Global HR Training Challenges

Introduction

A range of challenges are faced by organisations and HRD professionals in managing and implementing effective HR T&D, particularly in the climate of globalisation, and the new technological revolution begins with the importance of human capital in HRD practice, their education and technical training, and also their communication and language skills. Human resources’ learning and motivation are also described as important features of effective HRD practices. However, their deficiencies in supporting the effectiveness of HR T&D pose a challenge to the development, management and implementation of effective HR T&D in organisations. Furthermore, the workforce’s changing demographics are also seen to have an impact on HRD practices, alongside the organisation’s HR strategies and investments in HR T&D Extensive and diverse challenges exist in terms of management and implementation of effective training and development of working personnel at majority of the corporate organisations throughout the world, especially in the current financially globalised international market spheres. According to Hendon, Powell and Wimmer (2017), the information technological revolution has brought forth the initiation of realisation of the significance of training and development (T&D) for the human resources of any business organisation from the utilitarian perspective of enhancement of the scope of business expansion management and competitive leverage obtainment in the current international market conditions. The crucial aspects are related to the quality of the human capital possessed by business organisations, the extent of technical and operational knowledge possessed by such organisational human capital, the ability of such working personnel in terms of communicative skills and the threshold of general education or qualification which could be considered to be standards in such organisations. To this effect, the learning and motivational approaches employed within the organisational structure of operations are also fundamental in terms of productive and constructive Human Resource Development (HRD) practices. In this context, the following business focus report would be delving into the exploration of the HR matrix through which the existing challenge of organisational human capital development through workforce training could be addressed. For the purpose of contextualising the research study pertaining to identification and resolving of a particular issue regarding HR operations such as training and development of the workforces, the multinational telecommunication technology operative organisation, in the form of the British Telecoms (BT), has been selected.

HR matrix

The organisations in the current market scenario, as per the research of Noe and Kodwani (2018), utilise differential metrics for the purpose of evaluation and auditing the HR programs and associated initiatives in order to measure the success of development and training of respective organisational human capital. According to Szierbowski-Seibel, Wehner and Kabst (2019), organisational HRD functions related Data Metrics and Workforce Analytics assist the respective companies to implement the informed and effective decision formulation processes through proper analysis of the available information pertaining the human capital under consideration.

Objectives

As has been observed by Ahmed, Majid and Zin (2016), the primary purpose of any HR Matrix of workforce analysis within BT is to establish a sustainable link in between the strategic business functions of the company and the human resource development objectives. Bos-Nehles and Veenendaal (2019) have illustrated this notion from the perspective of accessibility of information with greater accuracy so as to formulate the most effective and relevant managerial decisions. To this effect, the HR Metrics and Workforce Analysis could be utilised for the purpose of analysing the data pertaining to employee performance. Edwards and Edwards (2019) have outlined the particulars which constitute the HR metrics for operations at BT in terms of undertaking of such analytical approaches in the following manner:

1: Staff Characteristics

2: Strategic Objectives of the telecommunications related business undertakings.

3: The overall human resource management strategies.

4: Acquisition and management of required talent and experiences in terms of the human capital of BT.

5: Productivity details.

6: Management of employee wellness programmes.

According to Mayfield, Mayfield and Wheeler (2016), for the purpose of conducting the HR metrics pertaining to the work processes at BT, the emphasis has to be on the gathering and analysis of data and the utilisation of HR databases of BT become critical in this context. Larsen (2017) has detailed the individual sub-categories of data which constitute the overall HR database structure of the BT and thus, could be utilised for the purpose of determination effective and most productive methods of impartation of training and development services to the existing and prospective employees. These are as the following:

1: Work tenures of the employees under consideration.

2: The recruitment details of employees.

3: Information of the new recruits

4: Gathering of information concerning interviews conducted during the screening processes.

5: Information regarding employee performance derived from research performed through focus groups.

Learning experience development within the employees of BT

According to Diez, Bussin and Lee (2019), involving the process of transferring knowledge, learning experience and technical training to the BT human resources, it is first necessary to identify the methods through which HRD intervention processes could impart essential knowledge to the employees. The objective of such methods is to enable the human capital of BT to develop their skill levels and their attitudes towards management of their official responsibilities. Mardis et al (2018) have observed that the job context is crucial in terms of determining such methods through which the HRD interventions are designed. This crucial significance comes from the fact that such context outlines the particular requirements, dimensions and exigencies which are associated with the process of successful execution of such job responsibilities by either individual employees, with middle or higher ranks at the BT Tech departments or, by groups/teams of working personnel, mostly engaged in Tier I and Tier II functions at BT business processes. In this context, Misra and Khurana (2017) have identified that educational thresholds of employees, proficiency in technical jargons and communicative languages, organisational culture of work and experiences of individuals associated with the HRD interventions at BT, in terms of training and development of the working personnel, are the fundamental factors which influence the measure of success which could be achieved in this context. Such observations have been further lent credence by the research of Sarwar, Rahman and Abdul (2017), in the form of identification of the fact that transferring of learning experience, in conjunction with the psychological conditions of the employees and existing social environments, could either encourage or discourage the process of skill acquisition and transfer of the same from personnel to personnel. For the HR professional working within the organisational structure of BT, as per the arguments of Garavan et al (2018), the extent of transferring the necessary skills and knowledge to the personnel employed at the organisation is incumbent on the support extended by the immediate superiors of such personnel. This observation remains to be a vital component of the learning enhancement process associated with workforce training and development execution at BT. Indeed, Hughes (2018) has also emphasised on the suggestion that within the strategic framework of HRD functionalities within BT, the support and involvement of the top management as well as the mid-level managerial operatives is a crucial feature in terms of effective implementation of T&D efforts by HR professionals of the company under consideration. However, according to Yates (2020), the previous decade had witnessed the criticism, from several sources, having been directed towards the upper echelon of the BT Group PLC regarding the decline in HRD intervention based T&D efforts due to inadequate support, commitment and cooperation based involvement at the inter-departmental levels of the company. The direct impact of such problems could be identified to have complicated the effective learning and motivational enhancement process of the BT employees.

According to Cohen (2017), the process of Reporting addresses several crucial aspects pertaining to particular issues related to formulation of decisions. Such a process involves decisions pertaining to the application of specific HR metrics along with the methods of applying the same. Krishna and Upadhyay (2018) have signified that communication of the identified measures of such metrics to the deserving personnel with the BT and reporting the findings to the organisational hierarchy are also crucial functions associated with the Reporting process. Anderson (2017) has observed that the fundamental utility of this process is the identification of existing loopholes and other problems within the HR matrix which could affect the proper evaluation and management of performance levels, motivational extents and productivity thresholds of BT employees. According to Taylor and Woodhams (2016), the opportunity which could be realised through application of this procedure is the development of strategic plans of actions for the purpose of driving workforce excellence standards higher within BT. Furthermore, performance and organisational productivity standards could as well be enhanced through utilisation of this component of the overall HR metrics. The emphasis is primarily on overcoming the lacunas and loopholes in existence within the BT working personnel management process structures. Furthermore, Chai (2017) has stated that, apart from providing data which could be quantifiable and could be cross-evaluated through multiple parameters, the Reporting process also assists in contextualising such HRD data accurately so that suitable strategies could be developed within BT working processes to achieve continuous work performance improvement.

DASHBOARDS

According to Marchington et al (2016), the Dashboards are utilised to effectively measure and display different performance metrics which could be defined by the work performance measuring criteria of the respective business organisations such as BT. Dashboards, within BT HRD processes, assist the HR managers to examine metrics at the various levels of work performance within the organisational structure. In this context, Jyoti, Chahal and Rani (2017) have identified the metrics as Key Performance Indicators (KPI). The summarised details along with visual representations of human resource related information related to various functional areas of the HRD interventions are provided by the Dashboards. The most beneficial effect of utilisation of KPIs assisted Dashboards is identifiable as the development of the scope of analysing the most significant HR metrics related data and additional details related to such performance parameters under evaluation.

BENCHMARKING

According to Edwards (2018), this could be understood to be the most significant strategic tool through which HR matrix could be applied to develop an accurate and evidence based comparison of the predefined organisational performance standards and the HRD intervention achievements as well as outcomes which had not been expected, such as increased employee turnover if, such interventions could not become successful in raising the threshold of technical knowledge and operational proficiency within the applied T&D frameworks of BT. Furthermore, Rudhramoorthy and Sarkar (2019) have opined that an additional benefit could be garnered from the utilisation of Benchmarking processes in the form of practical insights regarding the feasibilities of achievement of coveted outcomes. Apart from these, other utilities associated with this strategic tool are the assistance in redefining of objectives and forecasting of qualitative progress in the BT human resources through analysis of limitations and realities which could influence the comparative basis on which training and development modules for the existing employees of BT could be developed.

DATA MINING

The research of Charlwood, Stuart and Trusson (2017) have specified that Data Mining Technique (DMT) is the most valuable tool for any HR professional since the reliance on identification of data patterns through which large databases could be evaluated, is extensive. This process pertains to knowledge acquisition for the purpose of effective decision formulation within the existing organisational structures. According to Mayo (2018), for BT, DMTs could as well assist in the process of identification and understanding of casual mechanisms of interpersonal dimensions of the overall HRD policy application procedures. Such procedures primarily involve T&D services which are further characterised by various statistical techniques such as multiple regression and correlation analysis for the purpose of assessment of observed data patterns which could underscore the overall structural formats of performance related outcomes at BT. The relationships between such regression analysis based data patterns, as per the opinions of Mishra, Lama and Pal (2016), essentially involve three distinctive stages. The initial one is the stage where the initial exploration of the human capital characteristics, involving experience levels, technical knowledge, operational proficiency, psychological attributes and overall motivational perspectives associated with individual employees, at various levels, is undertaken. According to Fink and Sturman (2017), the next one involves identification of the patterns and sequences of human resource proficiency development. The final stage includes the development of policies and implementation of the same. Wingard (2019) have further associated this process of DMTs with three specific phases which are similar to those demonstrated above. These are as the following:

1: Exploratory phase which involve selection of relevant data sources and record subsets so that the evaluation of such data could be performed.

2: Building of proper models which involve the development of specific procedures through which the criterions and factors associated with the T&D methods of BT, could be identified and evaluated in terms of their propriety to properly enable the employees under consideration to enhance their performance thresholds.

3: Identification and deployment of the best model which could be selected to arrive at the most effective of decisions so as to meet the BT objectives.

PREDICTIVE ANALYSES

Murphy and McCarthy (2018) have opined that this tool assists the HR professionals at BT to formulate strategic decisions to improve the overall organisational profitability. The emphasis remains on the assessment and forecasting of the business initiative outcomes so as to effective realise the business opportunities which might emerge in the course of operational progression in the immediate and future information technology sector markets. According to Kar (2018), the tool primarily assesses the most significant indicators of workforce performance transformation outcomes such as changes in technical proficiency and collaborative capabilities when team based operational responsibilities are provided to groups of employees at BT.

OPERATIONAL EXPERIMENTS

Lakshmi and Pratap (2016) have stated that this particular tool of the HR metrics assists in the development of actual functioning of BT through utilisation of multiple human capital enhancement models so that different yet relevant variables could be outlined as per their utility within the work process efficacy maximisation systems at the organisation.

WORKFORCE MODELLING

Finally, according to Huselid (2018), BT HRD systems especially rely on the workforce modelling techniques of the HR metrics so as to develop the understanding of requirements which outline the necessary changes which have to be implemented pertaining to the human capital of the company. Such changes emerge as direct outcomes of the changes in macro-environmental constitutes of the market spheres where BT operates. The underlying factors have been delineated by Mohammed and Quddus (2019) as the mergers and demergers, acquisition of other organisations and divestiture from existing initiatives. The overarching reason of such change implementation within the workforce management and T&D responsibilities could be comprehended as the persistent volatility and competitive pressure within the current market scenario.

Conclusion

At the conclusive stage, the preceding study has outlined that any deficiency pertaining to the qualitative aspects in the organisational human resources could engender complications for BT in terms of supporting the organisational effectiveness to develop, manage and implement competitive business expansion and profit margin maintenance strategies within the existing market conditions. Furthermore, the increasingly multicultural demographics of multinational organisations such as BT also impart extensive impacts on the HRD functionalities pertaining to the T&D of the associated organisational human capital. Thus, the strategies developed by the HR personnel within any corporate entity could determine the orientation towards investments in the T&D perspectives at the organisational levels.

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