In days gone by working out and development approaches were not accompanied by many organizations. It was thought that the managers or market leaders are born not made. Activities of training the employees were considered the wastage of time and resources. However, with the duration of time it was known by the theorists and the organizations themselves that training and development is very important for human source of information building. Now training and development is one of quite functions of human being resource management. Training is not considered as a cost rather it is recognized as investment on the employees which in the end become the investments of a business (Beardwell, 2004).
Different methods and techniques can be found to teach and develop the individual resource and those methods and techniques are modernized with critical analysis and their influence on human behaviors. There exists one way to teach the employees is to give them theoretical knowledge about the skills and give them an understanding of ideas and procedures developed by different big organizations and theorists. This sort of training and development comes under cognitive procedure which majorly focuses on lectures, talk, demonstrations etc. Nevertheless the circumstance company, npower will not follow this approach as they consider more in practical training rather than verbal or written training. Npower train their employees instantly working conditions where they understand the skills and modify them and use them on the job in once. This enables more sold grasps on the ideas and techniques as bookish knowledge might be different from the functional knowledge. Which also does not allow the technology of any conflict between the bookish knowledge and its practical implementation.
This kind of training and development comes under behavioral methods. Npower places the obligations on the employees shoulders and delegates the decision making power to their workers which give them a sense that they are the part of the organization. In this manner the employees feel more responsibility on the shoulders and this improves their leadership skills and capacities. The company includes the employees of all levels in your choice making process as they trust the competencies of their staff. Your choice making ability is delegated to all levels depending after the criticality of the decision and the risk associated with it. The strategic decisions which require high risk are the responsibility of the top management. As designing and implementing the strategies gives a direction to all the organization and it is very important showing a right direction to the organization otherwise the complete venture will be a complete failure. After the strategically decision, comes the tactical decision which is required to be made for the proper implementation of strategies chose by the top level professionals. Tactical decision is at the discretion of the professionals. This is because it includes fewer risks when compared with the proper decisions. Managers are in an improved position to consider such decision because they understand the strengths and weaknesses of these team members. This allows the professionals to learn the analytical and managerial skills and moreover the skill of taking strategy directly into implementation phase. The next level of decisions is the functional decisions that happen to be delegated to the low level employees. For instance an employee doesn't have to wait for the acceptance of his manager if he discovers that a part of a machine is required to be changed. Such type of operational decision is taken by the employees themselves which increases their functional skill and knowledge.
In this way npower delegates your choice making vitality at different levels and provides a system of learning and development of the skills of their employees. This enables the organization to build a push of skilled human resource that gives them a competitive benefit over the others in the market.
Training and Development Ideas and Npower Approach
Competitive advantages is referred to that ability of an organization which is not possessed by the other organizations and it is a competitive advantages which leads the organization to the very best positions. There are several organizations on the planet who are leading the markets by getting competitive advantage in different fields with their business activities. Among the manner in which a company can attain a competitive advantages over the competition is because they build a push of superior man source of information (Beardwell, 2004). Now the question occurs that how this power of superior individuals reference can be build. The response lies in an essential function of human being learning resource management i. e. training and development. It's been seen that the employees or labor working in a competitive environment of market always welcome the training and development programs which can enhance their skills and knowledge (Davis & Bostrom, 1993). Nowadays every job holder understands that to support and expand in the career it is very important to polish their skills. It isn't that time where one degree or diploma is enough for your life. Employees actively participate in several programs that are planned by their company and it has been observed that in a few corporation employee's demand of their human resource section to arrange such training and development programs. Successful company of today has generated their human reference work force over the duration of time. There is absolutely no doubt that work force is an extremely valuable asset for just about any organization and the only possible way to create this labor force is training and development (Barney, 1986). There are many ideas available in literature which emphasize on the importance of training and development in the organization and different alternative options for training and development. A discussion of four major ideas of training and development is given below.
Theory of reinforcement - This theory emphasizes on the learning behavior of any person and shows that the learner will replicate that patterns which is fastened with a confident outcome or effect. Skinner an economist of behaviorist approach proposed the theory of reinforcement and recommended that the training and development programs should be aligned with the organizational aims and an optimistic outcome should be expected with such training and development programs. Further elaborating this idea advised in reinforcement theory, it can be argued that we now have several techniques available in human being resource practices which may be associated with the training and development programs and the mandatory recommendation by this theory can be fulfilled. Different types of rewards by means of bonuses, salary increases, promotion and awarding of certificate following the training curriculum can be from the training and development activities and these rewards will definitely create a positive final result. If this is done by a business then based on the Skinner's theory of reinforcement the trainer i. e. the employee will show more interest in working out and development programs performed by the business.
Theory of Learning Types - The theory presented by Gagne emphasized on learning of intellectual skills. They are such skills which are located rare among the list of persons. He recommended by different learning types in his theory and each learning type consists of some external and internal conditions. The five categories of learning which Gagne described in his theory include intellectual skills, verbal information, attitudes, cognitive strategies and motor unit skills.
Theory of Experiential Learning - Experiential and cognitive types of learning are differentiated by experiential theory of learning presented by C. Rogers. Relating to Rogers, the desires and needs of the learner are tackled by this kind of learning. Experience gives the person a maturity and increases the learning power along with the knowledge. Due to the personal involvement, the learner can conduct a self-evaluation test, that allows him to understand the effect of learning on his/her frame of mind. The truth company npower appears to follow this theory as the business places an engineer in various working conditions and allows him to understand different fields of work. This can help the employee to gain experience and see your face skills increase by getting experience with the duration of time.
Theory of Public Learning - Social theory presents a fresh view of learning i. e. cultural. Based on the presenter of this theory, Albert Bandura, direct reinforcement cannot address all types of learning. Here by immediate enforcement means working out and development programs that is sorted out to enhance the skills. According to the theory such programs are not address all learning types as there are a few sociable elements which can't be taught. Those elements are discovered by the leaner from his/her area. Such kind of learning is called observational learning and this learning is from the understanding of different human behaviours. The first type of learning described in this theory is through observation. Within an organization the environment and the environment plays a very important role. The environment should be very professional and the surroundings should be in such a means that the individuals (employees) learn from them. This theory also suggests that it is not necessary that the action is changed after learning something. It really is expected a person's action changes after learning something, but it is not in all instances. Furthermore the idea also explains about the mental expresses which play a essential role in learning process. If the mental position of the person is negative regarding any learning activity then he will not take part in that learning process and even if he is forced to do so, he will not gain any positivity from that process. In organizational training programs the state of mind can be produced positive about the training and development programs by associating the rewards and benefits with such programs which will motivate the employees and help to build a positive mental state. The situation company also follow this theory as it allows the employees to study from the surrounding and provides a host where they can study from their supervisors/professionals and coworkers.
Change Management and Individual Resource Management
For the organizations throughout the world, constant change has become a requirement for the success and growth. Due to the intense competition on the market organization find them in a continuing procedure for change in order to cope up with the market and customer needs (Chandler, 1992). In this way change management has become a long lasting function or activity of any business. Many organizations increase their efficiency by using change strategically. However, for a highly effective change in an organization it is necessary that proper thoughtful planning is performed and the employee's popularity is taken by properly conversing the advantages of change to the employees. Man resource department should be engaged form the initial period of change process (Beardwell, 2004). Change in the organization brings the effect on the minds of the employees and the change in employees attitudes can't be neglected in this technique which should be the excellent responsibility of HR department to manage also to make that effect on the brains of the employee's positive (Buchanan & Hucczynski, 1991). It's been observed in different organizations where in fact the change has been helped bring by the management, that lots of of the folks are uncomfortable with the change. So individuals learning resource management functions should be facilitating the change management in the business and should focus on the removal of those discomforts among the list of employees helped bring by the change process. Individuals resource office should ensure that the reason why and advantages of the change process are properly communicated to all the employees and all the employees are obvious about the change process. For effective change process implementation it is vital that employee resistance should not be there and staff level of resistance majorly occurs when they are not clear about the process and the benefit for the change (Buchanan & Hucczynski, 1991). Simply imposing the change in the business will not cause the effective and successful change execution. Furthermore, this will impose an undesirable impact on the employee's head and will influence the performance of the employees as the employees must work in the new altered environment forcefully which is very much understood that desired results and results cannot be taken by power. Human resource should be positively mixed up in change process and this will bring a real change in the business. The truth company npower, engages it employees in all the decision making process. In the case study Strategic Extra Parts Task is mentioned, which can be an exemplory case of the employee engagement in the business decisions and polices. So the company considers the employee's thoughts and suggestions which are very important for getting change in the organization.
Npower's HRM PESTEL Analysis
To identify and measure the external forces that can affect the organization straight or indirectly, PESTEL analysis is sued. This tool helps to look at and providing an in-depth analysis of all those forces under different minds which could or currently impact the business. PESTEL analysis isn't just to evaluate the forces that make a difference the whole company; this analytical tool can be used to identify the forces which influence the specific business units or functions of a business. The human learning resource polices of the case company npower are under discussion and a PESTEL research is conducted of those external forces or factors which can affect the individuals reduce policies, practise and techniques of the company.
Political Forces - RWE npower is a respected corporation in United Kingdome providing the vitality services to the united kingdom market. At United Kingdome there are different legislations which protect the buyer and employee privileges. Furthermore there are lawful restrictions which are used to keep a good competition on the market. So, the change in any sort of law and steps will have an effect on the human source of information policies and procedures directly. Furthermore, RWE npower isn't only functioning in UK, it is just a German based group and operating in several countries. So the changes in the regulations and procedures in any country will affect the internal human resource policy of the business. For a clearer understanding consider a good example of a laws in United Kingdome where in fact the minimum amount wage rate of your labour is 3. 59 pounds per hour. If anytime UK government improves it to 4 pounds per hour or more then HR polices of the company will be damaged directly and immediately.
Economic Forces - Economical factors which can affect the HR regulations of the case company can involve the change in inflation rate and the global economic condition (Beardwell, 2004). The change in inflation rate will pressure the company to check out the lawful restrictions which suggests the business to boost the salaries and other benefits according to the inflation rate. On the other hand the economical condition of the country as well as the entire world also affects the firms (Kelly, 1999). In the recent global monetary recession several organizations were forces to lessen their labor force and a downsizing tendency was field in many big multinationals. Because of globalization where in fact the organizations have to expand in various location throughout the world the monetary forces and their impact also changes (Rioux, Bernthal, & Wellins, 2008). For instance the economical condition in European countries will be much different as compared to financial condition in Asia. So, globalization gave birth to the need of handling several monetary factors at different geographical locations.
Social Forces - Several social factors is there which have an impact on the npower's real human reference strategies and polices. To supply the employees and labours with a safe and healthy environment is essential for every firm operating in United Kingdome. There are several legislations that ensure that all worker or labour is completely insured. So, changes in such legislations and laws immediately have an effect on the human resource policies of the business operating in United Kingdome. In cultural factors there is also a factor of globalization that impacts the organizational HRM regulations. As scheduled to globalization the world is becoming an inferior destination to operate. Several organizations are operating worldwide such as several ethnic and geographical distinctions. The organization must manage those ethnic and geographical differences. It is not possible for a multinational assistance such as npower to maintain a static HRM insurance plan for all it business units across the globe. Each physical location has its norms, believes and culture which have to be acknowledged by the business. The human tool policies and procedures should support and correspond to the neighborhood employees and market needs (Rioux, Bernthal, & Wellins, 2008). For the case company which is functioning in different geographical locations the recruiting management needs to be a tactical function rather than an administrative function. The business must consider the local requirements of the labour and employees and haver to give attention to using the exiting local ability to conserve the functional and administrative cost of the organization.
Technological Forces - Technology is changing very fast. It is vital for an organization working in competitive business community to automate the human being resource function (Beardwell, 2004). The manual working and the types of procedures are actually obsolete as it wastes a lot of time and resources. To be quick and dynamic group must have to automate their functions. Npower's human learning resource policies and methods will be affected with the change in the technology. With the launch of new technology the demand of the employees and the market increase of course, if the organization will not match up with the new technology then it'll face a difficulty to wthhold the experienced and skilled labor force.
Environmental Forces - The health and safety take action of UK places a binding on the business to provide healthy and protected climate to the employees. Environmental forces include generally the weather changes. Human source of information polices are indirectly affected by environmentally friendly changes. Because of the change in weather it is quite possible that the employees have to be provided with different protective suits or air-conditioned plants etc.
Legislative Forces - The government of United Kingdome have handed different regulations and presently there are several laws and regulations which are to be considered by the case company while developing any human tool policy.
United Kingdom's Legal Environment
Through law the stableness and security of the individuals is ensured and justice is provided regarding to it to the accused. Exactly like criminal and cultural laws there's also the business laws and regulations and legislations that are implemented by the state to ensure that the right of different stakeholders are safeguarded. At United Kingdome several regulations are there which protect the rights of employees, right of consumers and also there are laws which are to keep up the fair competition in the market and ensure that no organization manipulates the market. A good and healthy competition is good for the industry as well as for the consumers, but to ensure this atmosphere available market the federal government has used several steps towards this by applying certain legislations.
As reviewed in the PESTEL research of npower, the legislative factors also performs and important factor and make a difference the human source of information policies of the business. Here, different legislation or works implemented by the federal government of United Kingdome. For protecting the consumer rights the first legislation under debate is the consumer Credit Act. It was executed in 1974 by the UK government and regarding to this all such business who wish to provide credit service with their customers will have to take approval from Director General of fair trading. For the organization like circumstance company it is not possible to work only on cash, therefore the organization have to provide credit facilities to the corporate clients such as British isles Telecom, Wembley Stadium and Ford. The business that is found to mislead the client regarding the price through its promotions can be presented accountable under the consumer protection act which was carried out in 1987. Under this work all the organization have to present the actual price of the product or service of course, if there are any charges or taxes with the price those also needs to be offered to the customer in the marketing promotions.
The identical pay act which was implemented in 1970, implies the business to evenly pay the individuals without any discrimination of gender. Another act carried out in 1974 advises the organization to provide the employees a safe and healthy working environment. The least wage act integrated by the UK government in 1998, bound all the enterprises not to pay less than 3. 59 pounds each hour.
Office of Trading (OFT) is responsible for maintain a healthy competition in the market and also to ensure that no corporation can create its monopoly. The fair trading take action was integrated in 1973 under which Office of Trading can suggest that business to MMC (Monopolies & Mergers Percentage which is available to be chagrin high prices form the buyer or performing such activities that are against the interest of open public. Office of Trading can also set the price roof in order to remove the monopolistic behaviour of the organizations.
