Importance of Workforce Development

Developing people and high performance is a staffing function that every organization needs to adopt. It involves making sure that people are valuable additions to the workforce. This involves a thorough analysis of the human resource department. Human resource planning is now a key responsibility of any organization. This is because organizations are now facing a rapidly changing workforce. This is due to the increased globalization of cultures and of all aspects of life in general, systems that are more digitalized and more use of social media. The workplace and the business, in general, are changing. Business demand and expectations are changing rapidly. The research is based on the manner in which organizations can improve the performance of the workforce and make necessary changes so that improvement in the quality of work can be made. At the same time, the report provides a personal reflection that highlights the importance of workforce development. The ways by which workforce development can take place is highlighted in the assignment.

Organizations need to develop their workforce to adapt and sustain their activities in this world of rapidly changing technology that has increased competition immensely (Turmusani, 2018). These changes are now an opportunity to rethink how to change the leadership, how to develop the workforce talents and retain it for high performance in the organization. Organizations must be ready to change its mindset of how it perceived things and a change in its behavior that will help direct, inspire, motivate and engage the workforce. This topic ideally involves better ways of reasoning in an organization to come up with the best methods of ensuring high productivity in an organization.

I personally believe that the above question is very important and applies to both small and big organizations. As stated by de Waal and de Haas (2018) it is necessary to gain practical experience so that the functioning of workforce can take place. After working in a small hotel close to my home, I came to understand the importance of workforce development. The hotel was located close to another big hotel and yet could make a lot of sales daily. This success brought many questions to people who doubted whether the development was genuine. However, the management of the hotel focused on workforce development using different strategies. They would motivate us through awards and simple promotions. This motivated us to work even harder towards the success of the hotel. In addition, the manager brought with him different business experts who would train us on how to address customers. The appointment of trained personnel can help in providing more knowledge about the manner in which customers can be approached as well as spoken to (Buchanan & McCalman, 2018). This allowed the company to acquire more customers and therefore more sales. I believe that the workforce of an organization is a great determinant of the success of an organization. Therefore, the organization should focus on developing it for better performances.

Ways to Develop Workforce Performance

 After critically evaluating different articles on workforce development, the following issues came up. As stated by Deep et al. (2017) development of workforce in an organization can be made by following various ways of continuing with the flow of work. Some of them are analyzed further in the assignment. In addition, Humphreys et al. (2017) is of the opinion that change in the leadership style in an organization was recommended as one of the greatest steps towards workforce development.

There are several ways that an organization can develop their workforce performance in the organization (Moore, McDonald, & Bartlett, 2018). One way is by changing the approach to leadership that an organization uses. It may involve changing from one leadership to another depending on what suits the workforce and their job performance the most. For example, an organization may opt to change from an autocratic style of leadership where the executive only makes decisions to a participative style where even subordinates have the authority to make decisions. When all workers are actively involved in making decisions, it helps in attaining their co-operation in achieving organizational goals (Hafford?Letchfield, et al 2018). When all workers including the subordinates feel part of the organization, performance will increase hence increasing productivity. Allowing all workers to have a certain authority in making decisions is also a way of developing them in terms of how they think and what they do in solving problems instead of waiting for the executive to make all decisions and solve all the problems. A good leadership style also assures the workforce of their jobs which is key to retaining the developed employees and this gives a business a clear direction.

Providing career opportunities for growth is also another way of developing the workforce and it eventually leads to high performance. Fortunately, in the current world, the tools for personal growth by the workforce are a requirement for every organization and should be available 24/7. Depending on the employees’ level of motivation, some will require the opportunities for advancement, which is to acquire skills useful for the job that may also lead to promotions. Others may require the opportunities to fulfil their social needs (Bunn, et al 2017). Whatever the case, the employees are pleased when they know that these opportunities exist and they can have them when a need arises. These opportunities are very crucial to an employee during his career life and hence serve as a motivational tool that increases performance.

Leadership Style Change

Training sessions to better the employees on their field of work is another important factor in developing the employees and hence ensuring high performance in the organization. To train is to improve a skill or ability. Organizations should ensure that they have policies on training including management support that is, a training budget to facilitate the training. Training should be a process that is done in an orderly manner (Humphreys, et al 2017). A company should make sure that training is compatible with the goals of the organization. It must also consider the employees’ interests, availability and willingness prior to the training sessions. Organizations should also be familiar with the training needs of the employees. The organization should also have conducted a proper performance appraisal to train on the identified ambitions. Training is a heavy task that faces several challenges. It is very costly as lengthy procedures are involved in preparing for the training sessions. The acquisition of the necessary equipment for training and the labour is quite expensive (Jonas, 2018). Having a time horizon for the actual training to take place is also very difficult as employees may not be readily available. However, the disadvantages of training cannot be matched with the advantages. One training for example employees who use computers helps them to stay up to date with the new technology as technology keeps changing. Training equips the employees with the necessary skills to perform their jobs effectively and increases general knowledge and understanding of the total environment. Training plays a key role in promoting greater organizational efficiency and flexibility to adapt to the changing demands of the external business world (de Waal, & de Haas, 2018). Training has also helped increase productivity and has led to reduced cost in the organization, as workers are more efficient in their work.

Better rewards for the workforce or rather the financial incentive for the workers is an indirect way of developing the employees. It serves as a motivation to individuals because money can be used to solve many problems. Individuals strive to become the best to earn improved monetary compensation. As they strive to become better, they gain more skills that contribute to a good performance of their tasks (Macdonald, Burke, & Stewart, 2017). Workers are so much concerned about the monetary compensation they get as it helps to satisfy their physiological, security and egoistic needs. What workers take home at the end of the day is their major concern. Therefore, financial incentive plays a key role indirectly in developing the workers. As they strive to earn more they become better at what they do hence high performance in an organization (Buchanan, & McCalman, 2018).

Providing Career Opportunities

Talent acquisition and retention is another major way of developing the staff and ensuring high performance in an organization. We have clearly seen that organizations are evolving in an ever-evolving industry; therefore, organizations have to come up with better strategies of acquiring and retaining talents that suit each job in the organization well (Ahmed, Siantonas, & Siantonas, 2017). Talent acquisition refers to strategic efforts by an organization to source for qualified personnel, build relationships with them and hence persuade them to bring in their special and unique skills to your company. A strategy is meant to attract the best and most intelligent person to work for your company. If you successfully acquire the personnel who are so much qualified then you need you to come up with a way of retaining the personnel. An organization should then create a conducive working environment that makes the employees feel useful to the organization. Honesty and integrity should be adhered to so as to create a good impression to the employees and make them stay. Objectives and expectations of the organization should be clear so that the employees have a clear direction to where they are headed to (Deep, et al 2017). This is an important factor in retaining the employees. The employees should also know of the room for advancement that is available in your company.

 High-performance organizations should have a culture that involves common and shared values and openness in goals, that is transparency, information that flows freely and easily and feedback and rewarding skills and performance of works and not the position of an individual in the organization. This is essential in creating well-focused teams in an organization that is able to accomplish projects more easily. This will, however, be achieved if there is constant change in leadership from the traditional hierarchies to workers working as a connected team (Rijamampianina, & Carmichael, 2018). Therefore, a change in how people think about leadership development is necessary.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear that the global business landscape is changing. This means a lot to all business or organizational leaders. It means that they can no longer continue to function under the old methods. Their mindset must now shift to embrace the new ways of thinking. They should focus on; their businesses, leadership, culture, talents available and how to approach the transformations. The leaders need to come up with better ways of developing their staff to be able to sustain their activities and productivity in this rapidly changing business world. It is not an easy task for any organization to adjust to new ways of doing things but it is very beneficial if one has to stay in business. The various factors discussed in the essay are very important in ensuring that the workforce is well developed for better performance. Use of a suitable leadership style that is best for the organization, talent acquisition and retention, career opportunities for growth of the employees, training of the employees, better rewards for the employees and actual leadership development are very essential for the workers’ development and high performance in the organization.

References

Ahmed, A., Siantonas, G., & Siantonas, N. (2017). The 13 key performance indicators for highly effective teams. Routledge.

Buchanan, D. A., & McCalman, J. (2018). High-performance work systems: The digital experience. Routledge.

Bunn, F., Burn, A. M., Robinson, L., Poole, M., Rait, G., Brayne, C., … & Goodman, C. (2017). Healthcare organisation and delivery for people with dementia and comorbidity: a qualitative study exploring the views of patients, carers and professionals. BMJ Open, 7(1), e013067.

de Waal, A., & de Haas, J. (2018). Longitudinal research into the effects of the high-performance organisation framework: The case of NEH Philippines. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 67(6), 985-999.

Deep, S., Khan, M. B., Ahmad, S., & Saeed, A. (2017). A study of various factors affecting contractor’s performance in lowest bid award construction projects. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(2).

Hafford?Letchfield, T., Simpson, P., Willis, P. B., & Almack, K. (2018). Developing inclusive residential care for older lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people: An evaluation of the Care Home Challenge action research project. Health & social care in the community, 26(2), e312-e320.

Humphreys, J., Wakerman, J., Kuipers, P., Russell, D., Siegloff, S., Homer, K., & Wells, R. (2017). Improving workforce retention: Developing an integrated logic model to maximise the sustainability of small rural and remote health care services.

Jonas, A. (2018). An assessment of the feasibility of incorporating culture intelligence as a workforce management tool within a cultural diversified organisation: a case study on Etihad Airways (Doctoral dissertation, Cardiff Metropolitan University).

Macdonald, I., Burke, C., & Stewart, K. (2017). Systems leadership: Creating positive organisations. Routledge.

Moore, K., McDonald, P., & Bartlett, J. (2018). Emerging trends affecting future employment opportunities for people with intellectual disability: The case of a large retail organisation. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 43(3), 328-338.

Rijamampianina, R., & Carmichael, T. (2018). General Issues in Management. Management, 3, 1.

Turmusani, M. (2018). Disabled people and economic needs in the developing world: A political perspective from Jordan. Routledge.