Human Capital Development Plan

Human Capital Development Plan

Human capital development equips the human resource component of an organization with adequate skills to serve an organization better. Development of the organization’s human capital is one of the necessary steps that an organization can undertake to enable it to achieve its operating goals and objectives. Through human capital development, the workforce’s competence is enhanced, which leads to more efficiency within the organization in the long run. The development of human capital is meant to bridge the gap between an organization’s current performance and the ideal level. There are key performance indicators that an organization has regarding the operations that its employees undertake in their daily activities. To enable the employees to achieve their goals regarding their performance, the organization needs to have a plan to improve their performance. There are numerous options that an organization can choose. The option chosen depends on the skills to be acquired, the resources available for the organization, and the organizational culture associated with an organization (Pasban et al., 2016).  Staff not meeting their targets and the organization falling short of its objectives is the performance problem. Therefore, there is a need for a personal development plan for the organization to perform better through its employees’ efforts. In light of the air force has limited resources, it is essential to make sure the people work harder to achieve performance targets despite their inadequate resources.

In this case, the human resource development plan that will be adopted by the organization is one with educational intervention and evaluation. That is an educational plan which is based on educating the employees in multiple aspects that determine their effectiveness in an organization. The education and training are meant to enable the employees to achieve better performance and cover for the lack of adequate resources. That is common in the air force, because of the bureaucracy that surrounds the entire process of obtaining additional resources. Furthermore, the government allocates a fixed amount of resources, which makes it a challenge to obtain additional resources.  Education can be undertaken internally by the human resource department or outsourced to experts that can oversee the implementation of various activities within the organization. In the long run, the employees will gain multiple forms of competencies that they can use to enhance their performance levels. Educating employees is one of the most effective ways of human capital development; because it forms the basis of developing more skills for the employees. It works perfectly for the air force because of the limited resources, because with education, there can be multiskilling; which makes the employees more competent and effective in more than one way. Furthermore, the employees can take charge of their learning, become motivated, and be more effective in serving the organization. There is an evaluation of what the employees have learned over the specified period after the education phase. The assessment is meant to gauge the training and development suitability through education that the employees have gained. Based on the evaluation, there can be recommendations regarding the effectiveness of the human capital development engagement undertaken by the organization.

Literature Review

Bolman & Deal (2017) highlight various principles that can be used to empower the human resource component in an organization. They are in the form of the guidelines which drive employees in an organization to become better over time. When they are followed, they will enable the better training and development of the employees in an organization. First, there is investing in employees. The investment, in this case, is through learning. Employees should be exposed to new knowledge that will enable them to perform better in the various roles they are assigned in an organization. Furthermore, there is the principle of empowering the human component of the organization. Here, support and information are vital resources. The employees should be exposed to new and constructive knowledge, which will help them be more competent. Furthermore, there should be managerial support to enable the employees to empower themselves. Encouragement of participation and autonomy is the other option, whereby the employees control employees’ effectiveness on their own, at their convenience. The different human resource principle is building and implementing a human resource strategy. Developing and sharing a clear philosophy and nurturing systems are instrumental in enabling an organization to achieve its objectives through its employees.

Hall (2008) creates a guideline on the improvement of workforce performance, which is meant to improve the quality of performances they engage in at the workplace. Various drivers are highlighted, which are responsible for enhancing performance in organizations. The drivers need to be improved or used to make employees more productive at their places of work. In the long run, there will be significant benefits for both the employees and the organization. That will enable the achievement of goals and objectives that are set by management. Some drivers are directly associated with educational intervention within the organization. In this case, they are consistent with the educational response, which is of interest. First, there should be a building and nurture of knowledge among the managers in an organization. The managers are responsible for the oversight of performance among employees. When managers are knowledgeable, that will translate into better instruction among the employees, enabling them to perform better in their respective capacities. Moreover, there is an understanding of performance standards that are to be used in the organization. That can be made possible by equipping the employees with skills to enable them to perform better. Cultivating fairness and accuracy in performance feedback is the other driver, based on the skills learned by the organization’s employees. There are other bottom drivers, such as forced ranking, emphasis on appraisals, and frequent changes. Those are inconsistent with educational intervention in the development of human capital.

Human capital development has to include a well-defined structure to enable it to achieve the targeted objectives. That is because the social component in an organization is essential. After all, it is in charge of actualizing the goals and objectives that an organization has. There should be structures in place, deliverables, and timelines that an organization should adhere to strictly for success. In the long run, a workforce is equipped with relevant skills to perform according to the managerial team’s preferences. For the administrative team to be at its best, there is the need for a human capital development plan, which will guide the organization in various ways. Without the program, human capital development will lack direction, and the chances of failure will be high in the long run. In this case, the plan is meant to address the issue of inadequate resources in the air force. There is a need to work harder, but the resources available are insufficient. Therefore, employees need to be trained and developed, along with a well-structured human capital development plan. The plan will equip them with more skills and enhance the perfection of the skills they have, which will cover up for the resource deficiency that is being faced by the air force.

Plan Outline

For the plan to have a desirable effect on the air force, there are specific deliverables that will need to be incorporated. In this case, they fall into two major groups, which will be the basis of the human capital development plan that the organization will use. First, there will be strategies that will target the leaders in the organization. That will have an effect of enabling them to have a better undertaking involving their planning, controlling, organizing, and coordinating of activities. The second aspect of the plan includes the entire workforce, which is meant to strengthen the other employees to enable them to perform better in their assigned roles. When the leadership and employees are adequately trained, they will be more capable of achieving better performance despite the limitation of resources.

Leadership- Enhancing Leadership Growth

The first aspect under the leadership goals in the human capital development plan is the strengthening of supervisory skills. Supervision entails overseeing the activities that are done by the junior staff in an organization. When there are inadequate resources, there is a need for the air force to supervise the employees using the best ways that enhance productivity. The leadership is tasked with making sure the employees perform their tasks according to the guidelines set. For the leaders or managers to better implement the supervisory role, they need to be competent in what they are supposed to do. To enhance their competence, there is a need to educate them in the best ways to supervise the employees. The teaching of the leaders regarding supervision is best done through education by external parties. The role is to be outsourced to professionals who are meant to educate the organization leaders about the supervisory tactics that work best for the employees. The education should be an ongoing undertaking because the leaders have to be guided. It depends on the reception of information by the employees in the organization.

The other part of the plan is about expanding the professional development of the leaders in the organization. There are multiple choices regarding the professional development of the leaders in an organization. The options can be in-house to involve outside parties. Regarding in-house professional development, there is an example of mentorship. That is whereby the senior leaders in the organization take charge of the development of the junior employees through overseeing the skills they have in the organization. They can educate the other leaders on how to manage better performance based on their experience regarding how to achieve better performance. The other option is through the organization sponsoring the education of the managerial team. Multiple professional courses are available for managers. The courses expose the leaders to an array of better practices and competencies. The leaders can use education to enhance change in the organization, hence achieve better results in the long run.

Educating the leaders on strategies to strengthen employee engagement is another option for the organization’s human capital development plan. Development, evaluation, and support of programs meant to enhance employee engagement with management are critical to the organization’s success. With better engagement, there will be better communication within the organization. The better the communication, the better the leadership instruction and achievement of goals and objectives by the organization. The education of leaders on employee engagement can be done in-house or by outsourcing the function to other professionals. In-house, it can be overseen by more experienced members of the organization, majorly through mentorship. The leaders will educate the less experienced counterparts on how to engage with employees in a better way. In the long run, human capital development in the organization will achieve better results.

People –Strengthening the Workforce

There are various options that the organization can choose regarding improving human capital development concerning the employees specifically. That can be done through education, coupled with the evaluation of the results that are achieved during and at the end of the process. First, there is support for the career development of employees within the organization. The employees can be equipped with professional skills that can improve their work quality through the organization’s education programs. The type of education that the employees are given should be based on the organization’s goals and current practices in the job market. Information technology and adaptability should be the key drivers of the education the employees are equipped with. The organization can develop a set of priorities along which the employees can be developed. Furthermore, there are other options outside the organization; in terms of courses, the employees can take to improve themselves professionally.

In the air force, incorporating multiskilling in the human capital development plan is essential. The employees can be equipped with many skills, which will enable them to serve in different capacities. For example, an accountant can serve as a secretary because some roles overlap. Multiskilling can be supported by education and professional development, which enhances skill development among the workers. When there is multiskilling in an organization, there can be normal operations, even with inadequate resources. One employee can oversee more than one operation when their competency is improved based on the human capital development plan that the organization adopts through training and development. Multiskilling is common in the air force, where a serviceman can be a driver and a physician at the same time. Therefore, the individual can be deployed on missions, and despite the inadequate resources available, there can be a guarantee of quality work. When the resources are limited, the scarce ones available should be put to work in essential operations. The rest can be assigned duties among different operations, for example, sharing offices, equipment, and time schedules. The employees should also be trained along the same line of sharing the resources to make sure their operations are consistent with multiskilling and overall organizational goals.

Supporting new employees in transitioning into the organization’s systems is the other option for human capital development. The organization should make sure employees are trained and developed in the best way; to enhance their productivity within the organization. The employees should be given the skills they need to gain to enable their smooth development and the organization’s preferences from entry-level. The effect that better training through education is that the employees will appreciate the efforts of the organization. The appreciation will translate into better productivity and lower turnover by the organization. The support that the employees receive as they join the organization is instrumental in improving productivity. The support creates an organizational culture that is based on training and developing the employees throughout their time with the organization. In the long run, the employees become more productive through the education, training, and development they received initially.

Consultant’s Summary

There are various challenges that the human capital development plan faces in its implementation. First, is the inadequate nature of the resources that are to be used to enhance the training and development of the employees. To tackle the challenge, there may be the need to source for external financing to enable the organization to educate its employees. The other problem was in the form of adequately motivating the employees to take part in the education and training programs. Establishing a reward system for employees that show better performance from the human capital development can be a form of motivation to solve the issue. Furthermore, there is resistance to change, where some people fear they might become redundant when more skills are introduced among their peers. That can be solved by assuring them of job security and encouraging them to take more training and development activities to avoid being rendered redundant.

In line with the human capital development plan, some opportunities can be highlighted. First is the improved competency of the employees in the organization. With enhanced competence, the organization will benefit from more productivity among its employees. Furthermore, there is an opportunity for the growth of the organization. The growth will come as a result of increased productivity among the employees. Optimal utilization of the available resources is the other opportunity that can be realized. The air force, with the limited resources it has for operations, the human capital development plan, can go a long way in ensuring better productivity from the resources available.  Moreover, there is an opportunity for internal recruitment. When employees have enhanced their competencies, there will be no need to recruit senior employees externally. That will reduce the expenditure associated with external recruitment and selection. The motivation of the employees is another achievement that can be realized among the air force employees. With enhanced competency from human capital development, the employees feel more satisfied with their performance. In the long run, that translates into motivation, which enables them to work even harder despite the limited resources.

As a consultant, there are different expectations from the implementation of the proposal. First, there will be better performance in the organization because of enhanced competency. Moreover, there will be reduced turnover, as employees will feel satisfied with their work and growth within the organization. Furthermore, there will be a chance of the organization being reputable, because of the quality of work it does for its clients. Enhanced motivation from the employees is the other prospect; the employees will be in a better position to have the urge to perform better in the various roles they serve in. With motivation comes hard work and better delivery, which will cover up the deficiency caused by the air force’s inadequate resources. The human capital development program will be responsible for the enhanced performance of the employees within the air force. Therefore, the plan should be implemented to increase the chances of operations success in the long run. Minimizing the inconveniences and capitalizing on opportunities is the key success factor for the plan to work effectively. Furthermore, there should be total member commitment and involvement in the development and implementation of the organization’s strategy. When the plan is implemented in the organization, there will be motivation to work hard, coupled with enhanced competency, which will reduce the adverse effects of inadequate resources in the air force.

References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1PLCDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=REFRAMING+ORGANIZATIONS+LEE+G.+BOLMAN+TERRENCE+E.+DEAL+&ots=paGIaPgrNU&sig=1t6nPkHGu6LHKX0b0LI4KwCrI20&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=REFRAMING%20ORGANIZATIONS%20LEE%20G.%20BOLMAN%20TERRENCE%20E.%20DEAL&f=false

Hall, B. W. (2008). The new human capital strategy: Improving the value of your most important investment–year after year. AMACOM/American Management Association. https://epdf.pub/the-new-human-capital-strategy-improving-the-value-of-your-most-important-invest3023c06c8481eaf03082c8e48b94b63898095.html

Pasban, M., & Nojedeh, S. H. (2016). A Review of the Role of Human Capital in the Organization. Procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 230, 249-253. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042816311338

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