CIPD Level 7CO02 People Management & Development Strategies For Performance Assignment Example, UK

7CO02 Assignment task 1: Understand and debate how people management practices and strategies are connected to organisational outcomes and add value.

1.1 Explain the major objectives of people management practice in contemporary organisations.

Answer:

This means that the major objectives of people practices are to procure, maintain, and train human resources. When these practices are therefore aligned with the organisation’s strategy and culture, employers can further enhance the workplace to better suit the employees' needs and encourage their productivity and participation in the organisation's endeavour. Consequently, the performance of the organisation could also increase. Aligning people practices with organisational strategy and culture has numerous advantages, including:

• Increased employee satisfaction and motivation: Values and processes associated with human capital management, if consistent with the strategic objectives and values of a company, will enhance positive results for employees and their willingness to work harder. Every employee wants to be recognised, and when his or her contribution is seen and appreciated, then such an employee is more likely to work harder. He noted this has the potential to enhance organisational performance.
• Organisational performance is likely to receive great returns because of the increased productivity and motivation that comes with happiness. The links between people management, strategy, and culture can help in the personification of a high-performing organisation.
• High employee turnover: Organisations that ensure good people management and stability will retain their employees. One finding is that workers’ feelings of worth are a powerful driver of turnover intentions and, therefore, turnover. Successfully implemented, this can lead to a situation where recruiting and training new employees occurs at less expense.
• Employees’ attraction: There is evidence to support the view that organisations that better connect people processes with strategy and culture are well placed to attract new employees to the organisation. Candidates who think that an organisation has strong values and supports the personal growth of its employees will want to work in this organisation.

1.2. Evaluate ways in which organisations align people management practices with organisational strategy and integrate people management practices within their culture, brand, and values.

Answer:

Organisations ensure that the activities of people management are integrated so that HR activities correspond
 
to the organisational goals. With workforce planning, here, products and services are recruited and developed to fit the strategic plan. For example, companies that appreciate innovations as their primary strategy may place value on the talent of creatives as well as the constant learning provision.

Linkage with culture, brand, and values refers to integrating organisational values into the culture, training, performance management, and engagement. Theory at Work: The integration of organisational values into culture, training, performance management, and engagement can be illustrated by the following company examples. These companies have used culture, brand, and values to connect their strategic human resource management goals to their business strategies. For instance, if a brand's marketing would push for environmental conservation, personnel management activities may encourage the lighting of LED bulbs or offer incentives to hold sustainability-oriented activities.

If an organisation is to transform its employees into organisational citizens, communication is central to the process. These are some of the values that leaders must uphold; however, for an organisation, leaders must display these values in practice. Finally, alignment and integration guarantee the organisational mission is not only understood but becomes a reality for all the employees, creating a coherent and motivated workforce that delivers organisational goals.

1.3. Examine the merits of different models of people practice management, including models of systemic thinking, and the ways these link to effective business performance.

Answer:

Indeed, there are several models of people practice management and every one of them has certain benefits. Ways of selecting a model should be based on the needs of an organisation and what that particular model will help to accomplish. Among the most popular models are:

• Using the Performance Management Model: The Performance Management Model is a model that helps in setting up objectives and targets, and helps in the measurement of the outcome of the achievement of these objectives and targets. It also affirms the importance of feedback and review meetings in creating awareness concerning achievement and appraisal outcomes among employees.
• Competency-Based Model: The Competency-Based Model is a tool that helps the organisation understand which competencies are desirable for the performance of a certain job. It then goes on to explain how these skills and behaviours can be learned through training and development frameworks.
• Resource-Based Model: The Resource-Based Model is the model that interfaces human resources as one of the essential organisational assets. This model stresses one of the most crucial approaches by establishing its human capital development regime as well as carefully managing employee relationships.
• Engagement Model: The Engagement Model is the PPP model which one of whose main focuses is the fact that employees need to feel engaged with the work that they do. This model explains the process through which institutions are prepared to keep the employees sustained towards their work.
• Talent Management Model: The talent management model can be explained as a model that all aimed at attracting, developing, and retaining talent. The following is the model for understanding how talent can be sought and managed within the employee population.

1.4. Critically evaluate research that links people management practice in organisations with improved employer outcomes.

Answer:

Again, for any organisation to succeed, it has to depend on employees. Hence, the organisations do not spare any effort and funds in the quest to establish the best approaches towards people management, which would enhance the required employer results.

There is a large body of literature extant on this topic, and there is consensus that some people's management practices positively impact employers’ performance. For instance, organization communication, organisational training, development, and organisational performance management are some important facets worth having in an organisation.

However, it has been found significant to interrogate this type of research before making any changes to the people management practices. Some studies possess a greater degree of credibility than others. Even good research is not always reliable. Second, although certain best practices can be effective for one organisation, they may not be effective for another organisation.

Consequently, anyone planning to implement or change the people management practices within their organisation must consider this research before doing so. If you then take the trouble to critically appraise the research evidence, it is possible to make sound decisions that will contribute to better employment rates right across your organisation.

7CO02 Assignment Task 2: Understand current strategic practices in major areas of people management and development work.

2.1. Assess different approaches to the development of people management strategies.

Answer:

People management strategies are formed using different processes where each approach is unique depending on an organisation’s goals, employees, and working environment.

• Best Fit Approach: This way, the strategies of people management directly correspond to the particular orientation in the organisation. For instance, a tech company has many goals to address people strategies in retaining talent from skilled developers with flexibility in working and training exercises. This method makes sure that the HR practices are in a position to meet outside factors, such as the market, and organisational factors, such as culture.
• Best Practice Approach: Allying itself to best practices whereby industry standard and best practice human resource management practices are used independent of industrial distinction, assumes that specific interventions like engagement programmes, leadership development initiatives, or sound performance management programmes enhance organisational performance. While well practised, it may cover up the special needs of an organisation.
• Resource-Based View (RBV): This strategy is based on the utilisation of internal resources and human resources as major sources of competitive edge. Organisations spend on training, career planning, and development to improve human capital and synchronise human resources with organisational needs.
• High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS): This approach links many functions of HR practices, such as teamwork, decentralisation, and staff training, to gain a pool of highly productive employees. It is intended to increase innovation and productivity and the level of employee activity.

The selection of this method depends on organisational objectives, climate, and external conditions, guaranteeing strategic alignment to organisational objectives.

2.2. Evaluate current developments in the fields of resourcing and performance management.

Answer:

In recent years, resourcing and performance management have seen many developments throughout the year. One of the most known is the introduction of new technologies that allow the organisation that is used for track and manage the performance of employees more effectively.
 
Another important factor that has been one of the important developments is increasing the use do data analytics. Since this is used for providing the best information, which is more accurate and can be provided with more validity. This will help in identifying areas where improvement is needed. Other than this, there has been growing use of focusing on employee engagement and retention, as nowadays organisation focuses on recognising the importance that employee turnover must not increase. This is the reason organisations have started focusing on activities that motivate and make the employee more committed to the company.

All these current developments have a great impact on performance management, as when the employees are motivated, they seem to work more efficiently, which increases the productivity of the overall organisation. Due to these changes, resourcing and performance management have been impacted effectively and efficiently.

2.3 Evaluate current developments in the fields of learning and development and organisational design and development.

Answer:

With this topic, there have been several recent developments that have been realised in the field of learning and development. Among these, there is one of the largest and fastest-growing areas of application – adaptive learning technologies and systems. These let the workers undertake their studies at their convenience and on their own time, which is suitable for working people.

A rather major advancement has been observed in the growing incorporation of game-based elements in training and development. This includes the hybridisation of learning-teaching activities with the elements belonging to the game context. This may indeed be a very effective method through which new ideas and actual skills may be taught.

Organisational design and development have, of late, also undergone certain changes. One of the most important has been the increase in the application of agile working methods. These enable organisations to operate very flexibly, especially regarding change, which may be very advantageous when operating in a volatile business environment.

In conclusion, these more recent innovations within learning and development, as well as organisational design and development, can indeed be of great use to an organisation. Thus, they may assist in improving the employees so that they are productive and can help organisations adapt and change with ease.

2.4. Evaluate current developments in the fields of employment relations, employee engagement, equality, diversity and inclusion.
 
Answer:

The present advancements in employment relation literature are centred around a concept known as employee engagement. As noted next, the idea of employee engagement has been formulated as a result of a range of issues related to the management of people in organisations. This is a level of involvement that an employee feels endowed with in his or her work or job. Organisational structure is a key component of organisational performance and production capacity. People in organisations that are highly engaged are likely to enable high levels of business success.

Today’s approaches regarding diversity and diversity management are concerned with the problem of discrimination in the workplace. Employment discrimination is prejudice or discrimination faced by employees or job applicants at their workplace. It may be based on colour, sex, age, or disability. Discrimination at the workplace can either slow one's career advancement and employment opportunities or also affect their psychological and physiological well-being. It can also cause one to skip work and, in the process, reduce their efficiency at the place of work.

7CO02 Assignment task 3: Understand the role and influence of people management professionals.

3.1. Examine the merits of the various ways in which people's practice activities are organised and structured.

Answer:

Many of ways exist where people can practice the activities within the specific organisation environment. These include training such as on-the-job, off-the-job batch batch-wise, off-the-job online or class, and online correspondence training.

Each of these approaches has its advantages and disadvantages; in this paper, I am going to explore those benefits and vices. Training at the workplace provides for on-the-job learning as it makes the learner apply what he or she has learned in the workplace, and get immediate feedback from the boss.

On the other hand, it may cost a fortune and a lot of time to offer such training to employees or members of an organisation. Another is that it can be more efficient to train employees through classroom instruction, but it can be the least effective form of training if the training material is not suitable for the students.

3.2. Critically assess the nature of ethics and professionalism in people's practice and the role of the CIPD.

Answer:

Professionalism remains one of the key points in people’s practice. According to the guidelines of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), professionalism is the way of approaching one's work, encompassing values, behaviours, attitudes, and beliefs that ensure the trustworthiness, competence, and integrity of the person or organisation. That is, professionalism is not only about possessing certain knowledge and necessary skills and attitudes but also about ethics and dedication.

That is why professionalism plays such a crucial role in people’s practice: there are a lot of causes for that. In the first place, the working environment is gradually getting more and more turbulent, and organisations are compelled to adhere to continuously emerging laws and standards. The implication of this is that practitioners should be able to reason well and make good decisions in situations that might be difficult.

Also, the issue of diversity increases to mean that more and more people make up the working force and there is a need to be able to conduct sessions with all sorts of diverse persons. Finally, it seems obvious that given the current climate in which all sorts of information, even false ones, can spread across the globe within the blink of an eye, practitioners need to be trained to be as informative as possible.

The CIPD has a significant part to play in the development of professionalism within people’s practice. In offering its qualifications, training courses, and events, the CIPD empowers practitioners with what a profession requires of them.

Also, members practising under the CIPD have the guidelines of practice put in place by the CIPD code of professional conduct. Therefore, through the promulgation of such standards, the CIPD plays a role in making sure that people’s practice is a profession.

3.3 Examine the major ways in which technology is changing the people management function in organisations.

Answer:

All these years, people management has been seen following all the major trends of technology. Either it is predictive data analytics like generative AI, which will be found in many implemented in many organisations in today’s time, or it is Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS).

Predictive data analytics have been helping in decision-making for retention, recruitment, and engagement of employees, as this can help in identifying workforce trends. It encourages development training among employees and can also handle routine tasks. When combined with HRIS, these tools become more efficient for processing the data.

Technology can be considered in both ways, as an opportunity and as a challenge as well. As there is advancement in technology, replacement cycles have been very short, which means that HR teams now need to update their skills to reduce the cost. It has always been a challenge to maintain the employees' skills in technology, while the organisation is going through changes that need to be addressed through training and communication. Even the cost and risks of investing in adopting the challenge are high and are a continuous process.

There is no doubt that several ethical issues arise when considering data analysis. It has strategically become an important task for controlling the reliability of using data sources and adhering to legislative acts such as GDPR. If one fails to protect the personal information of employees, it may leak, which can result in damage to the company. For building trust in clients and preventing risks, it has become important to look for indicators such as security, transparency of data, and proper usage.

Finally, this can be considered that technology has no doubt improved the quality and increased the productivity of employees in an organisation. But, it is not that there is nothing good about this; there are some challenges as well, which need to be managed by professionals for the aim of achieving correct and proper management of humans.

3.4. Critically assess methods used to evaluate people management practices and interventions.

Answer:

Many methods can be used for assessing people management practices. Every method has its characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages. These methods include group discussion, questionnaire, group discussion, or any other structured feedback-collecting mechanisms which provide a subjective understanding employee of conditions and organisation culture. The use of such methods may affect the response bias and, hence, is not reliable.

Quantitative measurements, like people metrics including attribution and mediocre ratio or score of employee engagement, including cost per hire, can provide a better image of human actions and their risks. Analysing return on investment for HR intervention determines the financial return on these processes, but does not focus on the value that cannot be measured in financial terms, such as innovation and enhanced morale.

A strength of benchmarking is that it provides organisations with data with which to compare their performance with that of other similar organisations; the weakness is that benchmarking can lead to the focus being placed more on external measures than on internal objectives.
 
Evaluation and inspection guarantee compliance with strategic goals and objectives and pinpoint the areas needing change. Integrated human capital reporting introduces both qualitative and quantitative data, giving a corporate impression of workforce value.

The trends for further development of the evaluation include further development of data analysis and prediction of different models, and the usage of AI for real-time monitoring. These innovations offer better accuracy of the obtained results, but raise questions the data privacy and ethical issues. To remain effective, organisations need to combine traditional approaches with new technologies, as well as consider the effects of risks and biases.

7CO02 Assignment task 4

4.1. Analyse the advantages of partnering with external customers and suppliers to understand their current and future needs from a people practice perspective. 

Answer:

This is also good for people's practice, particularly in customer relations, to take advantage of the many benefits of partnering with customers. Of all of these, the most apparent might be the value of effective CRM to assist the organisation in supporting clients’ needs more adequately to make customers more satisfied and loyal. Other potential benefits of partnering with customers include:

• Enhanced comprehension of the customer's needs and wants
• Increased understanding of the customers.
• Cross-selling and up-selling opportunities are created in the organisation.
• Improved image and profile of the brand
• Closeness with the existing customers has been enhanced.

Obtaining every edge possible within today’s highly transpiring business rivalry is wise. One of the aspects through which organisations can gain a competitive advantage is by collaborating with customers to understand what the customers want from a people practice perspective.

4.2. Examine the different issues and challenges facing people management professionals in different sectors.

Answer:

The skill of people management requires different approaches based on the sector in which people management professionals work. Larger private corporations tend to place more emphasis on talent management, working with cross-border teams, and the adoption of High-level HR technologies. These organisations have to cope with high expectations concerning further career promotion and fair salary levels on the one hand, and, on the other, productivity.

There are various challenges when managing public sector organisations, including bureaucracy, inadequate funds, and a strict organisational structure. Here, the local HR professionals tend to focus on boosting job commitment in the employees in the face of scarce reward-based approaches.
 
Voluntary sector organisations often experience challenges in staffing, as there are often fewer attractive remunerative positions and they may rely on employee motivation. However, making people management difficult is the need to promote diversity and deal with issues such as volunteers.

A common characteristic of HRM in small and medium enterprises is that there are limited resources for the use of formal practices. The role of people managers becomes highly multifaceted as they are to consider business requirements [s] alongside organisational well-being and learning.

Client-oriented organisations feel pressure to monitor the results of their work and improve skills further; that’s why performance management is so important in professional services. This fast-moving culture creates stressful situations and short-term career satisfaction, leaving organisations with a problem of employee turnover.

Various industrial sectors are also seen to have vast differences. For instance, manufacturing has its problems with safety and unions, while technology industries have their problem in deploying skills as quickly as newer skills become outdated. It all boils down to the argument that when implementing people management practices, such adjustments to sector-specific people management cultures, expectations, and issues must be imperative for organisations operating in the integrated sector.

4.3. Assess how people management practice varies internationally.

Answer:

It is quite obvious that people management practice will vary when it is performed in different countries. As these practices may vary in culture and work environment, for example, countries in Asia prefer a collectivist culture environment where people are encouraged more to work in a team and are expected to be loyal to the company. Whereas, in countries like the USA, they have individualistic culture, where people are encouraged when their individual needs are fulfilled. These are some of the ways through which you can get an idea of how these people management practices can vary in different countries.

When thinking of expanding the organisation all over the world, the organisation has to look for many things, including an increase in the issues of standardisation of service and local environment adaptation to a new country. In today’s it is said that any conflict that has arisen due to cultural differences must be solved by using teams. Training managers must focus more on providing cultural intelligence to the employees and promoting the communication process for building a good team.

4.4. Demonstrate an ability to build and maintain knowledge and understanding of developments relating to effective people management in different contexts.

Answer:

Practical approaches to working with people entail having a good grasp of present-day research in people management. Today’s best sources, such as the CIPD, offer essential information regarding current changes in the world of work, people management, diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, and the role of technology. The present study reveals that mental health, self-estimated well-being, and the extent of self-designable working arrangements are on centre stage in the way work commitment increases productivity and work satisfaction.

More recent discussions are centred on the future of work, the possible effects of automation or artificial intelligence, and telecommuting. Consequently, themes such as the gig economy, the dual brilliance, and generational changes concerning employment relations constitute the focus of these debates. For example, the use of technology in managing the relationships between organisational freedom and employee constraint in work that is done from home is still a subject of research.

The CIPD has released research to help HR specialists address these issues. There are resources and articles on talent management, organisational culture, and leadership development with practical recommendations. Such resources inform the practice of HR to identify and develop relevant workforce interventions that will be relevant within the given organisational settings.

This research has pointed out that people management is the key to having future-ready people. It involves taking a global view, embracing technology, and supporting sustainable people practices. The ability to undergo constant training and participate in professional association forums enables HR professionals to detect and address emerging trends in the market effectively.

References

Books

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Cookson, G, (2022) HR for Hybrid working. Kogan Page. Chapter 12 pp247- 259; Chapters 5, 6, 7 pp89-
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Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S. (2023) Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. 16th ed. London: Kogan Page.

Armstrong, M. (2020) Armstrong’s handbook of strategic human resource management. 7th ed. London: Kogan Page.

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