Training And Development In OverDrive: Enhancing Employee Performance Essay.

Define Human Resources Management and identify its roles, activities, and responsibilities.

• Explain the importance of HRM to a manager and discuss the relationship between the manager and the HR practitioner.
• Identify and describe internal and external environmental factors and their impact on HRM.
• Identify the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies needed to be an effective HR manager.
• Describe the role of the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations (CCHRA) and its provincial counterparts such as the BCHRMA in achieving professionalism in HRM.
• Identify key business challenges and the role of HRM in helping organizations meet these challenges in today’s business world.
• Discuss the legal framework of HRM and explain the impact of the laws on the behaviour and actions of supervisors and managers.

Training and Development at OverDrive

The training and development opportunities available in an organization in OverDrive

Montana & Charnov (2000) suggest that training and development is a human resource function that seeks to better individual job performance in an organization. This is thus an educational process that involves sharpening of skills, changing attitudes, concepts and gaining more knowledge to enhance the performance of employees. This process encompasses three main areas of training, education, and development. The training seeks to improve employee ability to perform the better (Torrington, Hall, & Taylor, 2004). Education entails improving employee abilities for jobs that they may hold in the future by evaluating and focusing the development on the needs of such jobs. Lastly, development entails focusing on the activities that the employee does and the abilities can be improved.

Training and development works as an employee development process and a motivation process. For development, the employee acquires new skills through learning that increase performance which increases efficiency in the organization (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2004). It also motivates employees since it acts as an empowerment tool that seeks to ensure employees have better abilities in meeting the needs of the organization. Olaniya & Ojo (2008) add that, Maslow’s hierarchy theory indicates that employee can require learning and development when they get actualized with the job that they do. This means that training and development are used to motivate employees by empowering them with skills that are beyond what they have already (Kayode, 2001). Training and development is thus used to assist employees in acquiring new skills that are crucial to the way they handle organizational related issues. Motivated employees perform better since they understand the requirements of the organization and the needs that they hold.

In OverDrive training and development focusses on improving employee ability to perform current and future roles. The major role of training and development that cuts across most organizational areas is increased productivity, job satisfaction, and skills development. The approach is similar to what happens in other organizations since they focus is improving personal competence (Oribabor, 2010). This means that the organization seeks to increase employee ability to perform better. This includes sharpening employee skills in areas like adaptability, action orientation, business acumen, communication and customer focus.

This means that in OverDrive, training, and development takes place by showcasing opportunities for learning and development and helping people to decide what best suits them. This means that the employee is in charge of their personal training by identifying the areas that they feel are relevant to them. This approach is similar to other trends that take place in organizations where the organization sets parameters for training and development (Hameed & Waheed, 2011). However, in most cases, organizations appraise employees to find the deficiencies and skills that they require. This then leads to developing training and development programs that meet the needs of such employees. This approach is similar to what takes place in other organizations since each year, the company reviews its training and development programs to address the changing needs of employees.

Techniques for Employee Career Development in OverDrive

One way that a manager can assist employees in career development is through creating a succession planning program for employees to follow. This entails developing strategies that equip employees with proper skills for future jobs that they may require in future roles in the organization. Managers need to ensure that they train and develop employees to equip them with appropriate skills for future jobs that they may hold (Abbas & Yaqoob, 2009). This is an insurance strategy in case of vacuum since it will assist the organization in meeting its future workforce needs.

The second way is aligning employee’s career aspirations with the priorities and goals of the organization. This process entails assisting employees in setting career objectives so that they can be aligned with the needs of the organization. This means that there is need assist employees in planning for their career and how they meet the needs of the organization (Champathes, 2006). Employees need to set their goals based on what the organization expects and the goals that the organization seeks to achieve within a given period of time. This means that the goals that each employee sets should be in line with the organization’s mission and vision and if the goals are not met, the performance management strategies should be initiated to assist the employee.

Another way that management can participate in employee career development is to rotate employees in different jobs so that they can develop several skills that are critical in the organization. This strategy ensures that employees develop different skills are able to work in any position in an organization (Lee & Bruvol, 2003). By working in different areas, employee proficiency in increased thus achieving the best results for the organization.

Lastly, offering opportunities for individual growth are important in assisting employees to grow their careers. This process entails ensuring that opportunities are created to allow the individual propel in personal areas of interest. Since employees have different interests and ambitions, management needs to ensure that career development plans are tailored to meet the needs of the employee (Milkovich & Boudreau, 2004). Employees require individual growth since they have an individual career goal that they need to follow. This means that the organization needs to recognize these goals and aspirations and find a way of aligning them to the organization.

According to Athanasios (2012), mentoring is an employee training system that entails a more experienced individual acting as an advisor or guide to a trainee through providing support and feedback to the individual in the organization. The role of this process is for the mentor to act towards assisting the individual to develop the required goals through deeper learning about the requirements of the job (Jangbahadur & Sharma, 2017). In most cases, individuals acquire skills through learning by doing rather than education. In this case, the mentor assists the employee in meeting the requirements of a particular job through copying.

Employee Orientation in OverDrive

Lastly, the role of the mentor is to assist the employee to navigate the learning curve inherent in any new role and relationship. This means that the individual acquires new competencies and ways of doing new tasks from a senior or experienced person. In most cases, the mentor prepares the individual for future roles or new roles that they are about to acquire (Cohn, Khurana, & Reeves, 2005). Through the exchange of knowledge, the individual acquires new skills through an evaluative nature or an onboarding process that makes it easy to meet the needs of the organization.

Employee orientation is a human resource function that introduces new employees the job and work environments by providing an opportunity for the employee to acclimate to the organization and other colleagues. In most cases organizations have a set of requirements and cultures that define the way activities are conducted in the organization. This means that the employee has to learn new expectations, responsibilities and how to account for any business process in the organization. This process lays the foundation for the new employee since it defines how their career will look like and the role that they will play in the organization. The outcome of this whole process is increased employee confidence and faster adapting to the job which creates effectiveness and increased productivity.

Since organizational culture is an important element of the organization, new employees have to ensure that they fit first in the organization and understand what is required for them. Through learning the culture of the organization, they are able to adapt quickly and learn ways of working and coping with organizational issues that other employees deal with. Successful organizations ensure that new employees are inducted into the organizational culture as a way of ensuring that they quickly adapt. In most cases, organizational culture learning is the easiest way for employees to adapt since it defines the way employees conduct themselves in the organization.

On the other hand, employee socialization is the process through which new employees get oriented to organizational policies, culture and how operations take place. Through socialization, employees acquire organizational culture traits that are important in meeting the needs of the organization. For example, organizational have a set of unwritten rules and codes that shape the way employees conduct themselves inside and outside the organization. This means that the socialization process entails the informal transfer of knowledge from one person to another through learning. Learning in most cases takes place through nurture and nature. Nurture entails the subconscious efforts that will be exerted on the employee by other employees while nature entails the activities that take place within the organization. This means that the organizational environment is important in the socialization process because it will be used to socialize the employee to the organization's requirements.

Conclusion

Employee Name

Role: Customer Care Representative

Supervisor’s Name

Date Issued

Date completed

Purpose

The purpose of the new orientation program is for all employees to learn about the organization, culture, the requirements of the position that they hold and the responsibilities that they will be in charge of. This program is designed to assist supervisors and managers to assist in in the induction and orientation of new employees in the organization.

Pre-orientation (Day one)

OverDrive is an online library organization that assists people in locating learning resources and the location of libraries around their locality. Each employee is supposed to understand the organizational charter and ensure that they are able to determine how the organization operates.

Working hours

Employees work a shift of eight hours a day that will be assigned the department supervisor. There are three shifts in a day thus employees are required to rotate within these shifts during the week. Any other shift arrangements can be locally arranged with the line supervisor.

Dress code

Employees are required to dress officially and wear organizational uniforms on Mondays and Fridays. Check the code of conduct for finer details on how to dress.

Attendance to work and how to report issues that affect the employee

Employees are required to report to work thirty minutes before their shift begins. Issues within the organization are to be reported directly to the supervisor and if the feedback is not received within 48 hours of reporting, then the employee is free to reach out to the Human resource manager.

Vacation/ overtime and statutory holiday’s policy.

Employees are required to take an annual leave of one full month every year and are not allowed to work on statutory holidays unless requested by the supervisor. Employees will be compensated for any extra time that they work with the organization including overtime.

Probation period

The probation period for the organization is three months. Management reserves the right to confirm or extend the length of the probation period.

Every year employees will undergo a performance management review as set by the organization's policy. This means that the organization will develop standard performance management and appraisal forms that will be used for this process.

Employee recognition, rewards, and promotions

Employees will be rewarded for any extra time that they work with the organization.

Employees will be compensated based on the terms of the contract that they signed. However, the organization has a learning and development program that will be communicated by the HR after probation.

Grievances are handled by the supervisor and the Human resource manager. Employees are encouraged to report their grievances and receive feedback within a period of forty-eight hours.

Employees are encouraged to join the organization’s union or any other union that they feel meets their needs.

The new employee is allowed to raise any questions about this process that will be answered by the person carrying out the induction process.

 Job-Site Orientation (Day 1 and 2)

Introduction to co-workers

Tour of the workplace to know specific areas in the organization.

Special precautions.

Department overview.

The internal email, memo, and forms of communication.

Workplace security hazards like how to respond to emergencies.

General housekeeping

Job specific orientation (first few weeks)

Specific duties and responsibilities

Managing incoming calls and queries.

Answering product and service questions.

Assisting customers to open accounts by recording their information.

Resolving customer issues by clarifying the complaint, determining the cause and offering the best solution.

Gathering information on organizational performance via telephone or chat.

Skills required for the job

Customer management skills.

Strong phone contact and chat handling skills.

Active listening.

Customer orientation abilities.

Presentations skills.

Ability to multitask and proper management of time.

The purpose of this meeting is to assist the Customer Care Representative understand how to handle and address customer complaints. Customer complaints are an important part of the organization since they assist in determining how the organization is performing and the specific issues that the organization may be facing. Such complaints highlight the deficiencies in the organization and assist in developing proper mechanisms for addressing any issues that relate to the way the organization operates. Through asking specific questions, the customer care representative gathers specific feedback that can be used in improving organizational performance.

The expectations of this meeting are to guide the employee on how to solve employee complaints using the set standards in the organization. Basically, employees are required to resolve any issues that affect them using the set standards in the organization rather than applying their own knowledge. This means that the employee is not to make personal commitments to the customer issue but rather approach the issue from an organizational point

Provide overall performance feedback. This needs to be in a dialogue format, what will you say, what you anticipate the individual will say, and so on.

Supervisor: what are your expectations for this meeting:

Employee: I expect to have an engaging discussion on the issues raised in my performance management form.

Supervisor: I feel that your way of handling complaints needs to be improved through training and development to empower you with more skills

Employee: I believe this will be a better opportunity to address the challenges that I have been facing.

Supervisor: we will address the areas in your performance management and then allow to take a test to assess the improvements that you have gained after the whole process.

Employee: I believe this will be helpful since it will lead to a better working relationship with employees and I expect a positive feedback from this whole process.

Action plan

The first thing to do is to assess the employee’s skills in the areas of

Adaptability

Persuasive speaking skills

Empathy

Adaptability

Ability to use positive language

Clear communication skills

Taking responsibility

Patience

Once the deficiencies have been established, then the employee will be taken through how to effectively apply each skill in the context of problem-solving and handling of customer complaints. Learning and development approach will be used to empower the employee with the above skills and at the end of the training program, the employee will be assessed using sample customer care complaints that have been previously handled by other successful people in the position to determine how the patient’s ability has developed. Areas that the employee still indicated deficiencies will be revisited until the employee has properly gathered the appropriate skills for the position.

References

Abbas, Q., & Yaqoob, S. (2009). Effect of Leadership Development on Employee Performance in Pakistan. Pakistan Economic and Social Review,, 47(2), 269-292.

Athanasios, C. (2012). Decision support systems for human resource training and development. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(4).

Champathes, M. R. (2006). Coaching for performance improvement: The coach model. Development and Learning in Organizations, 2(2).

Cohn, J., Khurana, R., & Reeves, L. (2005). Growing talent as if your business depended on it. Harvard Business Review, 83(10).

Hameed, A., & Waheed, A. (2011). Employee Development and its effect on Employee Performance. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(13).

Jangbahadur, U., & Sharma, V. (2017). Measuring Employee Development. Global Business Review, 19(2), 455–476.

Kayode, T. (2001). The Role of Training in charge Management. Journal of the Institute of Personnel Mangement of Nigeria, 10(7), 24-31.

Lee, C. H., & Bruvol, N. T. (2003). Creating value for employees: investment in employee development. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14(6), 981-1000.

Milkovich, G., & Boudreau, J. W. (2004). The Changing definition of organizational effectiveness. Journal of Human Resource Planning, 27(1), 53-59.

Montana, P. J., & Charnov, B. H. (2000). Training and Development. Management Journal, 5(2).

Olaniya, D. A., & Ojo, L. B. (2008). Staff Training and Development: A Vital Tool for Organisational Effectiveness. European Journal of Scientific Research, 24(3), 326-331.

Oribabor, P. (2010). Human Resources Management A Strategic Approval. Human Resources Management, 9(4), 21-24.

Rothwell, W. J., & Kazanas, H. C. (2004). The Strategic Development of Talent. London: Human Resource Development Press.

Torrington, D., Hall, L., & Taylor, S. (2004). Human Resource Management. Pearson Education.