Training Session

Posted: October 17th, 2013

Training Session

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Training Session

As part of the national human resource team, I have been assigned to ensure that the new performance management system of JKL has been implemented. The company suffers from serious human resource issues, especially relating to the way it treats its employees. There seems to be a lack of clear understanding of legislation. This is despite the fact that the company emphasizes following the established government legislations and regulations. With this in mind, it is clear that the team has been assigned a tedious task of ensuring that the employees and managers follow the established rules. This will help solve most of the company’s conflicts.

The team will establish specific and measurable goals and objectives. The goals should be realistic and incorporate the manager’s concerns and problems. The managers should feel that they are involved in the formation of these objectives. The team will then try to find ways through which they can accomplish the goals within the specified period. The goals and objectives of the performance management system are to improve the conduct of the line managers when dealing with employees. This will be achieved by improving how the line managers communicate with the employees. It will also be achieved by ensuring that the managers follow all the policies and procedures, which include the commonwealth legislation, occupational health and safety standards, workplace harassment policies, victimization and bullying policies, anti-discrimination and equal opportunity policies, vocational education and training, apprenticeships and traineeships legislation. Failure of management to follow the established legislation has resulted into unresolved conflicts within the company. The performance management system will apply to all the line managers in the company.

In order for the team to accomplish the identified objectives, it needs to come up with an effective training approach. Most of the identified problems in the company occur because the employees and the line managers seem to disregard the work place legislation. The team will use various techniques and tools to train the line managers. Since the team is composed of four members, it will delegate each of the training assignments. The team will then develop a training schedule, which it will use during that period. It is important to develop a schedule so that all the people involved can manage their time well. Training sessions cannot take place the whole day since the managers will be working. The team and the managers need to come up with a schedule that will be flexible enough to allow changes. Training will be done in an established room in the company. It is mostly going to use classroom approach to train the managers. It will then identify practical ways through which managers can identify conflict problems in the company.

Peer training is important in this case. As identified in the case study, some of the managers were able to solve the problems brought to them in a satisfactory manner. This is important, and the company can utilize this chance by letting individual managers learn from each other. One of the cases that were not handled effectively is the case of the woman who suffered sexist insults from her colleague. The manager involved handled the case so poorly that the woman ended up quitting her job. Peer training can be used effectively in this case. Female employees can teach their male counterparts how to avoid using insulting language. They can point out some of the things that the men should avoid telling them. The team will also use a practical approach, where they will create mock conflicts that touch on all that the team has learnt. They will then ask the line managers to solve the problems they have identified. This will help the team to know the weak areas of the managers’ conflict resolution. It will be an opportunity for the team to assist the managers in their weak areas (APSC, 2002).

Monitoring performance and identifying performance gaps

It is important to monitor the performance made by individuals. It is therefore important to have written tests. The tests will be used to determine whether the managers understand the established legislation. They will then proceed to have post-training reporting. The performance management system will identify the strengths and the weaknesses in the company (Christensen & Laegreld 2007). The managers will need to resolve the impending conflicts. They will then report to the team how they handled the conflicts. From the results, the team will then be able to determine whether there is any progress in their work. The team will then task the managers to identify conflicts that are happening in the company.

The above tasks will be incorporated into the working schedule of the managers. The team has only been assigned three months, within which it is expected to have completed the training session and evaluated whether the session has been effective in any way. The team will conduct its training from October to December before the rollout across the organization in January. The team will meet with the line managers for evaluation during this time. The team and the managers will decide to set a specific date for the meeting. During the meeting, the team will emphasize the importance of monitoring performance regularly. It will reiterate to the managers that the importance of meeting with the managers will be to improve poor performance. The team will solve the problem of poor performance by providing counseling to the employees. It is important for the team to offer constructive criticism and cooperate with the managers (CCH Australia et al., 2010).

The team will emphasize the importance of having excellent performance. It will do this by introducing a reward and recognition mechanism, meeting expectations, working in partnership with others and maintaining high ethical standards (Stockely, 2011). This will include recognizing the improvement made by the managers by rewarding them with incentives. The employees in the company are suffering because some of the human resource managers employed by the company are not qualified for their position. They do not know how to solve some of the simple problems and conflicts encountered at the work place. The team intends to revise the manager’s placement positions. It will do this by academic progression. This will include recognizing the capabilities of different people and placing them in their right position. This might affect some people at the managerial level.

One of the main objectives is to improve the communication process between the managers and the employees. The team will communicate to the managers and explain how the changes will affect them. The employees in the company are suffering emotionally and psychologically since they do not know how the changes introduced to the company will affect them. It is important for the managers to communicate to the employees and reassure them that they will maintain their positions. In case the company needs to lay off some employees, it needs to inform them of the impending changes in advance and compensate them fully. One of the apprentices complained about the lack of supervision. The apprentice needed to learn the mechanics job as well as the established rules and regulations (Ombudsman, 2011). Staff development is very important and it is at the core of the team’s objectives. The apprentice suffered because there is a high turnover in the company. The company should have good remuneration packages for its staff, especially those in high demand. It should look for ways of retaining the mechanics. This will include a better pay package and favorable working conditions.

Some of the managers may not be willing to cooperate with the team in improving their poor performance. The team will be forced to use disciplinary measures as established by the law. Some of the violations committed by the managers are punishable by law. Violation of some of these laws will result to termination. The team will need to identify the performance gap in the system. This is done by measuring the difference between the actual performance and the future performance. Knowing the performance gap that exists will give the team the chance to develop a solution to bridge the gap. Failure to do this will mean that the team will not attain its objectives. The team will need to have a clear understanding of their vision, goals and objectives. The vision will determine their destination. They have to accomplish their goals and objectives for them to attain their vision (Clark, 2010). This will also enable the team to assist the managers in realizing the company’s objective. The company cannot realize its objectives of creating solutions and satisfying the customers’ needs while it is still grappling with legislation problems. Performance gaps can also be noted by comparing the current performance with the set objectives, comparing the performance of the team with similar work done by another team and checking the results against the timelines. Performance gaps include tasks that are not completed on time and any job that has not been done (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009).

The team will continuously report to the national human resource manager concerning its progress. It will do this weekly since there is a lot of work involved. The national human resource manager will have ample time to review the report and check on the progress made by the team. He will have the time to correct some of the mistakes that the team may have overlooked. This will enable him to send his feedback in ample time. The team will then be able to introduce and implement the decisions made by the national manager. The report sent to the national manager will be in accordance to the objectives set by the team. This will enable the manager to determine whether the team is working towards achieving its objectives, or whether it is digressing and solving other problems. The report will indicate whether the team has met its target. It will indicate the failures and successes of the team and it will compare this with the standards established.

References:

APSC. (2002). Performance management. Australian Public Service Commission. Retrieved from http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications02/performancemanagement.htm

CCH Australia, Macquarie University and Graduate School of Management. (2010). Australian master human resources guide 2010. Australia: CCH Australia Limited

Christensen, T., & Laegreld, P. (2007). Transcending new public management: The transformation of public sector reforms. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Clark, D. R. (2010). Performance gaps and measurements. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/gap.html

Commonwealth of Australia (2009). Performance gaps. Retrieved from https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/toolbox/admin3/toolbox1213/topics/topic30/t30_14.htm

Ombudsman (2011). Apprenticeships & traineeships. Retrieved from http://www.fairwork.gov.au/industries/retail/apprenticeships-and-traineeships/pages/default.aspx

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development & Public Management Committee. Integrating people management into public service forum. OECD Publishing, 1996

Stockley, D. (2011). Performance management consulting. Retrieved from http://derekstockley.com.au/happroach.html