Human Resource Assessment for CIPD - Assignment Example

 Human Resource Assessment for CIPD Activity 1 Part a) The HR profession map is broad and dynamic but it is a cycle that links all areas of HR together. Every aspect of the HR profession map is related, and connected. Although each behavior has a separate and different title but at the end they lead to the same approach which is the way of practicing professionalism in HR. All the areas of professionalism are also related as they ensure efficiency of an HR professional. Being an HR professional is not an easy thing. It is not just a simple decision that can be made over night. HR professionalism must be practiced wisely, and with complete honesty and self-conviction of own decisions and actions. There are several behaviors required to reach the professional level as mentioned in the HR map. They include being collaborative, courage to challenge, being curios, decisive thinker, driven to deliver, personally credible, role model, and skilled influence, among others. The HR profession map highlights ways of practicing HR in a highly efficient manner. To be an HR professional one has to accept criticism and have the courage to challenge others as this will let you know if you're going through the right path. You must get feedback and opinions from others either by surveys, questionnaires or personal face-to-face meetings with all employees from different levels. Having those meetings will strengthen the communication between an HR professional and other colleagues. In addition, it will build respect for other people's opinions and strengthen good relations. Getting feedback and criticism will also help you to improve yourself and makes you learn from your mistakes if you decide to take it in a good way. In some cases it is not wrong to seek others help and opinions either if that help would come from a higher level such as the management or a lower level. When it comes to taking opinions from the lower level this will give motivation to them, and here you are building indirectly an environment that contains team working (Purcell and Swart, 2003, p.56). One important skill that we should have as an HR professional is to be a decisive thinker. We have to think carefully before talking or taking an action. Not only that, when any conflict arises we should listen to all sides of the story and look at the situation from different angles and think outside the box. To be able to have the brain storming skill our information should be up to date and that is by reading about HR, socializing with other HR people through workshops, training courses, meetings to exchange experience and information. This networking method will give you the credibility of being a reference to others and will let you gain references. The information that you will gain must not be kept for yourself it should be shared to your colleagues and let them be updated with all the facts, of course keeping in consideration the confidentiality of some information and resources. Part b) An HR professional is required to be knowledgeable in several HR professional areas even though they are likely to provide their services in just one or two of the areas. Leading and managing HR and Insights, strategy and solutions are the two professional areas that are central to the HR profession. These two apply to all HR professionals and it does not matter the role they play, the stage of their career, the location or position in an organization. In these professional areas, HR professionals work together with management to achieve the objectives of an organization while delivering value and staying ahead of its competition (Armstrong, 2012, p.44). Having the courage to challenge others in an organization is an identifying quality of an HR professional. It is common for HR professionals to face criticism in their areas of specialty as they carry on discharging their duties. However the way they handle this criticism is what matters because it will determine their level of efficiency. The courage to challenge is a key HR behavior which calls on the professional to have the confidence to voice their opinions in the face of challenging circumstances. According to Armstrong (2012, p.39), when confronted by their colleagues or find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances, an HR professional should be able to skillfully find a way of resolving the issue without causing conflict. An HR professional with courage understands the risks involved in the decisions they make, but they choose to go ahead make the decision anyway. In so doing, they overcome their fear and deal with the challenges that come their way as they act with regards to the values of a qualified HR professional (Tansley et al. 2001, p.357). By having the courage to face challenges that come their way, HR professionals show that although they have their fears, they know that the outcomes of their decisions are far more important that the fear of making those decisions. According to Reed (2001 p.94), the confidence of an HR professional to challenge comes from the assurance they have in their skill and the knowledge they possess about HR. This helps them to successfully take part in the management of the organization they work as they steer it towards achieving its goals. Being a decisive thinker is also an important behavior for an HR professional. Decisive thinking shows that an HR professional can fully analyze and understand any information presented to them. This means that they can use this information and the insights as well as the knowledge they get from the information skillfully to make decisions. Decisive thinking is a process of decision making that involves using the information presented to identify viable options to give recommendations. This is followed by making strong and defendable decisions that benefit the organization. In a nutshell, the HR professional with a decisive thinking behavior gathers and analyzes information, understands its implications, identifies options, and critically evaluate the options to come up with the best option. This process of decisive thinking is a significant part of HR professionalism as it ensures that an HR professional makes the best decision for the good of the organization (Armstrong, 2012, p.42). HR professionals play a significant part in the management of an organization. HR professionalism is a basic requirement for any HR professional to be efficient and impactful because it focuses on understanding the organization and being able to face the most challenging situations. HR professionals, therefore, need to work hand in hand with the management of the company to ensure it achieves its set objectives. However, they first need to be able to manage themselves well in order to assist in the managing of others. Banfield and Kay (2012, p.71) note that the contribution of an HR professional to an organization depends on their ability to assess the efficiency of the HR function. By managing themselves, they gain the capability to ensure high levels of performance in other functions of the organization. HR professionals manage themselves in the direction of achieving the mission, vision, goals, values and successful action plans of the organization. For example, an HR professional can take part in capacity building exercises that will help them to identify their weak points and work on them while at the same time gaining more knowledge on the qualities and skills they already possess. In addition, HR professionals have to make sure that they are aware of the theories and working models that apply to all professional areas of HR in order to deliver on the areas they commit themselves (Armstrong, 2000, p.37). HR professionals work together with the management team in managing the employees of the organization on different levels. They can do this by coaching and advising the management team on matters affecting the recruiting and hiring process and resolving conflicts between employees and the management. They can also coordinate employee benefits and give suggestions on matters concerned with employee development and training strategies. HR is a central point of collaboration of all levels of management in an organization. It acts as a facilitator of managers, supervisors, team leaders, and all employees in an organization. HR professionals work together with managers to come up with the necessary solutions to problems that face the human resource sector in a timely and professional manner. For instance, HR professionals give advice to supervisors and managers across all levels of an organization on how to delegate roles to employees with regards to functions and priorities of these roles. By doing so, they ensure that people effectively perform the duty assigned to them. In any organization, the HR sector is responsible for making strategies that ensure employees are committed to the success of an organization (Armstrong, 2000, p.34). HR professionals have to develop effective strategies that will increase the commitment and productivity of employees. Their participation in the recruitment and hiring process is key to ensuring that employees are given responsibilities that match their qualifications and capabilities. They also have to work closely with teams and team leaders in building the capacity and increasing the performance of an organization. Their management skills will enable to effectively manage all sectors of an organization that lies in their areas of professionalism to the best interest of the organization. Activity 2 Part a) As an HR professional one needs to comprehend the responsibility that comes with the opportunity of working in HR. Pursuing a career in HR prompts one to gain a strong ground that will help him develop and improve in the HR profession. As an associate member, one is required to contribute to the development of working environment that focuses on building effecting relationships between members (Bloisi, 2007, p.68). Consequently, one has to have the knowledge required to understand how HR functions in a practical and technical manner. One participates in enhancing organizational performance by guiding and facilitating effective organizational design and development, proper employee involvement strategies and efficient performance management. Associate members reflect on their own performance and participate in all forms of organizational development in a working environment. This helps them to prepare their own continuing professional development in the strategic input towards organizational success as they augment their HR knowledge and professional skills (Armstrong, 2012, p.38). Part b) Planning and implementing strategies in HR is a development option that requires one to devise ways in which to meet an organization's strategic objectives. This will, however, reflect negatively on one's profession if they fail to align people practices with business objectives. Measuring strategic organizational outcomes is another development option that helps one to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies devised by HR. One gets to apply a variety of measurement and evaluation programs in a working environment (Braham, 2008, p.123). This option reflects on the ability of one to use their evaluation skills effectively thus making it disadvantageous when one has poor evaluation skills. Strategic contribution to the success of an organization is also a development option that one needs to translate the business plan of an organization into issues, priorities, and HR implementation strategies and business objectives. However, this depends on the ability to focus on human capabilities, understanding and applying ethical requirements, and being informed on current HR issues (Banfield and Kay, 2012, p.65). Part c) Personal development plan The first development objective is planning and implementing strategies in HR. To achieve this objective, I will have to look at the big picture that involves the entire organization, and not just the HR sector. This is followed by gauging the value of HR to the organization which will lead to forming alliances with other sectors and top management. Any changes required will then be implemented with the support of other sectors. The successful planning and implementing strategies in HR depends on my ability to work together with fellow HR professionals as well as other manager in an organization. I aim to achieve this objective in a period of two months. Measuring strategic organizational outcomes is the second objective in my development plan which requires me to ensure that all the organizational input is sufficient enough to produce desirable results. This will help me in devising strategies that define the desired outcome clearly thus minimize wastage of resources. I believe that I will be able to achieve this in the two months that follow effective planning and implementation of strategies. The third and final development objective is the strategic contribution to the success of an organization. This comes after I have successfully planned and implemented strategies then measured the effective organizational outcomes. This process will also take me two months to identify the areas which contribute to the success of the organization and come up with ways of improving on the weakest strategies. Activity 3 Following the strategies in my personal development plan is the best way to improve my HR professionalism. I began with working on my skills in planning and implementing strategies in HR, which helped me to learn how to set priorities when developing strategies. I also learnt that measuring strategic organizational outcomes involve the evaluation of the efficiency of the strategies made by HR. Putting measurement and assessment measures in place play a significant role in ensuring that the organization gets the desired outcomes. My strategic contribution to the success of the organization involved making sure that it achieves its goals, mission, and mission. This requires one to ensure an effective working environment that adheres to ethical standards and to focus on the organization's plans and objectives while keeping track of the new HR trends. Clearly, HR professionals play a proactive role in improving organizational capability by providing insights on its capacity to perform efficiently and thus achieve its goals. References Armstrong, M. (2012) Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, London: Kogan Page Publishers Armstrong, M. (2000) Strategic Human Resource Management: A Guide to Action, London: Kogan Page Publishers Banfield, P. and Kay R. (2012) Introduction to Human Resource Management, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bloisi, W. (2007) An Introduction to Human Resource Management, London: Mcgraw-Hill. Braham, J. (2008) Human Resource Planning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Purcell, J. and Swart, J. (2003) People and Performance: How people management impacts on organizational performance, London: Sage Publications. Reed, A. (2001) Innovation in Human Resource Management, London: Sage Publications. Tansley, C., Newell, S. and Williams, H. (2001) Effecting HR through the HR profession map. Personnel Review, 30(3), p.351-71. Read More