The Localizing Training And Development

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

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Contents

Introduction

The topic chosen by the group for this group report is "Training and Development for employee relations", the report will analyse the impact of training and development on the employee relations management at work in UAE. Training and development in HRM plays a vital role in keeping the employees up-to-date with the new skills as required by the organization. Classically training and development have been assumed as interchangeable terms or almost the same, the classical managers assumed the training is something for non-managerial workers and development is for managerial workers (Goss, 1994). Such a classical view of training and development undermines the fact that all employees are valuable resource for the organization and sends a sense of inequality in the workforce eventually affecting the performance of the workers. It also sends a signal that managers do not require training whereas training and developments are both important components of continuous development.

Training and Development

Training in HRM is defined as the process of providing employees with the required skill set, whereas development refers to the process of providing employees with the abilities required by the organization in future (Randhawa, 2007). Therefore training and development are two important tools to update the required skill sets and future abilities in the work force.

Another writer explains training as the process which helps to improve employee performance by updating the knowledge, skills, attitudes or behaviours (Bernardin, 2008). Development is the learning process designed to help employees to grow.

Localizing Training and Development

UAE set to become the world’s business hub attracting more and more expatriate workers to the country, highlighting the need for localizing the training and development for employee relations management in a diverse workforce. The pressure exerted due to globalization and the cosmopolitan work force in UAE requires localization of training and development to help employees manage relations at the work place (Dowling, Festing, & Engle, 2008). Therefore employees in a diverse and international workforce must be trained to manage relations at work in the cosmopolitan business environment of UAE. Localizing the training and development process to incorporate the individual needs of all the workers in the workforce will eventually increase the motivation and performance of the workforce by providing the skill set required to manage relations at a diverse work place.

Impact of Training and Development on employee relations at work in UAE Business Environment

The effectiveness and the employee relations at the work force depend upon the knowledge and skills of the employee. Training and development helps employees to manage relations at work in a diverse workforce like in UAE. Managing workforce diversity is an important function of HRM in UAE business environment (Griffin, 2012). A diverse workforce could also act as competitive advantage for the organization. The organizations where the diversity of the workforce is managed properly have higher rates of productivity and low rates of absenteeism and employee turnover. Training and development of employees to manage relations at the workplace in UAE will have following impacts:

Employee Involvement & Participation

Employees experiencing relation crisis at workplace have a tendency of showing less involvement and participation in the organization (Gennard & Judge, 2005). Training and development to improve employee relation at the work place has direct impact on the involvement and participation of employees at the work place. Training employees on how to communicate in a diverse workforce and manage conflicts with other employees speaking a different language and from a different culture.

Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining is the power of bargaining of the employees in an organization and it also depicts the outcome of collective bargaining. Collective bargaining with a diverse force is a complex procedure in the business environment of UAE. Training and development of employees to manage relations at the workplace also helps managers to be in a position of collective bargaining with the workforce. Training the workforce on relation management in the organization increases the motivation and sense of responsibility in the employee, eventually employee consider them as part of the organization and its easier for managers to collectively bargain with employees.

As UAE invites more and more epact workers making the workforce diverse the need and impact of employee training and development for employee relation at work becomes vital. Training on employee relation will increase employee involvement and participation in the organization consequently increasing the performance of the work force.

The training and development for employee relation management will also have following impacts on the workforce:

The employee’s ability to face challenges presented in the organization will increase.

The trained workforce could work better in a diverse workforce increasing the output and performance of the organization.

The confidence level of the workforce increases which eventually increase the motivation in the work force

The employees could feel them self that now they have certain skills which could be used for employee relation management.

The trained workforce will also help to bring down the cost of operation helping to achieve economies of scale.

Employee relation training increases the flow of information in the organization increasing and involves employees in decision making process.

It would be expensive for an organization to hire trained workers then to provide training for the workforce to bring them up to the required mark.

Three current HRM challenges in UAE

Challenge 1

One of the biggest challenges posed to HRM in UAE is the trend of keeping no clear policies and procedures for HR in small or private firms. In UAE small business organization also have diverse workforce just like any other corporate organization in UAE, pointing to the need of HR policies and procedures for all the firms in the market. Ignoring HRM in small business organization leads to difficulties like employee relation management increasing irresponsibility and demotivating the workforce. The nature of business environment in UAE demands more training and development for employee relation management for all the companies in the market. Many expat workers could not speak English and had to rely on their mother tongue to communicate with the management making the employee relation management even more complex.

Traditionally the employer and employee relation was given secondary importance and due to negligence the employer and employee relation management was ignored. Contrary to this the business environment of UAE demands focusing on relations with individual employee rather than managing employee relations collectively. Each employee in the diverse workforce of UAE has different needs which must be managed individually rather than a collective effort.

Challenge 2

Another challenge for employee relation in UAE is the difference of interest among employees. Due to different interest groups in the workforce the employees tend to join the interest groups matching their own interests and the organization gets derailed from its objectives because all the different interest groups work for their own objectives rather than the collective objective or the mission of the organization. Such a workforce could not be dealt collectively for employee relation management rather it requires more individualistic approach, which is a challenge in the business environment of UAE. As more and more small firms establish in UAE the ignorance towards HRM increase because the small firms in UAE usually have less or no training and development for employee relation management.

Challenge 3

Population imbalance is another challenge faced by HRM in UAE where the population growth rate is highest in the Arab World (Budhwar & Mellahi, 2006). Increased population requires even more attention towards HRM and employee relation management. The following tables show the population statistics of UAE (UAE Statistics, n.d.):

The tables above clearly show the rapid rate of increase in the population of UAE presenting a challenge to HRM.

Three detailed recommendations for improvement

Recommendation 1

More attention must be paid towards HRM in the business environment of UAE and implementation of HR policies and procedures must be made necessary for every business, regardless of the size organization. Training and development must be made compulsory by using following employee development methods:

Formal Education

Assessment

Job Experience

Interpersonal Relationship

Training employees is an integral part of development in UAE all the organizations must use all the steps of training design process to train employees:

Training Need Assessment

Ensuring Employee’s Readiness for Training

Creating Learning Environment

Ensuring Transfer of Training

Developing an Evaluation Plan

Selecting Training Method

Evaluating the program

Recommendation 2

The difference between different interest groups in the organization could be minimized by providing individual relation management for each employee of the organization. The employee relation must not be viewed as a collective phenomenon rather it must be treated on individual basis.

By increasing the sense of belongingness and involving employees in decision making will ultimately make the employees more confident and motivated, which could be a mile stone in breaking all the interest groups to one group committed to achieve organization objectives and the mission.

Recommendation 3

Following the staggering increase in the population of UAE, human resource management and employee relation training and development must be introduced across the whole business industry in UAE. Increasing population inviting more expats to UAE making the workforce even more complex and diverse points the need of HRM and employee relation training and development.