Human Resources Development (HRD) Needs Analysis. Description: Essay

Human Resources Development (HRD) Needs Analysis. Description: You obtain information directly uploaded material ( slides voice recording / upload audio file) HRD Manager official website company information provide company, strategy, current issues future plans assessment.

Human resource development issues at RACQ Australia

As the workplace changes, RACQ must also change and place more emphasis on the development of its staff members. The identified problems include an increased attention on customers and a decreased attention on employees, a complex working schedule and an increased workload of adjacent services. It is as such recommended for the company to focus more on its employees and seek a balance between customer and staff orientation, to engage the employees in the schedule construction and to differentiate the tasks assigned based on skills.

Table of contents

Introduction

Purpose of the report

Issues

Research methods

Significance of the project

52. Literature review

52.1. Customer centric business

62.2. Difficult working schedules

72.3. Adjacent tasks

73. The issues at RACQ

73.1. Customer centric business

83.2. Difficult working schedules

83.3. Adjacent tasks

94. Conclusions and recommendations

94.1. Summary of findings

94.2. Recommendations

94.2.1. Employee focus

104.2.2. Difficult working schedules

104.2.3. Adjacent tasks

114.3. Limitations

References:

1. Introduction

The modern day business community is being severely impacted by numerous forces in the micro and macro environments, such as changing roles of the employees, increasing powers of the customers or rapidly evolving technologies. At the level of the employees, these are no longer the force operating the machines, but they are the creators of intellectual capital and the ones which generate customer satisfaction. They as such became the most valuable resources within firms (Hickman, 2005). In such a setting, it becomes more imperative for the firms to place an increased emphasis on their management of the human resources.

1.1. Purpose of the report

The purpose of this current report is that of identifying three organisational issues within RACQ and assessing their implications on the development of the human resources within the firm. These issues would be addressed at the theoretical level, as well as the practical level within the company. Finally, recommendations would be forwarded on how to best approach these issues and further support human resource development.

1.2. Issues

RACQ strives to promote the interests and well-being of motorcyclists in Queensland and they have created a community of 1.2 million members who enjoy a series of financial and non-financial benefits as part of their agreements with the company. The reputation of the firm is powerful and its market position is also stable, yet there are some issues which generate negative impacts upon the development of the staff members. And the decreased development and satisfaction of the employees subsequently translates into poor quality services and low customer satisfaction (Allen and Wilburn, 2002). In such a setting then, it is important to identify and address these issues. They refer to the following:

Increased emphasis on customers, meaning that the business is customer centric

24-hour service provision, translated into the need for the staff members to work around the clock schedules

The provision of adjacent solutions to customers, such as advice and consultancy on legal matters or driver education.

1.3. Research methods

The current project employs the qualitative research method, meaning that it would rely on analyses and observations of situations, rather than statistical computations of numeric figures. The project would utilize both primary and secondary sources of information.

1.4. Significance of the project

The current project has a dual significance, namely a practical one and a theoretical one. At the practical level, the study promotes tailored recommendations for RACQ, based on the specific issues of the company. On the other hand, the study supports the continued support in the research of the modern day complexities of human resource management.

2. Literature review

The literature review section is divided into three different sections, based on the issues identified within RACQ.

2.1. Customer centric business

The modern day society is coming to retrieve more and more of its wealth through the delivery of services, rather than manufacturing, industry or agriculture. In Australia, 71.4 per cent of the gross domestic products is generated by the services sector, and this trend is present at the global level (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012). In such a setting then, in which the material products are less present, the satisfaction of the customers is more important to gain in order to sustain organisational revenues (Hoffman and Bateson).Evangelos Grigoroudis and Yannis Siskos (2009) point out that more and more modern day companies make customer satisfaction their ongoing business objective and strive to organise all operations based on customer satisfaction. This ongoing emphasis on customer satisfaction is also directly linked to the process of continuous improvement and learning within the economic agents. In such a context then, customer satisfaction has become the most important performance indicator within the economic agents:

"In the recent decades, the importance of customer satisfaction for business organisations has been increased. Thus, customer satisfaction measurement is now considered as the most reliable feedback, taking into account that it provides in an effective, direct, meaningful and objective way the customers' preferences and expectations. In this way, customer satisfaction is a baseline standard of performance and a possible standard of excellence for any business organisation" (Grigoroudis and Siskos, 2009).

Erdener Kaynak and Frederic Jallat (2005) find that the organizational orientation towards the satisfaction of customers is more intense that the orientation towards the satisfaction of the employees. The two authors find that there exists no model of employee and customer orientation, but that both are crucial and that it is up to each economic agent to find the balance between customer orientation and employee orientation.

2.2. Difficult working schedules

It is undisputable that the workplace is changing in the modern day business society (Finkelstein, 2004). One important change in this sense is represented by shifting working schedules. The employees of today, willingly or not, have to work longer hours or difficult schedules. They often do this in the desire to gain more financial rewards and also in the hope of professional advancement. Nevertheless, it is also noted that too many changes in the working schedules or too many hours spent working do generate negative effects on the well-being of the individual, and can even impact the quality of the tasks completed (Bach, 2005).

2.3. Adjacent tasks

As the workplace of the modern day environment changes, the tasks assigned to the staff members also change and evolve. The nature of the change is often that of an increase in the number and complexity of the tasks assigned within the workplace, as a result of developing business demands and operations. Also, as the economic agent comes to develop activities with more stakeholders, the nature of the internal tasks will also grow in complexity. In such a setting, the responsibilities of the employees within the firm increase significantly and the connectivity between these tasks and responsibilities also increases. The staff members are as such expected to perform more tasks and also at increased complexity levels, which make the tasks and the employees more dependent on each other (Arup, 2006).

3. The issues at RACQ

3.1. Customer centric business

In the case of the organisational issue of customer centricity of the business operations, this orientation is adequate within the modern day climate of changing industry trends and increasing role of customers. Nevertheless, the specific problem at RACQ is that the company may not have reached the perfect balance between customer orientation and employee orientation. In other words, the company places too little emphasis on the role played by the organisational staff members in the ultimate attainment of the pre-established objectives. The employees as such reveal negative attitudes towards the employer and this negatively impacts their individual performances as well as the overall working environment.

3.2. Difficult working schedules

Within RACQ, the employees are expected to work in shifts -- including the night shift -- in order to provide 24/7 assistance to the members of the organisation. This program often creates dissatisfactions among the employees, as it interferes with their personal life and plans. The staff members are as such dissatisfied and this subsequently generates negative impacts on the level of involvement and quality of their work. The subsequent issue is that these employee dissatisfactions ultimately decrease the company's ability to satisfy its customers (Robbins, 2009).

3.3. Adjacent tasks

Finally, the last issue to be addressed throughout this project is represented by the fact that the organisation provides a series of adjacent services to its customers. Some examples in this sense include the provision of insurance for automobiles and real estate property, travel service, touring information, legal advice or financial services (Website of RACQ, 2012).

The benefit of these items is that they increase customer satisfaction through the.....