MODULE TWO ASSIGNMENT ONEQuestion 1The people and performance research carried out for the CIPD by a team at Bath University found that front line managers played an important role in Human Resource Management. Discuss the roles of HR professionals and of line managers in the following contexts:Performance appraisalTraining, coaching and guidanceInvolvement and communicationAnswer 1The people and performance research carried out of the CIPD by a team at Bath University perused the duty of HR professionals in ensuring that human factor of the workplace is effective, efficient and optimised towards the achievement of set organisational objectives. The research also considered Line managers as those managers to whom individuals or teams directly report, pointing out that they existence within the organisation is equally crucial in the actualisation of organisational objectives. Like HR professionals it is evidential that line managers play important roles in ensuring that the workforce is well motivated to do the Job. Some of these roles arePerformance Appraisal: which is the process that evaluates and documents employees job performance. Performance appraisal help rates the productivity and efficiency of individual employee against key performance indicators (KPI).

Although these processes may be designed by HR professionals to help them reward or judge employees’ performance while understanding the training and recruitment needs of the organisation, they are implemented by line managers. Employee performance and behaviours are assessed and rated by direct line managers because they have direct connection to the employees who are under their supervision. This gives them first hand information on the employees’ performance and behaviour. To ensure fairness, feedback is provided in a one-to-one meeting between the employee and line manager. For feedback to be effective, it must be conveyed in a sincere and understandable manner. The proceeds of the appraise is then forwarded to HR profession.Training, coaching and guidance: In every organisation, objectives are set, and expectations are passed to the workforce through the HR professionals who cascade the information down to the employees giving the line manager supervisory autonomy over a team of employees who he/she will be responsible for.

The line manager’s commitment to ensuring that all deliverables of his/her team is met is geared toward how significant his or her training, coaching and guiding the employees is while ensuring that desirable and not desirable qualities are encouraged and discouraged respectively using both positive and negative re-enforcement strategies. The line manager is expected to understand the training needs of his/her team and recommend the needs to HR who in turn will facilitate them.Involvement and Communication: the level of involvement and communication within an organisation is depicted by the culture of the organisation. I can say that the major agents of organisational culture are the HR professionals and the Line managers. The approach taken by these agents in supervising and motivating the workforce will depict the type pf organisational culture of their team. If managers focus on their employees’ strengths and encourage open communication while ensuring that this is clear, precise and understood, they are more likely to engage and encourage their employees. Line managers who emphasises the negative features of their teams’ performance and micromanage them or pursue self-glorification at the expenses of their employees will create a disengaged and disgruntled workforce.

Although HR practitioners measure employee engagement through surveys and occasional interactional with employees through all means of communication, depending what, when, why and who the information meant for, employee engagement is generated or extinguished by line managers.Question 2Training has been defined as ‘an instructor-led and content-based intervention leading to desired changes in behaviour’Outline a systematic approach to trainingExplain at least two distinctions between training and “learning and development”Answer 2Systematic approach to training is defined to be an orderly approach to determining what people must know and do at a specific job or in a specific profession. In other words, it can be defined as a logical way to consider what must be done to get a desirable result within a specific task. This approach follows laid down principles which are Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, EvaluationAnalysis: This is the first phase of systematic approach to training (SAT) and it embraces determination of training needs of the organisation through employee performance and behaviour analysis in comparisons to the organizational objective. In the stage the HR managers engage line mangers in identifying the training needs of the workforce.

Once training needs are established, the next phase can be initiated.Design: The design stage makes use of input gathered during the analysis stage to create the learning objectives, stipulate instructional methods, identify training materials and specify the training venue. This stage also looks at the course content evaluation and examines trainees’ competency.Development: In this phase training materials to be used are produced or acquired.Implementation: The implementation phase is the apex of SAT and it is the culmination of all the previous steps integrating the data from the analysis phase incorporated into the learning tools and materials that emerge from the design and development stages to actual train the employees. In other word in the stage the training is conducted. Evaluation: This is used to examine the effectiveness of all the stages involved in SAT and it is conducted throughout the process. At the completion of the implementation process, an evaluation of the procedure is used to measures the value of the training program as it applies to company goals and employee performance and behaviour.

The most effective way to do this is by testing knowledge and skills participants immediately after completing the training or through discussion with employees and their line managers when the trainees resume their duties.Question 3Employee appraisal is carried out for a variety of reasons: for purposes of performance improvement, in order to assess potential, or to determine levels of financial reward and recognition.Describe two typical approaches to appraisal used in organisations nowadays.Discuss the potential difficulties in conducting appraisal for the purpose of employee development at the same time as assessing financial reward.Answer 3Today’s workplace has seen organisation jettison the traditional performance appraisal methods for the modern methods because it has a broader scope which provides more accurate and comprehensive evaluation of individual employees. For this question we shall considerManagement by Objectives: This appraisal approach was conceptualised by Peter Drucker who submitted that the employee performance can be judged based on targets he/she archived in line with those set by his/her employer.

He explained the need for employers to sets goals and communicate the same to their employees, saying that the performance of the employee can then be compared against these set goals and evaluated on this basis. In the event the employee is not able to achieve the pre-set targets then employer may decide on new strategies or policies that could be undertaken for the accomplishment of unattainable goals.360-Degree Feedback: This is a feedback method in which the details of an employee’s performance is gathered from other stakeholders such as superiors, peers, team members and employee him/herself, asking question about the appraisees job performance and behaviour. This appraisal approach gives a detailed evaluation of the employee from all perspectives.I believe that employee job performance appraisal is used for different reasons which all narrow down to two basic motives which are Reward (financial, recognition, promotion etc) and Judgemental motive (asserting training needs, understanding employee competency, providing feedback to address weaknesses, identifying poor performers etc).

These two broad motives are concaving in nature and can be a big obstacle to each other. A closer review of the reward motive of appraisal ensures that the strengths of the appraisee is rewarded i.e. financial rewards while the judgemental motive exposes the weakness of the appraisee. This analogy of conducting appraisal for employee development (Judgemental Motive) at the same time as assessing financial reward will always make employee buttress their strengths at the expense of their weaknesses, which may in the long run affect the overall objective of the organisationQuestion 4(a) Summarise the purposes of Human Resource Planning and outline the processes involved.(b)(i) Explain and discuss the processes for assessing future human resource needs and for evaluating the capabilities of the current work-force.

(ii) Explain the importance of these two aspects of Human Resource Planning so far as the development of the organisation’s employees is concerned. Answer 4It is safe to say that Human Resource Planning (HRP) is possibly the most vital business practice of any organisation. HRP is a set of processes and initiatives pertaining to recruiting, selecting, hiring and managing of employees while analysing current and future workforce requirements, training the workforce and new employees. This helps organisations handle long-term human resource needs, set and achieve organisational goals and objectives.The process involved in Human Resources Planning includes Assess current HR capacity Forecast HR RequirementsDemand ForecastingSupply Forecasting Develop Talent StrategiesRecruitment, Selection and HiringTraining and Development Renumeration and BenefitsPerformance ManagementEmployee Relations Review and evaluate Human Resources PlanThe processes for assessing future human resource needs and for evaluating the capabilities of the current work-force basically probe into the forecasting process involved in HRP. Which are addressed by Demand and Supply forecasting which assess the organisation’s demand for qualified employees and the supply of those employees either within the organization or outside of it. Demand forecasting process entails determining future human resources needs in relations of the number of employees needed and the caliber of talent required to meet the organisation’s current and future needs.

In other-words, Demand forecasting is an estimated number of employees needed to carry out a task at a given time. Supply forecasting entails a perusal of the current resources available to meet the demands. This basically identifies which employees in the organisation are available to meet the organisation’s current demand. This also entails searching outside the organisation for potential talents that can meet the needs not fulfilled by already engaged employees.Aligning the demand and supply forecasting process allows human resource personnel links the organization’s demand for quality staff with the supply of talents available in the market. This is achieved by promoting existing staff, redeployment, training current employees, job design, hiring new employees etc.

(where there is staff shortage) and redundancy, stopping recruitment, short-time working, early retirement etc. (in the case of surplus) or combining the two approaches.The two important aspect of HRP that reflects organisation growth because of the impact it has on employees are Employee Training and Development. Training can be explained as an orderly approach to determining what people must know and do at a specific job or in a specific profession. In other words, it can be defined as a logical way to consider what must be done to get a desirable result within a specific task.

It helps the employee learn specific knowledge or skills to improve performance in their current roles. While Development is more detailed because it focuses on employee growth and future performance, rather than an immediate job role. Because of the stiff competitive nature of today’s corporate world and the supply of experienced talents, employee training and development program are even much more important than it has ever been because it help the organisation retain top talents while growing its profits level. The recruitment process for top talent is time consuming and very expensive so organisation have recourse to ensuing that employees are engage and develop from the time they are first onboarded till the time they retire because it impacts the level of staff retention and how the organisation develop towards archiving its objective.