7CO02 Assignment Example

What arguments would you make in response to someone who is doubtful that the HR function adds much value in organisations? She considers HR managers to be a drain on resources and too powerful. Justify your answer.

The value and power of HR in organisations: A people professional’s perspective

Human Resources (HR) is a critical function within an organisation, as it helps in managing people. However, some people have doubts on the value of HR. They tend to think that HR managers’ drains resources and have too much power within an organisation. As a people professional, I purpose to address these doubts and justify the importance of HR. I will achieve this by highlighting the value of HR in enhancing employee well-being, organisational performance, and making sure organisations comply with laws and regulations.

Promoting employee well-being and engagement is a primary role of HR (Suff, 2022). It is the duty of people professionals to develop and implement strategies that enhance morale of employee, job satisfaction, and work-life balance. It is through promoting a positive work environment that HR professionals are able to reduce employee turnover, increase productivity, and enhance organisational culture. The value of HR is seen in its ability to support employees’ mental and physical well-being. This is a powerful aspect that impacts the overall organisational performance positively.

According to Quilliam (2022), talent acquisition and development is another essential value of HR. They play an important role of attracting and retaining top talent in an organisation. It is through partnering with hiring managers that HR professionals are able to ensure that the right candidates are recruited. They ensure organisations hire employees who have the necessary skills, experience, and are culturally fit. According to McCartney (2022), effective recruitment and selection plays a vital role of ensuring an organisations build diverse and high-performing teams, thus contributing to innovation and competitiveness. Additionally, HR professionals are responsible in developing talent management strategies, such as training and development programs, performance management and career advancement opportunities. These are essential initiatives to support employees’ growth, increase job satisfaction, and build a pipeline of future leaders within an organisation. HR professionals put more focus on talent acquisition and development, hence ensuring a continuous supply of skilled and motivated employees. This plays a crucial part of ensuring organisational success.

Organisational performance and productivity is a crucial role that HR professionals plays. HR professionals (Gifford, 2022) works handy with managers to align employees’ goals with the organisational goals and objectives. This ensures that employees work harmoniously towards achieving common targets. It is through effective performance management systems that HR professionals are able to promote a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement. Additionally, HR professionals helps organisations in streamlining organisational processes, enhancing efficiency, and optimising resource allocation. By analysing workforce data and trends, HR professionals can be able to identify areas that needs improvement and implements strategies to increase productivity. It also plays a critical role in managing change and facilitating initiatives to facilitate organisational development. This makes sure that employees easily adapt to new technologies, structures, and ways of working.

HR professionals plays an essential role of ensuring compliance and risks management strategies are not being underestimated. It is the responsibility of HR professionals to keep organisations informed about labour laws, employment regulations, and the industry standards (Bond, 2022). They develop and enforce policies and procedures that protect both employees and an organisation, mitigating legal and reputational risks. HR also plays a vital role of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within an organisation. It is through implementing fair hiring practices, identifying unconscious biases, and fostering an inclusive workplace culture, that they are able to help create a diverse workforce.

Employee relations and conflict management in an organisation is another vital role that HR professionals plays. It is through establishing effective communication channels and fostering a positive work environment that HR professionals are able to create an environment where open dialogue and feedback are valued. They act as the mediators to address employee concerns, which ensures that conflicts are resolved in a fair and equitable manner. By promoting healthy relationships between employees and management, HR professionals are able to helps create a harmonious workplace culture. According to Suff (2022), this leads to higher employee morale, teamwork, and increased collaboration within an organisation. HR professionals have the ability to implement grievance procedures and conduct investigations in case of issues within the workplace. This ensures that employees feel heard, valued, and treated fairly, hence motivating them to achieve organisational. HR professionals are able to mitigate potential disruptions to productivity and foster a positive work environment through proactive management of employee relations and conflict resolution.

Strategic planning and organisational design is yet another critical role of HR professionals. Bosley (2023) states that HR professionals’ partners with leaders to align human capital strategies with the overall business strategy. This helps organisations to adopt to the evolving market dynamics. To achieve this, people professionals assess the current workforce and identify skill gaps, anticipate future talent needs, and develop plans to acquire, develop and retain the relevant talent. Additionally, they contribute to organisational design and restructuring initiatives. To achieve this, they analyse the existing organisational structure, identifies areas that needs improvement, and develop the relevant strategies to enhance agility, collaboration, and decision-making. HR professionals are very important in organisational change management, as they ensure that employees are engaged and empowered during the transition process. HR professionals are essential in developing and implementing an organisation’s mission, vision, and values. They are able to build a cohesive and motivated workforce by promoting a strong sense of purpose and aligning employees with an organisation’s strategic goals.

The various roles and responsibilities that HR professionals plays from promoting employee well-being and engagement to attracting and developing talent, driving organisational performance, ensuring compliance, managing employee relations, and contributing to strategic planning, HR professionals have a significant impact on organizational success. Instead of viewing HR as a drain on resources or too powerful, it is essential to recognise the expertise, knowledge, and skills that HR professionals brings. It is through investing in HR, that organisations are able to invest in valuable asset—the people. The strategic and holistic approach of HR functions contributes to a positive work environment, enhanced employee satisfaction, productivity, and long-term organisational sustainability.

Drawing upon models of systemic thinking and organisational examples, critically evaluate to what extent the application of systems thinking is applied by the People Practice Team within your own organisation or one with which you are familiar, highlighting the benefits of this approach.

The application of systems thinking in the people practice team: a critical evaluation and organisational examples.

Understanding the system.

Complex interdependencies and interconnectedness of the various elements within a system can hold the key to successful an organisation. The People Practice Team at the heart of systems thinking needs to carefully understand intricate relationships and interactions between employees, policies, procedures, and culture; in order to design interventions that can bear fruitful outcomes. Knowingly or unknowingly (Gifford, 2022), introducing a performance management system may create reinforcing or balancing feedback loops between performance recognition and employee motivation. Thus, it is essential to appreciate dynamics of organisational structure to design interventions that can address multiple areas, all at once.  For example, Employee engagement is a complex, multi-faceted concept, influenced not only by HR policies and practices, but also by other considerations such as organisational culture, leadership styles and communication channels. The challenge is to ensure initiatives are comprehensive – spanning the breadth of these multiple elements – in order to truly engender engagement. Taking a systems thinking approach equips the People Practice Team with the insights needed to devise and enact such far-reaching strategies. In this way, real engagement can be fostered across an organisation.

Identifying feedback loops and delays.

Establishing a link between feedback loops and delays within a system can play a critical role in giving an insight to the People Practice Team about how an action or intervention in one particular area can cause effects through the whole organisation. A flexible work arrangement policy as stated by (McCartney, 2022) can have a wide-reaching impact on employee collaboration, team dynamics, and communication channels; understanding interdependent components in the system, can enable the team to anticipate any potential implications. For example, when introducing a new performance management system, teams must take into account the substantial consequences of possible feedback cycles between recognition, motivation, and performance. For instance, augmented acknowledgement may amplify employee ardour; however, if prerequisites spiral too far, dispiritment might arise. As a result, it is vital to identify and contend with both encouraging and tempering loops using carefully designed actions so as to confirm perpetual effectiveness heightening and escape employee exhaustion.

Emphasising relationships and interdependencies.

People Practice Team should also understand that changes implemented in one area can have ripple effects throughout the organisation. By understanding these interdependencies, holistically designed strategies for tackling organizational issues can be formulated. For example, by introducing policies for a flexible work arrangement, the People Practice Team can explore the complexity of the inter-relationships between different components, allowing them to stay in tune with the overarching goals of the organization. Taking into account the intricate connections between different variables, they can ensure snags are avoided, while also solidifying a range of organizational objectives in the process. This way, the impact on employee collaboration, team dynamics, and communication channels can be thoroughly considered, allowing for a more comprehensive embrace of the organisation’s needs.

Viewing problems as systemic.

Taking this one step further, systems thinking allows the People Practice Team to identify underlying systemic causes; instead of simply focusing on symptoms (CIPD, 2021). For instance, when addressing high turnover rate, individual circumstances as well as any potential systemic factors such as inadequate career development opportunities, ineffective leadership or culture-employee value misalignment; must all be addressed. Organisations can be disheartened when they experience a high turnover rate and the People Practice Team may need to apply a systems thinking approach to identify the systemic factors causing it. These cause could range from a lack of career progression opportunities, unappealing leadership, to a disparity between the organizational culture and employee values. To combat this issue long-term, the People Practice Team should fully examine root causes in order to create sustainable solutions designed to decrease turnover and safeguard important talent.

Benefits of applying systems thinking.

Among the benefits are holistic problem solving, enhanced decision-making, improved collaboration and communication, systems thinking allows the people practice team to find core causes of complex organisational issues, leading to more effective and sustainable solutions and adaptive and resilient practices.

With relationship and feedback loops considered as part of decision-making process, the team can anticipate potential outcomes and optimize them. According to CIPD (2021), systems thinking encourages collaboration and communication within the People Practice Team and across the organisation and allows them to gauge alignment of their practices with the larger organizational goals. Although dynamic in nature, systems thinking encourages the team to be adaptive to any changes and develop resilient practices that address emerging trends or problems without ignoring the basics. Systems thinking is not only essential to successful organisations, it is also key for the People Practice Team to develop lasting impact and sustainable growth. With emphases on relationships and interdependencies between elements, recognising feedback loops and delays, factoring in problem complexity, and staying adaptive and resilient, the People Practice Team can help the organisation navigate the complexities of the modern work environment and improve its long-term success.

People Practice Teams in organisations can harness immense benefits from Systems Thinking. It involves a comprehensive approach to problem-solving, understanding the interconnected dynamics of the system, identifying feedback loops, appreciating relationships, and perceiving issues from a systemic viewpoint. Adoption of this approach leads to numerous advantages for companies, such as efficient resolution of challenges, improved decision-making, increased collaboration and communication, and emergent of adaptive and long-lasting practices. In this dynamic and interrelated business world, it is imperative for organizations to recognize the significance of Systems Thinking and invest in it for their HR teams to handle situations carefully, activate employee engagement, and achieve long-term success. Only then, can businesses cope up and progress under the ever-changing circumstances.

You are approached by an organisation which has, for many years, struggled to retain strong performers. Staff turnover rates are well above the industry average. What advice would you give about steps that could be taken to: i) reduce staff turnover levels over the next few months? ii) achieve long-term sustained reductions in staff turnover? Fully justify your recommendations.

Strategies to reduce staff turnover: immediate and long-term solutions

Enhancing leadership and mitigating staff turnover.

To curb high turnover rates and ensure organisational productivity, morale, and financial stability, organisations must strategically address staff turnover. As a people professional, I am offering advice for organisations struggling with staffing issues. 

Mitigating staff turnover in the short term:

Conduct exit interviews and analyse data.

To understand the primary reasons for employee turnover (Peters, 2023), it is critical to conduct detailed and thought-provoking exit interviews. Subsequently, analysing the data provided by these sources enables the organisation to take prompt action. A further exploration of the employee’s responses may uncover common patterns and themes, establishing the basis for targeted solutions and tempering turnover in the near future. 

Refining and enhancing compensation and benefits is vital. According to Cotton (2023), the organisation’s compensation and benefits plan must be attractive to top talents. An extensive review, comparing the current plan to industry standards and benchmarks, will enable the organisation to adjust the salaries and benefits accordingly. This encourages employees to remain with the organisation, leading to a reduction in staff turnover. Supporting work-life balance and employee well-being is also crucial. Excessive working hours and stress compel employees to quit their jobs (Suff, 2019). To counteract this, organisation policies must favour work-life balance and employee well-being, offering flexible work arrangements, wellness programs, and stress management workshops. These create a supportive and healthy work environment, thus reducing staff turnover.

In addition, employees may feel compelled to leave due to issues with their superiors. To address this, it is essential to provide managers with necessary development opportunities, equipping them to lead, communicate, and show support more effectively (CIPD, 2023). Achieving long-term sustained reductions in staff turnover can be complex. However, there are many approaches to take when trying to reduce staff turnover. From implementing career development processes to fostering positive organisational cultures, organisations must create an environment that is stimulating and rewarding to keep workers in the long-term.

The few steps to consider include: foster a positive organizational culture, provide career development and growth, enhance employee recognition and rewards, fortify employee engagement, frequently monitor and analyse turnover statistics, promote a diverse and inclusive work space, polish employee on boarding and conduct and record retention surveys and stay interviews.

Establishing an environment of trust and values is essential to minimizing long-term employee turnover. This can include recognising employees, providing open forums for discussion, and creating learning opportunities to foster employee engagement and job satisfaction (Peters, 2023). Supporting development and growth helps employees to stay with an organisation for the long haul and envision a future with advancement. This can be accomplished through mentorship programs, workshops, or internal job mobility. These initiatives will make employees’ value and trust more evident. Saying thank you to employees for their hard work is necessary to retain top performers and promote a positive environment. Financial and non-financial rewards can be employed to make sure employees feel appreciated.

Connecting staff to the organisation’s decisions is vital for combatting long-term turnover. Generating frequent sample surveys, organising meetings, and instituting employee suggestion plans all help create a culture of engagement and loyalty. According to Peters (2023), examining turnover metrics consistently can help managers decide what changes to make. Identifying hot spots and potential issues can help predict and prevent staff turnover. Strengthening communication and transparency is also essential. Promoting communication and transparency is essential for reducing staff turnover. Ensuring that employees are aware of changes in the organization and have access to honest feedback is very important. A workforce of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences is crucial for creating a harmonized work environment. Organise diversity workshops, hire a diverse team, and establish employee resource groups to help combat unfairness in the work place. Professionally introducing new employees to the company is mandatory for lowering staff turnover.

Develop an on boarding program that includes assigning mentors, providing resources, and making them aware of key players (McCartney, 2022). Finding out what motivates employees to stay on board can be learned through exit interviews, retention surveys, and/or stay interviews. Keeping track of employee data and regular check-ups can also provide useful insight. By putting these measures into play in tandem, organizations can experience a continuous process of improvement, resulting in an increased rate of retention. With activities ranging from strengthening communication to instituting diversity programs, there are numerous steps that can be undertaken to create an engaged, productive workplace.

In order to significantly reduce staff turnover, an encompassing approach must be taken. This entails making rapid, short-term changes to tackle current turnover rates, while also formulating strategies for more lasting success. Exit interviews, wage and benefit increases, improved work-life balance, better leadership qualifications, a motivating work environment, career advancement opportunities, increased team collaboration, and various rewards and recognition systems are all capable of creating an attractive and sustainable environment conducive to retaining the best employees. These tactics also promise to improve overall employee satisfaction and engagement, leading to increased productivity, better organisational performance, and long-term stability.

Drawing upon published research write a 1000-word briefing paper for your Director of People on how you can create and sustain a greater sense of professionalism within the People Professional team.

Creating and sustaining a greater sense of professionalism within the people professional team: a briefing paper.

The People Professional team plays a paramount role in sustaining the organisation’s talent management, employee well-being, and ultimate success. To foster a culture of professionalism, high standards of performance, credibility, and ethical conduct must be upheld. According, to CIPD (2017), Professionalism is a collection of attitudes, behaviours, and aptitudes that signify a dedication to excellence, genuineness, and perpetual progression. Within the People Professional team, professionalism assimilates ethical principles, displaying skills in HR practices, creating close relationships with stakeholders, and developing professional aptitudes (CIPD, 2023).

The key strategies for generating and von serving professionalism are clarifying professional requirements and expectations. To build a greater sense of professionalism, professional standards and rules must be stated unequivocally (CIPD, 2023). This includes outlining ethical precepts, communication systems, and assessment criteria. Communicate these guidelines often and adeptly to ensure conformity and grant opportunities for team members to look for elucidation or opinion. Encourage unceasing learning and development is also vital. According to Young (2022), professionalism is strengthened by a supposition of reinforcement in learning and development. Prompt team members to obtain professional certification, go to industry gatherings, join seminars, and involve in perpetual professional improvement activities. This does not only boost individual aptitudes and familiarity but also demonstrate a resolve to remaining modernized in HR trends and practices.

Advance ethical habits and integrity is also key (CIPD, 2023). Ethical behaviour is a segment of professionalism. Develop a resolute ethical climate within the team by selling correct etiquette, straightforwardness, and commitments to organisational ethics. Inspire open dialogues during ethical circumstances, grant classes on ethical arbitration, and construct manners for reporting and disputing ethical matters. Elevate additionally, collaborative connections are essential. Constructing strong ties with stakeholders is important for a professional HR team. Advocate working together, effectual conversation, and a customer-oriented path. Foment communications with other departments, executives, and employees to acquire an in-depth knowledge of their needs and align HR initiatives correspondingly. Act as trusted experts and strategic collaborators, proactively furnishing helpful information and remedies. 

Honing effective communication expertise also matters. Effective communication is vital to professionalism (Peters, 2022). Develop team members’ communication competences by furnishing training in active hearing, dispute settlement, and providing constructive critique. Push for legibility, succinctness, and professionalism in spoken and written communication. Fostering an atmosphere of open discussion and motivate team members to articulate their techniques and concerns. Admiring and rewarding professional excellence is also vital (CIPD, 2022). Saluting and incentivising professional distinction establishes a culture of professionalism. Utilise a definite admiration process that acknowledges extraordinary execution, contribution to the team, and adherence to professional norms. Honour both individual triumphs and collective merits to motivate and evoke ongoing professional augmentation.

It is also import to focus on emotional knowing and understanding. According to CIPD (2020), professionalism goes further technical capabilities to encompass emotional intelligence and empathy. Stimulate team members to better their emotional knowledge, sympathise with peers and stakeholders, and display understanding and assistance during stringent situations. Incentive a positive and comprehensive workplace where individuals sense esteemed and respected. Keeping professionalism with the passage of time is essential. It is import to grant continuing training and support. Preserving professionalism requires ongoing training and maintenance. Provide conformist professional advance chances, such as workshops, seminars, and webinars, to advance dexterity and understanding. Supply access to resources, mentorship programs, and guidance to support particular growth and resolve particular progression needs.

It is also important to develop a culture of learning. Initiate a culture of learning within the People Professional team by endorsing continual improvement and sharing best practices (CIPD, 2020). Fire team members to cooperate, share insights, and gain from each other. Construct meetings for expressing transformation, such as lunch-and-learn meetings or internal gatherings for swapping information. Additionally, leaders within the People Professional team bear a large burden in determining the tone for professionalism. Lead by model, depicting the prescribed professional proceedings and attitudes (Young, 2022). Demonstrate a commitment to ethical conduct, perpetual learning, successful communication, and creating powerful relationships. Function as a mentor and grant counsel to enhance professional growth among team members. Frequently Assess and Provide Feedback: Track individual and team execution against professional objectives and standards on a regular basis. Supply corrective explanation to help team members detect domains for advancement and validate preferred acts. Initiate proficiency evaluations that consider both proficient skills and professionalism, providing occasions for improvement and progress.

It is important to also advance a positive job environment. According to CIPD (2023), establishing and maintaining a beneficial workplace is necessary for strengthening professionalism within the People Professional team. Establish a climate that values togetherness, capability, and collaboration. Motivate open talks and motivate team members to verbalize their plans and difficulties. Creating and sustaining a greater sense of professionalism within the People Professional team requires a multifaceted approach. Defining professional standards, encouraging continuous learning, promoting ethical behaviour, fostering collaborative relationships, developing effective communication, recognising excellence, and emphasising emotional intelligence are necessary steps for organisations to cultivate a culture of professionalism. To sustain professionalism over the long term, organisations must commit to providing training and support, creating a learning culture, exhibiting exemplary behaviour, and consistently assessing performance. By focusing their efforts on prioritising professionalism, organisations can benefit from a team that is more effective, credible, and productive. Such initiatives will help contribute to the organisation’s ultimate success.

Maintaining professionalism within the People Professional team necessitates an emphasis on creating a positive work environment. It is essential for people professionals to comprehend how open communication, respectfulness towards colleagues, conflict resolution techniques alongside team-building activities play an integral role in cultivating an encouraging workplace. Organisations that prioritise establishing healthy working conditions can enhance their employees’ professional conduct whilst ensuring continued productivity.

References: 

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