The need to invest in human capital

The need to invest in human capital 

Companies must focus on performance improvement through staff development

An auto component unit in India employing around 400 staff had ambitions targets for achieving continuous improvement through productivity, and succeeded. They met their targets through integrated programs to invest in new technology equipment, improve work culture and develop the skills of everybody at the work site.

By empowering staff to solve work-related problems, make decisions and continuously improve performance themselves, fostering excellent team work, reducing layers of management and promoting greater operating flexibility among people, they succeeded. The company operated without an HR head because all managers functioned as human resource development (HRD) managers.

The company closely worked with a productivity council and a reputed HR school, with the council supporting a successful and innovation open learning center. The center offers wide-ranging and highly cost-effective training, particularly for shift workers.

Discussion with partners led on to their getting an “investors in People” award. The company was interested, not so much in changing well-established policies, but in using the principal country standard as a benchmark.

Their commitment to continuing, long-term development and investment in people is one part – a key part of their carefully integrated plans. The company has achieved a productivity improvements gain of 35%, has been able to implement a leaner, flatter managerial structure, has met ambitious quality targets, and integrated people development into business performance.

If employees are not developed in a way that achieves customer focus, little improvement will be seen because it is people and their attitude towards customers that make systems and procedures work. Training intervention must be the basis for improving business performance.

Career Advice

Staff must be empowered to solve work-related problems

Long-term development of and investment in people vital

Training intervention must be a core aspect of business strategy.

Building the culture of accountability.

Building the culture of accountability.

Help people achieve organizational goals through experience and common sense

How do managers do their jobs? How does the decision-making process look like? Is it identical with the task of managing?

 A chief officer once said all the information required to make a full rational decision is never readily available despite the various levels of managers working with him.

People forget that the real world of organizations is full streams of actions, processes and events. The result are key. To produce a quick output or service delivery, you need to be accountable for your actions. Faster decision is required. One cannot map a decision-making process in a well-written DOA (delegation of authority) and instruct managers to act upon the compliance manual.

An organization is made up of complex elements. There are complexities about preference that enable people to develop organizational goals through experiences and common sense. Complexities create work challenges and save an organization from being monotonous. A well-prepared job description is more than enough to deliver the agreed accountability.

One manager warned his staff to work carefully; otherwise, internal audit will catch their lapses. It seems that the employees were mandated to perform their tasks to cover up audit requirements. Is it right? If a working environment is controlled by compliance and audit, it will witness lack of accountability. People will not make rational decisions. More signatures required to process documents means more delays, and no one is accountable for the end results.

A decision is action in process. It is not the result of authority, but the outcome of accountability. Such concept of decision making gives us a better understanding of the complexities in an organization. Through it, we can become aware and self-reflective of the diverse expressions of the decision activities in specific situations and the implications of the way we do things to create a performance-oriented culture.

Career Tips.

A well-prepared job description can foster accountability

Enable people to make rational decisions to achieve goals

A decision is action in process and the result of accountability

Is your organization properly designed?

Is your organization properly designed?

A well-crafted job description defines the quality of a company.

Job description (JD) is the basic document which gives a pictorial view of the job. I call it picture because it gives clarity to each person who reads it – the jobholder, department head, hiring manager, compensation and benefits managers, and administration and training manager. Though its most frequent use is in hiring, without a properly written JD, it is not possible to assess which candidate is the “right fit.” Just like a candidate with a CV which becomes the basis for determining whether to shortlist him/her for interview, similarly the JD becomes the basis for assessing the candidate.

All interview questions flow out of the JD items. Once a newcomer joins, it helps the department head to explain to the new joinee what is expected of him/her. To the compensation and benefits manager, it helps him decide on salary and other emoluments, and compare its relative worth in the organization.

To be complete, ideally a good JD should contain the location, reporting and hierarchical level of the job; key accountability, goals and tasks to accomplish those activities; software and other system-related tools the jobholder needs to be proficient in.

Jobs sometimes become redundant and need to be revised or enhanced. This can happen with changing technology, processes or resources. A properly written job description makes it possible to communicate these changes.

Written down JDs make it possible to benchmark jobs against competitors. This exercise is carried to understand industry practices and assess whether you are overcompensating the jobholder to do a certain job or underutilizing him/her. A properly written job description is indicative of a properly designed organization. 

Career Tips

JDs should contain the required skills, competencies, goals, etc.

Well-written job descriptions can lead to the best candidates

They are also able to communicates the changes within the firm.

Visit www.uaebusinessdirectory.org

Essentials of planning and job design.

Essentials of planning and job design.

HR must have a broad knowledge of the organization’s motivational climate

Job design must be based an organizational planning, but who decides on such plans? Planning is joint task of business strategy and HR. if you allow the managers to structure an organization, they will come up with a chart with more jobs, and create silo boxes which are unnecessary. HR must intervene and advice on the needed structure.

One big organization once employed an organizational director from South Africa. She then created senior director, director, senior manager, manager, and assistant manager posts for the legal department. If we look at the job descriptions of said posts closely, they are essentially the same jobs with one reporting to another a vertical silo. Later, during the recession, the company realized it had to slash positions which were not essential in the first place.

Creating ‘boxes ‘must be based on projects and the workload. Based on my experience, there really is no difference between a senior manager and a manager. I have seen senior managers’ workstations that are bigger than a manager’s desk, but I have not seen any work difference, except that a senior manager is a boss of a higher rank.

Roles need to be designed rather than by merely created job titles. For a company, you need one CEO. For a department having a single function, you need one manager. Organizational planners must focus on processes and activities, not on creating posts.

Job design is a fundamental process that comprises business goals, the organizational plan and long-term strategy. There are many forces such as changes in technology, available talent/ skills and staff, and the supply market to consider in deciding the workload. Having a manpower plan will ensure a rational approach to organizational planning, and must be done by highly efficient HR professionals.

Career  Tips

 Planning is a joint task of business strategy and HR executives

Creation of job ‘boxes’ must be based on projects, workload

Roles must be designed rather than be merely created job titles