Every entrepreneur desire to see his business succeed in the current trading world. People are a vital element of business success. However, in the contemporary world, entrepreneurs neglect the presence of the people as they view it as expensive and consuming a lot of people. The company’s success depends on continuous, effective teamwork and communication rather than just one person’s influence. Stone et al., 2020 view human resource management as an individual approach to employment management that seeks to acquire a competitive advantage in a cutthroat environment. She does this by integrating various cultural, structural, and personnel strategies. A human resource manager is in charge of the human resource management department. HRM includes hiring, selecting, planning, controlling, managing, learning, and resourcing. A subpar human resource manager contributes to a weak human resources management division. HRM’s primary goal is to ensure that an organization’s and its employees’ goals are satisfactorily achieved. The organization considers the employees’ goals and needs when defining its HR objectives. Realize the entire organization’s goals, which is done by fusing the management’s and workers’ interests.
Different firms face different human resource management issues such as learning and development, engaging learners, and delivering consistent training and leadership. Fusion Electric Company is no exception as it also faces human resource issues mentioned. Since new complexities frequently arise during business operations, learning is an essential part of the corporate environment. Without continual learning and development programs, employees may experience several uncertainties that may reduce the quantity and quality of their output. Commercial and nonprofit organizations could not properly carry out their intended activities, maximize strengths and opportunities, and minimize threats and weaknesses without the appropriate knowledge and abilities. The HR division is in charge of L&D activities, which are crucial in various parts of the firm. The personnel and managers learn how to do their duties efficiently through this process, giving the company a competitive advantage. In contrast, employees’ lack of clarity and limited skill sets will always affect how well they complete the tasks specified in their job descriptions and other functional areas. For this reason, managers and organizational leaders, particularly those in the human resources division, develop strategies that encourage organizational learning within the firm.
A critical overview of learning and development
Employees have different motives which drive them. These motives are both individualistic and collective. The theory of Herzberg’s two-factor theory states that the working environment for employees plays a vital role in defining the employee’s performance and output in the organization. Simply put, it is significant for the leadership and management to evaluate their employee’s needs based on both collective and individual levels to help them fulfil their intended tasks. The risk of staff members losing motivation to work increases if the company incorrectly conducts needs for employee assessments (Alshmemri et al., 2017). This could compromise the organization’s objective. The workforce team needs knowledge, skills, and a high level of competence for the tasks to be carried out successfully and satisfactorily for the firm. When employees this a bit problematic and challenging, they may fail to bring the desired outcome and trigger the need for learning and development, translating to the lack of the necessary skills and competencies (Darling-Hammond,2020). In such situations, the learning and development experts’ role is to help employees achieve the organizational goals by helping them improve their skills and knowledge. A perfect scenario in a company is assumed to achieve the desired goals and performance simply because the staff has the relevant skills and knowledge at their fingertips.
According to constructivist theory, the learners ought to be involved in active training programs to construct their skills and knowledge to help them achieve organizational goals. The foundation of this approach is the notion that interaction with the outside world is the best way for people to learn. Therefore, empirical personal experiences are used from what people understand and how they apply this understanding in their day-to-day lives (Harasim, 2017). The learning process is conditioned by various factors that depend on the learner’s life experience. The results of learning are improved competence, skills, and knowledge. The human resource manager overseeing the training process relies on the knowledge learners have acquired during their employment and enforces the acquisition of new information through direct participation of the participants. The learning process incorporates l strategies like “asking questions, exploring, conversing with others, and reassessing” prior information (Harasim, 2017, p. 11). Employees are therefore capable of independent learning, continual performance development, and dedication to the organization’s advantages.
According to the cconnectivism theory, linkages between them must be made to increase the trustworthiness of multiple sources of information. Additionally, it is crucial to connect various parties involved in comparable pursuits to facilitate fruitful idea and experience exchange. Technology and computing devices are essential for this theory to successfully enhance connectivism since they guarantee a learner’s connection to the sources of information and other participants in the process. The availability of learning materials in digital form expands a worker’s possibilities for acquiring new theoretical and practical knowledge. A person who participates in social networking also develops their capacity for critical analysis, social inclusion, and independent validation of the accuracy of information (Harasim, 2017). Developing employee network cooperation skills is crucial for organizations where team performance is a top priority since it boosts teamwork efficiency.
In globalization, there is technological change every moment; thus, the learning and development team must establish ways and techniques to cope with technological changes. The company must implement training and learning programs that would assist the employee in obtaining the necessary skills to help them manage the new technology since when there are changes in technology innovation, the employees may not be able to maximize their production. Most of the technical training employees receive as part of their degree is no longer applicable a few years after graduation (Illeris,2018). The use of technology in the workplace must be planned for by learning and development teams. Fusion Electric Company may be interested in digital adoption solutions due to the company’s continued investment in technology to improve service delivery methods. These platforms offer on-screen help capabilities that could speed up introducing users to new software.
Additionally, L&D faces the challenge of training its staff in a hybrid workplace (Tomlinson & Masuhara,2017). During the covid 19 pandemic, most the firms, including Walmart, were catalyzed by changing working practices for good. The employees were practicing remoting working, resulting in the workplace becoming fragmented. Learning programs had to implement to cope with the changes. The core issue is that studying from home should be as easy for employees as learning from the office or a training facility. In addition, collaborative learning must be managed so that teams can train simultaneously from many locations as necessary. Line managers and team leaders must also have the skills to motivate and assist employees and design effective systems for monitoring the work.
The composition of labor markets is fundamentally altering due to automation, globalization, and digitization. For instance, Fusion Electric Company projects that by 2030, more than 2.3 million of the individuals it currently employs will likely lose their employment. Due to the considerable current issues, as a result, it is now more crucial than ever to upskill and reskill the workforce. The OECD has defined the effect of Covid as “a tsunami on top of broader economic, social, and demographic developments already changing local labour markets” combined with this. Creating new abilities is essential to organizations’ and individuals’ ability to continuously adapt to these changes to thrive. Finding skills gaps and introducing new training programs will be a big challenge for learning and development teams in 2021 and the coming years.
Learning and development issues facing Fusion Electric Company
Leadership development is Fusion Electric Company’s main issue with its human resources. The company’s HR department may have neglected the requirement for training and development to develop its workers and leaders, which resulted in the company’s negative effects due to some executives’ actions (Dirani et al., 2020). Like other businesses, Fusion Company’s HR division has bought into the fallacy that executives do not require the same level of training and development as other employees. This is clear from the fact that the company’s leaders also served as the firm’s owner while drafting the proposal that led to its bankruptcy even though it had the best product. Hence the HR department fails in training, learning, and development, contributing to adverse implications for the firm. The company also struggles with an unsuitable work environment, which can put its operations in danger. The resource department’s job is maintaining a productive workplace (Yawson, 2019).
The company also has a personnel distribution issue. Like other businesses, Fusion Company was required to cooperate with the World Health Organization steps to stop the spread of the COVID 19 pandemic. Reducing the workforce’s size and allowing some to work remotely are a few solutions. As a result of decentralization brought on by employees working remotely and from home, the company found it challenging to perform learning and development processes. Training can be difficult with a geographically scattered workforce, leading to misunderstandings and cultural differences that inconsistently affect learning and development. For instance, certain cultures are more reluctant than others to express their opinions on internet forums. Additionally, every employee has his or her learning techniques. While training employees, it is necessary to consider the learner preference methods and habits to prevent training issues (Yan et al.,2020). At least three generations are currently in the workforce, and each has a unique relationship with technology. Therefore, training will be less effective if you assume that all your staff are equally tech-savvy or that they all have the same knowledge levels and learning preferences.
Employees and leaders engage in three levels: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. Failure to acknowledge the three mentioned levels, the firm’s performance would be low, and there would be poor knowledge retention, passive learning, and poor commitment that would lead to problems in training and development. Additionally, behavioral change is not possible without active learning. Most students “drop out” emotionally and mentally of training that they feel is unnecessary or meaningless and refuse to participate.
Training is an expensive activity because of the price of facilitators, materials, facility rents, and compensating staff for their time (those hours add up!). Despite the constant high demand for training, charges are frequently not prohibitively expensive. Including travel and software costs in a tight budget makes training and development difficulties more challenging (Yan et al.,2020). Many training programs are overly broad and insufficiently customized for specific positions or skills. Unfortunately, by forcing learners to deal with irrelevant content, generic training can put their patience, and attention spans strained. You can expect that this will result in brand-new training challenges.
Conclusion
Today, employees are the most valuable resource a company or organization may have, making their effective and efficient creation essential to gaining a competitive edge over rival companies. Businesses have initiated training initiatives to enhance current skills and teach new staff members to make this achievable. They will be able to retain their business and stand out from the competition. The learning and development process can be explained using various theories such as behavioral, connectivism, and connectivism. According to constructivist theory, the learners should participate actively in training programs to build their skills and knowledge to accomplish organizational goals. The idea that engagement with the outside world is the best way for people to learn is the cornerstone of this strategy. The learning and development team must develop strategies for coping with these changes because technology is constantly changing due to globalization. The organization must set up training and learning programs that would allow the employee to acquire the necessary skills to help them manage the new technology, as employees might not be able to maximize their output when there are changes in technology innovation.
Recommendation
As this pertains to the first HR issue identified, the first advice is for human resources at Fusion Electric Company to create a training and development plan that considers all employees in the organization (Yawson, 2019). The company’s executives should be given importance during this learning, growth, and development process, as it seems that the company’s current strategies offer them the least attention. This organization’s leaders are to be developed via training and development into strong leaders who can lead Fusion Electric toward achieving its goals. Human resources integration of training and development at the senior level of Fusion Electric Company will also aid in adopting best practices across the entire organization. Simply said, involving all organization personnel in training and development strategies would encourage all internal stakeholders to uphold the corporate culture of the business, a factor that will favorably affect its success.
The company will have established the necessary protocols and taught all employees to follow them, thus, adhering to a better corporate culture will prevent actions like the owner’s from occurring (Yawson, 2019). There are two answers to the suggestion that training, and development be implemented at the organizational leadership or executive level. These include strengthening the organization’s executives for increased effectiveness and establishing a strong corporate culture that aids in attaining organizational objectives. Additionally, the firm human resource management team may incorporate practical learning activities such as scenarios and role play during the learning process. Employee cognitive engagement is increased by the process, which includes them in active problem-solving. Learners can communicate informally in discussion forums and informal live online environments, encouraging workers to develop emotional connections with their coworkers and the training process. To boost behavioral engagement, the company should explain learning outcomes upfront. If employees know the purpose behind the learning activities, they are more inclined to engage in them.
To enhance a good learning and development process, I recommend the firm conduct a needs analysis focusing on identifying the employees’ learning preferences. Choosing software that is a user-friendly interface. Gaining expertise in navigating diverse technological challenges is advantageous to all employees. For instance, downloading a job is now straightforward. The widening of the lines of communication makes it simpler for the staff to ask questions and receive assistance with content and technical matters by using tools like discussion forums. Use various resources, including textual notes, drawings, and videos to accommodate various learning preferences.
References
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Darling-Hammond, L., Flook, L., Cook-Harvey, C., Barron, B., & Osher, D. (2020). Implications for educational practice of the science of learning and development. Applied developmental science, 24(2), 97-140.
Dirani, K. M., Abadi, M., Alizadeh, A., Barhate, B., Garza, R. C., Gunasekara, N., … & Majzun, Z. (2020). Leadership competencies and the essential role of human resource development in times of crisis: a response to Covid-19 pandemic. Human Resource Development International, 23(4), 380-394.
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Stone, R. J., Cox, A., & Gavin, M. (2020). Human resource management. John Wiley & Sons.
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Yawson, R. M. (2019, March). Human Resource Development and Executive Leadership Succession Planning in Nonprofits. In Proceedings of the 56th Annual Eastern Academy of Management Conference (pp. 1-16).
