, who is much experienced (Torrington et al., 2005, p.394). According to Kram (1983) mentoring benefits from two aspects; the career aspects that primarily enhance career advancement and the psychosocial aspects which enhance a sense of competence (Torrington et al., 2005, p.394). The continuously analysis and constructive criticism and guidance received from the coaches and mentors directly contributed to positive performance. Organisation also benefits, saving a great deal of cost using their own senior experienced staff to develop the junior staff. The Annual CIPD Survey Report 2009 on learning and development practices showed that in-house development programmes and coaching by line managers continue to be rated the most effective learning and development practices in UK (CIPD, 2009). This is perhaps why firms such as Baker Tilly, the seventh largest accountancy practice firm in the UK with a turnover in excess of  £200 million a year and 2,500 staff and its international network being the eighth largest accountancy grouping in the world, strategizes its people development activities to focus on more informal programs such as coaching and mentoring. The firm believes that formal training gives the building blocks for development and learning. However coaching and mentoring and other types of informal development schemes helps people understand for themselves what it is they can do to enhance their ability to meet their objectives all stages, and help them eliminate barriers for performance (CIPD, 2009). Talent management Career Development Talent management is often described as a future-focused activity, encompassing the identification, development, engagement and deployment of talent, with organisations using it to develop their workforce to meet the strategic needs of the organisation (CIPD, 2008). Swanson and Holton (2009) argue that career development theories that describe adult career development are important contributors to HRD practice because they describe adult progression through work roles. Charles Handy stress that employees today must look out for themselves to build their own career. He also notes that education will becomes an investment and varied experience will becomes an asset (Stone, 1998), that will eventually give advantage to employee in the form of employability. Although the traditional view on career development is no longer viable, its integration with talent management creates an opportunity for organisations to develop succession plans. Creating and managing talent and career development processes enables companies to nurture talent for the challenges of the future as well as the present (Eigenhuis Dijk, 2008). For example, when Jack Welch retired in 2001 from General Electric, after having served as the CEO and chair of GE since 1981, he was succeeded by Jeffrey Immelt. Immelt was enlisted for the post as early as 1994 including some 24 candidates to replace Jack Welch. GE identified the next best candidate who would replace Jack Welch on his retirement way ahead. Such capabilities of succession planning are rear unless organisations have competent stars who share the same set of objectives as the organisation. This saves the organisations from going into a cultural and psychological shock, yielding costs that are enormous. Having outs ide top managers to replace comes with disruption all across the board (Eigenhuis Dijk, 2008) creating a turmoil in the management. Net Geners: Learning Gets Social Tapscott in his book Grown Up Digital refers to the generation of individuals born between 1977 and 1997 as Net Gens. Tapscott argument was that whatever that applied to the generation before them in terms of management, training, learning and development would not apply to the Net Gens. For Net Gens technology is like the air we breathe. They are never scarce of information. For them social networking and information sharing sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube are both their mentor and coaches asserts Tapscott. He implies that organisations must change their ways of training and development to adopt this wave of informal learning into their mainstream learning programs. Organisations must encourage Net Gens to develop in their own chosen style; perhaps this will be the only way to capture their talent and capacity. These platforms give an enormous advantage with regard to developing the Net Gens and benefiting from their capabilities. Organisations can in other words make work and learn a fun experience for the fun loving Net Gens (Bingham, 2009). Knowledge management Perhaps the most important aspect of HRD is to retain the knowledge invested over the time on individuals. Employment has become more mobile, where individuals change their jobs in pursue of building their career. In other words, as an individual leaves an organisation the knowledge also leaves with him. Finding ways to retain this knowledge in a database or in retrievable form that is accessible by others in the organisation turns information into useful knowledge crucial to improve process and increase profits (Bogardus, 2004). For example Coruss information sharing network is backed up by databases that are shared by firms all over the world. A problem in a firm operating in Canada can get the solution and best practices that was applied for the similar problem in a firm operating in another country. Conclusion The bottom line is that HRD is directly related with improving and enhancing the performance of the employees, which is regarded by many organisations as the only competitive advantage that can be sustained. This competitive edge is achieved by organisations that discover the knowledge, skills and ability of their work force and build them to achieve unique differentiation. Empirical studies on business effectiveness and sustainability from all over the world suggests that, people are the key to the success of the business. For example, a study conducted to find the employee engagement level in pan-European employees showed that the human resource activities as a whole facilitated a 5 percent increase in engagement levels each year. The study also showed that human resource interventions aligned with customer satisfaction correlated by 72 percent and financial performance correlated by 68 percent (Ward, 2008).

Coretta Scott King Essay -- Biography

Coretta Scott King   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Coretta Scott King was born on April 27, 1927 in Heiberger, Alabama. Heiberger was a small segregated town. Coretta’s parents were Obadiah and Bernice Scott. She has an older sister named Edythe and a younger brother, Obie. Coretta was named after her grandmother Cora Scott. Her family was hard working and devoted Christians. Coretta had a strong temper, feared no one and stood up for herself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Coretta, Edythe and Obie had to walk three miles to an all-black school in Heiberger. Coretta faced many challenges in school and when she would come back from school she would ask her mother why is this happening. Her mother encouraged her to do her best in school and not to worry about anything except education. Remembering what her mother told her, Coretta was able to focus on her education and graduate at the top of her class. When it was time for her to enter seventh grade, both Coretta and Edythe were arranged to go to another black school called the Lincoln School, which was ten miles away in Marion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Marion was too far to walk back and forth everyday and there was no bus for the black students. The only way for them to get to school was to catch a ride with a black family but they had to pay. By the age of ten, Coretta and Edythe had to pick cotton to get money in the cotton fields.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the Lincoln School Coretta was taught by white and black teachers. She learned that white people from the North treated blacks equally. Coretta was an...

Evaluating the Arts Essay

The two pieces of art I have chosen to write about are both performance art pieces by Trisha Brown. Brown is a postmodern performance artist whose work is shown throughout the United States, although mostly in small, liberal arts colleges, such as Mills College in California. All of her works are considered to be extremely experimental, as well as extremely contemporary and postmodern. The first work is Man Walking Down the Side of a Building. However, the actual still shot is called Walking on the Wall, and for our purposes, this is what will be studied. The still frame involves five bodies, all literally suspended, walking on a wall. The five dancers are in no particular order. They are simply walking, in order, at any pace, down the wall. This 1971 piece was designed to be performed at a specific site, with the dancers suspended in harnesses, moving along the wall. The wonder of this piece of art is that there is absolutely no metaphorical meaning. Now, that is not to say that there is no deeper meaning. There certainly is. But the piece is viewed by artists as completely unconventional, because this piece was originally a dance of sorts. However, there are no standard five positions of the feet, as seen in conventional, classical ballet. There was no music, no stage set, nothing. It was simply movement, and gravity. Brown was trying to have the audience understand that art does not need to have some sort of deeper meaning in order to be valuable; that’s already been done. The most intriguing part about this piece of art is the colors that were used. As it is all in black, whites, and grays, those shades become the center of the piece, as well as the shadows. Because the shadows point in different directions, it is difficult for the eye to simply focus on one section. In addition, this piece was made in the late 1970’s. Of course, it was extremely controversial, as the form of dance that was en vogue at the time were Balanchine’s classical ballerinas, who of course performed classical and neoclassical works. This was meant to be a rebellion of that form of work. The second piece of artwork I have chosen is a still of Brown’s Roof Piece (1973. ) Much like Walking on the Wall, this piece was created as a postmodern response to art. In Roof Piece, the dancers were on twelve different rooftops over a ten-block area throughout New York City. Each dancer would transmit movements to a dancer on the nearest roof. Therefore, this was actually an improvisational piece. In addition, Brown’s artistic intent was to create a piece of art that had no metaphorical or symbolic meaning. In the still frame of this piece, it is easy to see the fluid, yet also geometric design of the dancers. Of course, this still frame is also in black and white. However, what is particularly interesting about this piece is the way in which the background of New York City is blurry, while the dancer is in perfect focus. The artist obviously intended for the dancer to be the only one in the spotlight. With the busy connotations of the City, it is quite refreshing to see the dancer juxtaposed against the city. In addition, it is almost as if the dancer has been suspended in time, as if the dancer stopped moving so the photographer could find a good shot. Works Cited â€Å"Roof Piece: Brown. † Ncf. Carleton. 20 Aug. 2007 . â€Å"Trisha Brown Dance Company: Man Walking Down the Side of a Building. † Tate Online. Tate Online. 20 Aug. 2007 .

Classifications of Beer Essay - 1336 Words

Classifications of Beer Whats more refreshing on a hot summer day than an ice cold beer? How about drinking a cold one with some friends at a local bar after a hard days work, sounds satisfying doesnt it? Beer has been around for hundreds years and will be around for hundreds more. A beer is any variety of alcoholic beverages produced by the fermentation of starchy material derived from grains or other plant sources. The production of beer and some other alcoholic beverages is referred to as brewing. Almost every culture†¦show more content†¦Because ale yeasts cannot fully ferment some sugars, they produce esters along with alcohol, and the result is a more flavorful beer with a slightly flowery or fruity aroma resembling but not limited to apple, pear, pineappl e, grass, hay, plum or prune. Stylistic differences among ales are more varied than those found among lagers, and many ale styles are difficult to categorize. Top-fermented beers, particularly popular in the British Isles, include barley wine, bitter, pale ale, porter, and stout. Stylistic differences among top-fermented beers are decidedly more varied than those found among bottom-fermented beers and many beer styles are difficult to suppress into a single category. California common beer, for example, is produced using a lager yeast at ale temperatures. Wheat beers are often produced using an ale yeast and then lagered, sometimes with a lager yeast. Lambics employ wild yeasts and bacteria, naturally occurring in the Payottenland region of Belgium. Other examples of ale include stock ale and old ale. Real ale is a term for beers produced using traditional methods, and without pasteurization. There are five main subcategories of ale beer which are: barley wine, bitter, pale ale, porter and stout. Despite its name, barley wine is indeed an ale. It has a hearty, sweet maltShow MoreRelatedClassification of Beer1348 Words   |  6 Pagesnice cold beer? Or how about drinking a nice cold one with some buddies after work at a local bar, sound nice doesn t it? Beer has been around for many years and will probably be around for many more. A beer is any variety of alcoholic beverages produced by the fermentation of starchy material derived from grains or other plant sources. The production of beer and some other alcoholic beverages is often called brewing. Most every culture has there own tradition and the own take on beer, thus producingRead MoreBeer Classification Paper1144 Words   |  5 Pageshistory of beer dates back hundreds of years prior to written history. Besides water and tea, beer is one of the most-frequently consu med beverages in the world. Contrary to popular belief, that all beers are typically the same, there are many variances in color, flavor, strength, production method, ingredients and origin. Beer can be divided into 2 broad sub-categories: ale and lager. Ales were the first type of beer ever created before brewers knew the role yeast played during the beer making processRead MoreThe North American Industry Classification System Essay1614 Words   |  7 PagesThe North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. (North American Industry Classification System, n.d.). NAICS is a 2 through 6 digit hierarchical classification system, offering five levels of detail. Each digit in the code is part of a series of progressively narrower categories, and theRead MoreKirin1619 Words   |  7 Pages Kirin Brewery Limited founded over 100 years ago in Yokohama, Japan is the largest beer in Japan today. It is also the fourth largest beer firm in the world; however, almost half of its’ market share in 1990 was in Japan. Competitor Asahi entered the market with a super dry beer in 1987 unsettling the field. This new concept of a sharper, less sweet beer with a higher alcohol content appealed to heavy beer drinkers and was very successful in the Japanese market. Asahi overcame Sapporo risingRead MoreSpss Softdrink Questionnaire1500 Words   |  6 Pagesgotten funnier over the past five years. ___h. I think the beer TV commercials are better than the soft drink TV commercials. ___i. Soft drinks are bad for a person’s health. ___j. On an average day, I consume more ounces of soft drinks than water. ___k. In general, soft drinks taste better than beer. 8. Indicate which of the following beverages you would prefer to consume for each of the following occasions: 1=soft drink 2=water 3=beer 4=gatoraide or equivalent 5=iced tea 6=mixed drink 7=coffeeRead More Classification Essay: The Types of Drinkers1024 Words   |  5 Pagesof these classes arent built from years of drinking, rather are formed through the personality traits they already have developed through their childhood and young adulthood. Only when alcohol is introduced to the equation, we see these great classifications shine through and become polished for all to enjoy. In the wild, one would typically encounter the common Social Drinker before all others. This class is rampant through the wastelands strip bar culture in most urban sprawls. TheyRead MoreBeer and Wine: A Development of Community in Our World Essay997 Words   |  4 PagesBeer and wine might have been one of the first drinks that caused humans to civilize and create a great community. In fact Tom Standage introduces us to this idea of these early drinks shaping human culture in his book A History of a World in Six Glasses. As Standage informs us about how beer was one of the causes in early settlement, and why farming was led to a great success because of the use of beer. Standage also mentions a start in traditions and a formation of government due to these drinksRead MoreData Mining1668 Words   |  7 Pagesalso tended to buy beer. Further analysis showed that these shoppers typically did their weekly grocery shopping on Saturdays. On Thursdays, however, they only bought a few items. The retailer concluded that they purchased the beer to have it available for the upcoming weekend. The grocery chain could use this newly discovered information in various ways to increase revenue. For example, they could move the beer display closer to the diaper display. And, they could make sure beer and diapers were soldRead MoreAction Against The Government Of Italy894 Words   |  4 Pagesinfringement of the EC law. The case of Brasserie du Pecheur and the case of Factorame provided clarification for the unanswered question mentioned above. Brasserie du Pecheur was a beer brewery from France who were prevented from exporting their beer in Germany because the Germans said that the beer didn’t match the beer purity laws of the country. Germany was found to be in breach of Article 32 EC which concerned free movement of goods. On the other hand, Factorame concerned Spanish fishermen thatRead MoreHealthcare Law And Breaches Of Duty Of Care1365 Words   |  6 Pagesvs stevenson. Mrs donoghue was brought a bottle of ginger beer by a friend. The ginger beer contained a decomposing snail. Mrs donoghue suffered gastroenteritis from drinking the contaminated ginger beer. Mrs donoghue couldn’t sue the owner of the cafà © as she had not brought the ginger beer herself so held no contract, her friend couldn t sue as he hadn’t suffered any injury, the only solution was to sell the manufacturer of the ginger beer. The case reached the house of lords where mrs donoghue won