5CO02 Assignment Example

EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE

Task one- Report

AC 1.1 Evaluate the concept of evidence-based practice including how it can be applied to decision-making in people practice. 

Evidence-based practice can be defined as the process through which people professionals make decisions based on data collected and evaluated in the organisation. Through evidence-based practice, various approaches can be used to support effective decision-making, and they include critical thinking and group decision-making. Critical thinking is an approach that focuses on the effective evaluation of an aspect before making decisions (Gill, 2018.). For example, people professionals, through critical thinking, can evaluate the impact of employee training and development before implementation. In this case critical thinking involves the evaluation of the benefits and challenges of adopting employee training. Effective evaluation leads to avoidance of emotional reasoning and bias and thus enhances orgaisational development.
Critical thinking has various strengths, and it enhances the development of reliability and enhances effective decision-making. Due to the continued evaluation of aspects, people professionals do not implement actions without evaluation, and this helps in dealing with unforeseen challenges (Galli, 2019). However, critical thinking has a major drawback as it is subject to unfair reasoning as decisions made are based on the people professionals speculations. The decision-making process is also delayed as effective evaluation of various evidences has to be conducted.
Group decision-making is also an approach that can be applied to support effective decision-making in an organisation. Through group decision-making, the organisation adopts employee involvement in decision-making. This creates a major strength for this approach as employees get a chance to offer their recommendations and give feedback on various orgaisational aspects. Through group decision-making, people professionals are in a position to deal with various orgaisational issues such as skills shortage. Employees offer their recommendations on the needs of skills enhancement, and through tis people professionals implement effective training and development programmes. However, this approach of effective decision-making is time consuming and leads to slow orgaisational development.
The application of evidence-based practice helps in dealing with orgaisational issues such as lack of employee wellbeing. People professionals play a significant role in ensuring that employees are comfortable in their working environment (Al Karim, 2019). For example, people professionals through evidence-based practice enhance the development of effective communication strategies in the organisation. Through communication, people professionals identify various challenges employees are facing and that affect wellbeing. This leads to the formulation of effective response actions. For instance, people professionals can identify that lack of employee involvement in decision-making is affecting their wellbeing, and through this, the involvement in adopted to promote orgaisational development and employee wellbeing.

AC 1.2 Evaluate a range of analysis tools and methods including how they can be applied to diagnose organisational issues, challenges and opportunities. 

Interviews (analysis method)
Interviews can be used as an analysis method that can be applied in organisation and they guide in identifying challenges, issues and opportunities. For example, through interviews, people professionals can identify an orgaisational issue such as legislation that are out of date. Legislation plays a significant role in the continued performance of duties and thus effective evaluation is essential (Mittal et al., 2019). Through interviews, employees can highlight some of the legislations that are not effectively applied in the organisation. For example, the employment rights acts1996, is a legislation that creates guidelines on how various duties and procedures should be performed. In the case where employees feel oppressed or less satisfied, they can communicate these aspects through focused group interviews.
Additionally, interviews can be used to recognise various opportunities that can be applied to enhance orgaisational development. For example, through interviews, employees offer their recommendations of implementations that can enhance continued orgaisational development. People professionals effectively evaluate these recommendations through critical thinking to identify the benefits of the new opportunities to orgaisational development. Different employees have different ideas, and thus evaluating the various recommendations, an opportunity can be identified which could lead to orgaisational development.
SWOT analysis tool
SWOT analysis tool can be effectively applied in an organisation to determine possible future issues, challenges and opportunities. SWOT analysis focuses on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in an organisation. Through the analysis, people professionals can identify various orgaisational issues such as new policies. Policies guide the process in which an organisation operates and thus effective evaluation of new policies is essential. People professionals involve employees in determining the impact of the new policies through the use of surveys or interviews. After the identification of the specific policies, people professionals apply SWOT analysis to determine if the impacts of the policies will create an issue in the development of an organisation or they will bring benefits.
Additionally, SWOT analysis can be applied to diagonise future threats such as competitors. Organisations focus on continued development and thus identifying competitors enhance the implementation of effective response actions (Teoli et al., 2019). Through SWOT analysis, people professionals can evaluate the production methods adopted by competitors or the skills acquired in their production. This leads to the implementation of development programmes aimed at enhancing employees skills to match those of the competitors. Additionally, through the identification of various threats, people professionals implement various development aspects that are aimed at enhancing the organisation’s competitiveness.
Additionally, SWOT analysis can be used to diagnose orgaisational challenges such as skills shortage. This evaluation is done by people professionals through analyzing employees performance reports and organisations general productivity. After the identification of this gap, people professionals adopt various development aspect to enhance continued growth. For example, through SWOT analysis, people professionals can identify that employees lack technical skills that enhance effective performance of duties. Through this people management professionals can implement a training and development programme aimed at enhancing employee skills to deal with this challenge.

AC 1.3 Explain the principles of critical thinking including how you apply these to your own and others’ ideas.   

Checking source validity 
Checking source validity is a critical thinking principle that can be applied in objective rationale debate. There are various ways in which people professionals check source validity, such as through doing research and evaluating orgaisational reports. During my role as a people professional in an organisation, I applied checking source validity in my ideas while implementing employee skill development. This implementation was as a result of an evaluation that was conducted on other organisations. I used various data collection and analysis tools such as interviews and  observation to determine the possible impacts of various developments. The effective evaluation of orgaisational reports guided in the effective implementation of an effective skills development programme.
Objective rationale thinking
Objective rational thinking is a main principle of critical thinking that focuses on the evaluation of the main objective of an aspect before implementation. Objective rationale thinking can be applied by people professionals to ensure that all implementations are in line with the organisations main objective (Mohammed and Quddus, 2019). For example, I applied objective rationale thinking in a colleagues idea whereby they were focusing on adopting employee involvement in decision-making. The main objective of this implementation was to enhance the development of employee wellbeing and identify and enhance effective communication. After effective evaluation, I determined that the implementation of these aspects would lead to orgaisational development as the objective is in line with orgaisational policies.
Additionally, through objective rationale thinking, people professionals are in a position to identify various barriers and challenges that affect continued orgaisational development. Challenges are a major aspect that affects implementation and through this principle, people professionals identify various response actions to deal with the challenges. For example, a challenge can be identified as a lack of appropriate equipment to enhance the implementation of a given aspect. The identification of this challenge prepares people professionals to evaluate all the requirements and enhance effective implementation.

AC 1.4 Explain a range of (2) decision-making processes.

Action learning approach
The action learning approach focuses on the evaluation of outcomes and performance and thus people professionals can use this approach to ensure effective outcomes are attained. For example, this approach can be used to evaluate high staff turnover in the organisation. People professional scan implement an exit interview procedure that is aimed at collecting feedback from employees as to why they are leaving the organisation. Through the feedback collected effective evaluation of the reasons is done and this guides in the identification of response actions. For example, people professionals can implement employee training to enhance their skills as a response to dealing with turnover due to lack of adequate skills.
Moreover, through action learning approach, people professionals can evaluate various implementation adopted by other organisations and implement them. This is a development aspect as the implementations are tested, and the organisations have created reports based on the benefits and challenges of adopting this procedure. This saves on time for the people professionals and guides them in avoiding potential challenges due to the effective evaluation, and this ensures that effective actions are achieved.
Future pacing
Future pacing is a decision-making process that focuses on identifying the future needs of employees in an organisation and evaluating how employees and other orgaisational stakeholders would deal with various issues. This decision-making process focuses on ensuring that effective actions are achieved (Triana et al., 2021). For example, people professionals can implement future pacing to determine employees feedback on the adoption of employee involvement in decision-making. An analysis is done through the response provided, and people professionals may use of surveys or questionnaires to collect feedback. Critical thinking is then applied by people professionals to ensure that the feedback collected is effectively evaluated to ensure an effective action is achieved.
Problem outcome frame
Problem outcome frame is a decision-making process whereby people professionals focus on the evaluation of a solution to an existing problem rather than focusing on the challenge. For example, people professionals can use problem outcome frame to evaluate skills shortage in an organisation (Triana et al., 2021). Lack of employees skills could effect on organisations productivity and thus leads to reduced income generation. Through this decision-making approach people management professionals can implement employee training programmes. Some of the aspects that could be implemented include the use of modern technology in the performance of duties. Modern technology enhances efficiency and creates a development of effective orgaisational productivity and competitiveness.

AC 1.5 Assess how (2) different ethical perspectives can influence decision-making.

Utilitarianism theory
Utilitarianism theory is an ethical perspective that can be used to influence decision-making as it focuses on the adoption of ethical values such as honesty, integrity and fairness. This theory impacts on the employees believes and values and thus people professionals can impact the way employees behave through adopting this theory (Everett and Kahane, 2020). For example, in the case whereby an organisation adopts a rewards policy, employees in the organisation tend to have varying beliefs on who should get the rewards. In order to enhance equality, people professionals can implement a reward criteria which focuses on reward based on performance. This creates fairness for all employee and does not affect with individual beliefs. Understanding this theory thus can be used to influence moral decision-making.
Understanding utilitarianism theory informs moral decision-making as people professionals can effectively evaluate an aspect before implementation. For example, the implementation of new policies in an organisation impact employee wellbeing, and it is essential for people professionals to effectively evaluate these aspects. Some of the major aspect to focus on is ensuring the policy is in line with the legislations that govern orgaisational operations such as the Equity Act of 2010 and the Employment Rights Act of 1996. These legislations ensure that all new policies applied in the organisation promote the development of ethical practices and enhance employee wellbeing.
Altruism theory
Altruism theory is an ethical perspective that focuses on creating sacrifice for the sake of others to benefit. In the organisation, people professionals create sacrifices of some of their roles and personal aspects to create comfort for employees in the organisation to perform duties effectively. For example, in my previous role as a people professional at McDonalds, I sacrificed my time to train employees on effective customer service skills which are essential in enhancing the performance of duties. Some of the aspects included phone etiquette and effective communication procedures. This enhances employee’s skills and contributed to orgaisational development as customer satisfaction was increased. Understanding the altruism theory highly informs and contributes to effective decision-making.

AC 3.1 Appraise (2) different ways organisations measure financial and non-financial performance.

Financial performance
Revenue generation is one of the approaches in which an organisation can measure its financial performance. Revenue generation can be determined as the total amount of income an organisation makes for the performance of its duties. For example, people professionals to determine revenue generation, they evaluate the total orgaisational income less expenditure. Expenses are incurred in various ways and forms such as upgrade of resources, training professionals and employees’ salaries. A positive rate in the revenue generation is thus used to measure the organisations financial income. However, revenue generation cannot be used to measure organisations competitiveness.
Return on investment is also used to measure an organisation’s financial performance as organisations use a specific among of money to start up a business. People professionals can thus determine if the organisation has attained a return on investment through evaluating the total income and creating a comparison with the initial capital (Moreno-Sader et al., 2019). In the case where the income has fully covered the initial capital, people professionals can thus determine the financial performance of the organisation. Additionally, through return on investment, people professionals also consider other unforeseen costs that have been applied to enhance the continued running of the organisation such as employee training equipments and professionals. These create a cost that adds up on the initial investment capital.
Employee satisfaction is also an approach an organisation can take to measure its financial performance. Employees in an organisation are satisfied in the case where they have attained their targets and receive adequate income to cater for their needs. People professionals can evaluate employee satisfaction through the adoption of effective communication in the organisation. Through this, employees give feedback on various aspects that enhance their satisfaction, such as pay scales.
Non-financial performance
Stakeholder benefits are an approach that can be applied by people professionals in an organisation to determine the non-financial performance of an organisation. Stakeholders attain various benefits from the organisation once the financial targets are attained (Shen et al., 2018). In the case where stakeholders do not attain these benefits, then this can be used to determine the non-financial performance of the organisation. Moreover, there are various categories of stakeholders and employees can be determined as part of the team. Non-financial performance can be determined through employees failing to attain their full benefits such as financial rewards based on aspects such as performance.
Customer satisfaction is also an approachthat can be used by people professionals to determine an organisation’s non-financial performance. Organisations invest in ensuring that products or services meet the customer requirements. Lack of customer satisfaction is thus used to determine that the organisation is experiencing non-financial performance. Moreover, to effectively collect feedback that enhances the identification of the major aspects causing lack of customer satisfaction, people professionals can implement the use of surveys which provide a section of clear indication of the main aspect causing dissatisfaction. The data collected is effectively evaluated through critical thinking and a decision made.

AC 3.2 Explain how to measure the impact and value of people practice using a variety of methods

Training and development
Training and development is a process that people practice to add value in an organisation through enhancing employees skills to perform duties. People professionals implement training programmes based on various skills needs. For example people professionals can conduct an evaluation of employees skills on the use of modern technology in the performance of duties. Effective evaluation guides in the identification of a skills gap and this leads to effective implementation of a training programme. Additionally, people practices add value through the development of a talent pool whereby professionals evaluate future skills needs of an organisation and train employees in preparedness to the changes.
Reward policy
Reward policy is an aspect that is implemented by people professionals and it adds value in the organisation as it enhances employee motivation. To implement a reward policy, people professionals conduct research on various motivation aspects that can be adopted to enhance employee motivation. Rewards are based on various aspects such as skills and performance. The implementation of this policy adds value to orgaisational development and contributes to reduced turnover rates.
Evaluation
Evaluation is an aspect that can be used to measure the impact of people practices. For example, the adoption of training programmes can be evaluated by determining the impact of this implementation on orgaisational development. Evaluation is done through the use of various procedures such as cost benefit analysis. This entails the determination of the total cost of implementing the various developments and their impacts on the financial income of the organisation.

Task two – Quantitative and qualitative analysis review

AC 2.1 With reference to a people practice issue, interpret analytical data using appropriate analysis tools and methods

1. Trends across departments

Based on the data presented, the marketing department had the highest number of lost work days, with 184 employees missing work due to skeletal/bone issues. The second department with the highest number of lost days is the production department whereby 71 employees were out of work due to operation issues. The third department is finance followed by the health and safety department. Logistics is the fifth department with a total number of 50 lost days through absenteeism. The sixth department is customer service which lost 49 days, followed closely by the delivery department with a total number of 40 days lost. The IT department lost 28 days while administration lost 20 days. Research and design lost 17 days while the human resource department lost 16 days. The last department with the lowest number of lost days is the strategy and design, whereby the professional only missed one day of work.

1. Absence by type

According to the data presented, there are three major aspects that contributed to absenteeism in the organisation and they include Covid 19, stress and anxiety and cold/flu. Covid 19 affected all departments apart from the finance department and this recorded the highest number of impacts across the departments. Stress and anxiety impacted the production, customer experience, marketing, logistics and health and safety departments. Cold and flu affected the delivery, administration, production, health and safety, customer service and research and design.

1. Absence by gender

1. Total days lost through absence
2. Annual total cost through absence based on a 37 hour working week

Working hours per day 7.4 hours
The annual total cost of absence = lost hours by the rate per hour
Absence data

AC 2.2 Present key findings for stakeholders from people practice activities and initiatives.

This pie chart is a representation of the main causes of absenteeism in the organisation whereby 53% of employees missed work due to Covid 19 while 38% of employees missed work due to stress and anxiety related issues. Cold and flu also impacted 9% of absenteeism in the organisation.
The bar graph below represents employees feedback based on specific aspects collected from the data. For example, 29 employees have identified that their line manager treats them with respect which is an essential aspect of an organisation. Moreover, 12 employees have identified that their line managers support life work balance and this enhances the development of employee wellbeing. Zero employees have responded that their line managers gives them the opportunity to contribute to discussions. Stakeholders in the organisation should then use this data provided by employees to identify various developments that need to be implemented. Continued collection of feedback from employees guides in the identification of their relationship with their line managers.

AC 2.3 Make justified recommendations based on evaluation of the benefits, risks, and financial implications of potential solutions.

Adoption of employee involvement in decision-making
Based on the evaluation of the data provided, all 42 employees have identified that they are not given an opportunity to offer their recommendation on orgaisational development. People professionals should implement this aspect as it contributes to the identification of various challenges employees are facing in the organisation, which leads to effective policy formulation. Adopting employee involvement creates a positive financial implication as their recommendations guide in the avoidance of challenges that affect productivity. The main risk of adopting employee involvement in decision-making is that it slows down the decision-making process and this might impact negatively on competitiveness.
Employee development
Employee development is an essential aspect that focuses on enhancing employees skills to enhance their productivity (Al Karim, 2019). Based on evaluation, implementing employee development would benefit the organisation as there will be increased skills and this contributes to the effective performance of duties leading to increased income generation. Additionally, adopting employee development creates a negative financial implications through the purchase of the resources required to enhance effective training, however, the impacts of the training are positive and have minimal risks.

References 

1. Al Karim, R., 2019. Impact of different training and development programs on employee performance in Bangladesh perspective. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Research, 2(1), pp.8-14. https://www.readersinsight.net/IJER/article/view/497 (accessed on October 26, 2022)
2. Everett, J.A. and Kahane, G., 2020. Switching tracks? Towards a multidimensional model of utilitarian psychology. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24(2), pp.124-134. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661319302888 (accessed on October 26, 2022)
3. Galli, B.J., 2019. Critical Thinking of Human Resources in the Goal: A Research Note. International Journal of Service Science, Management, Engineering, and Technology (IJSSMET), 10(1), pp.19-29. https://www.igi-global.com/article/critical-thinking-of-human-resources-in-the-goal/216857 (accessed on October 26, 2022)
4. Gill, C., 2018. Don’t know, don’t care: An exploration of evidence-based knowledge and practice in human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 28(2), pp.103-115. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053482217300451 (accessed on October 26, 2022)
5. Mittal, A., Dhiman, R., and Lamba, P., 2019. Skill mapping for blue-collar employees and organisational performance: A qualitative assessment. Benchmarking: An International Journal. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/BIJ-08-2018-0228/full/html (accessed on October 26, 2022)
6. Mohammed, D. and Quddus, A., 2019. HR analytics: a modern tool in HR for predictive decision-making. Journal of Management, 6(3). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3525328 (accessed on October 26, 2022)
7. Moreno-Sader, K., Jain, P., Tenorio, L.C.B., Mannan, M.S. and El-Halwagi, M.M., 2019. Integrated approach of safety, sustainability, reliability, and resilience analysis via a return on investment metric. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 7(24), pp.19522-19536. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b04608 (accessed on October 26, 2022)
8. Shen, J., Kang, H. and Dowling, P.J., 2018. Conditional altruism: Effects of HRM practices on the willingness of host‐country nationals to help expatriates. Human Resource Management, 57(1), pp.355-364. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hrm.21844 (accessed on October 26, 2022)
9. Teoli, D., Sanvictores, T. and An, J., 2019. SWOT analysis. https://europepmc.org/article/med/30725987 (accessed on October 26, 2022)
10. Triana, M.D.C., Gu, P., Chapa, O., Richard, O. and Colella, A., 2021. Sixty years of discrimination and diversity research in human resource management: A review with suggestions for future research directions. Human Resource Management, 60(1), pp.145-204. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hrm.22052 (accessed on October 26, 2022)
11. Verma, R., 2021. On intuitionistic fuzzy order-α divergence and entropy measures with MABAC method for multiple attribute group decision-making. Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, 40(1), pp.1191-1217. https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-intelligent-and-fuzzy-systems/ifs201540 (accessed on October 26, 2022)

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