Career management unlike other phases, is a continuous process that occurs throughout one's career and not just at discrete times…it is a philosophy and set of habits that will enable you to achieve career goals and develop career resiliency…" (Berkeley HR).
The value of effective HRM practices within any organization is well-known and wide ranging, according to a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Computer Information. Competent, consistently presented HRM strategies include offering "…training programs, incentive systems, employee participation, clearly defined jobs, internal career opportunities, and selectivity practices" (Lee, et al., 2009). Employee participation, when HRM professionals fully utilize this model, can be viewed as the degree to which any company "…values the inputs and voices of the employees" (Lee, 84).
The value that HRM professionals place on employee participation should be significant albeit not every company encourages employee participation to the degree that it should. This paper presents scholarship relating to HR training and career development that evolve through HR training.
HR Training and Employees' Careers
When scholars and researchers talk about how HR managers and executives can improve an organization through quality employee training, they don't necessarily refer to an employee's career beyond the specific company they now are employed by. However, any training received through HR programs provided by a company is actually giving that employee a career boost that is significant. As far as careers, any position with any company is putting an employee on a career path; and although the next position that employee might accept with another company (whether in the same field of not) may not be similar, what was learned through training at the previous company should be seen as beneficial knowledge and experience.
Theresa Welbourne was exactly and succinctly correct when she wrote that the field of human resource management is not only at "the core" of any business organization, it has validity because its objective is about "optimizing people's contributions" to their company and to their own futures (i.e., careers) (Welbourne, 2012). Those contributions to companies should be coming from all executives, managers, and from every individual employee, Welbourne asserts. Moreover, every employee no matter what level he or she operates within should be receiving training from human resources.
The reason Welbourne gives for the importance of training and giving attention to valid contributions from employees is that "…ultimately, the individual employee is responsible for his/her own career, talent development, work relations, and non-work experiences" (Welbourne, 309). No doubt about it -- people and relationships are as important as anything else in a business milieu, Welbourne continues. But since HRM is so vitally important, why, Welbourne asks, is HRM one of the "least popular functions" in any organization?
Welbourne suggests that there is a need for HR to speed up its processes, and to improve the organizational performance of employees. This is not a new notion, but Welbourne claims that though the use of "agile and extreme" computer programming work and IT tools, HRM researchers can learn "what is not working" in HR and make the changes that can push HR practitioners to the next level (Welbourne, 310).
She insists that HR practitioners are in a perfect position to develop new tools for HR efficiency and effectiveness because HR professionals are nearly always the ones that lead "change management efforts" (Welbourne, 310). The bottom line for Welbourne in this editorial in Human Resource Management (she is stepping down as editor-in-chief) is that research should go into what isn't working, not just on what is working.
HRM and Informational Technologies (IT) -- Improving Management Training
Meanwhile Chei Sian Lee and colleague take a position similar to Welbourne's, and that is, Information Technologies can be and should be embraced by HR managers in order to positively impact the skills and behaviors of the workforce. Lee points out that HRM practices influence the "innovation and adoption" of Information Technologies, albeit few if any HRM strategies in companies focus on the relationship between IT and employee empowerment and training (Lee, 83). Because HRM practices have a direct impact on the attitudes and behaviors of employees, it is important for HR departments to get up to speed with the application of IT applications vis-a-vis employee training.
Why is IT important in terms of employee training and ultimately employee careers? Lee explains that IT allows employees to "perform tasks at a higher level" and to assume duties and responsibilities they hitherto had not been involved with (83). Moreover, companies that use internal IT resources are more likely to "…enhance the effect of clear job definition…"...
It is a safe assumption that creative employees are better able to learn and put what they have learned to positive use for a company, whether in China, the UK, India, the U.S. Or elsewhere.
Meanwhile, a peer-reviewed article in The International Journal of Human Resource Management reflects how employee creativity can be enhanced in companies in China. The authors crunched the numbers in their research of 106 companies in China, and determined that the data shows that four HMR practices -- hiring and selection; reward; job design; and teamwork -- were "positively related to employee creativity" (Jiang, 2012). However "training and performance appraisal" were not related to employee creativity, Jiang explained (4026).
Clearly the salient point of this research article is that when firms hire employees with a "high level of creative capability," and when firms offer certain training programs and "re-design reward systems," by doing so they "encourage and reinforce employees' creative behaviors" (Jiang, 4026). By hiring and training intelligent and creative employees, HRM can expect those employees to bring "organizational innovation" to the company, Jiang continues.
There are three reasons that the authors of this article focused on China, when it comes to examining the importance of how creative workforces can beef up a company's bottom line in the marketplace. First, in China there has been an "accelerated rate of economic growth and social development"; along with that rapid economic growth, "dramatic developments" have emerged in strategic HMR practices (Jiang, 4026). Number two, the national government in China considers that "innovation" in the workplace one of the three top priorities (along with harmony and entrepreneurship). And the third reason that strategic HRM practices have developed in China is because of the influence brought into China by Western companies; that is, firms from Western Europe and the United States have established manufacturing in China and have stimulated "employee creativity and organizational innovation" (Jiang, 4026).
Just what is creativity in the context of HMR, and why is it important? Jiang explains that creativity in a business context is "the production of novel and useful ideas by an individual or a small group of people working together" (4027). And while creativity is a way of developing new and unique ideas for a company, innovation is "…the intentional introduction and application of new ideas, processes, products or procedures" (Jiang, 4027).
The author makes clear that even though creative workers are on the job, they still need to be motivated. According to the "social exchange theory" when creative employees perceive that management has a "high-commitment HRM system" in place, they get a positive jolt of motivation, which enhances their creative energy (Jiang, 4027). That enhanced creative energy can then be turned into innovative ideas to help the company.
There are four kinds of innovation, Jiang writes on page 4027: a) product innovation (the capacity to make and market new products or services); b) process innovation (new infrastructure and likely new technologies); c) organizational innovation (this involves the upgrading of activities within the organization including creative changes in management, marketing, purchases, sales and staff policy); and d) market innovation (this is what Jiang refers to as "exploitation of territorial areas" and "penetration of market segments") (4027).
SWOT Analysis of North Carolina State University Training Program
Strengths: North Carolina State University (NCSU) Cooperative Extension service offers a four-step program for training new employees in the feed mill on campus. The first step lists all the categories a student should be familiar with prior to getting into the program. It also points to what to expect the first day, all about the regulations, the safety issues (what OSHA requires, like fire retardant cotton instead of polyester, which catches fire quickly), and all the topics related to avoiding injury (which also means there is a liability issue even in the training period).
Weaknesses: The training materials don't refer to what kind of person the extension service is looking for, or what kind of experience would prepare a person to enter into the training program.
Opportunities: Whether a person is qualified for training in this program or not, there is an educational opportunity here to learn…
