Strategic Human Resource Management For Distributed Learning

Background Summary

Describe about the Strategic Human Resource Management for Distributed Learning.

Background Summary

The New Zealand Courier Company is the leading courier companies who ensure smooth deliveries of packages all around the world. The logistics company has a good range of infrastructure facilities, which includes cargo planes, trucks and courier services. The HR personnel of the company has undertaken PEST analysis for gaining a broad picture of the organization’s external environment from four different perspectives namely- “Political”, “Economical”, “Sociological” and “Technological”.  The political factors concern with the regional wars, terrorisms and other crisis scenarios that lead to international uncertainties. The courier company is concerned with the risks of the customs department such as drugs and illegal weapons entering the country. The economical factors deal with the taxation process of different countries, as the courier services should include traceable services. The social factors included the rapid growth of the courier industry across the world, and the Asian countries became the main sources of promotion. The technological factors included the role of the internet in sending the courier products, which included an innovative visual presentation. 

The industry analysis was done which included the analysis of Porter’s Five Forces. The threat of new entrants to any industry can increase the level of competition. The courier company is an established company in the market and may feel threatened by the entry of new entrants in the same industry. The threat of substitute comes into the picture when a particular product’s demand is challenged by the change in the price of one of the substitute products. The courier company in New Zealand faced challenges due to growth in the online reservation systems such as Fedex, Royal Mail, and others. The bargaining power of the suppliers comes into existence when there are multiple suppliers. The company would base its procurement decision on those prices, which lowers the cost of the company. The bargaining power of the buyers becomes high when the buyers are few and a number of sellers. The courier company also faces competition from similar companies, and the company strives to gain competitive analysis. The SWOT analysis underlined the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of the company.

The New Zealand Courier company faces stiff competition from its rivals (Wang, Jie & Abareshi, 2014). It is the responsibility of the New Zealand courier to upgrade their products and develop new service lines, which fulfills the changing preferences of the customers. The development of new service lines would be possible through qualified and talented human resources. It is very important to enhance the learning skills of the employees periodically so that they can strive to give optimum performance (Wang, Jie & Abareshi, 2014). The learning initiatives would result in the excellent quality of the human resources, which would result in the creation of premium services of the company.

Design Consideration

The above summary indicated that there is a dire need of implementing a suitable learning and development schedule so that the skills and expertise of the employees are enhanced (Looi et al., 2014). The employees are considered as a competitive weapon as they are the only reasons which can tackle the competitors by providing premium services. The company also faces a threat from new entrants; hence, the services of the company should be premium level. This can be achieved only by the competent workforce. The learning and development initiative should include a content plan, mobile usability, device orientation and innovative approaches like Bring Your Device (BYOD) (French, Guo & Shim, 2014). There should be a blended approach in the implementation of learning initiatives.

A suitable learning initiative should be developed, which caters to the needs and requirements of the New Zealand courier company (Hamburg, Brien & Engert, 2014). The learning initiative should include components like training, mentoring, coaching and suitable learning content. The learning and development initiative should treat people as individuals and not as a group. The learning requirements of each person should be assessed, and the learning content should be modified accordingly.

The strategy of enhancing the workforce capabilities, competencies, and skills to ensure a successful organization forms the basis of learning and development (L&D) (Pandey & Guha, 2014).  The successful organizations chalk out the means of development of the human capabilities, which are required for organizational effectiveness. The Learning and Development strategy should be aligned with the other strategies of the organization, and it should be formulated in such a way that it meets the organizational goals as a whole. For this purpose, extensive research should be done, and secondary sources of information should be collected. The learning and development needs should be identified, and the learning initiative should meet these needs (Batalla-Busquets & Pacheco-Bernal, 2013). The external factors should be considered in the formulation of the strategy. The external factors include government policy, current economic development, social factors and others. The external factors can be identified by PESTEL analysis. The internal factors should also be identified, which includes the HR Strategy and Organizational goals. 

The development of L&D initiative should coincide with the business needs and the organizational goals (Anvari et al., 2013). The L&D strategy helps better management of the budgets and the resources. It also provides the efficient integration among the various organizational units. The audience of the learning initiative should include senior managers, line managers, strategic planners, personnel officer, team leaders, new recruitment, technical staff and operational managers. The training needs analysis should be done after the determination of “departmental capability levels”. The training needs analysis should be able to identify the existing gap between the proposed standards and the current standards (Basu & Ray, 2015). This would involve a skills audit so that the current skills of the workforce can be analyzed. The performance management and development system are used to detect the needs of the individual job holder through a detailed discussion between the line manager and the employee (McIntosh, 2014).

Development of Learning Initiative

The set of integrated plans and intended actions that are aimed at developing the job-related skills, expertise, and knowledge of human resources, are known as Learning Strategy (Segal, Chipman & Glaser, 2014). The L&D strategies are those mechanisms, which help to increase the capability of the human resource and improve their performance level. The assessment of the existing approaches should be done along with consideration of the available alternatives, before designing suitable learning strategies (Segal, Chipman & Glaser, 2014). The effective techniques deal with brainstorming various ideas within a group.

STRATEGY	COMPONENTS	REMARKS
On the Job Learning	Observation, Coaching, Mentoring	Capacity building method
Self-managed to learn	Reading, eLearning	Job learning and relevant
Deployment	Mobility, temporary	Proper plan and management
Group learning	Cross-functional teams, networking	Group management is vital
Tutor led interventions	Seminars, Training Courses	Current work situation

Table name: Learning strategies and its components

Source: Created by author

The “on the job learning” is the most effective as well as efficient measure for the development of the capability (Cleveland, 2013). It can be done through observation, demonstration, coaching, delegation, mentoring and others. The coaching and mentoring components should focus on the competency of the individual employees so that maximum benefits can be obtained. The “self-managed learning” should be relevant and should support the on the job learning. It can be induced by eLearning, reading, further education and others. The “deployment” of a suitable learning strategy becomes effective when it is properly managed and planned. It facilitates the on the job learning. It is another name of mobility, and it is temporary in nature. The “Group learning” is the key to success if there is effective management of the group (Ziegler, Paulus & Woodside, 2014). The group learning initiatives are appropriate when there is a paucity of time. It involves the training of a large audience simultaneously, which leads to low training costs and less time. The group learning is effective when there are cross-functional teams, where the attributes of networking, as well as action learning, are important. The “tutor led interventions” must be relevant to the current work situation. The employees who have returned after a break should be given the opportunity of training immediately they return to work (Salmon, 2013). The tutor led interventions should include seminars, training courses and various development programs.

The employees of New Zealand couriers should be exposed to learning initiatives like coaching, mentoring, delegation, temporary assignments and mobility. The coaching includes the creation of opportunities, providing information, demonstration; encouraging and observing the employees take up new challenges (Joo, Sushko & McLean, 2012). The mentoring process includes the support of a less experienced person by a more experienced and knowledge supervisor (Joo, Sushko & McLean, 2012). It comprises of informal face to face communication over a period. The delegation process is used by the manager to assign a work responsibility to another team member (Joo, Sushko & McLean, 2012). The task provides an opportunity to grow and develop their skills so that they can reach their full potential. The temporary assignments consist of short-term and flexible skill development initiatives (Joo, Sushko & McLean, 2012). These are designed to improve the employee’s skills so that they can gain a broad knowledge base. The mobility function involves the movement of staffs from one department to another department or movement from one job role to the other within the same department (Joo, Sushko & McLean, 2012). This is a cost effective method, which is helpful in workplaces where different management areas are involved (Joo, Sushko & McLean, 2012).

Learning Strategies

The specific strategies should be formulated for the diverse target groups in an organization. The L&D strategies should be based on the following principles (Kolb, 2014)-

• L& D should be based on the identified requirements, which are determined by a training needs analysis (Kolb, 2014).
• The L& D process should be fully integrated with the performance management and development process (Kolb, 2014).
• The L& D process should take account of the department’s as well as organization’s business objectives.
• The L& D should comprise of components like on-the-job training; self-managed learning and coaching initiatives (Kolb, 2014).
• The learning initiative should be designed in such a way that it satisfies value for money.
• The learning strategy should make sure that the shared resources like finance, software, human and physical are utilized to their maximum potential.
• The learning strategy should be implemented on a timely basis.
• The best practice of the learning strategy should include the evaluation of the training program. The evaluation method should be focused, selective and should possess a practical approach, which would measure the impact of the learning (Kolb, 2014).

The learning strategy should focus on the development of the required competencies so that the employees can deliver their best performances.

The learning initiative is highly beneficial for the employees as well as organizations. There are several reasons for conducting training programs among the employees. There is an increased job satisfaction among the employees and learning initiatives boosts the morale of the employees (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The employees imbibe a sense of pride as they can perform their jobs better. The organizations also benefit from the learning programs. There is an increased efficiency in the organizational processes, which results in a financial gain of the organization. The organization enjoys better capacity so that they can adopt new methods and technologies. The employee turnover rate is reduced as a result of satisfied employees who are unwilling to leave the organization (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The company image is improved as the organization is known to be caring towards the employees.

There are certain micro skills required for the implementation of the learning initiatives. The specialists of training and development should be active listeners and should possess critical thinking skills (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The specialists should possess excellent communication skills and should possess good monitoring skills (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The specialists who are imparting the training should have judgmental abilities and should be able to take crucial decisions. The learners should also cooperate with the management so that the objectives of the training and development program are achieved.

The role of human resource (HR) personnel is immense in the promotion of a suitable learning and development program. The HR is responsible for the talent development process, which involves the transformation of the organization regarding stakeholders, employees and various groups of people included in the organization (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The HR is responsible for supervisory management, new employee induction, technical training, and skills training (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The HR is the key person involved in professional skills training, which shapes and improves the quality of the human resources in an organization. The HR is the backbone of a learning program (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).

Conclusion

The conventional training is essential for covering important work-related knowledge, skills and techniques. There should be a positive progressive approach towards the learning of the employees. The learning and development activities should form an authoritative framework in the organization. There is an increased motivation among the employees as a result of learning initiatives. The learning initiatives would enable the New Zealand couriers to be successful.

References

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Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Basu, R., & Ray, N. (2015). ISO 9000–A TOOL FOR ACHIEVING SUCCESS OF THE TRAINING FUNCTION. International Journal of Research in Management & Social Science, 3(1), 43.

Batalla-Busquets, J. M., & Pacheco-Bernal, C. (2013). On-the-job e-learning: Workers’ attitudes and perceptions. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 14(1), 40-64.

Cleveland, S. (2013). On-the-job informal learning practices for IS students. In Proceedings of Southern Association for Information Systems Conference.

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Kolb, D. A. (2014). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT press.

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Pandey, J. P., & Guha, S. (2014). Enhancement of Competence: An Effective Tool for Change Management. International Journal, 2(2).

Salmon, G. (2013). E-tivities: The key to active online learning. Routledge.

Segal, J. W., Chipman, S. F., & Glaser, R. (2014). Thinking and Learning Skills: Volume 1: Relating Instruction To Research. Routledge.

Wang, M., Jie, F., & Abareshi, A. (2014). The measurement model of supply chain uncertainty and risk in the Australian courier industry. Operations and Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 7(3), 89-96.

Ziegler, M. F., Paulus, T., & Woodside, M. (2014). Understanding informal group learning in online communities through discourse analysis. Adult Education Quarterly, 64(1), 60-78.